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, usually violent, meant to coerce behavior for political ends. Terrorism is used to bring fear to the population to obtain a certain political objective. Terrorism has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political organizations, nationalistic and religious groups, revolutionaries, as well as armies, police, and intelligence services. Since terrorist groups are generally small in numbers and have little resources available, terrorists rely on dramatic and destructive hit-and-run acts of violence to get the attention of the general population. Terrorists seek to obtain the influence among the population through the publicity of this violence. Acts of terrorism include bomb scares and bombings, hijackings, assasinations, kidnappings, cyber-attacks, and attacks using biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons.

Definition

Terrorism has many definitions.The term terrorism was first used in the 1790s to describe terror used by the revolutionaries during the French Revolution.

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

• 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%)

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.

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

Planning is one characteristic that all terrorists share. A terrorist will never commit an act of terrorism desultorily or nonsenslessly. Terrorist attacks are carefully planned to ensure the largest amount of publicity to spread their cause to the general population. The 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya took al-Qaeda nearly five years to plan.

First, when planning a major attack, the terrorists must gather detailed intelligence on the intended target such as it's 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 seperate teams carry out each step for security reasons.

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. This means that if a member of a cell is captured they can only describe the activies of one cell or a related cell but the entire organization will never be discovered. This way terror groups maintain secrecy and can plan their attacks

Targets

The main targets of terrorism are innocent civilians, usually to create an atmosphere of fear and danger. These innocents are not killed for any other reason but for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other terrorist attacks target specific targets such as diplomats or their facilities such as embassies and consulates; the military; business executives and corporate offices; and transportation facilities such as airports, subways, trains and train stations, and buses and bus terminals. Buildings of political and economic importance are targeted as shown during the Sepember 11, 2001 attacks 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

Historically, bombing is the most common terrorist tactic. Bombs are the choice weapon of terrorists because they provide a dramatic, easy, and risk-free way of drawing attention to themselves. Building a crude bomb does not require much skill as does planting it and being far away when it exlplodes. Assasination, kidnapping, and assaults against well-defended targets require a much more sophisticated knowledge of organization, planning, and weaponry which bombings do not require. 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, and submachine guns; as well as other firearms such as revolvers, shotguns, machine guns, and hunting rifles with sniper sights. Terrorists have also used small-sized mortars and rocket-propelled grenades or RPGs; the most widely used model of this weapon being the RPG-7. These weapons can pierce through layers of ceramic and reinforced steel armor that protects military and police vehicles. Another favorite weapon of terrorists is the hand grenade and incidenary weapons like the molotov cocktail.

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. (See also: Chemical terrorism, Bio terrorism)

Counter-terrorism

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History

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Types of Terrorism

• Bio Terrorism – the release of germ or virus agents
• Chemical Terrorism – the release of poisonous gases
• Cyber Terrorism – the electronic attack on critical infrastructure
• Nuclear Terrorism – the use of nuclear materials in a terrorist attack
• Eco Terrorism

References & Readings

• Conference of Foreign Ministers (2005). Kuala Lumpur Declaration on International Terrorism at [2]
• Boyle, G. (2002). Theories of Justification and Political Violence: Examples from Four Groups. Terrorism and Political Violence. 14(2).
• Brynen, R. (1990). Sanctuary and Survival: The PLO in Lebanon. Westview Press.
• Committee of Privy Counsellors (2004, July). Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction. United Kingdom House of Lords.
• Cragin, K. & Daly, S. (2004). The Dynamic Terrorist Threat, An Assessment of Group Motivations and Capabilities in a Changing World. Project Air Force.
• Crelinsten, R. (2002). Analysing Terrorism and Counter-terrorism: A Communications Model. Terrorism and Political Violence. 14(2).
• Emerson, S. (1997, August 4). The terrorist infrastructure. Wall Street Journal.
• Ganor, B. (2002). Defining Terrorism: Is One Man’s Terrorist Another Man’s Freedom Fighter? Police Practice and Research. 3(4).
• Hookway, J. (2002). Terrorist Bombings Hit Philippines --- Series of Weekend Explosions Kill 10 People, Highlighting Militants' Threat to Region. Wall Street Journal.
• Hufbauer, G., Schott, J. & Oegg, B. (2005). Policy Brief 01-11: Using Sanctions to Fight Terrorism at [3]
• Israeli, R. (2002). A Manual of Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence. 14(4).
• Israeli, R. (2002). Western Democracies and Islamic Fundamentalist Violence. Terrorism and Political Violence. 12(4).
• Lenzer, R. & Vardi, N. (2004). Terror Inc.. Forbes.
• National Commission on Terrorism (2005). Countering the Changing Threat of International Terrorism at [4]
• Nedoroscik, J. (2002). Extremist Groups in Egypt. Terrorism and Political Violence. 14(2).
• Perl, R. (2005). Terrorism, The Media, and the Government: Perspectives, Trends, and Options for Policymakers. CRS Issue Brief at [5]
• Post, J., Sprinzak, E. & Denny, L. (2003). The Terrorist in Their Own Words: Interviews with 35 Incarcerated Middle Eastern Terrorists. Terrorism and Political Violence. 15(1).
• Sedgwick, M. (2004). Al-Qaeda and the Nature of Religious Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence. 16(4).
• Schmidt, A. & Jongman, A. (1988). Political Terrorism. SWIDOC and Transaction Books.
• Trimble, D. (2004). The Lesson of Northern Ireland. Wall Street Journal.
• Tucker, D. (2001). Chapter Seven: Combating International Terrorism. The Terrorism
• Threat and U.S. Government Response: Operational and Organizational Factors. USAF Institute for National Security Studies.
• Weinberg, L., Pedahzur, A. & Hirsch-Hoefler, S. (2004). The Challenges of Conceptualizing Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence. 16(4).
• Wentz, L. (2002). Lessons From Kosovo: The KFOR Experience. CCRP.