arried away on a stretcher, despite being seriously wounded, she raised her hand in a victory salute and shouted, "the Arabs will win." With the failure of yet another of Haddad's plans, Carlos was inspired to push ahead with his own plan of independent action. In December 1977, accompanied by Libyan intelligence officers, Carlos travelled to Baghdad where he met with Saddam Hussein who was the first to offer his support. This was an important victory for Carlos as it also guaranteed the support of Iraq's KGB trained secret service, the Al Mukharabat. His plan received another unexpected boost in March 1978 when Wadi Haddad, aged just forty-nine, died of suspected Leukaemia. His death cleared the way for Carlos to approach the Middle Eastern states and offer his services as a "terrorist for hire." For some, the fact that Haddad's death came at a time when Carlos was vying for position, suggests that he may have been a victim of foul play. The favourite theory is that the Iraqis who openly supported Carlos poisoned Haddad. Following Haddad's death, Carlos was free to approach many of the Popular Front operatives who were now without a leader. His plan was to form a group of experienced people who would be capable of running multiple operations at the same time supported by another force of "sleeper" agents who could be counted on to provide on-site intelligence and become active when needed. Carlos managed to recruit experienced radicals from Syria, Switzerland and Lebanon with the core members taken from West Germany's Revolutionary Cells. At that time, Weinrich introduced Carlos to his girlfriend, a German divorcee named Magdelana Kopp who had joined the Revolutionary Cells in 1970. Carlos told Weinrich that he'd like to meet Kopp and arranged for her to meet him in Algiers. Kopp made such an impression on Carlos that he set out to seduce her with scant regard for her relationship with Weinrich. Kopp initially showed no in...
