DATE= 12/01/97 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP NUMBER=6-10467 TITLE=THE TERRORIST ATTACK AT LUXOR BYLINE=ANDREW N. GUTHRIE TELEPHONE=619-3335 DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS CONTENT= (UNEDITED) INTRO: THE FALLOUT FROM THE TERRORIST ATTACK AT THE LUXOR TEMPLE IN EGYPT THAT KILLED 58 FOREIGN TOURIST CONTINUES. IN CAIRO, OVER THE WEEKEND, THE STATE AIRLINE EGYPTAIR FIRST ANNOUNCED A 50 PERCENT FARE REDUCTION ON ALL DOMESTIC SITES TO STIMULATE TOURISM, THEN RESCINDED THE FAR CUT. TOURIST EXPERTS SAY THE COUNTRY HAS SEEN TOURISM FALL DRAMATICALLY SINCE THE INCIDENT, WITH HOTELS AND OTHER TOURIST-RELATED BUSINESSES LAYING OFF WORKERS. THE ATTACK, AT THE TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT, WAS THE LATEST ATTEMPT BY A RADICAL ISLAMIC GROUP, GAMAA AL ISLAMIYA, TO CRIPPLE THE COUNTRY'S THREE-BILLION-DOLLARS-A-YEAR TOURISM INDUSTRY, ONE OF THE MAIN ENGINES OF EGYPT'S ECONOMY. DESPITE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF DRAMATIC NEW SECURITY MEASURES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, AN INCREASING NUMBER OF TOURISTS CANCEL TRIPS THERE -- AN INDICATION THE ATTACK APPEARS TO HAVE SUCCEEDED, AT LEAST IN THE SHORT RUN. AS FOR AMERICAN PRESS REACTION, IT HAS UNIVERSALLY CONDEMNED THE ACT, AND WE GET A SAMPLING NOW FROM _________________ IN TODAY'S OPINION ROUNDUP. TEXT: THE ATTACK TOOK PLACE ON MONDAY [11/17] IN MID NOVEMBER, WHEN A GROUP OF TOURISTS WAS ARRIVING TO VIEW THE HUGE TEMPLE. THEIR TOUR BUSES WERE RAKED WITH AUTOMATIC WEAPONS FIRE FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR, AND SOME OF THE VICTIMS WERE STABBED TO DEATH BEFORE POLICE WERE ABLE TO DRIVE THE TERRORISTS INTO THE HILLS. ALL SIX ASSAILANTS WERE KILLED. PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK VISITED BOTH THE SITE AND THE WOUNDED IN HOSPITALS. HE FIRED THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS CABINET MINISTER AND ANNOUNCED A STEPPED-UP SERIES OF SECURITY MEASURES AT ALL TOURIST SITES THROUGHOUT THE NATION. WE BEGIN OUR SAMPLING OF EDITORIAL COMMENT IN NEBRASKA, WHERE "OMAHA'S WORLD-HERALD" SAYS THE SLAUGHTER ... WAS "NOT THE WORK OF ANY RELIGION." VOICE: SURELY NO POLITICAL MOVEMENT IN THE WORLD IS MORE DANGEROUS - - PARTICULARLY TO THE UNITED STATES AND ITS CITIZENS - - THAN THAT OF THE FANATICAL FRINGE GROUPS THAT HAVE PITTED THEMSELVES AGAINST COMPARATIVELY MODERATE GOVERNMENTS IN PARTS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD. IN IRAN, FORCES OF THE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI OVERTHREW A PRO-WESTERN GOVERNMENT IN A 1979 REVOLUTION. .... ALGERIAN ADVOCATES OF EXTREMIST ISLAMIC RULE HAVE WAGED A FIVE-YEAR CAMPAIGN OF TERROR IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO SEIZE CONTROL. THE TALIBAN MILITIA, WHICH CONTROLS PARTS OF AFGHANISTAN, HAS ATTRACTED INTERNATIONAL OUTRAGE WITH ITS SUPPRESSION, AMOUNTING TO HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, OF WOMEN. ACROSS THE ARAB WORLD, AND SOMETIMES IN EUROPE, TERRORISTS LINKED TO THE FUNDAMENTALIST MUSLIM CAUSE HAVE BEEN IMPLICATED IN BOMBINGS AND ASSASSINATIONS OF CLERGYMEN, JOURNALISTS AND MODERATE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. ..... AT LUXOR .... IN ADDITION TO SLAUGHTERING INNOCENT PEOPLE, THE TERRORISTS USED FEAR TO CURTAIL THE FREEDOM OF OTHERS TO TRAVEL. TOURIST BOOKINGS TO EGYPT HAVE DROPPED SINCE THE MASSACRE. .... EGYPT'S PRESIDENT, HOSNI MUBARAK, CALLED THE ATTACKERS 'MURDERERS AND CRIMINALS WHO DO NOT BELONG TO ISLAM OR ANY OTHER RELIGION.'; IT'S AN APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION. NONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS TEACHES ITS MEMBERS TO TREAT THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS AS DID THE TERRORISTS AT LUXOR. TEXT: IN CONNECTICUT, "THE HARTFORD COURANT" TAKES A MORE HOPEFUL VIEW, SUGGESTING THAT THE TOURIST DECLINE IS ONLY TEMPORARY. VOICE: APART FROM THE FAMOUS AND ACCESSIBLE PYRAMID OF GIZA AND THE SPHINX NEAR CAIRO, THERE IS NO GREATER TOURIST MAGNET THAN THE GEMS OF ANTIQUITY ON EITHER SIDE OF THE NILE IN THE VICINITY OF LUXOR AND THE ANCIENT CITY OF THEBES IN SOUTHERN EGYPT - - THE TEMPLES OF HATSHEPSUT, KARNAK AND LUXOR, THE COLOSSI OF MEMNON, THE VALLEY OF KINGS AND VALLEY OF QUEENS WITH THEIR TOMBS OF LONG-DEAD RULERS SUCH AS THE BOY-KING TUTANKHAMEN AND VARIOUS RAMSES. IT WAS IN THIS HISTORY-RICH BUT BARREN LANDSCAPE THAT THE GUNMEN ATTACKED THE SIGHTSEERS. THE KILLERS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS SAY THEY WANT TO ESTABLISH AN ISLAMIC THEOCRACY IN EGYPT, BUT THEIR DEEDS DISHONOR ISLAM. FOR A WHILE, THE TOURIST TRADE IS LIKELY TO SLOW DOWN, BUT NORMALCY WILL RETURN TO THIS ANCIENT LAND. THE FANATICS WILL NOT GET THEIR WAY BECAUSE MOST EGYPTIANS ARE OUTRAGED BY SUCH HIDEOUS ACTS. ..... THE FACE OF FANATICISM IS UGLY INDEED. TEXT: "THE WASHINGTON POST" LOOKS AT TERRORISM IN EGYPT DURING THE LAST TWO DECADES, AND WISHES PRESIDENT MUBARAK WELL IN HIS CURRENT CRACK DOWN AGAINST FURTHER VIOLENCE. VOICE: ISLAMIC MILITANTS ASSASSINATED THEN-PRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT IN 1981 FOR MAKING PEACE WITH ISRAEL. BUT IT TOOK TEN YEARS FOR THE MOVEMENT TO BECOME A THREAT TO THE SUCCESSOR REGIME OF HOSNI MUBARAK. THE INSURGENTS HAVE KILLED A THOUSAND PEOPLE. PICKING UP THE CURRENTS THAT CARRY ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS ELSEWHERE IN THE MUSLIM WORLD, THEY SEEK TO CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT BY FORCE AND INSTALL A STATE RULED BY THEIR VERSION OF ISLAMIC LAW. THEIR TARGETS HAVE INCLUDED THE OFFICIAL SECURITY FORCES, THE ANCIENT SITES THAT MAKE TOURISM A CRUCIAL 3-BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY AND EGYPT'S COPTIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. PRESIDENT MUBARAK HAS HAD GOOD REASON TO CRACK DOWN. UNTIL THIS LATEST INCIDENT, MOREOVER, HE COULD CLAIM SOME SUCCESS. HE NEEDS NOW TO DEVISE A STRATEGY, WORKING WITH AVOWEDLY NONVIOLENT MUSLIM GROUPS, THAT WILL ISOLATE THE TERRORISTS, POLITICALLY AS WELL AS OPERATIONALLY, AND AFFORD HIM A BETTER CHANCE TO DETER AND DEFEND AGAINST THEIR ATROCITIES. [OPT] TEXT: "THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION" MAKES THE CASE, AS DID THE "OMAHA WORLD-HERALD" THAT THESE TERRORISTS DO NOT SPEAK FOR ISLAM OR ANY OTHER RELIGION. VOICE: WE IN THE WEST CAN ONLY SHAKE OUR HEADS IN SORROW AND HORRIFIED DISBELIEF AT THIS WEEK'S MASSACRE OF TOURISTS ..... AT [THE] AMBUSH OF AMERICAN BUSINESSMEN IN PAKISTAN, AT THE PERIODIC THROAT-CUTTINGS OF WESTERN WORKERS IN ALGERIA. WHAT KIND OF HOLY CAUSE TARGETS HARMLESS CIVILIANS FOR SLAUGHTER SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY COME FROM ANOTHER LAND OR CULTURE? IT IS IMPORTANT FOR OUTSIDERS TO UNDERSTAND THEY AREN'T THE ONLY ONES IN THE CROSS HAIRS OF THESE TERROR GROUPS. .... TOPPING THE FANATICS' HIT LISTS ... ARE THE LEADERS OF THEIR OWN RESPECTIVE GOVERNMENTS; EGYPT'S PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK; PAKISTAN'S NEW MODERNIST LEADERSHIP, ALGERIA'S MILITARY-BACKED REGIME. ..... SO HOW DOES THE WEST, ESPECIALLY AMERICA, DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF THIS NON-TOO-INVITING REGION? WE START BY REALIZING THAT THE EXTREMISTS THERE DON'T SPEAK FOR THE ENTIRE POPULATION. TEXT: IN FLORIDA, MEANWHILE, "THE MIAMI HERALD" CALLED THE ATTACK "LUNACY IN LUXOR." VOICE: "THE MASSACRE .... IN LUXOR ..... BY RELIGIOUS FANATICS KNOWN AS THE ISLAMIC GROUP IS BUT THE LATEST PROOF THAT WHILE HUMANS ARE EASY TO KILL, IDEAS ARE NOT. THE IDEA HERE IS TO TOPPLE THE SECULAR EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT AND INSTALL AN ISLAMIC-FUNDAMENTALIST REGIME AKIN TO THOSE IN IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN. ..... THEY KILL - - MEN, WOMEN, BABIES, TO THEM IT MATTERS NOT - - BECAUSE IN THEIR WARPED BELIEFS, PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS ARE INFIDELS. AND THEY BLOW THEMSELVES UP TO KILL 'INFIDELS' BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THAT THEY'LL GO STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN AS MARTYRS. THIS IS A LETHAL COMBINATION FOR ANY GOVERNMENT, ANY PEOPLE, TO TRY TO CONTROL." [END OPT] TEXT: WITH THOSE THOUGHTS, WE CONCLUDE THIS BRIEF SAMPLING OF EDITORIAL COMMENT ON LAST MONTH'S ATTACK ON TOURISTS VISITING A MAJOR EGYPTIAN TEMPLE IN LUXOR ON THE NILE. NEB/ANG/WFR 01-Dec-97 1:12 PM EST (1812 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .