eving a large sum of money that Carlos had deposited in a local bank. Their plan was foiled when the Czech secret service learned of their presence and evicted them. They returned to Damascus where Carlos lived in semi-luxury under a new identity as a Mexican businessman. Carlos the family man (Follain)On August 17 1986, Kopp gave birth to a daughter who was named Elba Rosa, after both her grandmothers. Despite his host's earlier demands for his services, Carlos soon learned that the Syrians had no use for his particular skills. Eventually, Carlos was informed that he could only stay in Damascus if he remained inactive. He spent most of his time at home with his family and entertaining the occasional guest. At thirty-nine-years-old, Carlos had been forced into early retirement. The world's intelligence community considered him a has-been. According to Vincent Cannistraro, the CIA's head of counter-terrorism at that time: "Carlos was only a historical curiosity…a rather sad character. A Communist whisky-barrel who doesn't believe in God and who was no longer of use to Moslem governments. The only reason that operations were blamed on him is because people didn't now who had committed them. In Damascus, he was dead drunk most of the time." Mossad also considered him a non-entity and even the DST dismissed him as not worthy of their attention even though they knew where he was living. Carlos may have lived out his days in virtual obscurity had it not been for two important events in history. The first was the collapse of the Berlin wall in November 1989, which saw the dissolution of the system that had protected Carlos and his cadre from scrutiny. The second and most important event occurred in August 1990 when Saddam Hussein ordered his army to occupy neighbouring Kuwait. In the aftermath of the invasion, Western intelligence agencies received information that Hussein was mounting a terror campaign, principally agai...
