TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat

Course Text:

Martin, Gus (2006). Understanding Terrorism.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Chapter #1• Terrorism: First Impressions

• Al Qaeda has symbolized terrorism in this century, but there are many more groups.

Historical Terrorism• Biblical times (Antiquity)

– Joshua 11:1, 4-8• Roman Age

– Regicide, including Caesar in 44 B.C.• Ancient-Medieval Middle East

– Sicarii vs Romans and Jews• French Revolution

– Reign of terror– Revolutionary Tribunal

Definitions• Extremism

– A quality that is radical in opinion, especially in political matters

– Characterized by intolerance toward opposing interests and divergent opinions

– Presents noble arguments to rationalize and justify acts of violence

• Terrorism– Politically motivated violence– Directed against soft targets– With no intention to affect a target audience

Ideologies• Systems of belief• Derived from sociological and political

theories

Ideological Analysis• Fringe Left• Far Left• Liberalism• Moderate Center• Conservatism• Far Right• Fringe Right

Morality of Terrorist Violence

• Mala prohibita– Crimes made illegal by legislation– E.g. gambling & prostitution

• Mala in se– Crimes immoral/wrong in themselves– E.g. premeditated murder & forcible rape

Quote 1

• One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter

Unknown

Quote 2

• One man willing to throw away his life is enough to terrorize a thousand

Wu Ch’I (400 BC)

Quote 3

• Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice

Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964

Quote 4

• It became necessary to destroy the town to save it

Author unknown. An unnamed major in the U.S. Army said this about the decision to bomb and shell the town of Bentre, according to an Associated Press dispatch.—The New York Times, February 8, 1968, p. 14.

Arnett refused to identify the source of the quote, but later revealingly referred to his source as "the perpetrator."

The New Terrorists

• 1993 World Trade Center Attack: Islamic terrorists detonated a truck bomb under the towers killing six and damaging the building.

• Sarin gas attack on March 20, 1995 in the Tokyo subway: Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth) cult deposited two containers containing Sarin poison gas in the Tokyo subway system.– 12 killed and up to 5000

hospitalized– Could have been much

worse…air circulation evacuated most of the gas

                            

Tokyo

Terrorism and Criminal Skill

• Richard Baumhammers

• Ted Kaczynski

• Ramzi Yousef                                       

Terrorist Symbolism• Oklahoma City

• September 11, 2001

• Symbolism can create abstract bridges between Terrorists and their victims

• 168 identified fatalities• 19 were children• One victim was a nurse

(injuries suffered during rescue effort)

• Metro hospitals treated over 400 people injured by blast

APRIL 19, 1995

Murrah Building

TIMOTHY JOHNMcVEIGH

Sentenced to DEATH on August 14, 1997

Sentenced to prison for "the duration of his life"

TERRY LYNNNICHOLS

Murrah Building

“In the fall of 1994, I was first asked by Tim McVeigh to help him and Terry

Nichols blow up a building. I considered it an outlandish request and gave an

equally outlandish and negative response.”

“In December of 1994, I conspired to transport and then I did transport stolen weapons. I had to travel from Arizona to Kansas to get them. I was motivated

by greed and did not care that they were stolen.”

Michael Fortier's Statement

Centennial Olympic Park bombing on 26 July 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One killed, 100+ injured

Do They Fit Stereotypes?In “Understanding Terror Networks,” Marc

Sageman reported:

• the terrorist stereotype - of poor, young, single men from the dusty backstreets of the Muslim world brainwashed into committing fanatical acts - doesn't stick when it comes to al-Qaeda.

• Most of them are well-educated, well-off, cosmopolitan and professional, with good jobs, wives and no history of mental illness.

Marc Sageman reportedOf his sample of 382, he had information on the

social status of 306 and level of education for 264:

• 17.6 per cent were upper class• 54.9 per cent middle class • 27.5 per cent lower class

• 16.7 per cent were educated less than high school • 12.1 per cent had at least a high school education • 28.8 per cent had some college education• 33.3 per cent had a college degree• 9 per cent had a postgraduate degree

ContrastTraditional Terrorism• Clearly identifiable• Conventional weapons• Explicit grievances• Specific target selection

New Terrorism• Loose, cell-based networks• Potential WMD usage• Politically vague, religious, mystical• Asymmetrical

Chapter #2• The Nature of the Beast:

Defining Terrorism

Reactionaries and Radicals• Right-wing extremism "is a reaction against

a perceived threat to a group's value system, its presumption of superiority, or its sense of specialness."

• Left-wing extremism is future oriented, seeking to reform or destroy an existing system prior to building a new and just society."

Understanding Extremism

• Common Characteristics– Intolerance– Moral Absolutes– Broad Conclusions– New Language & Conspiratorial Beliefs

UNDERSTANDING EXTREMISM: THE FOUNDATIONS OF TERRORISM• Why is understanding extremism important?

– the 19 people of the 9/11 events were from at least five different countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Syria.

– The key is that each held a similar if not identical belief system.

• Martin Scruton: – "taking a political idea to its limits, regardless of

unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments, and feelings to the contrary, and with the intention not only to confront but to eliminate opposition" is political extremism, along with an "Intolerance toward all views other than one's own."

Defining TerrorismDictionary of Criminal Justice

there are four elements in a criminal justice definition of terrorism:

1. The calculated use of violence to obtain political goals through instilling fear, intimidation, or coercion.

2. A climate of fear or intimidation created by means of threats or violent actions, causing sustained fear for personal safety, in order to achieve social or political goals.

3. An organized pattern of violent behavior designed to influence government policy or intimidate the population.

4. Violent criminal behavior designed primarily to generate fear in the community…for political purposes.“

(Crank and Gregor, p. 24)

Definitional Challenges• Click on the object to run the

slideshowproblems involved in

the use of the concept “terrorism”

Hearings and Markup before the Subcommittee on Europe and

the Middle East of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, First

Session, p. 66.(from Defining Terrorism: Is One Man’s Terrorist Another Man’s Freedom Fighter? Dr.

Boaz Ganor, http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=49)

An Essay on TerrorismMarc Nicholson, American Diplomacy,

August 19, 2003

Former diplomat Nicholson describes terrorism as a "tool of the weak, used by disaffected groups or minorities to oppose the rule and (as they see it) the oppression of an established and militarily superior power."

Terrorism DefinedThe deliberate killing of non-military

personnel in order to pursue a claimed political goal through exertion of pressure on a society; the core of other definitions is that terrorism is murderous attacks on civilians for political purposes

State Department definition, Title 22 of the U.S. Code, Chapter 38, Section 2656f(d): premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

FBI definition: the unlawful use of force or 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.

Defense Department definition:  the calculated use, or threatened use, of force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives.

United Nations definition: any act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act. Article 2(b) of International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, May 5, 2004)

Official Definitions of Terrorism

Defining TerrorismCommon features between the definitions

include:* The use of illegal force.* Sub-national actions.* Unconventional methods.* Political motivations.* Attacks against "soft" civilian and

passive military targets.* Acts aimed at purposefully affecting an

audience.

Defining Terrorism – U.S.DODUS CodeFBIState Department

Composite Definition:Terrorism is a premeditated and unlawful act in which groups or agents of some principal engage in a threatened or actual use of force or violence against human or property targets. These groups or agents engage in this behavior intending the purposeful intimidation of governments or people to affect policy or behavior with an underlying political objective.

Types of Terrorism• State terrorism

– Terrorism from above - committed by or sponsored by governments

• Dissident terrorism– Terrorism from below - committed by individuals, groups,

or movements not associated with governments • Religious terrorism

– Terrorism motivated by an absolute belief that an otherworldly power has sanctioned - and commanded - the application of terrorist violence for the greater glory of the faith

• Criminal terrorism– Terrorism motivated by sheer profit

• International terrorism– Terrorism that spills over onto the world's stage

Perspectives• PARTICIPANTS IN A TERRORIST

ENVIRONMENT • TERRORISM OR FREEDOM

FIGHTING • EXTREMISM OR MAINSTREAMISM• IDEOLOGIES AND IDEALS

Political Violence• Combatant • Non-combatant • Indiscriminate force • Discriminate force

Ideologies• Systems of beliefs• Derived form theories that explain

human conditions• Can constitute political, social, or

economic programs• Can constitute religious, racial, or

ethnic belief systems.• Guide the worldview and manner of

living for individuals.

Ideologies• We’ll cover these throughout the

course– Anarchism– Marxism– Fascism

Political Violence Matrix

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TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat