Carlos: Portrait of a Terrorist: In Pursuit of the Jackal, 1975-2011

by Colin Smith

This is the latest edition of Colin Smith's best selling - it was translated into Spanish, French, German and Finnish -1976 biography of the Venezuelan born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez. Carlos - Portrait of a Terrorist is the result of painstaking research. Here is the full story of his transformation from spoilt playboy to 'The Jackal', once the favorite assassin of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Previously updated in 1995, after Carlos was sedated and sacked then handed over to French commandos in Khartoum, it has been revised following his latest 2011 conviction by a Paris court for a brutal series of terrorist bombings committed in 1982 and 1983. Smith's account blends perceptive eyewitness reportage of Carlos in action with the memories of friends, acquaintances and at least one lover.

Genres: Biography, History, Politics

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1977

About the author

Colin Smith, author of ’England’s Last War Against France', ‘Singapore Burning’ and most recently collaborator in Andrew Borowiec's Warsaw Boy,was brought up in the British Midlands.
At 18 he had the chance to join the Guernsey Evening Press as a cub reporter.
Jobs on several other provincial newspapers followed and in 1968, after working on the Birmingham Post and the Daily Sketch, he joined David Astor’s Observer.

Smith lives with his wife Sylvia in Nicosia where, in the late 1970’s, he was first based as The Observer’s Middle East correspondent. In more recent years he has concentrated on writing books, both fiction and non-fiction but mostly the same school of narrative history.

Smith's first book was Carlos - Portrait of a Terrorist, which came out of a three part Observer series following the Venezuelan’s 1976 raid on OPEC’s Vienna headquarters and the kidnapping of the oil ministers. Revised after Carlos’ capture in 1995 and published as a Mandarin Paperback, in 2012, after a Paris court sentenced the terrorist to a second term life imprisonment for bombings in France in the 1980's, it was revised yet again.

He has pubished three novels, all with Palestinian themes. Spies of Jerusalem is set in the Ottoman Palestine of 1917 as outnumbred Turkish and German forces do their best to thwart Britain's General Allenby as his army advances on Jerusalem; Let Us Do Evil takes place in Mandate Palestine during World War Two where some Jews see the British as their main enemy and make a pact with the Devil; his thriller Collateral Damage sees a vengeful widower on the trail of the man who killed his wife as the Cold War terrorism that plagued Western European capitals in the 1970's becomes a very hot war indeed in Beirut and southern Lebanon.

Reviews

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

ایلیچ رامیرز سانچز معروف به کارلوس (زاده ۱۲ اکتبر ۱۹۴۹ یا ۱۳۲۸ در ونزوئلا) تروریست و «انقلابی حرفه‌ای» مارکسیست بود.

وی ده‌ها عملیات از جمله گروگان گرفتن وزیران نفت در اجلاس اپک در وین، کشتار ورزشکاران اسراییلی در المپیک مونیخ، اقدام برای ترور محمدرضا پهلوی و چندین مورد بمب‌گذاری در مکان‌های عمومی در پاریس و لندن، را ترتیب داد
عمده شهرت وی بخاطر حمله به مقر اوپک در سال ۱۳۵۴ خورشیدی (۱۹۷۵ میلادی) است. وی و پنج مرد و یک زن در صبح روز ۳۰ آذر سال ۱۳۵۴ به شکل خدمتکار به محل اجلاس در وین نفوذ کردند. آنها در میان جلسه وزیران نفت وارد سال اجلاس شدند و ابتدا با اسلحه مقامات را تهدید کردند و سپس در سالن مواد منفجره کار گذاشتند. آنها دیپلمات ها را به سه دسته دوست، بی‌طرف و دشمن تقسیم کردند که دوستان شامل الجزایر، عراق و لیبی و دشمنان شامل ایران، عربستان، امارات متحده عربی و قطر بودند.

مقامات پس از چند ساعات مذاکره بی حاصل به خواسته گروگان گیران تن دادند و آنها همراه با گروگان هایشان با اتوبوس به سمت فرودگاه و سپس با هواپیما به سمت الجزایر حرکت کردند.مهمترین این گروگان‌ها دکتر جمشید آموزگار، مذاکره کننده ارشد نفتی ایران، بهمراه زکی یمانی، وزیر نفت عربستان سعودی بودند. آنها در الجزایر برخی گروگان‌های عرب را آزاد کردند و به سوی لیبی حرکت کردند اما در لیبی هواپیمایی جهت حرکت به سمت عراق در اختیارشان قرار نگرفت و به ناچار پس از اینکه نتوانستند در تونس فرود بیایند مجددا به الجزایر بازگشتند.

آنها قصد داشتند آموزگار و یمانی را بکشند اما پس از اینکه به آنان اطمینان داده شد در صورت انجام این کار همه گروگان‌گیران کشته خواهند شد، با دریافت پانزده میلیون پوند باج همه گروگان ها را آزاد کردند و خودشان هم گریختند
وی هم اکنون در فرانسه در حال گذراندن دوره حبس ابد است.

[Steven Owad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Owad’s Micro-Review #57

A biography of the Venezuelan terrorist known as “the Jackal”—the world’s most wanted man for two decades. Carlos is raised a communist and becomes a hired gun for just about any group that truly understands the “mendacity” of the West. He becomes a fantastically successful terrorist, the perpetrator of gaudily daring international crimes that inspire other terrorists and make for great Hollywood storylines (not to mention a good book by Frederick Forsyth).

This book works well as a chronicle of an audacious murderer’s exploits, but it also shines a light on the chaotic glory days of terrorism. The late ’60s and ’70s saw the rise of countless Palestinian groups and Marxist groups and violent separatist organizations. Carlos worked for many of them. They of course failed in the end, but it’s important to look back at them from time to time as reminders of just how treacherous the world of political violence can get. Aug. 12, 2021

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at one of the most "infamous" terrorists of all time. The author gives a good background to the organisations he was involved with. The book was written finishes with Carlos still at large he has subsequently been caught and his serving a life sentence in prison in France

[Anthony Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

Glitches made it annoying to read

Good book but so frustrating and maddening with innumerable glitches that made it impossible to turn to next page and you have to jump to next chapter and scroll back. Not worth it. Avoid!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and informative..not just regarding Carlos but the late 60's 70's terrorism spree