Terrorism: A Case of the Jitters

French Interior Minister Pierre Joxe set his jaw and adopted a determined tone. "The terrorists wanted to unsettle public opinion, and they have succeeded," he said. "But they also hope to intimidate the government, and there they will not succeed." Even as Joxe spoke, Paris was a city nearly under siege. A small army of police guarded transportation outlets and other key points. The tightened security was in response to a wave of bombings that had given the French capital a bad case of the jitters. A total of 21 people were injured, eight seriously, in three explosions that rocked crowded Paris stores. A fourth bomb, planted in the Eiffel Tower, was disarmed before it exploded.

Intelligence and diplomatic sources in France and the Middle East believe the bombings are a new attempt by Shi'ite terror groups to pressure the French government into releasing imprisoned terrorists in exchange for four Frenchmen kidnaped last year in Beirut. The terrorist attacks did nothing to improve the prospects for the European tourist industry. American bookings have fallen off so sharply in some countries that one Greek tourism official called it a "biblical catastrophe."