Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R0001 0027001 1-1
RedBrigades Kidnap anAmerican General in Italy
r
***
Special to The New York Timce
j
WASHINGTON. Dec. 17— Brig. Gen.
James L. Dozier, a united States Army
; staff
officer, was abducted today
in
Verona,
Italy, a Pentagon spokesman
''disclosed tonight.
The Red Brigades, the leftist guerrilla
'.group, took responsibility for the kid-
1xxajpping In a telephone call to, the Italian
(news agency ANSA.
! the Pentagon spokesman, Col. Ron-
hid A. Duchin, said that an unknown
number of men broke into General Do-
ctor's apartment at 5:30 P.M.
Italian
time <11:30 A.M. New York time), tied
Sp his wife, Judith, and bodily carried
General Dozier away.
! A phone call to the Milan office of
ANSA said: “We have kidnapped Briga-
dier General James Dozierin Verona. A
fcommuniqufe will follow.
’
• The general is the first American kid-
napped by the Red Brigades, although
the group has abducted several Italian
Officials, Including former Prime Minis-
terAldo More, who was killed in 1978.
;
Served inNATO Command
» The Pentagon spokesman said Gen-
eral Dozfer , who is 50 years old and from
Arcadia, Fla., is deputy chief of staff for
logistics
and
administration
at
the
Verona headquarters
for
allied
land
forces in southern Europe. That com-
mand
is part
of the North
Atlantic
Treaty Organization.
J According to police sources in Verona
i quoted by The Associated Press, there
/were four assailants carrying guns, and
a scuffle took place during which the
general was hurt.
The police sources said the general
had been placed inside a trunk and
loaded into a vehicle, which sped away.
Before his assignment in Italy, Gen-
eral Dozier was a student at the Defense
Language
Institute, where he studied
Italian.
There have been previous terrorist at-
tacks on senior United States Amy offi-
cers in Europe. In Jude 1979 a bomb was
placed under an automobile in which
Gen. Alexander M. Haig. Jr, then the
Supreme Commander of Allied Forces
in Europe, was riding near his head-
quarters in Belgium. Mr., Haig is Secre-
tary of State now.
General?s Auto Was Ambushed
On Sept. 15 a terrorist unit to West
Germany ambushed an automobile car-
rying Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen, the
commander of United States forces in
Europe, and his wife.
In neither case were the officers seri-
ously injured. But security gudrds were
hurt.
A Pentagon spokesman said tonight
that generals serving
in Europe had
been cautioned after the attack on Gen-
eral Kroesen to be more aware of their
person security. He declined to give de-.
tails.
General
Dozier,
according
to
his
records in the Pentagon, was graduated
from the Military Academy at West
Point in 1956 and is an armored forces
officer. Before going to Italy, he was
successively a brigade commander, 6
division chief of staff and a corps chiel
of staff at Fort Hood, Tex*
Italy OrdersSearch
SpecUl to TbsNew York Times
ROME, Friday, Dec. 18 — A United!
States Amy spokesman said tonight
that General Dozier had been abducted’
by four armed men Who entered
his;
apartment disguised as plttfabera.
•
The Italian news agency ANSA said;
Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini had
ordered a major search.
j
Trie spokesman, Maj. Mario Gargiu-'
lo, said the kidnappers had struck the?
general, stunning him. They bound his?
wife with Chains and plastic tape.
Major Gargiulo said the general had
put up no resistance, possibly to prevent;
harm to his wife, Judith. He quoted Mrs.
Dozier as saying the men took her hus-
band away in what appeared to be a
steamship trunk. She was slightly
in-;
lured around
the
wrists from
being
t
bound.
I
Major Garguilo said the abduction
was
discovered
when
Mrs.
Dozier
alerted neighbors by banging on the
wall of her sixth-floor apartment.
The spokesman said the police had
found a van in Verona that they believed
was the getaway vehicle.
Approved For Release 2000/08/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R0001 0027001 1-1