One Day in September Page #6

with its engine idling.

On board would be a voluntary squad

of policemen...

disguised as flight crew.

The Palestinians and Israelis

would be flown in by helicopter.

When Issa and his deputy

went to inspect the plane...

the fake crew would overcome them.

Meanwhile, five snipers positioned

on the tower and around the airfield...

would open fire

on the remaining terrorists...

and assault vehicles would rush in

to rescue the hostages.

There were only five snipers

because the police still believed...

there would be a total

of four to five terrorists.

This is Peter Jennings

in the Olympic village.

The Olympic village

is built on various levels...

and underneath building 31, and

underneath all of the buildings here...

there is a network of roads.

Those alleyways

now have been used to bring in...

a fairly massive security force,

including armored cars...

and just a short while ago,

Howard Cosell...

noticed that there was

considerable activity there.

Over the recent 25 to 30 minutes...

there was a flurry of activity,

cars were speeding off...

and we now have a corridor

or avenue of departure...

available to the Arabs...

should a deal have been made

and should they be coming out...

as now seems likely.

So there is a quiet now

and an expectancy.

I didn't feel fear as such.

I felt apprehensive,

as any person would.

I was afraid of failing.

The Palestinians and Israelis

were to be flown by helicopter...

to Furstenfeldbruck Airport.

But how would they get themselves

and their hostages...

to the helicopters,

which were on the edge of the village.

They decided to walk

via the underground car park.

The police saw

another ambush opportunity...

and placed marksmen here...

but Issa insisted

on checking the route first.

So we walked there with one of...

the terrorists behind me

with a machine gun in my back...

and at that time, some of the gunmen

of the German police...

were lying in the side streets...

and when we approached,

they were crawling away.

So the terrorists immediately

found out that there was danger...

and they decided to use a bus

and not to walk.

The terrorists brought the Israelis

down a passage...

into an underground car park

and to a bus.

Robert Thompson, a 24-year-old

Canadian water polo player...

saw them leave.

So then they brought

seven of them out...

and they put seven of the Israelis

on the bus...

and then he went back inside,

and then they brought out more.

During this, there was one fellow

standing in front of the bus...

with a machine gun,

watching all of it.

The terrorists had all the guns.

What were the Israelis doing?

They were tied.

They had their hands

tied in front of them...

and plus their hands

were tied like that.

Then around the back they had ropes,

and they were tied together like that.

The first man that got out was

the man with the white pith helmet.

He got out, went over

to the first helicopter...

and made a complete check

with a flashlight.

He checked in and out, both back,

front and middle of the helicopter...

and when he saw that everything

looked like it was all right...

he signaled, and four hostages

started to march out...

with their hands

tied in front of them...

and behind them

was an Arab guerilla...

with some kind of weapon

in his hand.

It was quite

a frightening experience.

It wasn't any James Bond.

It was the real thing.

It has taken less than five minutes

to reach the waiting helicopters...

but in that five minutes

a critical piece of information...

has suddenly been revealed.

There are not four guerillas

nor even five, as the police believed.

There are eight, and there are

only five police marksmen...

waiting at Furstenfeldbruck Airport.

We were standing

at a window directly above...

as our friends were led handcuffed

from the bus to the helicopters.

The terrorists stood there

with rifles.

They looked as if they felt like heroes

dominating the world.

All around,

flashbulbs were going off.

I felt bitter.

It's not a movie.

It's our people we're talking about!

Two were already murdered, and

they were making a show out of it.

One of the helicopters now proceeds

out over the Olympic site...

out over the main stadium

where half the lights are on.

The second helicopter

is now following it...

and moving out around

this tremendously high...

major Olympic tower

as they depart...

to a destination we, of course,

as yet do not know.

And we, with the German team...

we moved to the third helicopter.

The third helicopter

now moving right by us...

right over the Olympic village...

passing now

over the main stadium.

All the lights on

in this Olympic site-

an Olympic site

which for more than a week now...

has been a place of serenity

and comradeship-

an Olympic village which, in spite of

some political crisis, has been happy...

and now today has been

absolutely shattered...

by this tragedy.

As we were flying...

we began to get the feeling

that a trap was waiting for us...

so we began to prepare ourselves.

In the event of an ambush,

we had been told to fight...

with all our strength,

as though in battle.

We were to do

everything necessary...

to defend ourselves

and our operation.

The marksmen,

who had no radio links...

were still only expecting

a total of five terrorists.

Nobody from the village

thought to inform them...

that there were now known

to be eight.

We rushed quickly

into the main building...

we moved to the second floor.

It was dark-

dark in the place.

There were very many people in

the corridors and around the building-

behind the building.

From the window we could watch

and see the two helicopters...

landing in front of us.

Just as the helicopters...

bearing the Palestinians

and Israelis were landing...

the police squad

assigned to the decoy plane...

fearing that

they were under-trained...

took a vote

to abandon their mission.

It was quite simply

a suicide mission...

and we unanimously voted

to abandon it.

And this was seconds before-

not even minutes-

seconds before

the helicopters landed.

I told the minister,

I said, "I'm sure...

this will blow the whole affair. "

The Germans had marksmen

on the roof of the control tower...

and marksmen at ground level...

but they had no communications

between each other.

They were just briefed to shoot.

When the first marksmen opened fire,

they would all open fire...

but there was

no coordination of targets.

Some of us got out of

the helicopters...

but others waited inside it with

the hostages, who were now very scared.

We told them that it was in everybody's

interests for them to remain quiet.

Now, the leader of the team,

he and another one...

went to check the aircraft.

The Palestinians

were obviously missing...

the whole crew,

because they came back...

and were yelling.

They were, of course, excited.

As the leader returned

from the airplane...

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