Terrorism & Terrorists

1. Terrorism & Terrorists

2. Terrorism is highly organized and conducted primarily for political or religious reasons. • The FBI defines terrorism as: The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social goals. Terrorism Defined

3. Terrorism is a tactic used to influence the behavior of others through intimidation. • Terrorists typically appeal to a higher moral good. • Terrorists strike at innocents because the very essence of terrorism is public intimidation. • Terrorism has an ultimate purpose. • Every time terrorists gain an objective they have sought, the rationality of terrorism in demonstrated along with its immorality. Why Terrorism?

4. Freedom fighters are fighters in wars of national liberation against foreign occupiers or against oppressive domestic regimes they seek to overthrow. • Freedom fighter activity is typically confined to third-world dictatorships or one-party states, while terrorists operate mostly against liberal Western democracies. Is there a Difference between Terrorists & Freedom Fighters?

5. Table 13.2 Some Major Terrorist Groups Source: Department of State (2004). Patterns of Global Terrorism.

6. Table 13.2 Some Major Terrorist Groups Source: Department of State (2004). Patterns of Global Terrorism.

7. Table 13.2 Some Major Terrorist Groups Source: Department of State (2004). Patterns of Global Terrorism.

9. Terrorism in the United States • Left-wing terrorism in the United States became active during the turmoil of the 1960s. • Some left-wing terrorist groups in the United States: • Weather Underground • May 19 Communist Organization • Revolutionary Armed Task Force • Black Liberation Army

10. Ideological: Right-Wing • Most right-wing American groups characterized as terrorist are extremist rather than terrorist groups in that they hold views that are to the extreme right of mainstream. • Some right-wing terrorist groups in the United States: Aryan Nations

11. There are a number of groups in the United States that employ terrorist tactics that have no grand sociopolitical agenda but rather seek to resolve special issues: Animal Liberation Front Earth Liberation Front Anti-Abortion Groups Special-Issue Domestic Terrorism

12. Is there a Terrorist Personality? • No study of terrorist psychology has ever produced a psychological profile leading the majority of terrorist experts to suspect that there is any such thing as a terrorist personality. • Terrorist groups live on the fringes of the host society & espouse a violently radical vision of reality. • We should look at what terrorist groups have to offer if we want to understand why individuals join them.

13. Is there a Terrorist Personality? • The terrorist group is made up of three types of individuals. • The charismatic leader is socially alienated, narcissistic, arrogant, and intelligent. • Antisocial individuals have opportunities in terrorist groups to use force and violence to further their own personal goals. • The majority of terrorists are simple followers who see the world purely in black and white and have deep needs for acceptance.

14. Becoming a Terrorist • The bulk of terrorists are probably better characterized as crusaders convinced of the moral rightness of their cause. • The willingness to perform terrorist acts may reflect a process of moral disengagement more than a manifestation of pathological and/or criminal traits the individual brings to the terrorist group.

15. Law Enforcement Response & Government Policy • There are a number of ways a democracy can respond to terrorism, ranging from making concessions to military intervention. • Concessions are only likely when there is moral substance to the terrorist cause, or when such concessions are reasonable. • Military intervention may be used when the terrorist threat is too big for civilian authorities to handle.

16. Law Enforcement Response & Government Policy • The principle of international law obliges countries to either extradite terrorists to the country where their crimes were committed or to punish them themselves. • The mission of the Department of Homeland Security is to detect, prevent, prepare for, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.

17. Law Enforcement Response & Government Policy • The US Patriot Act grants federal agencies greater authority to track & intercept private communications, greater powers to the treasury Department to combat corruption & prevent money laundering, & creates new crimes, penalties, and procedures for use against domestic & foreign terrorists.

18. The beginnings of al-Qaeda go back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. When did al-Qaeda form?

19. 1979 was during the Cold War, a time when the USA was a rival to the Soviet Union. The USA wanted to help Afghans fight the Soviets. • The CIA sent stinger missiles to Afghans to shoot down Soviet helicopters.

20. In 1983, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a terrorist group bombed a Marine barracks in Lebanon. Reagan did not retaliate. 283 killed.

21. In 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait. Kuwait owed Iraq money, so Hussein wanted to secure Kuwaiti oil fields. Desert Storm (Gulf War I)

22. The United States asked the Saudis for permission to establish military bases in their country. The Saudis have a tough choice to make. Do they allow a Christian army into the holiest country of Islam? Can the Saudis themselves stop Saddam Hussein? US and Saudi coalition

23. Osama bin Laden was back home from Afghanistan. He offered the Saudis the use of his soldiers to fight the Iraqi army because once America establishes a base, they won’t leave. Christian armies have no place in the land of Islam according to bin Laden. Saudi’s choice

24. President George H.W. Bush liberates Kuwait and pushes the Iraqi army back into Iraq. Saudis chose the USA and snubbed bin Laden.

25. Osama bin Laden overtly criticizes the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia banishes him; his family disowns him (officially). Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia for Sudan to further build al Qaeda. Bin Laden

26. Dec. 4, 1992, George H.W. Bush sends 28,000 American troops to Somalia. Bush wanted to help the Somali people since all attempts to send food to them were intercepted by war lords. USA in Somalia

27. Black Hawk Down! • In 1993, 18 Americans died when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia.

28. In 1993, agents working with the full support of Saddam Hussein tried to kill former President George H.W. Bush. President Clinton responded by destroying their intelligence center. Iraqi terrorism

29. 9-11 was not the first terrorist attack on the WTC. In 1993, a man rented a Ryder truck and detonated a large bomb in one of the towers hoping to knock it over onto the other tower. World Trade Center bombing

30. RamziYousef • He was a planner of the WTC bombing. He was a member/leader of al Qaeda. • Yousef stated, "Yes, I am a terrorist, and proud of it as long as it is against the U.S. government." • Speaks 7 languages and has college degrees in engineering and chemistry. • Currently serving a life sentence.

31. 1993 WTC bombing It killed 6 people and injured over 1000.

32. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols detonated a large truck bomb at the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. 1995 Oklahoma City bombing

33. 168 people died and many more were injured, including children in the day care on the bottom floor. Oklahoma City

34. Terry Nichols, Ramzi Yousef, and 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammad were in the Philippine city of Cebu on the same days. Is there a connection? According to Richard Clarke, the main counter-terrorism czar for Clinton and GW Bush, Nichols’s bombs worked only after he returned from the Philippines Conspiracy theorists will love this! Khalid Sheik Muhhamad Terry Nichols

35. The Khobar Towers provided housing for American military stationed in Saudi Arabia. 19 Americans were killed and hundreds injured. Look familiar? 1996 car bombing of Khobar Towers

36. In August of 1998, Osama bin Laden and 4 of his close associates sign and distribute a statement declaring “it is the individual duty for every Muslim who can do it” to kill Americans. Fatwa

37. Two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed simultaneously in 1998. 220 people were killed. Kenyan embassy bombings

38. President Clinton, risking “Wag the Dog” criticism during the Lewinsky scandal, decided to attack al Qaeda in response. Clinton responds.

39. US attacks al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan with Tomahawk missiles. Camps were destroyed. Osama lives.

40. Jordanian police halted 4 bombings that were to happen January 1, 2000. 16 al Qaeda members were arrested. Four al Qaeda terrorists were arrested after one tried to cross the Canadian border with nitroglycerin in his spare tire. They set out to bomb LA International Airport. In Yemen, a boat with explosives tried to bomb a navy ship but sank due to being overloaded! Millennium Attacks Foiled!

41. In Yemen, Al Qaeda operatives sent a suicide bomber aboard a small ship near the USS Cole and detonated its bomb, blowing a large hole in the US Navy ship. 17 sailors killed. USS Cole attack Oct. 2000

43. Four airplanes were hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists. • Two crashed into the 2 World Trade Center towers. • One crashed into the Pentagon, the military building of the US armed forces. • One crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, likely because passengers forced the plane down. September 11, 2001

46. 2819 people were killed • 343 firefighters and paramedics were killed Khalid Sheik Muhhamad was the central Planner of the 9/11. Most terrorists (at right) were from Saudi Arabia.

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