Terrorism

The bombed remains of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City after a terrorist bomb exploded killing 168 and wounding another 800, 19 Apr. 1995.

Terrorism refers to any act, nearly always violent, unpredictable, and chaotic in nature, often targetting civilians, intended to create an atmosphere of fear in order to obtain a political objective. Terrorism has been practiced by both left-wing and right-wing political organizations, religious and nationalistic groups, revolutionaries, as well as — to use the somewhat controversial notion of "state terrorism" — armies, police, and security forces. Since non-governmental terrorist groups are generally small in numbers and have few resources available, they rely on dramatic and destructive hit-and-run acts of violence to seize the attention of the general population, thereby seeking to impose their influence through the publicity associated with their violence. Acts of terrorism include bomb scares and bombings, hijackings, assassinations, kidnappings, cyber-attacks, and attacks using biological, chemical, and — theoretically — nuclear weapons.

Definition

"Above the gates of hell is the warning that all that enter should abandon hope. Less dire, but to the same effect, is the warning given to those who try to define terrorism." quoted by Lord Carlisle in a report to the UK Parliament

Terrorism has many definitions and the concept is the subject of much controversy. The term terrorism was first used in the 1790s to describe terror used by government during the French Revolution.

Based on a survey of leading academics, there are at least 109 different definitions of terrorism (Schmid & Jongman 1988). A compiled analysis of this survey identified the following recurring elements:

Recurring elements of terrorism Violence, force (83.5%) Political (65%) Fear, emphasis on terror (51%) Threats (47%) Psychological effects and anticipated reactions (41.5%) Discrepancy between the targets and the victims (37.5%) Intentional, planned, systematic, organized action (32%) Methods of combat, strategy, tactics (30.5%)

Weinberg et al (2004) explore why it is so hard to define terrorism. They emphasize the difficulties associated with all "essentially contested concepts," noting also such problems as conceptual "stretching" and "traveling." In an effort to solve these difficulties, they seek a consensus definition of terrorism by turning to an empirical analysis of how the term has been employed by academics over the years. Specifically, the well-known definition developed by Alex Schmid, based on responses to a questionnaire he circulated in 1985, is compared with the way the concept has been employed by contributors to the major journals in the field: Terrorism: Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Terrorism and Political Violence. The 22 "definitional elements" of which Schmid's definition is composed are compared to the frequency with which they appear in the professional journals. If these elements appear frequently in both the Schmid definition and those employed by the journal contributors, they are then used to form a consensus definition of the concept. The most striking feature of this academic consensus over the meaning of terrorism is the virtual absence of references to the psychological element, heretofore widely thought to be at the heart of the concept.

The common elements of terrorism, as stated by Ganor (2002), are “the use of, or threat to use, violence”; “the goal is to attain political objectives”; and “the targets of terrorism are civilians”. The most widely accepted legal definition is defined in Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(d), which states: "The term ‘terrorism’ means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience."

Often the definition of terrorism varies among the various agencies of a country's government, an example of this is in the USA:

Agency	Definition
Department of Defense	The calculated use of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.
FBI	The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives
State Department	Premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

State Sponsorship of Terrorism

There are basically three categories of state sponsorship of terrorism. These are as follows:

1. States supporting terrorism – “states that support terrorist organizations, providing financial aid, ideological support, military or operational assistance” (Ganor 2002) 2. States operating terrorism – “states that initiate, direct and perform terrorist activities through groups outside their own institutions” (Ganor 2002) 3. States perpetrating terrorism – “states perpetrating terrorist acts abroad through their own official bodies” (Ganor 2002) or perpetrating terrorist acts domestically (i.e. within its own borders).

Characteristics of Terrorist attacks

Planning and organization

Terrorist attacks are planned to ensure the largest amount of publicity to spread their cause to the general population. An example is the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya, which took al-Qaeda nearly five years to plan.

When planning a major attack, the terrorists gather intelligence on the intended target such as its defenses and vulnerabilities. Logistics specialists assemble the weapons, communications equipment, and arrange transportation and escape routes for the team that will carry out the attack. Once all the preparations are complete, the terrorist team will execute the plan. Usually separate teams carry out each step for security reasons so if one team is captured, they can't tell about the other team.

All terror groups usually keep their plans secret, operating underground and away from the public and government authorities. Terrorists are often organized into small groups called terror cells which are part of a larger terrorist network and several cells can work together to plan a terrorist attack. Members of one cell usually only know about an adjacent cell, but aren't aware of any other cells. This means that if members of one cell are captured, the entire network will not be discovered.

Targets

He [the revolutionary] is damned always to do that which is most repugnant to him: to become a slaughterer, to sacrifice lambs so that no more lambs may be slaughtered, to whip people with knouts so that they may learn not to let themselves by whipped, to strip himself of every scruple in the name of a higher scrupulousness, and to challenge the hatred of mankind because of his love for it - an abstract and geometric love." Arthur Koestler

The main targets of terrorism are civilians, because they are easy to attack and create an atmosphere of fear. Other terrorist attacks target specific targets such as diplomats or their facilities such as embassies and consulates; military bases; police; business executives and corporate offices; water supply and pipelines; power facilities such as power plants, dams and power grids; and transportation facilities such as airplanes and airports, subways, trains and train stations, and buses and bus terminals. Buildings of political and economic importance are targeted as shown during the 9-11 Attacks in 2001 when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit, while the US Capitol Building was targeted, but never attacked. Most attacks on buildings are usually used to draw attention to the terrorist group rather than to cause death and destruction; though this is caused nonetheless.

Weapons

The Soviet AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle is a common weapon of terrorists because of its low cost and wide availability.

Bombing is a common terrorist tactic because of its simplicity and lack of the need of skill to create, plant, and detonate a crude bomb. Assassination, kidnapping, and assaults against well-defended targets require more sophisticated organization, planning, and weaponry. These bombs can consist of commercially produced explosives such as black powder, TNT, plastic explosives; or commercially available materials made into homemade explosives, such as fertilizer (ammonium nitrate) mixed with diesel fuel; these homemade explosives are called "Improvised Explosive Devices" (IEDs). Bombs can be either explosive or incendiary and the most effective bombs usually employ a shaped charge that moves the force of the blast in a specific direction. Bombs can be detonated by time-delay detonators which rely on clocks, watches, and other timing devices; remote-control detonators which use radio or other electronic signals; command-wire detonators use a button which is pressed to trigger the explosion.

Many terrorists use automatic firearms such as assault rifles, pistols, machine guns and submachine guns or rifles with sniper sights. Some terrorist weapons are made outside legal arms factories, these include the Soviet AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle and the U.S. manufactured M60 machine gun, which are manufactured in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. These illegaly manufactured arms are called "improvised firearms" Terrorists have also used both small-sized and heavy-calibre mortars and rocket-propelled grenades or RPGs; the most widely used model of this weapon being the RPG-7. The RPG-7 can pierce through up to 12 inches of the ceramic and reinforced steel layers of armor that protects military and police vehicles. Another favorite weapon of terrorists is the hand grenade and incendiary weapons like the "molotov cocktail" (a glass bottle of gasoline).

Fear of terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons increased after the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway and the 2001 discovery of anthrax spores mailed in the United States. Chemical weapons contain toxic chemical compounds, like dioxin or nerve gas, while biological weapons use living organisms or toxins like anthrax spores.

History

Early examples of terrorism were the actions of the Jewish Zealots. Known to the Romans as sicarii or dagger-men, the Zealots engaged in violent attacks on Roman occupation forces and fellow Hebrews who were accused of collaboration with the Romans. The next group to show characteristics of terrorism were the Assassins. The Assassins were a breakaway faction of Shia Islam called Nizari Ismalis who used the tactic of assassination of enemy leaders. The tactics used by the Assassins involved sending a lone man to kill an enemy leader at the costof his own life, instilling fear in the enemy.

The French government under Robespierre systematically used terrorism during the French Revolution; the word "terrorism" was first used for his Reign of Terror, and the agents that enforced the government policies were referred to as "terrorists". During Reconstruction after the American Civil War the Ku Klux Klan was formed by defiant Southerners waged a campaign of violence and intimidation against freed former slaves and supporters of Reconstruction. In the late 19th century, small groups of revolutionary anarchists were formed. These anarchists assassinated heads of state from Russia, France, Spain, Italy, and the USA. But their lack of organization and refusal to cooperate with other social movements made anarchism ineffective as a political movement. However, Communism was just beginning as an ideological basis for revolution, and the 20th century would bring about many new developments in terrorism in support of political aims.

Nationalism intensified around the world during the early 20th century and it became a powerful force in the various peoples of colonial empires. Native peoples in Egypt and Vietnam rebelled against the colonial regimes, using dramatic acts which were described as terrorism. The Black Hand was a group active before World War I that was involved in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria which was considered an act of terrorism that started the First World War. After World War I terrorism became an official policy in states such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, the leaders of these states, used arrest, torture, imprisonment, and execution to bring fear to the people of the country so they would not question their actions.

Perhaps the first example of a modern terrorist movement was Algeria's Front de libération nationale (FLN) which killed random French civilians. In 1956 France executed two Algerian rebels, which caused the FLN to kill 49 French civilians in three days, bombing beachside cafes and eventually raising the price of colonialism to levels too high for many colonial empires. The FLN's success inspired rebel groups around the world to adopt terrorist tactics, including Basque separatists, Palestinian and Irish nationalists, and Marxist African and Latin American cabals.

In Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was founded to try to end Northern Ireland's status as part of the UK, and establish a united socialist Ireland by armed force. The organisation was made illegal in both the UK and in the Republic of Ireland, but was extensively financed by sympathisers in the USA . The Provisional IRA's strategy was to use violence to cause the collapse of the Northern Ireland administration, and to cause so many casualties among the British security forces that British public opinion would force the government to withdraw those forces, against the will of the majority Unionist community in Northern Ireland. Between 1971 and 1994, the armed campaign mainly targeted the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Ulster Defence Regiment, and economic targets in Northern Ireland, but it also included sectarian killings such as the Kingsmill massacre of 1976.

The IRA also took its campaign to England, including planting bombs in pubs in Birmingham, and they targeted British government officials, politicians, judges, and police officers in England and elsewhere. The armed campaign ended in 2005, allowing the political wing of the nationalist movement, Sinn Feinn, to enter into a power-sharing agreement with the Unionist political parties. During the campaign, it is estimated that the provisional IRA were responsible for about 1,800 deaths including 1,100 members of the security forces and about 600 civilians.

But Western terrorism of the 60s and 70s wasn't nearly as deadly as the violence in the Middle East that was yet to come. In the years surrounding the formation of the modern state of Israel, Jewish paramilitary groups used terrorist tactics both to expel the British authorities (who then ruled Palestine) and to drive the Arab civilian population from their homes and villages in an attempt to create a territory within which Jewish settlers would be the majority. Prominent among these groups was the Irgun Zvai Leumi (IZL). In February 1944, Menachim Begin, then a commander of the IZL, announced the start of an underground campaign against the British authorities.[1], a campaign that included bombing the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which killed 91 people. After Israel achieved independence, Begin entered the political mainstream; he was to become its sixth Prime Minister, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Irgun campaign involved conquest and occupation of territory then occupied by Arabs. One typical target was the small Arab settlement of Deier Yassin. In April 1948, Irgun fighters entered the village to expel the inhabitants, and, when they met some resistance, killed a large number of the villagers (exactly how many is disputed). This event, the so-called "Massacre of Deier Yassin", greatly added to the fear of the Palestinians, leading them to flee their homes and villages in increasing numbers, so accomplishing Irgun's objectives. In the process a large population of Palestinian Arab were made refugees, and indeed became "stateless".

In the refugee camps, anger and resentment, in continuing conditions of poverty and insecurity, provided the seeds for a resistance movement that itself turned to terror as a tactic. Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) committed many dramatic acts of terrorism, including the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. But since the PLO's goals were political, rather than religious, Arafat distanced himself from terrorism. However, while the PLO itself turned from violence towards conventional political activity, other groups, particularly extremist groups of Islamic fundamentalists became active. Islamic fundamentalism spread throughout the Middle East, spawning groups such as al-Qaeda and Hamas. Hamas, the "Liberation Tigers" of Tamil Eelam, and other groups adopted suicide bombing tactics, not just to inflict damage, but for religious motivation. Many Muslims thought that the USA stood for immoral values, and many terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden, made the USA their primary target. These terrorists thought that destroying the USA would be doing the work of God.

Some of the deadliest terrorist attacks on US soil happened in the 1990s, including the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, when 168 people were killed and another 800 injured. Several other American targets overseas were attacked including military installations in Saudi Arabia in 1996 and U.S. embassies in Kenya in 1998. In response to this attack, the United States attacked several terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan with ship-launched cruise missiles.

But the deadliest terrorist attacks to date were the 9-11 Attacks when al-Qaeda hijacked four American airliners in a suicide mission, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashing in rural Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to take control of the plane. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. Shortly after these attacks US president George W. Bush declared a global war on terrorism in 2001. After 2001, terrorist attacks continued around the world, most notably the 2004 Madrid, Spain train bombings and bombings in London, United Kingdom on one double-decker bus and three London Underground trains in 2005.

Types of Terrorism

• Bio Terrorism – the release of germs or viruses, such as anthrax
• Chemical Terrorism – the release of poisonous chemicals
• Cyber Terrorism – the electronic attack on critical computer infrastructure
• Nuclear Terrorism – the use of nuclear materials in a terrorist attack, either a nuclear bomb or a "dirty bomb" (highly radioactive chemicals spread by an ordinary exposive)
• Eco Terrorism - the use of acts of violence, sabotage, vandalism, property damage and intimidation committed in the name of environmentalism.
• Religious Terrorism - terrorism motivated by religion.
• Nationalist Terrorism -

Terrorist claims and statements

Terrorism is a label ascribed by those in power to those who do not accept their authority, and resist it with violent and unlawful means. Thus whether someone is a terrorist or a freedom-fighter can depend in part upon whether the state's power is held to be wielded lawfully and fairly.

"I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation." Nelson Mandela, at his trial for terrorism in South Africa, 1963

Terrorists typically try to justify their actions to nonbelievers. Thus Osama bin Laden claimed,

"As for their accusations of terrorizing the innocent, the children, and the women, these are in the category of 'accusing others with their own affliction in order to fool the masses.' The evidence overwhelmingly shows America and Israel killing the weaker men, women and children in the Muslim world and elsewhere." Osama bin Laden, in Nida'ul Islam magazine, October-November 1996.

Osama further reached back in time in 2004, claiming,

"God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed -- when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women." Osama bin Laden, admitting responsibility for attacks of September 11, 2001, on videotape shown on Al Jazeera, October 29, 2004.

References