Others sought help in the “rat line” operatedrnby the Vatican and found exile inrnthose countries that had shown somernsympathy to the Axis, notably in Spainrnand Latin America: Pavelic himself becamernpart of this diaspora, fleeing to Peron’srnArgentina. In such congenial settings,rnCroat leaders formed alliancesrnwith other like-minded victims of therncollapse of fascism. The Croats, likernthe exiled Ukrainians, Romanian IronrnGuardists, and others, were encouragedrnto maintain their political and intelligencernnetworks in alliance with Westernrngovernments, who were anxious to findrnpotential foot-soldiers for the Cold Warrnconfrontation with European communism.rnThe various emigre groups foundrnan international focus in the WorldrnAnti-Communist League, an extremernright-wing coalition formed by the unholyrnmarriage of European “captive nations”rnand Asian irredentists, largelyrndrawn from South Korea and Taiwan.rnIn addition, the Croat nationalists portrayedrnthemselves as Catholic victims ofrncommunist persecution, a stance thatrnhelps to explain the sympathy their causernhas attracted from the American right,rnmost vociferously in the Reagan years.rnThese postwar events go far towardrnexplaining the highly successful recrudescencernof Croat nationalist andrnparamilitary groups in the 1970’s, whenrna new generation of militants was galvanizedrnby the upsurge of nationalist andrndemocratic radicalism following the continent-rnwide “events” of 1968. The newrnmilitants were able to capitalize on thern”anti-Bolshevik” alliances formed byrntheir parents, and Croat military groupsrnemerged after 1971 as part of the newrn”Black International,” the fascist-tingedrnnetwork of groups that found inspirationrnin Franco’s Spain, Peron’s Argentina,rnStroessner’s Paraguay, and ColonelrnGeorge Papadopoulos’s Greece. Therernarose a bewildering proliferation ofrnmilitant groups such as the UnitedrnCroats of West Germany, the CroatianrnRevolutionary Brotherhood (HRB), andrnthe Croatian Liberation Movementrn(HOP)—HOP, in fact, was led by StejpanrnHefer, a wartime aide to Pavelic.rnEven the Ustashi name reappeared sporadically.rnAll the groups sought to appeal to thernmoral and financial sympathy of ethnicrnCroatians in North America, WesternrnEurope, and Australia. Today, there arernperhaps a quarter of a million ethnicrnCroatians living outside their homeland.rnand many have prospered sufficiently tornbe able to give generously to “patriotic”rncauses. In addition, Croat guerrillasrnreaped rich rewards for services renderedrnto various clandestine agencies, and theyrnserved as mercenaries for right-wingrncauses around the globe.rnThe resort to armed struggle was exemplifiedrnby events in a dozen countries,rnabove all in Western Europe. Inrn1971, for example, the Yugoslav consulaternin Milan was bombed: significantly,rnthe action occurred in one of thernheartlands of the “Black”-oriented Italianrngroups. Shortly afterwards, 27 civiliansrnperished in the bombing of a Yugoslavrnairliner over Czechoslovakia, and arnSwedish airliner was hijacked. Croatrnextremists assassinated the Yugoslavrnambassador to Sweden, and Croat activityrnwould long be significant in thisrncountry. In 1986, it was hypothesizedrnthat Croat militants might have carriedrnout the still unexplained murder ofrnSwedish Prime Minister Olof Palme,rnperhaps acting under orders from thernChilean or Paraguayan regime.rnIn 1972, a Balkan “Bay of Pigs” occurredrnwhen 19 guerrillas launched arncomic-opera “invasion” of Yugoslavia itself.rnThe incident drew particular attentionrnto Croat activities in Australia,rnwhere the operation had been planned.rnThe militants there go under the namernof the “Croatian Brotherhood,” andrnthrough the 1980’s they were regarded asrnthe group most likely to pose a domesticrnterrorist threat to Australia itself. Inrn1978, 13 men were arrested for carryingrnout paramilitary training intended tornlead to the commission of terrorist attacksrnwithin Yugoslavia. The followingrnyear, Australian intelligence disrupted arnplot to carry out bombings and assassinations.rnIn the United States, the most activerngroup was the “Croatian Freedom Fighters,”rnCFF, whose most-celebrated actrninvolved the 1976 hijacking of a TWArnflight en route from New York City tornChicago. The flight was diverted tornMontreal, and thence to London andrnParis. The crew and 63 passengers werernfreed after statements supporting Croatianrnindependence were published inrnleading American newspapers. This affairrnended relatively bloodlessly, butrnother aspects of the CFF campaign werernmore lethal. One of the CFF activistsrnlinked to the hijacking was also said to berninvolved in planting a bomb that killed arnNew York City bomb disposal expert.rnCroat groups also carried out sporadicrnbombings through the early 1980’s, ineludingrnan attack on a court building inrnLower Manhattan and multiple attacksrnagainst the United Nations building,rnprobably the world’s single most temptingrnterrorist target. Other actions includedrnthe kidnapping of a German consulrnin Chicago.rnMuch more seriously, there is now arnconsensus that Croat groups were guiltyrnof the 1975 bombing at New York City’srnLa Guardia Airport, which led to 11rndeaths. In terms of casualties, this crimernremains the single most serious act ofrnterrorism on American soil in modernrntimes; the lack of outcry against thernCroat extremists perhaps results fromrnthe long period that ensued beforernAmerican authorities were able to assignrnblame. Interestingly, the La Guardia attackrnis rarely referred to in recent worksrnon terrorism directed against the UnitedrnStates, and it seems almost to havernslipped from public memory.rnCroat terrorist campaigns were at theirrnheight between about 1972 and 1984,rnbut they have since gone into decline.rnHowever, it is uncertain whether thisrnis due to better counterterrorist policiesrnby Western nations or to a deliberaterndecision by the militants to focus theirrnefforts on the fragmenting Yugoslav republic.rnWhatever the reason, Croat internationalrnterrorism now appears moribund;rnbut the heritage of these violentrnactivities is a lively and indeed pressingrnissue. In the late 1980’s, a new Croat nationrnemerged from the wreckage of thernold federation, and Croatia attractedrnwidespread international support bothrnfor the justice of its cause and for its underdogrnstatus in the face of Serbian militaryrnassaults. However, Serbian hostilityrncan only be understood in light of thernUstashi atrocities of the I940’s and thernsuggestion that the contemporary Croatrnnation is a lineal successor to the Pavelicrnregime.rnOf course, postwar Croat nationalistsrnhave sought to disassociate themselvesrnfrom this bloody past, and they bitterlyrnresent the Ustashi label, which is appliedrnfreely by the Yugoslav government, butrntheir subsequent actions have made suchrna link plausible. In the late I980’s, thernnew Croat government headed by FranjornTudjman made a point of celebratingrnApril 10 as Croatian Independence Day,rnand thus as a noble and laudable day inrnCroat history. The date commemoratesrnthe Axis victorv over Yugoslavia in 1941rn46/CHRONICLESrnrnrn