What is terrorism?

Terrorism is not new.
 “What has been is what will be, and what has
been done is what will be done, and there is
nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9,
ESV
Definition: The use of violence against people
or property to force changes in societies or
governments by striking fear in the heart of
people. It is used by individuals, groups or
governments to achieve political or social goals.
Modern Terrorism
More than 14,000 terrorist attacks in the
world since the 1960s.
 International terrorists have carried
out increasingly destructive high profile
attacks to gain attention and media
coverage.
 Domestic terrorists use terror to
oppose their own governments policies
or promote special interests.

Reasons

Traditional motives
 Gaining independence
 Expelling foreigners
 Changing society

Radical Religious terrorists
 Destruction of what they consider the forces
of evil.
 Readiness to use any weapon available.
 Willingness to die to ensure the success of
the attack.
Terrorist Methods

Weapons
 Usually the bomb or the bullet
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Targets
 Crowded places where people normally should feel safe
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Subway stations
Bus stops
Restaurants
Shopping malls
 Important symbols of what they oppose
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World Trade Center
Pentagon
Embassies of the United States
Military installations or ships
Murrah Federal Building
Recent Innovations in Terrorism

Biological or chemical
agents
 Involve the release of
bacteria, viruses, or
poisonous gases
 Inflict terrible casualties and
great fear
 Biochemical agents
relatively easy to acquire
The sarin gas attack in the Tokyo
subway in 1995 is the most notorious
act of biochemical terrorism.
Recent Innovations in Terrorism

Cyber terrorism
 Politically motivated attacks
on information systems.
 Large-scale disruption of
computer systems by means
of computer viruses.
 Threat has increased since
the computerization of
business and government
information.
 Some, however, doubt the
impact this form of terrorism
can make.
Responding to Terrorism

Responses are various
 Tracking down and punishing terrorist
groups
○ Infiltration
○ Assassination of terrorists
 Eliminating sources of funding
 Persuading foreign governments not to
protect or support
 Tightened security measures to reduce
targets vulnerable to attack
1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany
• Members of Black September, a
Palestinian terrorist group, initially
kill two Israeli athletes and took
nine more hostage.
• By the end of the ordeal 11Israeli
athletes and coaches were killed
along with one West German
police officer.
• 5 of the 8 terrorists were killed by
the West Germans in a failed
rescue attempt. The three
captured terrorists were released
by West Germany when Black
September hijacked a Lufthansa
airliner.
• Israel responded with Operation
Wrath of God which included
assassinations of Palestinian
terrorists who planned the Munich
Massacre. This operation is
depicted in Steven Spielberg’s
2005 film Munich.
The Middle East

Many terrorist groups have
roots in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
Groups include:
 Islamic Jihad
 Hamas
 Hezbollah
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They demand a
Palestinian homeland on
their own terms. Some
want Israel to cease to
exist.
Cycle of violence: Israelis
usually retaliate after each
terrorist attack.

Emblems of
 Islamic
Jihad
 Hamas
 Hezbollah
United Kingdom and Ireland
For decades the PIRA (Provisional
Irish Republican Army) have engaged
in terrorist attacks against the British
over control of Northern Ireland. This
time dated from the late 1960s to 1998
is called “The Troubles.”
 In 1998 The Belfast Agreement or
Good Friday Agreement was signed
between the U.K. and Republic of
Ireland and endorsed by most political
parties in Northern Ireland.
 The agreement renounces violence,
and states that Northern Ireland will be
transferred from the United Kingdom
to the Republic of Ireland only if the
MAJORITY of the population of
Northern Ireland votes for such a
transfer.
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Afghanistan
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Taliban came to power
in most Afghanistan
by 1996.
Osama bin Laden
moved his terrorist
activities there.
Used mountain
hideouts as a base of
operations for his
terrorist network
called al-Qaeda.
Map of Afghanistan in 1996 showing the
amount of Taliban territory captured at that
time (yellow). The Afghan Civil War
commenced between 1996-2001 before
coalition forces headed by the United
States began air strikes against the
Taliban.
Treatment of Women in Talibancontrolled Afghanistan

Taliban rules: Women
 Must always be escorted in

Above, a Taliban
religious policeman
beats a woman in
for being in public
without a male
relative. Left, Afghan
women are dressed
in the burqa
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public by male relative and
wearing burqa.
Must not wear high heeled shoes
(sound of women’s footsteps
excite men).
Cannot speak in public
Women cannot be seen from
street—all ground and first floor
windows must be painted over.
No photography of women
Place names not to be women’s
May not appear on balconies
May not appear in the media
Japan
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Aum Shinrikyo
(“Supreme Truth”) is a
religious cult wanting
control of Japan.
1995, cult members
released sarin, a
deadly nerve gas, into
the Tokyo subway.
12 people were killed
and more than 5,700
injured by this attack.
A wanted poster in Japan. As of February
2010, three people are still wanted in
connection with the sarin attack on the
Tokyo subway: (left to right) Shin Hirata,
Katsuya Takahashi, and Naoko Kikuchi
Africa

Al-Qaeda cells
operate in African
countries as well.
 1998 bombings
occurred at the U.S.
embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania leaving
200 dead and more
than 5,000 people
injured.
 The U.S. responded
with missile strikes
against terrorist facilities
in Afghanistan and
Sudan. Bin Laden was
based in Sudan from
1991-1996.
Predator drones used to attack
terrorist bases in Sudan and
Afghanistan.
Latin America
Narcoterrorism—
terrorism linked to drug
trafficking has been a
major problem in Latin
America, particularly in
Columbia, but also now
Mexico with the drug
cartel wars there.
 FARC—Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Columbia—are linked to
drug traffickers,
attacking Columbian
politicians, military, and
economic targets.

December 2, 1993, the war with
Columbian Medellin cartel head Pablo
Escobar ended with his death when he
was tracked using his cell phone using
radio triangulation technology. He was
gunned down trying to escape from law
enforcement.
International Terrorist Attacks
Attack on the United States

The Destruction:
 Fuel—The flights were near their start, therefore
the tanks were full. Explosions and fires
weakened the skyscrapers, and both towers fell
within two hours.
 Pentagon damage confined to only one section
of the building.
 Human Death Toll: about 3,000
○ All passengers
○ WTC workers/visitors
○ 340 NYC firefighters
○ 60 NYC police officers
American Airlines Flight 11
The hijackers
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Scheduled route:
Boston to LA
Aircraft: Boeing 767
Building Hit: North
Tower (WTC 1) at
8:46 AM.
92 on board
United Airlines Flight 175
The hijackers
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Scheduled route:
Boston to LA
Aircraft: Boeing 767
Building Hit: South
Tower (WTC 2) at
9:03 AM.
65 on board
United Airlines Flight
175 crashes into the
south tower
Map showing
the attacks on
the World Trade
Center (the
planes are not
drawn to scale).
Diagram
of how
parts of
the
airplanes
fell to the
ground.
View of the World
Trade Center shortly
after both towers fell
(the original 7 World
Trade Center can be
seen still standing).
American Airlines Flight 77
The hijackers
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Route: Washington,
D.C. (Dulles) to L.A.
Aircraft: Boeing 757
Building Hit:
Pentagon, Arlington,
VA
58 on board
Aerial view of the Pentagon during rescue
operations post-September 11 attack
United Airlines Flight 93: “Let’s Roll”
The hijackers
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Scheduled Route: Newark,
NJ to San Francisco
Aircraft: Boeing 575
Terrorists Target: Speculated
to be Washington, D.C.
Crash Site: Somerset,
County, PA
44 on board
The passengers revolted
against the hijackers, and the
aircraft crashed before
reaching its intended target.
Crash Site of United Flight 93
Social Impact
Created a sense of vulnerability that the
United States could now be hit by
international terrorism.
 The Murrah Building bombing in OKC by
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols
showed that the U.S. was vulnerable to
domestic terrorism 6 years earlier in
1995.

2001 Anthrax Attacks
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A letter sent to Senate
Majority Leader Tom
Daschle containing
anthrax powder killed
two postal workers
Targets:
ABC News
CBS News
NBC News
New York Post
National Enquirer
Senators
Tom Daschle
Patrick Leahy
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5 deaths (including 2 postal workers)
17 infections
Suspected perpetrator: Bruce Edward Irvins (died
July 29, 2008 of suicide after he was informed he would
be prosecuted for murder), a microbiologist and
vaccinologist who was supposed to develop vaccines
against anthrax.
However, many people doubt the government’s
conclusions about Irvins. Some coworkers said they
would have noticed him develop the anthrax that was
used.
One historian believes the anthrax Irvins developed
was stolen by an al-Qaida sympathizer at George
Mason University because of lax security.
We will probably never know.
The cost of the cleanup to decontaminate buildings
where anthrax was found was about $1 billion.
The United States Responds
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Department of Homeland
Security—created to
coordinate efforts against
terrorism.
Racial profiling and
searching for “sleeper cells”
of al-Qaida terrorists.
 Arabs and Muslims with
suspicious behavior detained
and questioned.
 Critics charged civil rights were
being violated.
 Government argued civil rights
have often been limited during
wartime for national security.
This color
coded
system
was
developed
to make
the public
aware of
the threat
of terrorist
attacks.
Military Tribunals and
Guantanamo Bay
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The Military Commissions Act of 2006
allows the military to set up tribunals to try
“unlawful enemy combatants” for terrorist
activity against the United States.
Suspected terrorists fighting for the Taliban
or al-Qaida are deemed “unlawful enemy
combatants.”
The law is criticized by defense attorneys
and human rights advocates because it
denies habeas corpus protections to these
combatants.
However, even American citizens have
been deemed “enemy combatants” rather
than criminal suspects to be tried by an
American civilian court.
The naval base at Guantanamo Bay is
used as a detention camp. President
Obama promised to close this camp during
his presidential campaign, however, the
camp has not yet been closed as of May
2011.
Jose Padilla is an
American citizen
convicted for
conspiracy to commit
terrorist acts against
the United States.
However, he was held
as an “enemy
combatant” for 3 ½
years before his case
was transferred to a
civilian court.
The USA Patriot Act
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Acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America
by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”
This legislation allowed the government to:
 detain foreigners suspected of terrorism for seven days
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without charging them with a crime
tap all phones used by suspects and monitor their e-mail
and internet use
make search warrants valid across all states
order U.S. banks to investigate sources of large foreign
accounts.
prosecute terrorist crimes without any time restrictions or
limitations.
Critics allege these measures violate civil rights.
Aviation Security
FAA orders airlines to install bars on
cockpit doors
 Plain clothed sky marshals assigned to
fly on plains
 National Guard patrolled airports
 Aviation and Transportation Act (2001)—
airport security became the
responsibility of the federal government.
ALL baggage (even checked baggage)
is screened.

Hiding Out
Osama bin Laden evaded capture for
almost 10 years.
 In the mean time the United States had
engaged in wars in Iraq (looking for
weapons of mass destruction) and in
Afghanistan (against the Taliban who
supported terrorism).
 bin Laden was suspected of hiding out
in the mountainous regions of
Afghanistan.

Tracking Bin Laden: 1
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Early on the CIA sought to
identify al-Qaeda couriers
(messengers who pass
information) who might have
contact with bin Laden.
Detainees in the CIA’s secret
prison system revealed the
name of an al-Qaeda courier
with the pseudonym Abu
Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.
When No. 3 al-Qaeda leader
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
was captured by the CIA he
admitted knowing al-Kuwaiti,
but said he was not operating
in al-Qaeda. The CIA believed
he was protecting the courier.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Tracking Bin Laden: 2
In 2004, a top operative for al-Qaeda was
captured in Iraq named Hassan Ghul.
 Ghul revealed to the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was
indeed a key courier in the al-Qaida
organization close to operational commander
Faraj al-Libi.
 In May 2005 Faraj al-Libi was captured by the
CIA, but he adamantly denied that al-Kuwaiti
was the secret courier. This convinced the CIA
that he, as well as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
was protecting the identity of the courier.
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Tracking Bin Laden: 3
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After years, detainees revealed the real name of the
courier al-Kuwaiti as Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a
Pakistani born in Kuwait.
One detainee gave false information that Abu Ahmed
was wounded fleeing U.S. forces and died in his
arms.
But in the middle of 2010 Abu Ahmed used the
telephone and his conversation was monitored by
U.S. officials.
In August 2010 Abu Ahmed was tracked to the
mysterious compound in Abbottabad. It had
unusually high walls. No one came or went. There
was no telephone or internet. U.S. authorities
became convinced that a high level terrorist was
living there.
CIA aerial view of the bin Laden
compound
Operation Geronimo (sorry to Native
Americans who were offended by this name)
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An air strike in a residential neighborhood was ruled
out because it would be a bad diplomatic move and
identifying bin Laden would be impossible.
President Obama wanted to act by mid-February 2011.
Seal Team Six practiced the raid in a mock up of the
compound, and went in on May 1, 2011.
Bin Laden was shot and killed, but it was later revealed
he was unarmed, but possibly going for a gun.
His body was buried at sea in accordance with Islamic
practice so that his grave site would not become a
shrine.
President Obama decided that no pictures of the body
would be released.
Osama bin Laden’s hideout in
Abbottābad, Pakistan
Newspaper
Headlines: 2 May 2011