The Commies Did It

If you've ever been to Italy, you can't help notice how slow some of the workers are. But this is ridiculous. Almost 25 years after Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II, an Italian commission finally determines what most of us suspected: the Soviets ordered the hit.

An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II -- a theory long alleged but never proved, according to a draft report made available Thursday.

The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe.

"This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla," said a draft of the commission's report obtained by The Associated Press. Wojtyla was John Paul's Polish name.

As the story points out, Mikhail Gorbachev denied in 1991 that the KGB had anything to do with the pope's attempted murder. However, the panel points the finger at the Soviet military apparatus. Moscow continues to deny involvement. Ali Agca has told several stories, including one that he was working for the Soviets. He remains in prison on a murder charge after serving 20 years for the pope's shooting.

No doubt John Paul II was a threat to the Soviet empire. It is entirely probable that the Commies attempted to take him out of the picture. It is was great irony that the four people most responsible for finally pushing the Iron Curtain down -- John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatch and Lech Walesa -- all lived to see its demise.

Unfortunately, the Russian government led by a former KGB thug seems more than willing to go back to its repressive ways.