mckay: this is happening now, if you can possibly believe that. the terrorists are saying theyey'll blow up p the schoo, killing all the children inside. the german police haveve been wawaging a relelentless wawr against the terrorists, capturing some, killing some. man: the british army are the terrorists. francis: no one, even the most powerful, has immunity from these urban guerillas. brinkley: there are 298 people held hostage. those people, they have good ideals, they're just going about them the wrong way. we are ready to go on until martyrdom. mckay: the communiqué ended with the appeal,l, "revolutionaries of the world, unite." [ indiststinct shoututing ] [ sirens wail ] terrorist attacks, especially where hostages are taken, have become increasingly common. there have been bombings, shootings, and strikes in northern ireland. arab guerillas fired at an israeli school bus near the lebanese border. the 1970s saw the development of the terrorist repertoire. cronkikite: gangs s of young p , products o of the riototous 19, preferred terror, kidnapping, bombing, arson, machine guns, deaths, and destruction. burrough: it was a global thing. in the '70s, those who wanted change faster than was gonna cocome resosorted to viviolence. japan hahas had its first t plane hijajackin. the chronicle of terrorism, which took them as far as athens, greece. most americans thought of terrorism as a p problem thahat happens a world,d, or half a a world, a. throughout the 1970s, terrorism began to hit home. [ exexplosions ] ] an elegant townhouse in new york's greenwich village was destroyed by a series of dynamite explosions. reporter: authorities first assumed an accidenental detonanation inin a gas linine had d been respoponsible, exexcept that t the blast t d beenen just too o powerful,, deststroying thehe $100,000 0 e and d badly damamaging ththe two neigighboring hoho, one belonging to actor dustin hoffman. and as firemen picked their way through the rubble, they fouound a basemement workp with s sticks of d dynamite and the e materialss neededed to make b bombs. crononkite: threree bodies w e fofound in thehe rubble --- two memberers of the violencece-orientedd weathehermen groupup. the new york cell of the weather underground was s beginning g to build b s that were e to be placaced thatat night at an offificers' dancnce at forort dix, newew jersey. however,r, somethingng went ba, and ththree of thehem ended up . repoporter: the e daughter of the buiuilding's owowner and another girl fled right after the blast. i just went into survival mode, both to o get out ofof the hoe and d then to geget away frfrom the pololice. at that point i was a combatant. the student protestotors of t the '60s have turnened into morore seris revolutitionaries usining far morere lethal wewe. wiwilkerson: t the '60s, w we wl about chchanging heaearts and m. the '70s was more just about expressing anger. internatational polilitics anand domesticic politicss seemed to be decided by violence, and violence only begets violence. cronkitete: from thehe undergro, ththat radicalal left-wingng g, the weweathermen, , promises me atattacks on t the establilist araround the e entire coununy ststarting nexext week. the medium for this message was a tape recording reputedly by the fugitive weathermen leader bernadine dohrn. dohrn: sisters and brothers, we are not just attacking targets. we are briringing a pipitif, helplessss giant to o its kn. guard your colleges, guard your banks, guguard your c children, guard d your doorsrs. at one minute before 1:00 this morning, the switchboard at the capitol received a phone call. a man's voice said a bomb would go off in the building in half an hour. at 1:30 in the morning, it did. credit for the bombing was claimed by the weather underground. in 1971, i it appears s that wer is r really aimiming even hihi. and atat that point, their idea was fewer bombs, higher-profile targets. weather undederground bombed t the capitolol to bring joy, to bring joy to america, to bring a smile and a wink to all the kids who hate the american government. wilkerson: when the police killed young black people, we bombed the police headquarters. when w washington n escalated the wawar into camambodia, we b bombed the e capitol. a a bomb exploloded earlieir thisis morning i in the pentnt. wilkerson: it was trying to exact a small l price for these policy decisions that were so unjust. repoporter: muchch of the pepen isis a public c area wiwith visitorors and toururs roroaming throrough the haha. but securirity was tigighter ty than yesesterday. ththe '70s is s a first grgreaa of mass s air travelel. at thihis time thehere was viriy nono security y at airports. you could literally walk through the terminal, sometimemes even ontnto the ple without anyone checking your bags or your person. jenkins: one of the reasons for the rise of contemporary international terrorism was the development of modern jet air transportation. thesese were natationally lalad containersrs of potential hostages at 35,000 feet. good evening. the middle east conflict boiled over today with four airplane hijackings, including one that was aborted at london's heathrow airport. today palestinian commandos took over a british airliner, the fourth successful hijacking in as many days. the jetliner was forced to land at the jordanian desert airfield already occupied by two other big planes -- a twa and a swswiss airlinine. brinkley: : now there e are 298 8 people heleld hostagee on a bleakak, hot, dusty airstsp out in the desert, and they are surrounded by arabs who say they will kill them all if there is any attempt at rescue. jennings: the popular front for the liberation of palestine, the pflp, proudly claimed credit for the coordinated actions. ththe arabs, not justst palestininians, look at t israel as an occucupying forcrce. it's occupupying arab b land. and they don't believe that israel should be there. that's the basis of the conflict. abu sharif: there is a group from pflp on every plane, explain our problem, the palestinian problem. and to j justify the way wewe are doingng thins to convince the whole world. to the palalestinians,s, they thought ththey have nono choie but to turn to violencnce becaue no onene's listenining to the. the e american g girl , could d she tell u us w the passengers are? hoffman: the terrorists certainly used the media. this wasas an eventt that w was maximizized for its glglobal attenention. and it provided d an opportutuy to r really illuluminate the terrororists' cause. are we r rolling? whwhat the palalestinians s sa, how come t the world has so mucuch pity for r these few w hundred pepe inin the deserert, when for 2 20 years they had n no pity for our twtwo and a hahalf miln in thehe desert. the hijackckers have p placed dynamite a aboard the e plane, and a red cross official said today the planes can now be blown up at the push of a button. arab guerillas today blew up three jets worth $25 million. all the passengers had been taken off before the dynamiting, some at the last moment. simon: the black clouds could be seen for miles. anand a new ststage in thehe dag polititical situatation had be. they d don't call l this terror. we call itit terrorismsm. they c call it national r resistance.e. for us, wiwith dawson'n's fie, it was clear that thehe palestininian probm was nonot going awaway. there was s more violelence inin northern n ireland toto, the worst outbreak of street fighting to hit belfast in several months. reporter: the battle has been transformed. instead of acting as referee between warring communities, the army is now fighting britain's first urban guerilla war. the enemy is the outlawed irish republican army. english: the provisional i.r.a., the i.r.a. of the 1970s, used violence that many of us would d consider to be teterroristic,c, anand they usesed that vioiole to put preressure on t the brih to withdraw from northern ireland and to bring about an independent, united sovereign country, free from british rule. this was a sunday that people of northern ireland will not forget. [ indistinct shouting ] it all started when catholics organized a demonstration to protest a continued interment of suspected terrorists. the demonstration, as all demonstrations, was banned by the government. it was intended to be a protest which was not about ususing violenence. but t when some e of the marchs stopped and threw stones at the soldiers, it led to a dramatic and awful overreaction. [ [ gunshots ] [ gunshots continue ] utley: at least 13 people, civilians, were killed, shot to death by british soldiers. soldier: do not fire back for the moment! quinn: bloody sunday was the breaking point, where from then on, it was a war between the british army a and the i.r.. maman: the british army are the terrorists. they introduced a terrorist situation, not us. the army will stay in northern ireland as long as any faction seeks to terrorize or intimidate ordinary people. [ explosions ] [ siren wails ] chancellor: there was bad trouble in belfast, northern ireland, today, and the only word to describe it is "ghastly." the irish republican army set off more than 20 explosions for an hour and a half, creating a scene of bloody carnage without parallel in the long history of northern irish violence. 13 people are known dead, more than 120 injured. english: that day became known as bloody friday. it was part of their campaign to try and undermine british rule in northern ireland, and to make northern ireland effectivelely ungovernrnable. rereporter: no warningngs were giviven, and the targets seem to have been chosen precisely because they would be crowded with people at that time of day. english: what they managed to do was make the percussive regularity of bombs going off the norm in northern ireland during the 1970s. rereporter: whwhat do you k wiwill happen?n? boy: people will just keep going and going on. it's got to end sometime. uh, sometime, but don't know when. nobody knows. ♪ i'm jim m mckay, spepeaking tou live at this moment from abc headquarters just outside the olympic village in munich, west germany. the olympics of serenity have become the one thing the germans didn't want them to be, the olympics of terror. i was in my bed at the hotel. and the phphone rang,, and ththey said, "you better get in here. some terrorists have taken over the apartments of the israeli team." [ siren wails ] and i said, "they did what?" atat about 5:0:00 this mornig bebefore dawn,n, arab guerillas, believed now to be five in number, got over the fence into the headquarters of the israeli team. jenkins: this was the first olympics that was going to have unprecedented live television coverage. mcmckay: this s is happenining f you cacan possiblyly believe t. arab guerillas are still holding, inside the rooms of the israeli olympic team, nine people, one of them believed dead. this is a live picture you're looking at right now. that room on the end, and there again is the head of one of the guerillas. part of terrorism is theater. munich wasas so shockiking becacause... because we televised it. the teterrorists have now t tossed a papaper out of a window of the israeli quarters. it bore the title "communique" and lists five points of their ultimatum. hoffman: the first purpose was to seize the israeli athletes as hostages and then to barter them for the e release of impririsoned palelestinian. but t the wider, more strategic purpose was to shower unprecedented attention on the palestinian cause. jennings: it does appear to be confirmed, though anything confirmed today is difficult, that these guerillas are from the very extreme left wing group called black september. the communiqué ended with the appeal, "revolutionaries of the world, unite." black september actually came out of fatah. fatatah was yasssser arafat. he had been involved in the palestinian cause since the 1960s. [ speaking arabic ] baer: arafat thought he was the leader of the palestinians, and he was, in effect. i mean, he couldn't control all of them, but in as much as they had an elected representative, it wasas yasser ararafat. mckay: m more than f five minus pastst the deadldline, and the arab guerillas said they would execute their hostages, and it appears that a conference is still on. an estimated 900 million people that had tuned in to watch t the olympicic gams araround the w world werere now transnsfixed watctg ththis grisly y terrorist t da play o out in front ofof the. jejennings: ththe israeli i hos and the e arab commamandos who haveve held themem hostae fofor this entire dayy have now left to a makeshift helicopter pad at the back of the olympic village. the israelis wanted to come in and try and rescue them, and the e germans sasaid no. you know, , when the b bad numr comes upup, it comeses up very . reportrter: we finind that this dramama has not e ended. the ferry helicopter now... jenkins: the german police were set up at the nearby airbase to neutralalize the teterroris and therebeby rescue t the host. [ [ gunfire ]] mckay: the latest word we get from the airport is that "all hell has broken loose out there." that there is still shooting going on. therere is reporort of a b burning helelicopter. pedahzhzur: policece forces had no t training in this s ar. theyey didn't exexpect people who o were heavivily armed thatat were willlling to sacace ththeir lives s for a causu. they've e now said that thehere were 1111 hostag. two were killed in their rooms this mor-- yesterday morning. nine were killed at the airport tonight. they're all gone. ♪ jenkins: this stunned the world. hundreds of millions were appalled by this event. and it galvanized a number of nations to beginin to take t the probm of tererrorism morore serious. smsmith: a lot o of steady anand hard thougught has to bebn toto how we gogot into a s sitn inin which tininy bands of ruthlhless terrororists can disrupt whole nations. itit's going t to be unplelea, bubut civilizezed people a areg to have e to acceptt much more e police sececurity an and d put up mucuch tougherr resiststance, israraeli-like, until the fashion dies out or is discredited by defeats. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. there's been a a big kidnapping on the west coast. the victim is patricia hearst, the daughter of newspaper executive randolph hearst and the granddaughter of the legendary william randolph hearst. threlkeld: patricia hearst is 19. she and her fiancé were in her apartment last night whenen a woman and two o armed men n burst i, dragged patricia down the stairs, threw her into the trunk of a car and drove off. justice dedepartment officials suspect the kidnapping may be part of a nationwide campaign of terrorism. [ telephone rings ] threlkeld:d: it had bebeen threree days of f false alars untitil news camame that t this berkeleley radio s n had d received what looks to be the first real message from the kidnappers. burrough: the overwhelming irony of the patty hearst kidnapping is that the most marginal of groups manages to pull off what is, after watergate, the biggesest media spspectace of the d decade. the kidndnappers arere membes of a tererrorist groroup that calls itself the symbionese liberation army. oliver: the s.l.a. is seeking the alliance of all g groups in t this couny who oppose the present system and its government. it calls on them to unite into a fighting force, with the demands of the slogan of the s.l.a., "death to the fascist insect that preys on the life of the people." we love you, patty, and we're all praying for you. i know t those peoplple. theyey have goodod ideals. they're just going about them the wrong way. burrough: initially, patty's kidnapping progresses exacactly like you would expec. but then things start to get seriously weird. papatty hearstst claims she has s now becomeme "tania " newest recruit in the symbionese liberation army. burrough: at least initially there's widespread skepticism that patty hearst would join this group. it w wasn't until she actually showed up in the middle of an s.l.a. bank robbery with a machine gun, that suddenly all the country and all the world realized that this heiress was now papart of an u undergrd terrorisist group. reporter: she held that weapon like she would use it? yes, absolutely. i thought she would, any minute. jenkins: people really didn't understand, at this time, the hostage reaction. the term "stockholm syndrome" hadn't yet become current. well t there's a f fascinatingne inin stockholmlm last yearar, i recall, it was a bank robbery in stockholm. one of the women who was held hostage is waiting for the robber to get out of jail to marry him. cavett: what?! it's this traumatic experience in which the individual is reduced to total helplessness and begins to identify in a human sense with the captor. good evening. patty hearst has been taken into custody. the fbi says patty hearst was picked up today in san francisco. the hearst newspaper heiress has been missing for 19 months. burrough: by the time patty is finally apprehended, it's almost anti-clilimactic. patttty's famousus line when she's s taken to t the courthoe and asked her occupation, she replies, "urban guerilla." miss heaearst was drdrawn ininto a groupup of young g pe who saw themselves as political idealists. their story seems to say something about the futility of terrorism as a shortcut for persuasion. but somehow the message doesn't seem to be reaching the weather underground or northern ireland or the middle east. good evening. for the second time in a month, arab terrorists have staged a bloody attack inside israel. it happened in a small settlement called ma'alot, 5 miles from the border of lebanon. it began when the terrorists seized the high school. hoffman: in the aftermath of the munich olympic attack, governments finally realized that terrorism was both evolving and becocoming worsese, and d that thererefore they y o coconfront thehe terroriststs h. man: [ shouting in arabic ] the terrorists are saying that unless their demands are met, they will blow up the school, killing themselves and all the children inside. as they negotiated, a special israeli anti-terrorist unit moves alongside the school. hoffman: ma'alot, i think was an exemplar of countererterrorism'm's evolution. [ gunfirire ] the israelis attempted to break the siege, and unfortunately it was an unsuccessful operation. [ gunfire and explosions ] repoporter: 30 d dead, nearlrlyf them higigh-school c childre, whwhile the nunumber of ininjd stands nowow at 87. hohoffman: somometimes thehe rs were unfnfortunatelyly tragi, but at l least they y were coconfronting g the terrorori. at leastst they werere making terrorisists underststand that thehey wouldn't't have an open fifield to cararry out theheir operati. wewere the isrsraelis righgt to s storm the s school where the palestinian terrorists held the children hostage? and should there be equal condemnation of the slaughter in lebanon caused by israeli action? in the latest reprisal raids there, 50 lebanese are reported killed. israel will live! down with the p.l.o.! [ chanting ] yasssser arafat t continued d hp from egygypt to new w york toy in great secrecy as he prepared a talk for the palestine liberation organization before the united nations tomorrow. kelner: we have people who have been trained and who are out now who intend to make sure that arafat and his lieutenants do not leave this country alive. hunt: a united states army helicopter brought yasser arafat to the untied nations, flying him in from the airport because of threats against his life. arafat's coming to the u.n. was huge because he was a terrorist. i i mean, he w was behind d mu. so, fofor somebodydy that would kidnap and murder israeli athletes, coming to the u.n., it was a surprise to us. [ applausese ] hoffman: to many people in that room, he was a terrorist. but to an equal number of people, he was a freedom fighter. in the 1970s, this kind of rhetoric made perfect sense. peoplele could idedentify with arafafat, and they could see israel as the oppressor. [ applause ] english: while the palestinians hadn't, by 1974, got the palestinian liberation that they were seeking, they'd certainly put themselves on thehe agenda at a very y high levelel inde, and thisis had happepened fas. in a a historic c vote today, the united nations general assembly supported the palestinian claim to statehood. and a second resolution also passed will give the palestine liberation organization a formal place at the u.n. as an observer. english: when the p.l.o. were given observer status, it seemed to encourage the idea ththat violencnce was goining t your gririevance heaeard in a a way whichch got it reres. israel wilill pursue the p.l.o. murderers until justice is meted out to them. the blood of jewish children will not be shed with impunity. harrrris: inin the uniteted states,, terrorism m takes the form o of bombingsgs. the fbfbi records more than a thousand terrorist bombings every year. burrough: it is just startling how widespread bombings, especially these types of protest bombings, werere in the 191970s. they h happened byby the hundr. the weather underground put bombs in the state department and in a military induction center in oakland, california. it was not, to me, a weapon that you use to kill people. [ explososion ] it was something you use to disrupt things. somebody called them "exploding press releases." christiaian: both ththe washinn and d oakland bobombs were set to protest against american involvement in indochina. jenkins: the problem with lots of little bombs is the first bomb gets page one news. when you're up to the e 30th bo, it's o on page sixix. chanancellor: a bomb e exploded totoday at los angeles international airport. some groups said, only by being more ruthless can we achchieve our g goals. chchancellor:: at leastst two peoplple were kid anand more thahan 30 injurur. rereporter: inin lower manhatt, an explosion this afternoon leleft at leasast three dedd and d numerous i injured. reporter:: the exexplosion totook 11 liven a babaggage claiaim area lasast. jenkinins: terrorirists felt they had to innonovate, either i in the direrection of higher r profile targetets or higher r body countnts. in birmingngham, englaland, several bombs blew up in the center of the city tonight. at least 17 people are dead, at least 70 more are injured. simon: the first bomb went off in a crowded pub near the birmingham city center. minutes later, and less than a hundred yards away, a second bomb exploded in another pub. there had been 200 people inside. police said they were still searching for bodies in the rubble. terrorism only works when it shocks people. in the midid 1970s, ththe i.r. attempts a an entirely new tactc to bring the conflict to the british mainland. the british home front has itself become a battlefield in the raging guerilla war over northern ireland. [ sighs ] there have been many bombings in england in recent months as the terrorism of northern ireland has spread, but tonight was the worst. [ siren wails ] dancy: for sheer audacity, it was unrivaled -- arab terrorists attacking opec, the headquarters of oil power. three men were killed and three wounded. there is no certainty, but there is plenty of speculation - could one of those terrorists who raided the opec meeting in vienna be europe's most wanted fugitive, carlos sanchez martinez, also known as "the jackal"? reporter: this is the clearest news film of carlos that so far exists. that's him, breaking away, answering a call from near the plane. hoffman: carlos "the jackal," i think had enormous flair for publicity, becoming arguably the best-known terrorist of that era. but t who is thihis man knknown to pololice as carlos ilich ramirez sanchez? who is paying him? what is he after? and how many members in his troupe of terror? kalischer: carlos is thought to be a venezuelan in his late 20s, moscow trained, politically motivated, and wanted by france, holland, britain, and now austria. reporter: he crossed frontiers on six forged passports, used 10 different names, spoke spanish, english, russian, french, and arabic. jenkins: this is a face for international terrorism. here's a venezuelan working with the palestinians, allied witith the germrmans. hohoffman: he was a g gun for hirire in e service e of global l revoluti, and that gave him a very wide canvas in which to play on. reporter: he is supposed t to he mastermindnded the takeover of the french embassy in the hague, exchanging the french ambassador for an imprisoned japanese red army terrorist and $300,000. carlosos is also s sought in the bomombing of a crowded paris drugstore and a bazooka attack at orly airport last january. reporter: carlos maintained his cover as a playboy. he had learned to use women for safe shelter, to store weapons. hoffman: he was a womanizer. he wanted to stay in the nicest hotels, have caviar and champagne. that was part of the romanticism of being a a terroristst during t that era. aaron: w when paris s police moved in o on carlos l last ju, he killed two of them and then disappeared. mangold: the plastic smiles on the face of this new police unit in bavaria protect the anonymity of the first squad to be specifically trained to fight terror groups. pedahzur: what happened between '72 and '76 in germany and in other parts of the world is a complete revolution of the military and d much more e emphasis on countnterterrorisism. don't miss! don't miss! [ gunshot ] here's the situation in what's turning out to be the year's most spectacular hijack story. 101 hostages released today were flown to paris. but another 110 are still being held at the airport at entebbe, uganda, about 85 of them israeli nationals. delaney: relatives of the israeli hostages held an emotional meeting with government representatives this morning. they didn't care that israel has a basic policy of not dealing with terrorists. they wanted action from their government. pedahzur: israel set the example for many countries. they told the terrorists point-blank, "we'e're not goioing to negogoe with you.. we d do not recocognize your legititimacy." jenkins: if you're going to be hard-line in your response, how do you end the episode? do you just stand by while all the hostages are killed? some detaiails of the e long re rescue o operation are still unclear tonight, but here is what is known. hand-picked commando rescuers made the five-hour flight to uganda in three planes... the raid on entebbe is one of the perfect special operations of the modern era, dedefined by s surprise, s sp, success, but m mostly surprpri. kokoppel: the israelelis are famamiliar with the a airport at t entebe bebecause theyey built sections o of it and had anan active adadvisory e in u uganda untitil 1973, when idi amin kicked the israelis out. bergen: no one thought that anybody would fly all the way from israel to uganda to rescue the hostages. that was surprise number one. when t they landeded at the aia, all the isisraeli commmmandos were wearing ugandan military uniforms. they werere even dririving ththe same kinind of mercedes that a a ugandan g general would drivive. pedahzur: : the hijackckers dit know whahat was goining on, and by the time they figured out, it was too late for them. fentonon: it h had taken j just 52 minus from the time the first plane landed until it took off with the hostages. that was three minutes less than the rehearsal the night before. [ indistinct shouting ] reporter: the rescue seemed pretty much like a modern miracle. for relatives, who for days on end were unsure whether they would ever see their loved ones again, it was a time for joy and jubilation. man: what made you think that israel could pull off an operation like this? the alternative. the entebbe rescue was one of the few bits of good news we had regardrding counteter-terrori. it was f followed a a year lar by the daring rescue of german passengers that had been aboard a hijacked lufthansa aircraft. it was over in minutes, a blinding flash and deafening explosion and gunfire. cronkite: the plane's passengers and crew were freed in a lightning pre-dawn rescue raid by crack west german commandos at somalia's mogadishu airport. there was a sense that the pendulum was s swinging a away from terrorisist efficacycy. in other w words, ifif you hijacacked a plana, you dididn't necesessarily get a freeee run to thehe press cononference. once again, we see terrorism's evolution in the sense that the terrorists themselves often have to change up their tactics if they're going to stay one step ahead of the governments. west german industrialist hans martin schleyer, a key government advisor, was kidnapped in cologne today. briggs: the terrorists riddled the cars carrying schleyer and his police bodyguards with machine-gun fire. the bodyguards were killed. [ speaking german ] this is the third terrorist incident in germany in the past six months. all involve deaths and all involve the baader-meinhof gang. english: the baader-meinhof group, or the red army faction in west germany, was part of a 1970s trend of marxist vanguard groups -- the red brigades initially, the japanese red army, the weathermen in the united states. these were people who felt that the capitalistic structures were unjust and needed to be destroyed, and that the only effective way of doing that was s through viviolence. dancncy: the gererman policecee been raging a relentless war against the terrorists, capturing some, killing some. but the leaders of the group have often had more influence from inside prison than outside. authorities claim this man, andreas baader, contntinued to m mastermindd terrororist operatations from insnside prisonon, papassing inststruction through his s attorneys.s. hoffmaman: one e of the baaaader-meinhohog said the most fantastic thing in the 1970s was not to be a rock star, but to be a revolutionary. crcronkite: ununlike the i i.. oror other groroups, the red army faction kills selectively -- prosecutors, bankers, leaders of the society they wish so fervently to destroy. baer: they thought the more high-profile the assassination or kidnapping, the more likely that this would start the revolution, that the spark of violence would catch on. aldo m moro, 61 yeyears old, the formrmer premierer of ita, kidnapped in a bloody shootout two days ago in rome by a bunch called the red brigades, is nowhere to be found. moro's kidnapping has hit italians hard, both the man in the street and the leaders of government. the attitude that the chaos in italy is somehow the natural state of affairs here is no longer acceptable. baer: the whole idea with these attacks is to shake the confidence of the government, and they did. reporter: italy's police are struggling to maiaintain law w and orde. they appppear to be nono math fofor terrorisists, whwho, in the e last six m mo, hahave gunned d down judgeg, journalists, business executives, politicians, and policemen. aldo moro's body was found in downtown rome today. the italian political leader, one of the most respected men in the country, had been brutally murdered by his red brigades kidnappers. everyone now realizes that no one, even the most powerful, has immunity from these urban guerillas. jarriel: political terror in ireland today claimed the first member of the britishsh royal familiy to be assassinated in modern times. lord mountbatten, cousin of the queen, was killed when a powerful bomb demolished his yacht. a grandson and a boathand also died. the i.i.r.a. said ththis, "te british armymy cannot defefeat, yet it continues with the oppression of our people. well, for this," says the i.r.a., "we will tear out their sentimental, imperialist hearts." the i.r.a. were clear that in targeting mountbatten, ththey were tatargeting ththe t of the e establishmement of theirir politicalal enemy, the unitited kingdomom. quinn: it creates total outrage in england, which, in some ways, the i.r.a. welcomes. it's good that they're outraged. and then they'll pay more attention. nobody's sacrosanct in this fight. nobody. man: i is blowingp a 7979-year-old dn something the i.r.a. should be proud of? he was a person who personified british imperialism, and he implemented the most repressive and vile legislation, which has made for the state of war which exists today. the british government fears the brutal violence in ireland could grow worse, possibly even including attacks on the queen. cochran: queen elizabeth's opening speech to parliament, a promise to restore peace and security to northern ireland. and the i.r.a. says its response will be simply more shootings, more bombings. [ alall chantingng ] donaldson: the u.s. embassy in tehran has been invaded and occupied by iranian students. the americans inside have been taken prisoner. i'll be honest with you, i was scared. who knows whwhat a mob c could? the american hostages were blindfolded, handcuffed, and marched out on the u.s. embassy's front steps by the revolutionary students. in return for their american hostages' freedom,, they're demanding the united states give up the deposed shah of iran from his hospital bed in new york to stand trial before a people's court. hoffman: amidst the iranian revolution, america's closest ally in the region, the shah o of iran is basicalally toppleded. both the s shah anand the unitited statess seem to be completely aloof to the revolutionary fervor, to the deep religiosity that was increasingly captivating the thoughts of ordinary iranians. reporter: khomeini said the new iranian islamic republic would be inspired by the stern religious principles of islam, nothing else. ayatollah khomeini became the enemy of the united states the minunute he replaced the s . he gave a series of sermons that condemned the loss of iranian sovereignty. limbert: when khomeini saw large crowds gathering in support in front of the embassy, he made the decision, "i'm not gonna stand against this wave, i'm gonna ride it." [ all chanting ] dyk: there has been a persistent belief in many quarters here in iran that the united states government was s plotting t to restore e th to powerer here. from thehe iranian s standpoi, it wasasn't terrororism. ththey looked d at the embmby asas an occupypying force.. the embassy was actually the agent for controlling iranian politics. lelewis: khkhomeini issssued a new w wa. he said if t the americans try military force to rescue the hostages, the students will kill them all and blow up the embassy. serafin: because the distance to tehran from the arabian sea and problems in achieving surprise, an entebbe-type raid to rescue the american hostages is considered unlikely. man: but how much longer can you go on doing this? we are ready to go on until martyrdom. martyrs are alive in islam. martyrs do not die. martyrs are not destroyed. so the bullets do not really kill. the bullets do not kill the rights of the people. [ all praying ] hoffman: terrorism was suddenly moving from what had once been almost entirely a secular, politically ideological movement to sometething that t now is motivatedd or fueled by religious fervor. in mecca, men described as "religious deviants" are holding hostages in the sacred grand mosque. compton: 15,000 pilgrims were praying at dawn when the 30 giant doors were sealed off by hundreds of members of a moslem sect. they seek to purify their religion from what they say is the corrupt influence of the current saudi arabian government. dozens are said to have died. wright: this group of radical sunni fanatics took over -- very abruptly, very suddenly, and very quickly -- islam's holiest site. rereporter: sasaudi officicialh tanks anand troops t to mecc, surrounding the shrine. eyewitnesses say as many as 10,000 pilgrims are still inside the grand mosque, and sniper fire was heard all day in mecca. broadcasts from iran today blamed the united states for the assault on the grand mosque in mecca, the moslem holy city in saudi arabia. those broadcasts were heard in islamabad, the capital of pakistan, where a mob stormed the american embassy, killed a young marine guard, and trapped about 100 americans inside the embassy. kiker: the mob was screaming, "kill the american dogs" as they stormed the u.s. embassy in islamabad. this is the third major event now in the moslem world in the last 24 hours. in tehran this morning, millions of people are shouting "death to the shah, death to carter." that is followed by the cry, "god is great." [ all chanting ] bergen: these groups are very hard to dissuade. these people believe that god is on their side. thatat's a very y powerful f m ofof delusion.n. wrwright: by t the end of f the, it wasas clear that the united states was so ill-prepared and failed to recognize the extraordinary change that had h happened inin the '. reportrter: new yeyear's eve, end of the decade, but not yet of the deadlock. hoffman: in 1979, we take a deep breath and realize that we're on the precipice of an entirely newew era ofof terrorismsm. rereporter: the islamimic world isis in cri, and the crisis goes well beyond the u.s. embassy walls in tehran. hoffman: rather than catching our breath, what we should have been thinking is, how can n this get w worse? it sounds like the most futile observation possible, but i'm going to make it anyhow -- we have to find a way to stop terrorism. it is growing at a scary rate. terror is a new form of warfare, and history shows that every new form of warfare, like hitler's blitzkrieg, seems indomitable at first. but it soon provokes ingenuity to find ways to overcome it. remember, skyjacking seemed insuperable in this country once. we have now stopped it. i don't know how terrorism can be stopped, but history's rhythm is on our side.