Kidnapping of Col. William Higgins
William R. Higgins, a U.S. Marine serving as the chief of a United Nations observer group in southern Lebanon, was pulled from his car by armed men while driving alone on Lebanon's coastal highway on Feb. 17, 1988.
A year and a half later, a video surfaced of Higgins's lifeless body hanging from a rope, having been badly beaten. Perry writes "[t]he Higgins kidnapping, for which CIA professionals continue to hold Mughniyeh responsible, proved an even greater insult, particularly after U.S. officials received a videotape of his torture. The video, delivered to the Americans, reflected a graphic exercise in animalistic vengeance. 'Unforgettable,' as one former intelligence officer who saw it says. But the message was also ruthlessly clinical: Top this."
Image Credit: U.S. Department of Defense via Associated Press
