Terrorism
ORGANIZING TERRORISM
CAUSES, STRATEGY, TACTICS
I.
CAUSES OF TERRORISM
a. Psycho-Social
b. Rational-Material
FTO ORGANIZATION
III. STRATEGY & TACTICS
II.
Terms To Know
Spider web theory
Netwar
Bushido Code
TWA Flt. 847
signature method
martyrdom video
cell
Black Widows
knee-capping
Suicide Bombing
Munich
Hub v. chain networks
Freedom Birds
Death Culture
Relative deprivation
I. CAUSES OF TERRORISM
PSYCHO-SOCIAL

Old CW: Mental Illness
– acts of extreme violence,
irrespective of motive, must be
by the pathological/mentally ill.

Crenshaw (1981)
– no evidence of psychopathology
in study of Algeria’s National
Liberation Front.
– N.Ireland: “Political murderers
were…more stable than nonpolitical murderers”

Merrari: No single personality profile
RATIONAL-MATERIAL
– Costs
– Benefits
– Conditions
Conditions

It’s the Occupation,
Stupid (Pape)

Relative
Deprivation
(Martin;
Burgoon):
– Feelings of economic
frustration
– Rising expectations
– perceived unjust
inequality
Psychosocial conditions:
Moral Disengagement
Culture & Subculture
CULTURES OF SELF-SACRIFICE
 Bushido Code: death before dishonor

– Kamikaze (“Divine Wind”)
– Seppuku (“Hara Kiri”)

Martyrdom (“Shahada”)
–

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dPb1bF-s4M&feature=related
Group Culture: Path to extremism
– Youth subculture with a specific
 Ideology
 paramilitary style
 Musical expression
(Hamm)
Who Becomes a Female Terrorist?

Young
– ave age 21.5 (Turkey) - 23 (Lebanon)
– LTTE: brainwashed
preadolescent orphans

Widowed and single

Loss of a close friend or
family member.
– Guilt
– Humiliation
– Revenge
II. FTO ORGANIZATION
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7728551.stm
Shapes
Netwar: A mode of conflict involving using
decentralized network forms of organization and
technologies attuned to the information age.
Shapes and Sizes
 SIZE (Ted Gurr):
– Large groups
more successful
– Most groups:
 involve few
people
 generate more
noise than
injury
 end within 18
months
“Exposure to Ideas”
(Socialization)

Martyrdom Culture
 Shahada (martyrdom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dPb1bF-s4M&feature=related
 Farfour the Mouse & Nahool the Bee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wiBwQ9fiho&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFz8DwvJP6Q&feature=related
Recruitment

Al-Shebab (“The
youth”

“radicalised clusters”
of Somali-American
youths being
recruited.

October 2008: 1st
suicide attack by an
American: Somali
from Minneapolis

Abu Mansour al-Amriki
the American

Recruitment Video & Raps:
The American dream has
fallen
Bush is going down like
Stalin
The economy is crawlin’
The widows are bawlin’
Your dead you be haulin’
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/englishnasheed-rap-by-shabab-al-mujahideensooner-or-later/766712952
http://tr.youtube.com/user/wa1slama
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090331/wl_africa_afp/usattackssomaliaunrest_20090331220133/print
http://www.zshare.net/audio/58019065ea7a2330/
http://www.alqimmah.net/showthread.php?t=4519
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024080.php http://admin.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=15546
http://tr.youtube.com/user/wa1slam
Al Qaeda’s Recruitment Manual

"Youth in remote
areas" are likely to be
"naturally religious”
and "easy to shape
and convince”

“favorite group”: the
nonreligious…lack a
vocabulary to answer
religious arguments.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102193723
"removing him from
the bad environment
in which he lives" and
putting him into "a
good environment
designed to improve
his faith.”

Take him "for a boat
ride on the Nile or
some other retreat."
Go to prayers
together; "Send him a
nice da'wah [proselytizing]
message on his mobile
phone.”

Recruitment & Filtering
TRAINING & BONDING
On Killing (Lt.Col.David Grossman)
Employment

Martyrdom Videos
– Last message
– Commitment (fear of shame)
– Rationalizes for self & family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4
WPhQRmqo7o&feature=related
Paradise Now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s_a
L1jrWWQ
III. STRATEGY & TACTICS
Mao’s 7 Steps
T.E. Lawrence
Arouse and organize the
people.

Theorem 1: irregular forces are
incapable of destroying an
enemy’s army.

Recover national strength.

Theorem 2: irregular troops are
unable to defend a point or line.

Destroy enemy’s national
strength.


guerrilla warfare…cannot
exist if it separates from the
masses’ sympathies and
cooperation
– Spirit between troops and local
inhabitants, like fish in water
Rebellion must have:
1. an unassailable base,
independence of supply, and
the qualities of speed,
endurance and ubiquity.
2. an alien army too small to fulfill
the doctrine of acreage
3. a friendly population sympathetic
to the point of not betraying
rebel movements to the enemy.
OBJECTIVES & AUDIENCES
ENEMY GOVERNMENT
Changing
Existing Order
Public
 Psychological
MEMBERSHIP/SUPPORTERS
disruption
 Social disruption “POTENTIAL SUPPORTERS”
– Inspire
 Publicizing the
– The Majestic (al-Shamikha)
cause
 Creating a
RIVAL GROUPS
revolutionary
environment
BYSTANDERS/3RD PARTIES

MEDIA ORIENTED TERRORSIM

TWA Flight 847 (1985)

Munich (1972)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTqZPKZ4_wk
Strategic & Tactical Attraction of
Suicide Terrorism (Hoffman)
–Cost effective ($150 for Israeli bomber)
–“Smart” bomb
(goes where you want)
–“lethally flexible & inventive”
(adapts to situation)
–Maximize fear
(nowhere is safe)
Robert Pape: Dying to Win

Secular, strategic goal:
– compel democracies to
withdraw military forces from
territory terrorists consider
their homeland

Democracies “especially  Hoffman’s Spider web
vulnerable”:
– Intolerant of costs
imposed by attacks
– Likely to push for
changes in policy that
lessen future attacks.
theory:
– “looks strong from the
outside, but touch it and it
will fall apart.”
– Hamas: “Jews love life”
vs. the “smile of joy”
The Logic of Female Suicide
Bombers
– Increased number
of combatants
– Increased publicity
– Play off
stereotypes:
Element of surprise
– Play off cultural
norms: Search
women
http://www.e-prism.org/images/memo84_Female_suicide_bombers_-_Jaffee_Center__Aug06.pdf
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB408.pdf