Lesson 1

1.3.1 Terrorists Groups Through History –

Transcript
1. Introduction

This lesson will present a brief survey of terrorist groups through history. We
will provide some background on Jewish Sicarii, the Assassins, French
Revolution, People’s Will, Irgun, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the
Islamic State.

2. JewishSicarii(Part1)

Some of the earlier terrorists were the Jewish Sicarii (“daggerman”), an

extremist group within the greater Zealot movements that developed around
the goal of overthrowing the Romans in Ancient Palestine between 66 and 70
AD.

Their main doctrine was the necessary use of violence to rid the land of
enemies of Judaism. Their immediate goal was to end Roman dominance, but
they ultimately sought to initiate the coming of the Messiah by forcing an
apocalyptic conflict between Rome and Jerusalem with the belief that
initiating such a confrontation could force God’s direct intervention for the
people of Israel.

The Roman occupation began around 40 BCE—at which time the Romans
abolished the Jewish monarchy and imposed direct rule over the Jewish
community of Palestine.

These events, along with the desecration of Jewish religious symbols and the
arrest of important religious leaders, led to escalation of the conflict.

3. JewishSicarii(Part2)

While the Sicarii claimed to fight in “the name of God”—their only legitimate
ruler, their motives were also political as they sought to remove “the secular
foreign rulers from power.” The Sicarii were incredibly proficient guerilla
warfare and highly skilled in destroying symbolic property.

They stabbed their victims with a sica, a short dagger hidden beneath their
coats, typically in the midst of large crowds. The term “Sicarii” refers to the
group’s use of these short daggers to assassinate their rivals.
The primary purpose of the Sicarii terrorist strategy, like that of so many
terrorist groups today, seems to have been provocation of indiscriminate
countermeasures by the

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established political system and the provocation of repression, reprisals and

counterterrorism.

The revolt ended after the Romans surrounded the Sicarii at Masada, a
hilltop fortress that had kept the Romans at bay for three years, when the
defenders committed suicide in 74 CE. Nearly 1000 Sicarii, including women
and children, committed suicide in order to avoid becoming Roman
prisoners.

4. TheAssassins(Part1)

The Assassins formed part of a religious sect of Shi’ite Ismaili Muslims. They
were active from the 11th century to the 13th century and were ultimately
conquered by the Mongols.

The Assassins launched the covert attacks on their enemies from bases
located in Persia, Iraq and Syria, where hundreds of devoted followers
carried out the labours of committed fighters. The group realized that the
success of their organization depended on secrecy and a small number of
dedicated followers so as to avoid detection from rival religious and political
groups.

They were also known to have sought martyrdom and the promise of
paradise in the afterlife as a reward for sacrificing themselves on suicide
missions meant to eliminate their rivals. Their targets included Abbasid
Caliphate, Seljuk Muslims and the royal and military officials of Persia, Syria
and Iraq, as well as the Christian Crusaders.

5. TheAssassins(Part2)

They were notorious for systematically assassinating and terrorizing political

figures in order to advance their power in the region and further the Ismaili
Revolution. Many of the historical accounts of the Assassins remain the
subject of debate.

Critics, such as Ismaili Studies scholar Farhad Laftary, state that most of the
historical information on the Assassins comes from questionable sources that
have intentionally spread slanderous stories about militant fanatics who
would use hashish before embarking on their brutal killings.

Their adversaries (Europeans and Orthodox Muslims) called them hashashin,

which in Arabic means “hashish eater.” This term helped spread the stories
of their drug-induced exploits even though no evidence to date has
confirmed such rituals. Notwithstanding the actual legitimacy of the term, as
its inception it was clearly used as a scornful label for Ismaili Muslims.

Although historical facts on the Assassins remain contested, their story

serves as an early example of terrorism, one that focused on the murders of
prominent or politically

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notable figures. This example is also the very definition of the word
“assassin” in the modern sense, which is said to derive from the term
hashashin, given to the Ismailis, who would strategically kill political or
notable figures to instill fear and insecurity in the public.

6. FrenchRevolution(Part1)

The French Revolution was a defining moment in history, not only for
promoting the advent of democracy, but because the revolutionaries’
political goals were achieved through activities that would come to typify
terrorism.

The population began to revolt against the monarchy led by Maximilian

Robespierre, who was also known as “the incorruptible.” Robespierre was the
leader of a group called the Jacobins, a name they received for debating
their ideas in a former convent of the religious group of the same name.

From instilling fear and eradicating key targets such as the aristocracy to
achieving mobilized support from the masses through successful terror
schemes, the term “terrorism” developed a whole new meaning for
supporters of the French Revolution.

These terror tactics, highly publicized by Jean-Paul Marat through his

newspaper L’Ami du peuple (“The Friend of the People”), brought exposure to
the Revolution and its ideas and also helped recruit more supporters.

For many revolutionaries, terrorism was ironically regarded as a justifiable

alternative to eliminate repression and establish in its place a virtuous
government with democratic ideals such as liberty, equality and fraternity.

Once Robespierre came into power, the outcome of the revolution resulted in
chaos and uncertainty for France. While there were uprisings and revolts in
the cities, the country was being invaded by foreign armies and was plagued
with economic problems.

Robespierre created a regime of terror in order to gain stronger control over

the population. He suspended the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen, legislation he had promoted and implemented for the well-being of
the population.

7. FrenchRevolution(Part2)

Although modern-day use of the word “terrorism” is widely associated with

non-
state radical groups, the terms “terrorist” and “terrorism” were originally
coined in English by Edmund Burke to describe state terror during the French
Revolution’s Reign of Terror (1793-1794).

The new revolutionary government’s terror was shaped by the systematic

repression and execution of those suspected of being enemies of the
Revolution. This included the

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nobility, the clergy and members and supporters of the monarchy.

Robespierre declared terrorism to be a key component for “establishing a
virtuous regime” and therefore left no mercy for either left or right-wingers
during the Reign of Terror.
The government pursued the elimination of anyone who was considered an
enemy of the new Republic. The Committee of Public Safety under the
Jacobins gained much power to pursue opponents through extraordinary
judicial means when the Law of Prairial was implemented in 1794; it
temporarily eliminated a suspect’s right to a public trial or legal assistance
and left the jury to choose solely between death or an acquittal.

The Reign of Terror was brief but left a lasting legacy of state brutality and
egregious violence. Approximately 300,000 people were arrested; of these,
17,000 were officially executed and several thousand others died in prisons.
Robespierre himself faced the consequences of the Reign of Terror when he
was executed by guillotine in July 1794.

8. NarodnayaVolya(People’sWill)(Part1)

Another group that successfully used systematic terror against political elites
was the 19th-century revolutionary organization known as Narodnaya Volya
(People’s Will). The group lasted three years (1878-1881) but had “a
profound effect on Russian history.”

The group was formed by intellectuals, and theories proposed by its

members ultimately inspired Lenin to form the Social Democratic Labor
Party. Narodnaya Volya’s terrorist tactics helped attain mass popular support
and effectively weakened the Tsar and the Russian Royal Family’s power.

Assassinations of key targets included important political and military figures

such as Emperor Alexander II.

Originally a political party influenced by socialist-anarchist philosophy, the

members of Narodnaya Volya aimed their efforts at raising support and
politically mobilizing the peasants and lower classes of Russia in the hopes of
sparking a social revolution that would ultimately overthrow the Tsar.

Major conflict would have cost many lives, and Narodnaya Volya might have
lost the popular sympathy it had gained. As a result, the group believed that
the Tsar’s death would result in the entire collapse of the regime and would,
therefore, avoid a civil war.

This revolutionary group believed that terrorism should be used to give

constant proof that it is possible to fight the government. According to their
beliefs, such actions would awaken the revolutionary spirit of the people and
their faith in the success of the cause of Narodnaya Volya.

Members of Narodnaya Volya admitted that terror was the result of their
party’s inability to mobilize the masses, yet terror was also seen as the “only
effective means of
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discrediting the government and proving (to the people) that a revolutionary
party not only existed but was growing stronger.”

9. NarodnayaVolya(People’sWill)(Part2)

Terrorism was originally used as a means of self-defence. Thus, the term was
perceived in a positive light and was regarded as a logical response to the
government brutality forced upon the revolutionaries.

For example, when one of their members attempted to murder a police

commander as a reprisal for the constant acts of police brutality against
revolutionary prisoners, she stated that she regarded herself as a “terrorist,
not a killer.”

Thus, their killings were not random and erratic, but rather deliberate,
carefully planned, symbolic and openly public acts of intimidation. Not only
did this make Narodnaya Volya’s terror schemes justifiable in their eyes, but
they also gained much popular support for their revolutionary movement.
Eventually, the party’s use of terror became less an act of self-defence and
more a series of deliberate attacks on the government.

Members like Nikolai Morozov argued that terrorism was the only tactic
available that could defeat a government that possessed boundless
monetary means to support prisons, spies and police forces. To him, there
was no doubt that the revolutionaries would fail in conventional combat, but
through the use of terrorist tactics they would at least have a fighting
chance.

Morozov recognized how terrorism could be applied to demoralize, weaken

and destabilize the government. Ultimately, terrorism was regarded as a
“sad necessity” for replacing an oppressive government and bringing about
long-lasting peace.

The murder of Tsar Alexander II—their most accomplished assassination—

eventually led to mass arrests, the ultimate breakdown of Narodnaya Volya
and the collapse of the party. The archives of the Okhrana (the Tsar’s secret
police) revealed that members of Narodnaya Volya took extreme care in
planning and carrying out their assassinations to avoid incurring innocent
civilian casualties.

10.Irgun and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

One of the first modern concepts of what we now know as terrorism applied
to the Jewish group known as Irgun during World War II and the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) during the 1960s. While the terrorist acts of
Irgun helped establish statehood for the Jewish people, after World War II the
group eventually merged with the Israeli security forces as the state of Israel
became internationally recognized.

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It was not until some years later that terrorist activity would resurface in the
region when the retaliatory acts of the PLO garnered international attention
for their armed struggle for territorial compromise. Both Irgun and the PLO
have since been emulated by several other terrorist organizations around
the world.

Their highly publicized attacks, their consideration of the symbolism of their

targets, and the calculated violent acts used to crush their enemies greatly
contributed to their notoriety. Identifying themselves as liberators instead of
terrorists helped them to gain sympathizers in their home countries.

11.Irgun (Part 1)

Irgun was an underground militant right-wing Zionist group that was

considered a terrorist organization by British, American and UN authorities.
Irgun believed in the use of force to accomplish its goals. Its origins date
back to a split from Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary organization with a policy
of restraint and socialist tendencies that was active during the former
Mandate for Palestine from 1920 to 1948.

By the late 1930s, members of Irgun moved in to attack Arab residents

without restricting themselves to attacking key individuals. Their targets
remained calculated, but they now incorporated a wider variety of tactics to
reach more general targets.
Examples of some of their new attacks included hurling grenades at buses,
shooting people riding in Arab trains and bombing Arab markets. When
Menachem Begin, the future prime minister of Israel, gained leadership of
the organization, attacks shifted to the British occupiers in Palestine in
response to their prevention of Jewish refugees from entering the region.

12.Irgun (Part 2)

One such event was the bombing of the King David Hotel, where many
British officers and government officials resided. Many of the victims of this
attack included British, Jewish and Arab civilians.

A split in Irgun occurred between 1940 and 1943, leading to the formation of
Lehi (also known as the Stern gang, named after its founder Abraham Stern),
a more extreme and ruthless version of Irgun that continued the struggle
against British forces and even made attempts to collaborate with the Nazis
in order to secure European Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Led by Yitzhak Shamir, another future prime minister of Israel, Lehi’s

application of violence was seen as “part of the political battle,” a necessity
to oust the British occupiers and Arab residents.

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One infamous attack committed by Lehi was the assassination of UN

mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. He was widely known for securing the
rescue of thousands of prisoners from German concentration camps, but was
depicted by Lehi as a “Nazi agent” who would eventually give away
Jerusalem, a stepping stone to eliminate the Israeli state.

When the British government withdrew from the Palestine Mandate in 1947,
Irgun fought Arab forces and helped accelerate the Arab exodus from
Palestine on the eve of the founding of Israel, in the massacre of the Arab
village of Deir Yassin by systematically killing between 100 and 120 Arab
civilians.

Their rationalization for the use of violence and the success of their attacks
not only intimidated the British, but it fostered a new image of the Jewish
people. No longer were they weak or helpless; they had the willpower to
carry out a political revolt and made emancipation seem plausible.

Evidently, the West’s awareness of the Holocaust near the end of World War
II generated sympathy for the Jewish people, and as such, the public tended
to acknowledge Irgun and Lehi less as terrorists and more as “freedom
fighters.”

13.Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Part 1)

The PLO’s primary goal was national self-determination for Palestinians and
the eradication of the recently created Israeli state. Some of the group’s
most notable attacks, such as the El Al hijacking and the Munich Olympics
massacre, helped establish the message that compromise for the disputed
territory was necessary.

This led to the formation of UN observer status, eventual autonomy in the

Palestinian regions and the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority.

In the summer of 1968, three armed Palestinian terrorists belonging to the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), one of the six groups
then comprising the PLO, hijacked an Israeli El Al commercial flight en route
from Rome to Tel Aviv. Although commercial aircraft had been hijacked
before, the El Al hijacking differed significantly from all previous hijackings.

First, its purpose was not simply the diversion of a scheduled flight from one
designation to another—this hijacking was a bold political statement.

Second, unlike previous hijackings, where the origin or nationality of the

aircraft that was being seized did not matter, El Al—as Israel’s national
airline and by extension, therefore, a readily evident national “symbol” of the
Israeli state—had been specifically and deliberately targeted by the
terrorists.

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Third, the terrorists succeeded in forcing their avowed enemy, Israel, to

communicate directly with them and therefore with the organization to which
they belonged, despite the Israeli government’s previous declarations and
policy pronouncements to the contrary.

Finally, the terrorists discovered that they had the power to create major
media events—especially when innocent civilians were involved.

14.Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Part 2)

With the El Al hijacking, the nature and character of terrorism demonstrably

changed. For the first time, terrorists began to travel regularly from one
country to another to carry out attacks.

In addition, they also began to target innocent civilians from other countries
who often had little, if anything, to do with the terrorists’ cause or
grievances, simply to advance their agenda through the power to attract
attention and publicity that attacks against their declared enemies often
failed to garner.

These dramatic tactical changes in terrorism were facilitated by the

technological advances of the time that had transformed the speed and ease
of international commercial air travel and vastly improved both the quality of
television news footage and the promptness with which that footage could
be broadcast around the globe. At the forefront of this transformation were
the constituent groups of the PLO.

15.Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Part 3)

The greatest success achieved by the PLO was to publicize their plight and
their cause on an international level. Their message was clear: they had the
willpower and strength to do what was deemed necessary to attain their
objective of acquiring a Palestinian state. Political causes that had become
insignificant and unimportant following the Arab- Israeli war were now
resurrected and forced onto the international community’s agenda.

Another prime example of terrorism’s power to refocus attention on the

Palestinian issue consisted of the murders of 11 Israeli athletes seized by
Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

Both the hostage situation and rescue attempt that took place as a result
were failures and the international community unanimously condemned the
terrorist operation.

Nevertheless, the Olympic tragedy was still considered a success for the
PLO. It provided the first clear evidence that even terrorist attacks that failed
to achieve their objectives could nonetheless be effective due to mass media
attention and increased international concern.

The Black September (Munich) terrorists achieved the operation’s two key
objectives:

1. World opinion was forced to take note of the Palestinian situation.

2. The Palestinian people imposed their presence on an international
gathering that had sought to exclude them.

Between 1968 and 1978, the number of groups engaged in international

terrorism grew from 11 to 55. New groups now attempted to attain the same
form of recognition and attention that members of the PLO had managed to
attract.

16. ISIS
Finally, we will have a quick look at the ISIS organization.

Before September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda was known among experts as a

growing international threat. With the catastrophic attack on the World Trade
Center, however, the terrorist organization and its notorious leader truly
became a household name around the world. However, since then, ISIS has
taken command of the jihadist movement.

The Islamic State is also known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), ISIL
(Islamic State of Iraq and wa-Sham or Levant) or by its Arabic abbreviation
Da’esh.

There is no denying of ISIS’ relevance in current international politics. In

declaring a global jihad against his enemies, ISIS has made its network into
the most talked about international terrorist group today—one that continues
to carry out what its predecessors (namely al-Qaeda, the Muslim
Brotherhood, and other radical Muslims groups) preached on a global scale.

17.Differences between Islam and ISIS

Contrary to many popular beliefs that have translated into increased anti-
Muslim or anti- Arab sentiments in the West since the events of 9/11, al-
Qaeda and ISIS’ strategies have been strongly criticized and opposed by a
vast majority of Muslims and Islamic religious nationalists.
Many Westerners and policy-makers have tended to group all forms of
Islamism together, label them as radical and treat them as hostile. This is
particularly the case with Sunni Islamism, which is widely viewed as
uniformly fundamentalist, radical and threatening to Western interests.

In mainstream media coverage, for example, the jihadi movement is often

associated with ISIS and indirectly with the whole Islamist movement.

18.ISIS Today

At its peak, the Islamic State held in 2014 20 major Iraqi cities with a
population in excess of 5 million civilians. Similarly, it had an important
foothold in Syria, where it held 30% of the Syrian territory.

ISIS recruited and trained members from within these areas and it gave
locals health care, agriculture, education and municipal services. ISIS ran
government-like institutions and its labour force was obligated to swear
allegiance to the group.

The group’s territorial expansionism proved to be a mistake as it had

captured more territory than it could control.

To date, ISIS has lost most of the territory it held, tens of thousands of its
fighters are either imprisoned or dead and its former leader, Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi was killed in a daring raid led by U.S. special forces.

ISIS may have been severely weakened, but it is not by any means dead. The
group has sought to reassert itself in Syria and Iraq, mounting insurgent
attacks in both countries.

1.3.2 The Changing Meaning of Terrorism –

Transcript
1. Introduction

This historical overview will give an idea of the evolution of the meaning of
terrorism. We will explore various historical events, such as French
Revolution, World Wars and Cold War, and analyze the change of the
meaning of terrorism through those periods.

2. FrenchRevolution

The terror system or régime de la terreur of 1793-1794—from which the English

word “terrorism” is derived—was adopted as a means to establish order
during the period of turmoil and upheaval that followed the uprising of 1789.
Thus, the word “terrorism” was first popularized during the French
Revolution and the term shared at least two key characteristics with is
modern-day variant:

First, the régime de la terreur was neither random nor indiscriminate, as

terrorism is often portrayed today, but was organized, deliberate and
systematic.

Second, its goal and its very justification—like that of contemporary

terrorism—was the creation of a “new and better society” in place of a
fundamentally corrupt and undemocratic political system. One of the French
Revolution’s more enduring consequences was the impetus it gave to anti-
monarchical sentiment elsewhere in Europe in favour of democratic and
representative government.

Popular subservience to rulers who derived their authority from God through
the “divine right of rule,” not from their subjects, was increasingly
questioned by a politically awakened continent.

3. Anarchismand“PropagandaoftheDeed”

“Propaganda of the deed,” which means to utilize the power of symbolic

violence instead of the power of words, was popularized by anarchists in the
late 19th century under Russian Rule.

Anarchist philosophers such as Mikhail Bakunin and Petr Kropotkin wanted to

eradicate tsarist Russia and believed that “one single deed created more
propaganda in a few days than a thousand leaflets.”

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1

Terrorism by this time became known as a mechanism to eliminate authority

through the use of small groups or cells, a method used by terrorists today.

As such, groups like Narodnaya Voyla applied “propaganda by deed” by

having structure consisting of small cells and targeting high-profile political
figures who symbolized the oppression tsarist rule.

4. Post-WorldWarI

By the 1930s, the meaning of “terrorism” had changed considerably. The

term came to refer exclusively to revolutionary movements and to violent
acts directed against governments and their leaders.

On the other hand, it also began to be applied to describe the practice of

mass repression employed by totalitarian states and their dictatorial leaders
against their own citizens.

State-sanctioned acts of internal political violence and intimidation directed

mostly against domestic populations became generally referred to as state
terror in order to distinguish them from the phenomenon of terrorism, which
is understood to be violence committed by non-state entities.

The definition of the term was becoming subordinate to those who had
power to assign the definition.

5. WorldWarIIandPost-Colonialism(Part1)
Following World War II, terrorism again regained the revolutionary
connotations with

which it had most often been associated in earlier times.

At this time, the term came to be used primarily in reference to the violent
upheavals that sprouted up throughout the colonial world and were
orchestrated by numerous indigenous nationalist and anti-colonialist
movements emerging in Asia, Africa and the Middle East during the late
1940s and 1950s to oppose European rule.

Countries as diverse as Kenya, Cyprus and Algeria, for example, owe their
independence at least in part to nationalist political movements that
employed terrorist tactics against colonial powers. This identification of
terrorism with revolutionary movements would continue unabated through
the 1960s and 1970s.
6. WorldWarIIandPost-Colonialism(Part2)

During this period, a new perspective on those deemed to be terrorists

emerged. Suddenly, terrorists were also being identified using the “politically
correct” label of “freedom fighters,” depending on who was doing the
labelling. The term came into

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fashion as a result of the political legitimacy that the international

community accorded to struggles for national liberation and self-
determination.

Many newly independent Third World countries and communist bloc states in
particular adopted this language, arguing that anyone or any movement that
fought against colonial oppression and/or Western domination should not be
described as a “terrorist,” but rather as a “freedom fighter.”

7. WorldWarIIandPost-Colonialism(Part3)
Unlike the previous centuries, the right to self determination was not written
into

international law.

The UN Charter, crafted in 1945, states that “people have a right to

determine for themselves the form of state under which they choose to live.”
From this point on, governments and scholars alike have been trying to
assess to what extent one can exercise this right as well as what the rules of
engagement are for self-determinations struggles.

8. RecentYears–1980s
In the early 1980s, terrorism came to be regarded as a calculated means to
destabilize

the West as part of a vast global conspiracy.

By the middle of the decade, a series of suicide bombings directed mostly

against American diplomatic and military targets in the Middle East focused
attention on the rising threat of state-sponsored terrorism.
Consequently, the phenomenon—whereby various renegade foreign
governments such as the regimes in Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria became
actively involved in sponsoring or commissioning terrorists acts—slowly
replaced communist conspiracy theories as the dominant point of view
defining terrorism.

Terrorism became associated with a type of convert of surrogate warfare

whereby weaker states could confront larger, more powerful rivals without
the risk of retribution.

9. RecentYears–Post-ColdWar

The Post-Cold War era ignited a new generation of terrorists, willing and able
to engage in large-scale violence, better known as “catastrophic terrorism.”
According to Brigitte L. Nacos, several factors fuelled this surge in terrorist
activity:

The fall of the Soviet Union meant the end of the balance of power between
the U.S. and the Soviet Union. While both the U.S. and the Soviet Union
engaged in state- sponsored terrorism (the Soviet Union supported anti-
American organizations while the

U.S. supported groups fighting against socialist/communist regimes), the

type of violence was still restrained and controlled in order to avert any
possible confrontational attacks between the superpowers. After the Cold
War, “no such checks were in place.”

The break-up of the Soviet Empire and the formation of new states also
sparked ethno- nationalist and religious conflict. For Central Asian republics
with large Muslim populations, radical Islamic ideology was able to take hold.
Many were trained by al- Qaeda in Afghanistan and were thus able to use
terrorist training in their respective regions to spread Islamic dominance.

The end of the Soviet Union’s communism as an ideology, the establishment

of the U.S. as the new superpower and growing opposition to modernity and
globalizations helped “unleash ethnic, religious, and pseudoreligious fervour”
that fuelled growing movements and groups willing to use large-scale
terrorist violence.

Technological advances in air traffic and communications, such as television,

cellular phones and the Internet enable terrorist organizations to easily
coordinate their logistics and planning and to attack on the international
level. This also facilitated the spread of their propaganda to a wider
audience.

10.Recent Years – 1990s

By the 1990s, newly conceptualized terms like “narco-terrorism” and the
“gray area

phenomenon” added to the difficulty of defining terrorism.

Narco-terrorism, which refers to the relation between terrorist organizations,

narco- trafficking, and/or organized crime syndicates, has increasingly grown
and overlapped in recent decades, blurring the lines on what constitutes
terrorism compared to other forms of crime.

The “gray area phenomenon” refers to violent process of destabilizing the

state by non- state actors for the purpose of usurping the power of legitimate
governments and transferring it to criminal powers. Both of these terms
altered the meaning of terrorism once more as it did not refer solely to sub-
national violence but to other forms of non- state violence as well.

11. Conclusion

Terrorism has come to be defined in many ways with both a positive and
negative connotations over the past 200 years. The original usage of the
term in the 18th century referred to political violence “from above,” such as
during the Reign of Terror.

In the 19th century, the term also included the use of violence against
governments by non-state actors, better known as violence “from below.”
The term was also regarded

more as self-defence and a form of legitimate violence than as crime. By the

20th century, terrorism transformed once more include domestic and
international attacks.

Additionally, the terrorist today will almost never acknowledge that he or she
is a terrorist or, moreover, will go to great lengths to evade and obscure any
such inference or connection.
Poli 209 – Lesson 2- Defining terrorism.

2.3.1 Profile of Terrorism

Slide 3

The idea that socioeconomic conditions, such as poverty, lack of education, and high
unemployment, provide fertile ground for terrorism predates the precipitation of international
terrorism in the last thirty-five years or so, and, more importantly, the recent focus on the roots of
terrorism in Arab and Muslim countries.
At first sight, the argument that poverty breeds terrorism carries little weight with respect to the
experiences in the West from the late 1960s through the 1980s, when some of the world’s richest
countries (e.g. Germany, France, Belgium and the United States) produced a relatively large
number of very active terrorist groups of the left-wing variety.
Regardless of such findings, the idea that terrorism is the result of “poverty, desperation, and
resentment” in less developed countries around the globe has survived as one plausible
explanation in the search for the causes of group-based political violence. Recent studies
contradict the economic deprivation thesis with respect to terrorism and terrorists in the Middle
East.
These findings have profound implications for policy makers in their fight to alleviate the roots
of terrorism. If indeed economic and educational conditions do not cause terrorism, efforts to
improve economic conditions, especially individual outcomes and educational opportunities,
would not decrease the number of terrorists or do away with terrorism altogether.
Individuals who commit terrorist acts do not have specific characteristics in common. While
some are profoundly religious, others are motivated by a political question or by an injustice
which they believe they have suffered from, and some are motivated by a combination of these
reasons.
Although many are associated with a sectarian group with totalitarian ideas, many are not
associated with a single religious group. Terrorists can occupy any profession, including
engineers, artists, day labourers and farmers. They can be rich or poor, old or young. They act in
groups or alone. The one identifying characteristic of a terrorist group is that the majority of
participants are male.

Slide 4
Contrary to popular belief and media depiction, most terrorism is neither crazed nor capricious.
Rather, terrorist attacks are generally both premeditated and carefully planned.
The tactics and targets of various terrorist movements, as well as the weapons they favour,
are therefore ineluctably shaped by a group’s ideology, its internal organizational dynamics and
the personalities of its key members, as well as a variety of internal and external stimuli.

Slide 5
With regard to questions concerning whether there is a ‘terrorist personality,’ much has always
depended on the social and political conditions in which terrorism occurred.
Most terrorists have been young. Calls to action fill younger people with greater enthusiasm
than they do the middle-aged or the elderly.
Furthermore, terrorism requires strength, stamina, and speed, physical qualities of youth.
Nor is there a clear pattern with respect to family background and beliefs.

Slide 6
All terrorism involves the quest for power: power to dominate and coerce, to intimidate and
control, and ultimately to effect fundamental political change.
Often erroneously seen as indiscriminate or senseless, terrorism is actually a very deliberate and
planned application of violence.
It may be represented as a concatenation of five individual processes, designed to achieve,
sequentially, the following key objectives:

- Attention: Terrorists seek to focus attention on themselves and their causes through
the publicity they receive, most often from news media coverage.
- Acknowledgement: Having attracted this attention and thrust some otherwise
previously ignored or hitherto forgotten cause on to the state’s — or, often more
desirably, the international community’s — agenda, terrorists seek to translate their
newfound notoriety into acknowledgement (and perhaps even sympathy and
support) of their cause.
- Recognition: Terrorists attempt to capitalize on the interest and acknowledgement of
their rights.
- Authority: Terrorists seek the authority to effect changes in government and/or
society that lie at the heart of their movement’s struggle.
- Governance: Terrorists seek to consolidate their direct and complete control over
the state, their homeland, and/or their people.
While some terrorist movements have been successful in achieving the first three objectives,
rarely in modern times has any group attained the latter two.

2.3.2 Women as Terrorists

Slide 3

Terrorism is always disturbing, but there is an extra level of disquiet when the
terrorists are female.

In spite of these reactions, female terrorists are not a recent phenomenon.

Although there were in the past and are today, more male than female
terrorists both as leaders and followers, taken together the number of women
in the organizations was and is substantial.

Some estimates range from 20 to 30 percent for many domestic and

international terrorist groups. The membership of some terrorist organizations
was and is all male, and a few have been known to have only female
members, but most of these groups are composed of both men and
women.

Typically, far left terrorist groups have emphasized the recruitment of

females, and far right groups have not. Regardless of the far left/far right divide
in this respect, terrorists in all kinds of countries, regions, and continents have for a
long time recognized the advantage of incorporating females into their
operations.

Indeed, since the beginning of modern-day terrorism, females were actively

involved in political violence — beginning with their roles in the anarchist
bombings of nineteenth-century Europe. In a number of prominent terrorist
organizations, women were represented in large numbers as rank-and-file
members and held leadership positions.

When arrested and imprisoned, women have proven more committed to the
terrorist cause and their comrades than their male counterparts.

Slide 4

Women have often been perceived as less likely than males to pursue
political violence and will only use violent methods as a last resort.

Why are women the weapon of choice for terrorist organizations?

It is a general assumption that women are more vulnerable to recruitment

because of personal loss or hardship resulting from a death in the family or
rape.

Women are considered non-threatening in nature and can therefore move

more freely at security checkpoints as compared to men.

Security searches in airports are less thorough with women than with men
mainly because they are perceived as less suspicious than their male
counterparts. Additionally, in countries like Iraq, where the majority of checkpoint
security guards are male, women are less likely to be frisk searched.

Women are better able to conceal weapons under their clothes under the
pretence of being pregnant.

Women are often considered to be victims of violence rather than perpetrators of

violence, and overall less likely than men to be suspected as terrorists.

Slide 5

There has been a spike in female terrorist activity in the last three decades.

Originally, most women terrorists were involved solely in secular forms of

terrorism.
However, the growing acknowledgement of women’s tactical value in terrorist
operations has increased female membership in terrorist organizations in all
ideologies, belief systems and religious terrorist groups.

Several religious groups and charismatic leaders, primarily of the Islamic

faith, have manipulated religious texts to advocate the role of women in
terrorist activities.

Women terrorists are found in all parts of the world including West
Germany, Italy, Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya and Sri Lanka. According to
Christopher Harmon, more than 30 percent of international terrorists are
women.

Generally, men are believed to pursue terrorist tactics because of their political
views, while women have sought terrorist tactics for personal or emotional
reasons such as family honor, loss of loved ones and vengeance. Female
terrorism expert Mia Blume suggests that this is not always the case.

Although many women have been vulnerable and coerced into recruitment
because of family pressure and victimization, others are highly politicized
and actively seek leadership roles in terrorism.

Slide 6

Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP)
hijacked an airplane in 1969 in response to the persistent violent activity in
the Arab-Israeli conflict throughout the 1960s.

Wafa Idris detonated a bomb in Israel, killing herself and injuring hundreds
of Israelis. She was motivated mainly by a sense of rage and general
hopelessness due to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Thenmozhi Rajaratnam of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

bowed down to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s feet, pretending to be a
female admirer, and then detonated a bomb that killed the two of them along
with several others.

All of these women engaged in terrorist activity not out of vulnerability or

in anticipation of religious rewards, but out of nationalist and political
fervors.

While some women have shown leadership in carrying out their terrorist
activities, others have been coerced and literally forced to strap a bomb to
their bodies.

Blume’s findings illustrate that some women, such as members of the LTTE, are
highly politicized and enthusiastic about joining the organization. Other
groups, however, such as those in Chechnya and Iraq, have found women’s
roles in terrorism to be a family affair.
There have also been a number of cases where women were coerced and
even drugged during the recruitment period.

Slide 7

Although the term “black widow” has portrayed women in terrorism as

vulnerable victims, other women have played prominent roles in
recruitment, fundraising, propaganda and carrying out terrorist attacks.

Samira Ahmed Jaseem, a member of the Iraqi-based Muslim extremist group

Ansa Al-Sunna, is notorious for recruiting Iraqi women for suicide bombings.
Jaseem ordered the rape of over 80 Iraqi women by members of their own
group and later recruited these women for terrorist attacks.

In many Iraqi communities, a woman who is sexually assaulted brings a loss

of honor and profound shame for the victim and her family. Acting as an
elderly sister, Jaseem would persuade victims of sexual assault to believe
that their lives were over and the only way to rid them of their shame was
through suicide bombing.

Jaseem was arrested in 2009 for ordering the sexual assault of dozens of
women and later confessed to her role in the Islamic militant group.

2.3.3 The Organizational Dynamics of Terrorist Groups

Slide 3

Rapoport estimates that the life expectancy of at least 90 per cent of terrorist organizations is less
than a year, and that nearly half of those that make it as far as that have ceased to exist within a
decade.
Some categories of terrorist groups admittedly have better chances of survival—and perhaps
success—than others. In modern times, ethno-nationalist/separatist terrorist groups have
typically lasted the longest and been the most successful. However, except in the immediate
post-war era of massive decolonization, success for ethno-nationalist terrorist organizations has
rarely involved the actual realization of their stated, long-term goals of self-determination or
nationhood.
The ethno-nationalists’ comparative success may have as much to do with the clarity and
tangibility of their envisioned future—the establishment or re-establishment of a national
homeland from within some existing country.
Left-wing terrorist movements, by comparison, appear doubly disadvantaged. Not only do they
lack the sizeable existing pool of potential recruits available to most ethno-nationalist groups, but
among all the categories of terrorists they have formulated the least clear and most ill-defined
vision of the future.
For the terrorist, success in making this impact is most often measured in terms of the amount of
publicity and attention received.

Slide 4
Newsprint and air-time are thus the coin of the realm in the terrorists’ mindset: the only tangible
or empirical means they have by which to gauge success and assess their progress.
For many terrorists, this equation of publicity and attention with success and self-gratification
has the effect of locking them into an unrelenting upward spiral of violence in order to keep the
eye of the media and the public on them. Klein describes escalation as a "force of habit" among
terrorists; an intrinsic product of their perennial need for validation which in turn is routinely
assessed and appraised on the basis of media coverage.
The effect is that terrorists today feel driven to undertake ever more dramatic and destructively
lethal deeds in order to achieve the same effect that a less ambitious or bloody action may have
had in the past. To their minds at least, the media and public have become progressively inured
or desensitized to the seemingly endless litany of successive terrorist incidents; thus a continuous
upward ratcheting of the violence required in order to retain media and public interest and
attention.
The terrorists’ ability to attract—and, moreover, to continue to attract attention—is most often
predicated on the success of their attacks.
The main point is to select targets where success is 100% assured. In this respect, terrorists also
analyze the ‘lessons’ to be drawn from mistakes made by former comrades who have been either
killed or apprehended.
Press accounts, judicial indictments, courtroom testimony and trial transcripts are meticulously
culled for information on security force tactics and methods and then absorbed by surviving
group members.

Slide 5

Many people join terrorist groups in their youth.

One common factor that motivates people to join or support a group is belief in the cause of the
group.
Provocation and anger can motivate people to support or join terrorist groups. A feeling of
hopelessness can drive people to join. Revenge is another powerful motivation. Those who have
suffered the loss of family members and friends, their schools or their homes, become the most
committed because they have direct and tangible justifications as opposed to an ideological
cause.
Although conscription is not widespread, terrorist groups also coerce some recruits to join or
support them. In Colombia and some African countries there are accounts of terrorist and
paramilitary groups raiding villages and kidnapping children, recruiting them, and inducing
terror to ensure villager support.
Some individuals join or support a terrorist group for social recognition or social acceptance.
Some individuals join terrorist groups for economic reasons, much as one might choose a career
due to its perceived benefits.
Some scholars believe that people join terrorist groups because they have failed to achieve their
political goal by political means; in their minds, the use of violence is justified because there is
no other path available.
Terrorist groups often use propaganda to legitimize their cause, and to display their members as
freedom fighters and charismatic folk heroes standing up for what they believe, undeterred by
the vast odds against them, and taking on the full might of the “enemy” with no regard for their
personal safety.
2.3.4 Strategies of Terrorist Groups

Slide 3

Tactics are methods employed by terrorist groups to conduct operations.

Targets are either personnel or infrastructure attacked by terrorist groups.
Terrorist groups also use threats to advance their aims and objectives. The threat of violent action
(bomb, assassination) to cause fear or coerce an action or inaction is also an act of terrorism.
Terrorist targets include humans and infrastructures in land, air and sea. Human targets include
political leaders, administrators, military personnel, business leaders, and large populations.
Infrastructure targets include aviation, maritime, symbolic, and other national critical
infrastructure. Terrorist targets include diplomatic, foreign or domestic businesses, domestic or
foreign military, transportation assets, domestic government, foreign government, foreign,
religious, ethnic or racial, the general public, and humanitarian workers.

Slide 4

Because it is impossible to protect all likely targets, governments and corporations adopt target-
hardening measures that make it costly and difficult for a terrorist group to attack the protected
target. These include:
 Alarms
 Sensors
 Close-circuit television
 Special glass
 Metal detectors
 X-ray technology
 Space or vision barriers
 Quality training of personnel
However, the key to thwarting a terrorist attack is intelligence, often developed by infiltrating a
terrorist group using human agents.

Slide 5

Although the ultimate goals of terrorists have varied over time, five had enduring importance:
1. Regime change
2. Territorial change
3. Policy change
4. Social control
5. Status quo maintenance
Some organizations hold multiple goals and may view one as facilitating the other.

Slide 6

Regime change is the overthrow of a government and its replacement with one led by terrorists
or at least a government more of their liking.
Slide 7

Territorial change is taking territory away from a state either to establish a new state or to join
another state.

Slide 8

Policy change is broader category of lesser demands.

Slide 9

Social control constrains the behavior of individuals, rather than the state.

Slide 10
Status quo maintenance is the support of an existing regime or a territorial arrangement against
political groups that seek to change it.

Slide 11
There are five principal strategic logics of costly signaling at work in terrorists campaigns:
1. Attrition
2. Intimidation
3. Provocation
4. Spoiling
5. Outbidding
Understanding these five distinct strategic logics is crucial not only for understanding terrorism
but for designing effective antiterror policies.
Slide 12
The most important task for any terrorist group is to persuade the enemy that the group is strong
and resolute enough to inflict serious costs, so that the enemy yields to the terrorists’ demands.
During the last years of the British Empire, the Greeks in Cyprus, Jews in Palestine and Arabs in
Aden used a war of attrition strategy against their colonizer. By targeting Britain with terrorist
attacks, they eventually convinced the political leadership that maintaining control over these
territories would not be worth the cost in British lives.
States with only peripheral interests at stake often capitulate to terrorist demands; states with
more important interests at stake rarely do. Terrorist organizations almost always are weaker
than the governments they target, and, as a result, are vulnerable to government retaliation.
Democracies may be more constrained in their ability to retaliate than authoritarian regimes.

Slide 13
Terrorists are often in competition with the government for the support of the population.
Terrorists can also use an intimidation strategy to gain greater social control over a population.

Slide 14
A provocation strategy is often used in pursuit of regime change and territorial change, the most
popular goals of the FTOs (foreign terrorist organizations) listed by the U.S. State Department.
To succeed, a terrorist organization must first convince moderate citizens that their government
needs to be replaced or that independence from the central government is the only acceptable
outcome.
Provocation helps shift citizen support away from the incumbent regime. In a provocation
strategy, terrorists seek to goad the target government into a military response that harms
civilians within the terrorist organization’s home territory. The aim is to convince them that the
government is so evil that the radical goals of the terrorists are justified and support for their
organization is warranted.
As one expert has written, “Nothing radicalizes a people faster than the unleashing of
undisciplined security forces on its towns and villages.” Provocation is a way for terrorists to
force an enemy government to reveal information about itself that then helps the organization
recruit additional members. Democracies may be more susceptible to provocation than non-
democracies. Counterstrategies, therefore, are influenced in part by the political system from
which they emerge.

Slide 15
The goal of a spoiling strategy is to ensure that peace overtures between moderate leaders on the
terrorists’ side and the target government do not succeed. A spoiling strategy works by
persuading the enemy that moderates on the terrorists’ side cannot be trusted to abide by a peace
deal. The Israel-Palestinian conflict, and in particular the Oslo peace process, has been plagued
by spoilers.
When mutual trust is high, a peace settlement can be implemented despite ongoing terrorist acts
and the potential vulnerabilities the agreement can create. Trust, however, is rarely high after
long conflicts, which is why spoilers can strike with a reasonable chance that their attack will be
successful.
Slide 16
Outbidding arises when two key conditions hold: two or more domestic parties are competing for
leadership of their side, and the general population is uncertain about which of the groups best
represents their interests. Three reasons help to explain why groups are likely to be rewarded for
being more militant rather than less.
First, in bargaining contexts, it is often useful to be represented by an agent who is more hardline
than oneself.
Second, uncertainty may also exist about the type of adversary the population and its competing
groups are facing. A third factor that may favor outbidding is that office-holding itself may
produce incentives to sell out. Outbidding will be favored when multiple groups are competing
for the allegiance of a similar demographic base of support.
One solution to the problem of outbidding would be to eliminate the struggle for power by
encouraging competing groups to consolidate into a unified opposition. If competition among
resistance groups is eliminated, the incentive for outbidding also disappears.

Slide 17
The overriding tactical—and, indeed ethical—imperative for left-wing terrorists has been the
deliberate tailoring of their violent acts to appeal to their perceived "constituencies." For this
reason, left-wing terrorists’ use of violence historically has been heavily constrained. Their self-
styled crusade for social justice is typically directed against governmental or commercial
institutions, or specific individuals who they believe represent capitalist exploitation and
repression.
They are therefore careful not to undertake actions that might alienate potential supporters or
their perceived constituency. Even when less discriminate tactics such as bombing are employed,
the violence is meant to be equally "symbolic." The use by left-wing terrorists of "armed
propaganda"—violent acts with clear symbolic content—is thus a critical element in their
operational calculus.

Slide 18
Right-wing terrorism has often been characterized as the least discriminating, most senseless
type of contemporary political violence. If the means of the right-wing terrorists sometimes
appear haphazardly planned and often spontaneously generated, their ends are hardly less
indistinct. Essentially, right-wing terrorists’ ostensible goal is the destruction of the liberal-
democratic state to clear the way for a renascent National Socialist (‘Nazi’) or fascist one.
The right-wing terrorists believe that their nation’s survival is dependent upon the exorcism of
certain elements from its environment: only by becoming politically, radically and culturally
homogeneous can the state recover its strength and again work for its natural citizens, rather than
the variegated collection of interlopers and parasites who now sap the nation of its strength and
greatness.
Like all forms of terrorism, even right-wing violence is not based on some pathological
obsession to kill or beat up as many people as possible, but rather on a deliberate policy of
intimidating the general public into acceding to specific demands or pressures. For religious
terrorists there are demonstrably fewer constraints on the actual infliction of violence and the
category of targets/enemies is much more open-ended.
Slide 19
The advent of what is considered modern, international terrorism occurred on July 22, 1968. On
that day three armed Palestinian terrorists, belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PLFP), one of the six groups then comprising the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO), hijacked an Israeli El Al commercial flight en route from Rome to Tel Aviv.
Although commercial aircraft had been hijacked before, the El Al hijacking differed significantly
from all previous ones.
 First, its purpose was not simply the diversion of a scheduled flight from one designation
to another—this hijacking was a bold political statement.

 Second, unlike previous hijackings, where the origin or nationality of the aircraft that was
being seized did not matter, El Al—as Israel’s national airline and by extension,
therefore, a readily evident national "symbol" of the Israeli state—had been specifically
and deliberately targeted by the terrorists.

 Third, the terrorists succeeded in forcing their avowed enemy, Israel, to communicate
directly with them and therefore with the organization to which they belonged, despite
the Israeli government’s previous declarations and policy pronouncements to the
contrary.

 Finally, the terrorists discovered that they had the power to create major media events—
especially when innocent civilians were involved.
Slide 20

With the El Al hijacking the nature and character of terrorism demonstrably changed.
For the first time, terrorists began to travel regularly from one country to another to carry out
attacks.
In addition, they also began to target innocent civilians from other countries who often had little
if anything to do with the terrorists’ cause or grievance, simply in order to endow their acts with
the power to attract attention and publicity that attacks against their declared or avowed enemies
often lacked.
These dramatic tactical changes in terrorism were facilitated by technological advances of the
time that had transformed the speed and ease of international commercial air travel and vastly
improved both the quality of television news footage and the promptness with which that footage
could be broadcast around the globe.
At the forefront of this transformation were the constituent groups of the PLO. Between 1968
and 1980, Palestinian terrorist groups were indisputably the world’s most active, accounting for
more international terrorist incidents than any other movement.
The success achieved by the PLO in publicizing the Palestinians’ plight through the
"internationalization" of its struggle with Israel has since served as a model for similarly
aggrieved ethnic and nationalist minority groups everywhere, demonstrating how long-standing
but hitherto ignored or forgotten causes can be resurrected and dramatically thrust on to the
world’s agenda through a series of well-orchestrated, attention-grabbing acts.
Slide 21
The premier example of terrorism’s power to rocket a cause from obscurity to renown was
without doubt the murder of 11 Israeli athletes seized by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972
Munich Olympic Games. Both the hostage seizure and the rescue attempt that took place as a
result were colossal failures. International opinion was virtually unanimous in its condemnation
of the terrorists’ operation.
The Olympic tragedy provided the first clear evidence that even terrorist attacks which fail to
achieve their ostensible objectives can nonetheless still be counted successful provided that the
operation is sufficiently dramatic to capture the media’s attention. In terms of the publicity and
exposure accorded to the Palestinian cause, Munich was an unequivocal success.
The Black September (Munich) terrorists attained the operation’s two objectives:
 World opinion was forced to take note of the Palestinian drama
 The Palestinian people imposed their presence on an international gathering that had
sought to exclude them

Slide 22
For the Palestinians, Munich was in fact a spectacular publicity coup. From Munich onwards
nobody could ignore the Palestinians or their cause.
It is perhaps not entirely coincidental, that 18 months after Munich the PLO’s leader, Yasser
Arafat, was invited to address the UN General Assembly.
Shortly afterwards the PLO was granted special observer status in that international body. It is
doubtful whether the PLO could ever have achieved this success had it not resorted to
international terrorism.
Within four years, a handful of Palestinian terrorists had overcome a quarter-century of neglect
and obscurity. Within the decade, the number of terrorist groups either operating internationally
or committing attacks against foreign targets in their own country in order to attract international
attention had more than quadrupled.
The PLO, as a terrorist movement, is arguably unique in history. Not only was it the first truly
"international" terrorist organization, it also consistently embraced a far more internationalist
orientation than most other terrorist groups. The PLO was also one of the first terrorist groups
actively to pursue the accumulation of capital and wealth as an organizational priority.

Poli 209 – Lesson 3- State, Religious, Ideological Terrorism

3.3.1 State Terrorism Part 1

Slide 2
In this Lesson we will examine types of terrorism that are directed against formal governments.
We will also cover numerous examples where a government is directly involved in carrying out
terrorist acts against its own people. Finally, we will look at examples where states sponsor
terrorists to conduct aggressive operations against their enemies
Formal governments around the world have been known to use violence and fear tactics to
control the populations within their borders.
According to Jeremy Spindlove, "State terrorism, whether it is internal (against its own people or
dissenters) or external (using or funding outside terrorist groups or individuals), offers a real
threat to international stability and security. Internal terrorism can often inspire the formation of
resistance movements, which then may resort to revolutionary or terror tactics. This cycle of
terror and violence can result in a whirlwind that can suck in all sanity within its reach —
innocent or guilty. Exportation of the support for external terror, sponsored by rogue states, has
resulted in a proliferation of terrorist attacks worldwide. Even nations whose official policy
specifically rejects the use of terror have been guilty of providing financial and operational aid,
often clandestinely, to those who would promote and perform their terrorism.”
As an example, the government in Pakistan and its spy branch, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI),
have been accused of providing support to the Taliban, though they are also supporting NATO
efforts in Afghanistan.
According to a report from the London School of Economics, "Links between the Taliban and
Pakistan’s intelligence service have long been suspected”, but the report’s author – Harvard
analyst Matt Waldman—says there is real evidence of extensive co-operation between the two.
“This goes far beyond just limited, or occasional support,” he said. “This is very significant
levels of support being provided by the ISI."

Slide 3
According to Gus Martin, “It is important to understand conceptually that political violence by
the state is the most organized, and potentially the most far-reaching, application of terrorist
violence. Because of the many resources available to the state, its ability to commit acts of
violence far exceeds in scale the kind of violence perpetrated by anti-state dissident terrorists.” It
is important to distinguish between the terms ‘state terrorism’, ‘state-sponsored terrorism’ and
‘nationalist terrorism’ as the definitions and distinctions can be quite controversial.

Slide 4
State terrorism, or terrorism ‘from above’, “is more than repression, suppression, and human
rights violations. It involves sponsored or unsponsored Black operations combined with
Psychological Warfare where reactionary governments, their militaries, militias, intelligence
services, or police forces engage in acts ranging from political and mass murder to torture and
crimes against humanity.”
State terrorism usually refers to a situation in which a nation kills its own citizens.
State terrorism is generally committed in secret, whereas non-state terrorist groups actively seek
global attention.
Slide 5
State-sponsored terrorism, “also called warfare by proxy, "puppet" or nuisance terrorism, occurs
when a patron state provides political, economic, or military support to a group of people or
organization in a host nation to achieve strategic or hegemonic ends by perpetrating aggressive
terrorism on the patron's behalf.” It implies governments or “legitimate” authorities and their use
of terror tactics against enemies as an instrument of both domestic and foreign policy, always to
promote state interests. The term conventionally refers to a situation in which a nation backs
armed militias and guerrilla movements with the intent of helping them seize control of or
destabilize the nation.
For example, Iran, besides sponsoring insurgent acts in Iraq, has ongoing association with and
provides support to Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda. Hezbollah is a
Lebanon-based terrorist organization formed in 1982 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps
and is closely allied to the Syrian Ba’ath Party regime.
With Iran and Syrian support, this organization was responsible for the 1983 bombing of the U.S.
Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, the 1982 Israeli embassy bombing in Argentina, the bombing
of the Jewish Cultural Center in Buenos Aires and the 1996 Khober Towers bombing in Saudi
Arabia.
Hamas, based in the Palestinian territories, is also sponsored by Iran, and its terror wing the Izz
al Din al Qassam Brigades are involved in suicide attacks against Israeli targets. Hamas was
formed in 1987 and since 2000 has conducted over 425 attacks, with 377 killed and 2,070
injured. Hamas is also responsible for the 2002 suicide bomb attack in Natanya which killed 23
people.

Slide 6
Nationalist terrorism is mostly "traditional" terrorism, also called revolutionary or ideological
terrorism, but it is also a large category of terrorism with many subtypes. For the most part, it is
practiced by individuals belonging to an identifiable organization with a well-defined command-
and-control structure, clear political, social or economic objectives, and a comprehensible
ideology or self-interest (Hoffman 1999).
Nationalist terrorism is a movement that emerged in consequence of colonial rule and it is
described as a form of terrorism through which nationalist participants attempt to form an
independent state against what they consider to be an occupying, imperial, or otherwise
illegitimate state.

Slide 7
One of the first obvious manifestations of state terror originated with the French revolutionary
state’s “reign of terror” instituted in 1793, after the popular overthrow of the monarchy. In order
to preserve post-revolution order, the new government instituted dictatorial measures,
suspending most civil liberties and executing those disloyal to the new Republic.
Under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, an estimated 500,000 “enemies of the state”
were arrested, 40,000 were executed, 200,000 were deported, and another 200,000 died in prison
from starvation and torture. It was a period of brutal repression of perceived enemies within the
country.
The history of the modern state is tied up with the history of the premeditated use of terror tactics
through political repression and war. State terrorism as a domestic policy or “internal terrorism”
is practiced by a state against its own people or domestic enemies, and has led to the most
dramatic violations of human rights.
If we consider the definition of terrorism as the use of large-scale violence on a population, we
can trace back the origins of state terrorism to the history of colonization, slavery, empire and
genocide. States will revert to terror tactics against their own population or other nations when
they sense that the interests of the elite are threatened.
State terrorism constitutes a premeditated, patterned and instrumental form of state violence
designed to instill fear. It is a system in which a government will legitimize its authority through
intimidation and force of arms.

Slide 8
Internal terrorism occurs when a government terrorizes its own population to demonstrate the
supreme power of the government, and to intimidate or eliminate all opposition. The terror
actions usually become the acknowledged policy of the government, and make use of official
institutions such as the judiciary, police, military, and other government agencies. Changes to
legal codes permit or encourage torture, killing, or property destruction in pursuit of government
policy.
The state’s military, law enforcement and other security institutions sometimes receive assistance
from unofficial paramilitaries and death squads to carry out the terrorist actions.
Large-scale killing and torture are practices usually implemented by states, not individual
terrorist organizations. These acts are transparent because states are the ones defining terrorism
and identifying terrorists, meanwhile exempting themselves as they engage in “counter-
terrorism.” A terrorist state creates a situation of mass disorientation and inescapable anxiety.
State terrorists usually subscribe to an ideology of plutocracy—a system of rule by and for the
rich and it is almost always ultra right-wing terrorism. It has often been carried out by very
charismatic leaders who become dictators. State terrorism has often followed revolutionary
periods, thus legitimizing the actions as the “right of a state to protect itself from revolutionary
violence.”
Control of the mass media and suppression of dissent are common trademarks of state terrorism.
It is also common for mainstream media to follow the official lead to the extent that it will cover
up information and withhold facts.
The use of murder, slavery, terror, arrest, deportation of “subversives,” incarceration without
trial, and torture of the population, which all constitute instruments of subjugation, intimidation,
interrogation and humiliation, taints the history of almost every modern nation.
According to a report carried out by Amnesty International in 1996, out of 150 countries
surveyed, 82 had participated in torture.

Slide 9
There are three levels in the scale of violence relating to internal state terrorism:
 Intimidation: the government tries to anticipate, discourage and repress opposition and
dissent, notably through the use of propaganda
 Coerced conversion: government efforts to create a complete change in a national
lifestyle, like the Iranian revolution in 1979
 Genocide: the deliberate extermination of an entire class, or of an entire ethnic or
religious group for ideological reasons. State-sponsored genocidal violence targets both
enemy combatants and enemy civilians. Genocide goes back to Nero, or the Jacobins
during the French Revolution, and later on Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Soviet Union,
Rwanda, Argentina, Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge.

Slide10
According to Gus Martin, state participation in domestic terrorism implies several types of
support, which range in intensity from relatively passive encouragement of political violence to
unrestrained genocidal violence, including:
Vigilante domestic state terrorism: A form of terrorism where members of governmental security
forces unofficially participate in and provide support for the repression of undesirables. Its
overall goal is to violently preserve the preferred order. Suppression campaigns usually occur
when the state perceives that it is threatened. Nongovernmental vigilantes organize themselves
into paramilitaries and operate as death squads.
Overt official state terrorism: The visible application of state-sponsored political violence. This
type of terrorism has been practiced in totalitarian societies — Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany,
Khmer Rouge Cambodia and Taliban Afghanistan. The state openly deploys its security forces to
violently assert its authority and it provides support for progovernment political violence.
Covert official state terrorism: The state clandestinely uses its security forces to violently assert
its authority and provide support for progovernment political violence. The term refers to the
secretive application of state-sponsored political violence. This form of terrorism has been
practiced in countries with extensive secret police services — Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s
Iran, President Hafez el-Assad’s Syria, General Augusto Pinochet’s Chile and Argentina during
the Dirty War.
Genocidal state terrorism: The state’s resources are deployed to eliminate or culturally suppress
an entire population, religious group or other demographic group. The scale of violence during
campaigns of state-sponsored genocidal terrorism can be unlimited.

Slide 11
One of the problems linked to state terrorism lies within the power of the state and the legitimacy
of state violence. According to George Kren and Leon Rappoport, “There is no moral ethical
limit which the state cannot transcend if it wishes to do so, because there is no moral-ethical
power higher than the state. Moreover, it seems apparent that no modern state will ever seriously
interfere with the internal activities of another solely for moral-ethical reasons.”

Slide12
The Responsibility to Protect concept may change this. A product of Canadian diplomacy, the
Responsibility to Protect concept was created by the International Commission on Intervention
and State Sovereignty convened by Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian Foreign Minister under
Jean Chrétien in 2000 and led by Mohammed Sahnoun of Algeria and Gareth Evans of
Australia.
It was endorsed at the United Nations in September 2005 by approximately 150 heads of state
and government, as well as by 40 lesser representatives, and adopted in April 2006 by the UN
Security Council.
It was designed to protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes
against humanity wherever they may occur.
For the first time, states agreed to a collective responsibility to act within the international
community when governments fail to protect the most vulnerable. This agreement seeks to
counter cases of genocide like those that took place in Somalia in 1993, Bosnia in 1995, Rwanda
in 1994, and Kosovo in 1999 in which the international community did not intervene or
intervened too late.
However, the responsibility to protect is controversial as it naturally incurs the right to intervene
or the "right of humanitarian intervention." This has caused concern over "Western imperialism"
and the appropriateness for states to take coercive military action against another state and
intervene in the domestic affairs of a state for the purpose of protecting people while furthering
their own interests.
Controversy still clouds cases of interventions such as the U.S. intervention in Liberia in 1990,
the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. intervention in Haiti in 1994, the UK intervention in Sierra Leone
in 1997, and the U.S. intervention in East Timor in 1999. The Bush administration's invasion of
Iraq in 2003 aroused serious suspicions over humanitarian justifications for military
interventions.

Slide 13
The legitimacy of state violence is a constantly evolving issue. To claim that a state commits
terrorism revolves around the issue of a state’s legitimate use of violence.
Indeed, questions of importance include what constitutes an illegimate regime and what types of
violence and war are acceptable against an illegitimate regime? As Amy Zalman argues, “In the
modern system of nation-states, it is agreed that sovereign states have the legitimate right to use
violence in some contexts that individuals don’t. Governments can wage war, but sub-state
actors cannot.”
Generally, the definition of state terrorism does not apply to states engaged in war if the actions
of their armed forces are within the laws of war, which all nations are expected to follow. These
laws of war include international agreements such as the United Nations Charter, the Geneva
conventions and the Hague conventions which change over time.
The Nuremberg Principles is another document that was created during the Nuremberg trials of
Nazi party members as a series of guidelines for determining what constitutes a war crime under
international humanitarian law.

Slide 14
In The Criminology of Terrorism: History, Law, Definitions, Typologies by Wu Ch’I, it is
reported that: “One cannot avoid long-standing debates, going back as far as Aristotle, over when
it is politically and morally acceptable to use unconventional tactics such as violence and fear to
bring about political and social change.
History is replete with the ideas of great thinkers who believed that, under the right
circumstances, unconventional tactics were not only smart, but a moral or civic duty. Religious
leaders over the centuries have contributed thoughts about when unjust warfare is just, when
"holy terror" is justified, and military thinkers have advocated less-than-honorable tactics.”
Governments have used terror with the excuse of countering terror.
Indeed, as Paul Wilkinson suggests, “Historically, it is easy to show how violence perpetrated by
autocratic and colonial regimes has almost invariably displayed a symbiotic relationship to the
violence of resistance and insurgent movements. Several excellent scholarly studies of the
struggle between French forces and the FLN in Algeria have underlined this lesson. It is quite
apparent that the French government and higher military authorities in Algeria knowingly
allowed lower-level officers in charge of interrogations to make extensive use of torture, not only
to obtain information, but also to terrorize the Algerians and to make the costs of helping the
FLN greater than the risks of refusing to do so. In this poisoned climate of terror and counter-
terror, when torture was often used as a means of irrational vengeance against FLN atrocities,
who would be bold enough to assert that the torturer was morally superior to the FLN bomb-
planter in Algiers?”

3.3.2 State Terrorism Part 2

Slide 2
Examples of modern terrorist states are, among others:
 Nazi Germany under Hitler’s authoritarian regime: After assuming power, official Nazi
policy was aimed at the deliberate destruction of "state enemies" and the resulting
intimidation of the rest of the population. Hitler suspended civil rights, eliminated all
non-Nazi media and banned all demonstrations. Hitler’s secret police, the Gestapo, was
given full power to eliminate all “suspicious persons,” or to send anyone to concentration
 camps without trial or hope of appeal. As a result of Hitler’s twelve years of rule by
terror, an estimated ten to twelve million people died.
 Stalin’s totalitarianism: Joseph Stalin's "purges" of the 1930s are examples of using the
machinery of the state to terrorize a population. The methods Stalin used included such
actions as rigged show trials of opponents, punishing family or friends of suspected
enemies of the regime, and extra-legal use of police or military forces against the
population. Estimates suggest that between 40 to 50 million people were sent to Soviet
jails or labor camps called gulags, with approximately 15 to 25 million deaths.

Slide 3
Saddam Hussein’s attack against the Kurdish population in Iraq in 1988: Saddam Hussein used
chemical weapons on his own Kurdish population during a major battle in the Iran-Iraq war. The
Kurdish incident, which killed approximately 7000 people, took place in the Kurdish city of
Halabja, then held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish peshmarga guerrillas allied with Tehran.
The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge regime lasted from 1975 to 1979 in
Cambodia. It consisted of a succession of communist parties, and is remembered for the deaths
of an estimated 1.7 million to 3 million people from a population of 7.1 million by execution,
starvation and forced labor. The regime carried out a radical program in an attempt to turn
Cambodia into a classless society by depopulating cities and forcing the urban population into
agricultural communes with the overall goal of turning Cambodians into “New People” through
agricultural labor. The entire population was forced into farming in the labour camps.
During their four years in power, the Khmer Rouge overworked and starved the population, at
the same time executing selected groups, including intellectuals and killing many others for even
minor violations of the rules. The Khmer Rouge isolated the country from foreign influence,
closed schools, hospitals and factories, abolished banking, finance and currency, outlawed all
religions, confiscated all private property and relocated people from urban areas to collective
farms where forced labor was widespread.

Slide 4
The Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995: The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a consequence of
events that led to the dissolution of Yugoslavia, involving several ethnically defined factions
within Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, as well as a smaller faction
in Western Bosnia led by Fikret Abdic. A trial at the International Court of Justice began
following a suit by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia for genocide and the "ethnic
cleansing" of Bosniaks under President Slobodan Miloševic. He was found dead in his cell at the
Hague on March 11, 2006 and his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity consequently
ended without a verdict.
The Rwandan genocide in 1994: An estimated 800,000 to 1,071,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate
Hutus were eliminated by two extremist Hutu militia groups.
In Africa, colonial powers often resorted to terrorism to suppress national liberation movements.
Uganda during Idi Amin’s reign of terror, from 1971 to 1979, witnessed an estimated 300,000
deaths. Idi Amin launched a campaign of persecution against rival tribes in order to secure his
regime, murdering ordinary citizens, former and serving Cabinet ministers, the chief justice,
Supreme Court judges, diplomats, academics, educators, prominent Roman Catholic and
Anglican clergy, senior bureaucrats, medical practitioners, bankers, tribal leaders, business
executives, journalists, and a number of foreigners. In some cases entire villages were wiped out.
 Slide 5
Chile, under Augusto Pinochet and his Military Government Junta, from 1973 to 1990. After
overthrowing Salvador Allende’s freely elected socialist government in a coup, Augusto
Pinochet, backed by the United States, led Chile for 17 years while abolishing democratic
institutions, instituting a repressive regime and carrying out a program of major social changes.
The military dictatorship was characterized by the systematic suppression of all leftist
opposition. Approximately 200,000 people either disappeared, were killed, tortured or exiled
during this regime.
Sudan and Darfur under Omar al-Bashir: Omar al-Bashir overthrew the democratically elected
Prime Minister of Sudan Sadeq al-Mahdi in an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989. Sudan was
already caught up in a civil war that started in 1983 and evolved into a major conflict in 2003
that lasts to this day, opposing the southern non-Arab populations against the northern Arab
government led by al-Bashir. The rival sides battle over natural resources and land allocation. al-
Bashir has introduced Sharia law and his government forces and Janjaweed militiamen remain in
conflict with Darfur's sedentary population and rebel groups such as the Sudan Liberation
Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.
The Arab-dominated Sudanese government publicly denies that it supports the Janjaweed militia
and their attacks. These assaults, combined with decades of drought, desertification and
overpopulation, have caused the deaths of an estimated 200,000-400,000 civilians, the
displacement of approximately 2.5 million into neighboring Chad and have left more than 3.5
million men, women and children struggling to survive amid violence and starvation. The
Sudanese government has suppressed information by jailing and killing witnesses and concealing
evidence in mass graves.

Slide 6
‘External terrorism’ is practiced by one state against enemies in the international domain. As a
foreign policy option, state-sponsored terrorism serves a state’s interest when a state cannot use
conventional warfare to achieve its strategic objectives. Practically speaking, direct confrontation
of an adversary is often infeasible logistically, politically or militarily.
As a result, state-sponsored terrorism becomes a logical alternative for states pursuing an
aggressive foreign policy. According to the Institute for Counter-Terrorism, “State sponsored
terrorism can achieve strategic ends where the use of conventional armed forces is not practical
or effective. The high costs of modern warfare, and concern about non-conventional escalation,
as well as the danger of defeat and the unwillingness to appear as the aggressor, have turned
terrorism into an efficient, convenient, and generally discrete weapon for attaining state interests
in the international realm.”
For example, instead of provoking a war with Israel, some Arab states have chosen to sponsor
Palestinian terrorist groups that carry out the attacks.
In addition, considering the little hope that many states have in directly attacking superpowers
such as the United States, terrorist attacks become an alternative in destabilizing the superpower
through a form of “asymmetrical warfare,” where a technically weaker opponent attacks points
of weakness in an otherwise stronger opponent through relatively simple means. The terrorist
thus has advantages such as selectivity and surprise and leaves no clue about who ordered the
attack which constitutes a means to destabilize the powerful defender who must strive to prevent
attacks on many fronts.
State-sponsored terrorism in the international domain is often covert, and the violence therefore
often remains unaccountable. As the terror destabilizes the adversary, the target of the attack
cannot respond in the same manner as it would to a direct attack, unless it eventually finds
evidence of the enemy’s responsibility.
The links between regimes and terrorism are often highly ambiguous and indefinable.

Slide 7
According to Gus Martin, “As a practical matter for aggressive regimes, state terrorism in the
international domain is advantageous in several respects:
 State terrorism is inexpensive. The costs of patronage and assistance for terrorist
movements are relatively low. Even poor nations can strike at and injure a prosperous
adversary through a single spectacular incident.
 State terrorism has limited consequences. State assisters that are clever can distance
themselves from culpability for a terrorist incident. They can cover up their involvement,
disclaim responsibility, and thereby escape possible reprisals or other penalties.
 State terrorism can be successful. Weaker states can raise the stakes beyond what a
stronger adversary is willing to bear. Aggressor states that wish to remain anonymous can
likewise successfully destabilize an adversary through the use of a proxy movement.
They can do this through one or more spectacular incidents or by assisting in a campaign
of terror.”
Because state-sponsored terrorism does not depend on a given population for support, nor does it
need to obtain any publicity, and because of the vast amount of resources that state-supported
groups can obtain, the acts of violence carried out by state-sponsored terrorist groups are
typically more destructive than those carried out by self-reliant terrorist groups.
According to Bruce Hoffman, “Identifiable state-sponsored terrorist attacks during the 1980s
were overall eight times more lethal than those carried out by groups without state support or
assistance.”
Terrorist behavior can be divided into two categories:
 Clandestine state terrorism: This is a form of terrorism in which there is direct but
covert participation by state agents in terrorist activities.
 State-sponsored terrorism: This form of terrorism occurs when terrorist organizations
are hired on behalf of the state to take on terrorist actions

Slide 8
According to former CIA officer Michael Scheuer, "State-sponsored terrorism came in the
middle-1970s, and then, really, its heyday was in the 1980s and early-'90s. And typically, the
definition of a state sponsor of terrorism is a country that uses surrogates as its weapon to attack
other people. The primary example to this day is Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah. Hezbollah, in the
nomenclature of the discussion, would be the surrogate of Iran."
According to Bruce Hoffman, “The pivotal event in the emergence of state-sponsored terrorism
as a weapon of the state and an instrument of foreign policy was doubtless the seizure in
November 1979 of fifty-two American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran by a group of
militant Iranian ‘students’.” For 444 days, these so-called students – who claimed to have acted
independently, without government support or encouragement – held the world’s most powerful
country at bay. Throughout that protracted episode they focused unparalleled worldwide media
attention on both themselves and their anti-American cause, ultimately costing an American
president his re-election to office.”
The description of state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State reads as follows:
“State sponsors of terrorism provide critical support to non-state terrorist groups. Without state
sponsors, terrorist groups would have much more difficulty obtaining the funds, weapons,
materials, and secure areas they require to plan and conduct operations. Most worrisome is that
some of these countries also have the capability to manufacture weapons of mass destruction and
other destabilizing technologies that can get into the hands of terrorists.”
Surrogate terrorism is a form of state patronage for terrorism, which occurs when a government
provides assistance to a politically violent movement or organization, called “a proxy”, beyond
its border. State patrons will provide support by either directly arming, financing, training or
providing sanctuary or psychological support for terrorists.
Acts of violence carried out by terrorists who are clandestinely working for governments have
proven to be relatively inexpensive and fairly risk-free in order to anonymously attack stronger
enemies without international punishment.

Slide 9
The “surrogates” therefore use the terrorists to advance their own national objectives.
Another example of this form of terrorism was depicted in the 1981-1988 U.S. government-
directed guerrilla war against the Cuban-backed communist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. The
United States had supported the former Nicaraguan dictatorship under Anastasio Somoza
Debayle, who was overthrown by the Sandinistas, a Marxist insurgent group. Following that, the
United States began a campaign against the Sandinista regime by supporting their proxy known
as the “contras”, anti-Sandinista Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries. From 1981 until 1983, U.S.
support was funnelled by the CIA, which provided training and supplies to the contras who were
sent to conduct guerrilla missions against the Sandinistas.
Another aspect of the U.S. support was that funding to the contra rebels came from profits gained
by selling arms to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in spite of the embargo against selling arms to
Iran. In the “Iran-contra affair”, Ronald Reagan sold weapons to Iran in an arms-for-hostages
operation, in order to release American hostages held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon,
meanwhile using the funds to support the contra rebels in Nicaragua. Evidence eventually
surfaced when the contras started committing numerous human rights violations and when a
Lebanese newspaper called Al-Shiraa printed an exposé on the clandestine arms trade activities
in 1986.

Slide 10
In 1982, Congress passed the “Boland Amendment” which forbade the expenditure of U.S. funds
to overthrow the Sandinista regime. A second “Boland Amendment” passed in 1984, forbidding
all U.S. assistance to the contras.
The U.S. Department of State designates countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts
of international terrorism. Currently, there are four countries listed as sponsors of terrorism,
namely North Korea, Iran, Syria and Sudan. Iraq was on the list until the U.S.-led coalition
toppled Saddam Hussein. Libya was removed from the list in 2006 and North Korea was
removed in 2008 and readded in 2017.
Iran remains the country which is reportedly the most active state sponsor of terrorism. The
country supports many terrorist groups, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist
groups, including HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. In addition, its Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have been
directly involved in the planning and support of terrorist acts.

Slide 11
Following World War II, international laws were created in order to restrict the ability of
governments to use terrorism against their own citizens. On December 10, 1948, the General
Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights without
dissent. The declaration is meant to be publicized and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed,
read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction
based on the political status of countries or territories.“
According to this Declaration, “everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person,” and
these basic human rights may not be taken away by any institution, state or individual. In
addition, states should not administer collective punishments, nor should they punish anyone for
a crime that they have not personally committed.
However, this Declaration only constitutes a statement of principles, with no mechanisms for
enforcement. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which entered into force
in 1976, was a subsequent United Nations treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, made with more explicit provisions for enforcement compliance.
Genocide has been regarded as a crime under international law since 1946, when the General
Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 96(I).

Slide 12
Issues revolving around the legitimacy of acts of war are dealt with in a series of international
laws of war, most notably the United Nations Charter, the Geneva conventions and the Hague
conventions.
The International Criminal Court, which includes 108 state members, was established after years
of negotiations in 2002 to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes. The necessity for the creation of such a court emerged after the Nuremberg trials and the
Tokyo trials following World War II, and after the international community created international
criminal tribunals specifically to try war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
There are issues about the court’s jurisdiction, as it can only function when national courts are
unwilling or unable to prosecute for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. To date,
the cases before the Court deal with crimes in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and
Sudan.

Slide 13
State-sponsored terrorism is monitored by public and private organizations such as:
 The U.S. Department of State: The U.S Department of State compiles a list of state
sponsors of international terrorism. By placing countries on its list, the U.S. government
imposes four main sets of sanctions:
 A ban on arms-related exports and sales
 Controls over exports of dual-use items, requiring 30-day Congressional notification for
goods or services that could significantly enhance the terrorist-list country's military
capability or ability to support terrorism
  Prohibitions on economic assistance
 Imposition of miscellaneous financial and other restrictions, including:
 Requiring the United States to oppose loans by the World Bank and other international
financial institutions;
 Lifting diplomatic immunity to allow families of terrorist victims to file civil lawsuits in
U.S. courts;
 Denying companies and individuals tax credits for income earned in terrorist-listed
countries;
 Denial of duty-free treatment of goods exported to the United States;
 Authority to prohibit any U.S. citizen from engaging in a financial transaction with a
terrorist-list government without a Treasury Department license; and
 Prohibition of Defense Department contracts above $100,000 with companies controlled
by terrorist-list states.
 Human Rights Watch: Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental
organization that is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world.
It monitors the status of human rights worldwide and reports on government-sponsored
violations of human rights.
 Amnesty International: Amnesty International is an independent and democratically-run
organization that campaigns for internationally recognized human rights. It publishes
reports on governmental political violence.

3.3.3 State Terrorism Part 3

Slide 2
In this Lesson we will examine types of terrorism that are directed against formal governments.
We will also cover numerous examples where a government is directly involved in carrying out
terrorist acts against its own people. Finally, we will look at examples where states sponsor
terrorists to conduct aggressive operations against their enemies.
Nationalism became a strong ideological force in the late 19th and 20th centuries with the advent
of the modern nation-state and its liberal ideological principles of national self-determination.
Along with the newly defined notions of nationalism, statehood and citizenship, popular
movements of assimilation or struggle by people who had been colonized, conquered or
oppressed began to emerge. Ethnic nationalism, anti-colonial sentiments and new ideologies
such as communism evolved rapidly during the 20th century, leading to many guerrilla war
tactics by non-governmental actors.
According to Bruce Hoffman, the Industrial Revolution engendered massive socioeconomic
changes, which led to the creation of new “universalist” ideologies such as communism and
Marxism, “born of the alienation and exploitative conditions of nineteenth-century capitalism.”
In addition, according to Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay, “ethno-nationalism involves an
interpretation of complex though not mutually exclusive concepts of nation, identity, national
consciousness and nationalism is based on two major premises. In the first place, the justification
for ethno-nationalism is a claim for an egalitarian, democratic society where there is a direct
control over the allocation of resources and their legitimate extraction.
This aspiration for equality and political control is often grounded in the feelings certain groups
have towards the larger society that they have been deprived of a status to which they are
entitled. In the second place, politics of ethno-nationalism is based on a linkage between political
movement and ethnic identity. Consequently, the desire for political and cultural autonomy arises
from a simultaneous self-awareness and an awareness of other groups, essential ingredients for
converting an ethnic group into a nation.”

Slide 3
It can be argued that this definition of ethno-nationalism applies to nationalist terrorist groups
that base their struggle and legitimize their actions in order to gain a status which they feel they
have been denied and are entitled to. Nationalist terrorism is usually directed against a
government and stems from the desire to rid a country of colonial rule. Indeed, it is a form of
terrorism that has its roots in independence movements against what are considered occupying,
imperial or illegitimate states.
In this line of thought, Bruce Hoffman also argues that “Although terrorism motivated by ethno-
nationalist/separatist aspirations had emerged from within the moribund Ottoman and Hapsburg
empires during the three decades preceding the First World War, it was only after 1945 that this
phenomenon became a more pervasive global force. Two separate, highly symbolic events that
had occurred early in the Second World War abetted its subsequent development.
At the time, the repercussions for postwar anticolonial struggles of the fall of Singapore and the
proclamation of the Atlantic Charter could not possibly have been anticipated. Yet both, in
different ways, exerted a strong influence on indigenous nationalist movements, demonstrating
as they did the vulnerability of once-mighty empires and the hypocrisy of war-time pledges of
support for self-determination. The long-term impact of these events was profound. Native
peoples who had previously believed in the invincibility of their European colonial overlords
hereafter saw their former masters in a starkly different light.”

Slide 4
This form of terrorism is also associated with nationalist groups that fight for the rights of either
national, ethnic, religious or other oppressed groups within a state in which they consider they
are denied the basic rights granted to others.
Such "nationalist terrorist" groups tend to consider themselves as "freedom fighters," engaged in
valid but asymmetric warfare. The issue about whether a group is a terrorist group or consists of
legitimate “freedom fighters” is highly subjective. As Amy Zalman and others insist, “one man’s
terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
A question does arise, however, pertaining to the reason why some groups “feel that their
cultural identity is incompatible with the mainstream culture and can only be maintained in a
separate territorial state.” As Reeta Chowdhari Tremblay asks us: “What can generate a sense of
nationality so strong that it can demand and receive the human sacrifice?” and “Why do certain
ethnic groups clamour for political autonomy in certain states and not others?”
Acts of terrorism perpetrated in the 1970s and 1980s were often carried out by nationalist
separatist and social-revolutionary terrorists, who wished to call attention to their cause. In order
to gain attention from the public, this form of terrorism is usually overt and the perpetrators
claim responsibility for their acts. By attracting media attention to their cause, the terrorists try to
force their adversaries to redress their grievances, and to initiate political reform to possibly
grant independence to a minority community. Violence, in this sense, is used “to draw attention
to, or generate publicity for, a cause, but also to inform, educate, and ultimately rally the masses
behind the revolution.”
 Slide 5
Earliest Insurgent Movements in Modern History (Macedonia): One of the earliest insurgent
movements in modern history involving guerrilla warfare was that of the Macedonians against
the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1893 until 1903. During this period, several movements of
independence began to arise, with the desire to establish a Macedonian state.
The most famous group that fought for the independence of Macedonia was the Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) that organized the Ilinden Uprising of August
1903, an organized rebellion against the Ottoman Empire that led to the proclamation of the
Kruševo Republic, the first modern-day republic in the Balkans, which lasted ten days.
The Republic of Macedonia declared its independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991 and the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization entered the government of the Republic of
Macedonia and the party describes itself as a Christian Democratic party which supports the
admission of Macedonia to NATO and the European Union.

Slide 6
Other nationalist groups which have been or continue to be considered terrorist groups include,
among others:
The IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) originated from a military organization which was recognized
in 1919 as the official army of the Republic of Ireland and which struggled for and won
independence from Crown forces between 1916 and 1921.
In 1920, Ireland was split between an independent state in the Catholic south, and a smaller
northern region called Ulster which remained British due to the Protestant majority.
The IRA, a militant group, emerged in the late 1960s to defend the Roman Catholic minority in
Northern Ireland which opposed the Protestant majority. In doing so, the group opposed British
rule in Northern Ireland and sought to unify the province with the Republic of Ireland, in order to
form a sovereign socialist all-island Irish state. The group has a political wing called Sinn Fein.
Though the IRA still considers itself to be an armed force opposing the illegal foreign occupation
of its country, it has offered its apologies to families of its victims, and since 2000, it has been
removed from the State Department’s list of designated terrorist groups. For decades it was
considered one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world.

Slide 7
In July 2005, the group announced the end of its armed campaign. Two groups, known as the
RIRA (the Real IRA) and the Continuity IRA (CIRA), split from the Irish Republican Army
when the group agreed to a ceasefire.
Although the Irish Republican Army has officially ended its armed campaign, there are still signs
of activity from the dissident groups that emerged after the ceasefire was signed. The deaths of
two Northern Ireland soldiers in March 2009, as well as the discovery of sophisticated bombs
and explosives, lead to the possibility for further evidence suggesting the resurgence of IRA-
related dissident groups includes the 2008 case of a Real IRA man arrested in Lithuania for
buying guns and explosives.
Irish Republican Army dissidents opposed to Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord and the
Catholic-Protestant government it spawned have planted a string of car bombs that started in
January 2010. Most have failed to detonate, and none have caused serious injuries.
 Slide 8
The ANC: The African National Congress (ANC) was initially created in 1912 in South Africa
with the aim of bringing all black South Africans together to defend their rights and freedoms
and to take action against the legal authority of the white minority’s supremacy.
After a half-century of practicing non-violent mass action and community activism similar to
Gandhi’s non-violent protest against the British Empire, the ANC founded a military wing in
1961 to protest against the Apartheid regime.
ANC attacks, considered as terrorist acts and carried out in the 1970s and 1980s, targeted
government facilities, the South African military, and some foreign businesses.
Tactics included car and street bombings and assassinations.
In the late 1980s, President F.W. de Klerk released Nelson Mandela from jail and began talks to
bring Black South Africans into the political process. The ANC became a legal political party in
1990, and Mandela was elected president in 1994. Since that time, the ANC, a social-democratic
political party, has been South Africa’s governing party.

Slide 9
ETA: Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is a Basque nationalist-leftist group that seeks to create an
independent Basque nation-state in the southwest region of France and northwestern region of
Spain. The group formed in 1959 and exists to this day. The Basque are a distinct group of
Christians that have their own language and culture. The group first emerged as a student
resistance movement that opposed General Franco's repressive military dictatorship. Batasuna, a
Basque political party, acted as the political branch of the Basque illegal terrorist group ETA.
The group has led a violent campaign for independence, counting 800 deaths over the last 30
years. In March 2006, ETA declared a permanent ceasefire and expressed a willingness to join
the political process.
However, on December 30, 2006, ETA carried out a car-bomb attack at the Madrid Barajas
International Airport, killing two people and injuring 26. According to Spanish Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, this clearly represents a violation of the permanent ceasefire.
According to a January 10, 2007 Agence France Presse article, even the political wing, Batasuna,
had been surprised and deceived by the attack. In a press communiqué, ETA claimed
responsibility for the attack, warning that it could strike again if the Spanish government
continues its crackdown in the Basque region, in reference to the arrest of ETA militants and the
banning of its political arm, Batasuna. Batasuna has been urging the group to respect the
ceasefire, insisting that the peace process is not dead.
On June 5, 2007, ETA officially ended the ceasefire that was negotiated in March 2006,
declaring that the government was not meeting their conditions for continuing negotiations.
On 20 October 2011, ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity." On 24
November 2012, it was reported that the group was ready to negotiate a "definitive end" to its
operations and disband completely. The group announced on 7 April 2017 that it had given up all
its weapons and explosives and would be officially a disarmed organization as of the following
day.

Slide 10
Spain's prime minister had established his mandate on a promise to end the violence in the
Basque region, and despite the success of the permanent ceasefire declaration, and the tentative
negotiations with the group, relations with ETA broke.
When ETA and the Spanish government broke relations after officially ending the ceasefire in
2007, ETA reiterated its right to use violence to achieve its aims. This proclamation came after
an onslaught of police operations that targeted the high leadership of ETA, including the arrest
and ensuing deportation from France of suspected ETA chief 'Txeroki', which have considerably
weakened the group.
Despite its resolution to continue using violence, ETA has also stated that it would welcome a
political solution in the form of allowing the Basque provinces to hold a referendum to decide on
their independence, a solution which is apparently favored by locals. An agreement on the part of
the Spanish government was highly unlikely, considering Zapatero's vows to jail all ETA
members and to accept nothing but unconditional surrender. Experts warned that despite ETA's
diminished strength, the separatists were still capable of major disruption and deadly attacks.
In June 2010, Batasuna, the banned politcal wing of ETA, signed a "strategic agreement" with a
tiny, legal party to seek an independent Basque state through peaceful means. The deal between
Batasuna and the left-leaning Basque nationalist party Eusko Alkartasuna came ahead of regional
elections in the northern region of Spain in 2011.

Slide 11
In November 2012, ETA announced that they were ready to negotiate a “definitive end to its
operation and disband completely.”
Finally, on April 7, 2017, the group gave up all its weapons and explosives and became a
disarmed organization.

Slide 12
The PLO: The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964 in an effort to
achieve Palestinian liberation and to give a voice to a vast number of Palestinians who were
living in refugee camps in Lebanon.
It is a political and paramilitary umbrella organization for various militia groups fighting for the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state. PLO groups include Al-Fatah, Force 17,
Hawari Group, PLF, and PFLP. The group’s primary goal has been the destruction of the state of
Israel which led it to carry out massive terrorist campaigns since its inception.
By 1988, the now deceased Yasser Arafat, who was the PLO's leader at the time, announced the
right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced PLO terrorism. Israel made several agreements
with the PLO in 1993 which resulted in the formation of the Palestinian Authority (which has
existed since 1994), where Palestinians live under partial self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza.
The peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is ongoing and could one day result in an
independent Palestinian state.

Slide 13
The LTTE: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was founded in 1976. The group’s goal is the
establishment of an independent Tamil state. It is a politico-military organization that is in
conflict with the predominantly Sinhalese Sri Lankan government. Since 1983, there has been an
on-and-off civil war in Sri Lanka between the LTTE and the government. There are strong ethnic
and territorial disagreements between both, with alleged discrimination against the Tamil
minority. The group controls most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka.
Notorious in the group are the Black Tigers, an elite unit of members responsible for conducting
suicide attacks against political, economic and military targets.
The LTTE signed a ceasefire agreement in 2001, suddenly dropping its request for a separate
state, but violent incidents have increased since that time, especially since late 2005. The
October 16, 2006 suicide bombing carried out by the group against a military convoy killed
approximately 130 sailors, wounding another 300. It was their deadliest attack since 2002,
thereby jeopardizing the peace talks and hope for peace in Sri Lanka, where full-scale conflicts
between the LTTE and the military have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians. It
seems clear that neither the LTTE nor the government are yet interested in reaching an
agreement.
According to an October 30, 2006 BBC News article, the international community fears that both
sides now appear to be gearing up for another major battle. It is important to note that the Sri
Lankan government has also been accused of state terrorism. Whether it was part of the military
strategies against the rebel LTTE group or previously against the uprisings of a Marxist
nationalist political party called JVP, the Sri Lankan state has carried out many terrorist activities
including Tamil civilian massacres, involuntary disappearances, assassinations of political
opponents, torture and rape.

Slide 14
After 25 years of violence and political unrest, the Tamil Tigers were finally defeated by the Sri
Lankan government following a year of particularly bloody fighting. The beginning of 2009
already pointed to the demise of the LTTE when the Tamil stronghold of Kilinochchi was
overtaken by government forces in early January. The struggle unfortunately trapped thousands
of innocent civilians in the midst of the violent battles, leading many international leaders to call
for a temporary ceasefire to allow for their escape out of the battle zones. By mid-February, the
rebels, under heavy losses, accepted a UN-mediated ceasefire, but still refused to surrender.
The government, however, opposed all ceasefires and pushed ahead with its military campaign.
Finally, on May 18, the Sri Lankan forces defeated the LTTE by taking over the last guerrilla
bastion in the northeast of the island nation and by announcing the death of Tiger leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran. This government victory, however, was not expected to bring peace to
the country in the short term. The end of the conflict has given way to tense and bitter resentment
among the Tamil minority, both inside and outside of Sri Lanka.
The bloodbath that took place during the latest battle, the lack of respect for civilian life and the
present treatment of refugees and suspected rebels by the Sri Lankan government all hint at slim
prospects for a peaceful resolution and could even incite future rebel activities.
Canada and the United Kingdom were two major countries where the LTTE had immense
influence on local politics and in turn could put pressure on Sri Lanka and on international
organizations. The Toronto constituency of Canada had over 6,000 eligible Tamil voters and the
Minister of Foreign Affairs at one time came from this constituency. The LTTE infiltrated the
Liberal Party. At one point, Tamil party delegates outnumbered others in many constituencies

Slide 15
The KLA: The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) emerged in 1995-1996 when a series of attacks
were carried out on Serbian police, Serb government officials, Serb refugee centers and civil
targets in Kosovo. It is an ethnic Albanian organization that fought alongside Croat and Muslim
military formations for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia when its policy of non-violent
resistance failed to make progress. The group’s campaign eventually led to the Kosovo War of
1999, when NATO launched an air war against Yugoslavia to stop the Serbian ethnic cleansing
led by former President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic.
When the war ended, NATO and Serbian leaders agreed to a peace settlement that would see
Kosovo governed by the United Nations with the KLA being disarmed. Eventually, the KLA was
transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps which patrols the province with NATO forces.

Slide 16
In March 2006, KLA’s former leader Agim Ceku was elected Prime Minister of the province.
Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia for crimes against humanity in Kosovo with charges of violating the laws or customs
of war and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions in Croatia and Bosnia and genocide in
Bosnia. Milosevic died of a heart attack after five years in prison.
On February 17, 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declare its independence from Serbia, although
Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo as a state.
In April 2014, the Assembly of Kosovo established a special court to try cases involving crimes
and other abuses committed in 1999-2000 by KLA.

3.3.4 Religious Terrorism Part 1

Slide 2
The objective of this lesson is to elicit questions and discussion on what has become an
international concern that holds no quick-fix solutions. In this lesson, we will examine some core
characteristics of religious terrorism and discuss how it is defined. We will explore the motives
and methods of different groups as compared to the motives of secular, cultural and political
agendas. We will also expose the fact that each religion has its own brand of “terrorists,” but it
will also illustrate the capability of religions to provide “ideological resources” for terrorist
leaders and their followers.
Historically speaking, the relationship between religion and terrorism is not new. In fact, some of
the words we use in the English language to describe terrorists and their actions are derived from
the names of Jewish, Hindi and Muslim terrorist groups active long ago. As we observed in
Module 1, early examples of what we now call "terrorist" acts were perpetrated by religious
fanatics over two thousand years ago. Following the attacks of 9/11, however, the world
witnessed a dramatic and increasing stereotyping of religious groups, particularly Muslims.
A clear manifestation could be observed in the principles of the Bush doctrine, which was
founded on the notion that "the fountainhead of 9/11 and similar aggression is the culture of
tyranny in the Middle East, which spawns fanatical, aggressive, secular, and religious
despotisms." This view was not only echoed in media outlets and public opinion, but was
emulated in public policy.
This explanation, of course, does not explain the increasing number of violent incidents
involving members of other religious groups outside the Middle East, nor does it explain why the
world leader in suicide terrorism is not a religious fundamentalist group but in fact the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a nationalist, political and military force in Sri Lanka. Indeed,
religious fanaticism exists in all corners of the world.

Slide 3
While most religions are based on principles of compassion, justice, love and peace, it is
important to remember that all religions come from a violent history. This is shown in various
religious texts. The Jewish scriptures, The New Testament and the Qur’an all include accounts of
the violence and aggression of their time. For religious extremists, these passages have often
provided the motivation and justification to commit violence against the enemy.
In the context of religious terrorism, extremists of all faiths consider their struggle "divinely
inspired," a cosmic war between them and the enemy, the enemy often consisting of secular
institutions or secular lifestyles. Mark Juergensmeyer argues that because religious terrorists
believe they are waging a war between good and evil, they deem themselves exempt from the
bonds of rule of law and other societal norms.
Understanding religious terrorism depends on developing a clear picture of what religion says
about violence. Through an examination of contemporary religious attacks for which “religion
has provided the motivation, the justification, the organization and the world view,"
Juergensmeyer’s book Terror in the Mind of God: the Global Rise of Religious Violence brings
us inside the “cultures of violence” found in six religious traditions.
This lesson will focus on the following:
 Islam: Mahmud Abouhalima and the World Trade Center Bombing, Abdul Aziz Rantisi
and Hamas suicide missions;
 Christianity: Christian militia, the Christian Identity movement, Christian anti-abortion
activists, and Northern Ireland;
 Judaism: Baruch Goldstein, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin;
 Sikhism: The assassination of Indira Ghandi and Beant Singh.

Slide 4
On the issue of violence, the teachings of Islam are ambiguous. “Like all religions, Islam
occasionally allows for force while stressing that the main spiritual goal is one of nonviolence
and peace. The Qur’an contains a proscription very much like the biblical injunction ‘Thou shalt
not kill.’ The Qur’an commands the faithful to ‘slay not the life that God has made sacred.’”
The very name Islam is cognate to salam, the word for peace, and like the Hebrew word shalom,
to which it is related, it implies a vision of social harmony and spiritual repose.” In view of the
above, it comes as no surprise that many Muslim activists often deny claims that Islam is a
violent religion. In an interview shortly after the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Sheik
Omar Abdul Rahman said “a Muslim can never call for violence. We call for love, forgiveness
and tolerance. But if we are aggressed against, if our land is usurped, we must call for hitting the
attacker and the aggressor to put an end to aggression.”
In other cases, Juergensmeyer addresses how violence has been justified as an exception to the
rule. “As when Muslim supporters of the al-Salam mosque defended the killing of Rabbi
Kahane, claiming that this deed did not violate the Qur’an since Kahane was an enemy of Islam.”
In yet other instances, the use of violence has been shown to be consistent with some Islamic
tenets. To illustrate, Juergensmeyer quotes a statement by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, who said
he knew of no command “more binding to the Muslim than the command to sacrifice life and
property to defend and bolster Islam.”
While it is true, Juergensmeyer argues, that there are principles that justify violence, for example
for the purpose of punishment or defending the faith, Islamic law does not allow the use of
violence for arbitrary reasons, personal gain or to justify forcible religious conversion. In fact, he
stresses that “the only conversions regarded as valid are those that come about non-violently,
through rational suasion and a change of heart. “

Slide 5
The al Qaeda movement today is best described as a networked transnational constituency rather
than the monolithic, international terrorist organization with an identifiable command and control
apparatus that it once was.
The result is that today there are many al Qaedas rather than the single al Qaeda of the past.
The current al Qaeda exists more as an ideology that has become a vast enterprise—an
international franchise with like-minded local representatives, loosely connected to a central
ideological or motivational base, but advancing the remaining center’s goals at once
simultaneously and independently of each other.
The loss of Afghanistan does not appear to have affected al Qaeda’s ability to mount terrorist
attacks to the extent some had perhaps hoped to achieve when “Operation Enduring Freedom”
began. According to the 2004 edition of the Strategic Survey, a cadre of at least 18,000
individuals who trained in al Qaeda’s Afghanistan camps between 1996 and 2001 are today
theoretically positioned in some sixty countries around the world. It comes as no surprise then
that al Qaeda claims to be stronger and more capable now than it was on 9/11.
What all al Qaeda members have in common is a combination of:
 A deep commitment to their faith—perhaps recently rediscovered
 Admiration of bin Laden for the cathartic blow struck against America on 9/11
 Hatred of the United States and the West
 A profoundly shared sense of alienation from their host countries

Slide 6
Parallels have been drawn between the Mujahideen’s defeat of the Red Army in Afghanistan—
the alleged chain reaction it set in motion that led to the demise of the Soviet Union and the
collapse of communism—and the current difficulties the United States is facing in Iraq and the
likelihood of U.S. defeat there at the hands of contemporary jihadists.
The main challenge for al Qaeda and the wider jihadist movement is to promote and ensure its
durability as an ideology and concept.
It can achieve this only by staying in the news, thereby promoting its continued relevance as the
defender and avenger of Muslims everywhere.
Even with the death of Osama bin Laden, it is indisputable that the war on terrorism will likely
last much longer than many believed when it began in 2001. Osama bin Laden is in fact one of
the few individuals who can claim to have fundamentally changed the course of history. Even
bin Laden’s death is unlikely to collapse the movement he created.

Slide 7
The term “jihad” in the literal sense means a sacred “struggle” or “effort,” not waging an
aggressive holy war against nonbelievers.
“Greater jihad” refers to the internal struggle of an individual to do what is right and good.
The “lesser jihad” refers to the physical defense of Islam. Muslims have a duty to defend Islam
which includes military force, especially when the faith is under direct attack.
Whereas the Christian crusades are an offensive mission, jihad is supposed to be regarded as a
form of defense against aggressors.
The “Mujahideen” are those who fight in an armed jihad.
Jihadis in modern times believe that fighting against enemies of Islam will guarantee a place in
heaven. Gus Martin outlines two main causes for the modern resurgence of the radical jihad
movement:
 Revolutionary ideals emerging from the 1979 Iranian Revolution
 Application of jihad against the Soviet Union occupation in Afghanistan

Slide 8
Similar to Islam, perpetrators of Jewish terrorism have often justified their actions in religious
terms with historical precedents and sacred texts.
For example, many Jewish activists in Israel see peace talks with Palestinians as nothing less
than an act of “betrayal” on the part of Israel’s political leaders against the Jewish state.
Examples of this kind of "angry statement" and outburst of activism were more recently
observed on the eve of a speech by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Jewish activists threatened to "topple" Netanyahu’s government if he supported the creation of a
Palestinian state. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Areh Eldad, head of the National
Union party, a coalition member told the media, “we will work to recruit all those who are loyal
to the Land of Israel. He cannot lie to his voters.”
In the world view of extremists such as Yigal Amir, Goldstein and many others, “Jewish people
are caught up in a war with political, cultural and military dimensions.”
There is also an intensely religious dimension.

Slide 9
In discussing messianic Zionism, Juergensmeyer writes about his interview with Jewish terrorist
Yoel Lerner.
Juergensmeyer identifies Lerner as “one of those activists who yearned for a Jewish society in
Israel.
He hoped for the restoration of the ancient temple in east Jerusalem, the exclusive right of Jews
to settle on the west bank of the Jordan River, and the creation of a state based on biblical law.”
Messianic Zionists believe that the Messiah will come only after the temple has been restored for
him. Based on this idea, Messianic Zionists like Lerner held the view that “the redemption of the
world depends upon the actions of Jews in creating the conditions necessary for messianic
salvation.”

Slide 10
At the heart of Rabbi Kahane’s thinking is the idea that the Messiah will come in a great conflict
in which Jews are the victors and praise God through their victories.
For Juergensmeyer, this notion is viewed as Kahane’s interpretation of the term Kiddush ha-
shem, or “the sanctification of God.” Based on this idea, anything that humiliates the Jews is
considered not only an embarrassment but a step back in the world’s path to salvation.
Kahane’s ideas have been directly behind the thinking and actions of Jewish religious extremists
like Dr. Baruch Goldstein.
According to this principle, Jews are morally obliged to halt someone who presents “a mortal
danger” to Jews. A good example of a terrorist who was influenced by this principle to carry out
a terrorist attack is Yigal Amir. The latter was a student from Tel Aviv’s conservative Bar-Ilan
University who, as we will see later in this module, was influenced by this principle which
ultimately drove him to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Slide 11
From a Christian perspective, the theological justifications for the use of violence are varied. For
instance, Juergensmeyer identifies at least two schools of thought behind anti-abortion terrorist
acts in the U.S. The first one is based on reconstruction theology and the second on ideas
associated with the Christian Identity movement. The latter is the underlying factor behind many
militia movements.
Classic Just War Theory
The doctrine of just war justifies the use of violence under certain conditions. In Terror in the
Mind of God, Juergensmeyer cites two conditions:
“proportionality—the expectation that more lives would be saved by the use of force than would
be lost — and legitimacy the notion that the undertaking must be approved by an established
authority.” The idea was first expressed by Cicero and later developed by Ambrose and
Augustine.
Today, just war doctrine is considered the more traditional Christian justification for violence.
Juergensmeyer argues that the early Church fathers did not sanction violence or endorse war;
early teachings illustrate Christians as constrained from taking human life, a principle that
prevented them from serving in the Roman army. In essence, the early Christians were thought to
be pacifists. This changed in the fourth century when Christianity gained the status of state
religion.
Church leaders began to reject pacifism and adopted the doctrine of just war. In the thirteenth
century, the abuse of the doctrine in justifying violent persecutions against minority groups led
Thomas Aquinas to assert that "war was always sinful; even if it was occasionally waged for a
just cause." At this point, one may ask whether Jesus in fact supported violence. The answer is
not clear.
As Juergensmeyer puts it, “it can be argued that Christians were expected to follow Jesus’
example of selfless love, to ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’(Mt 5:44)
Evidence for the other side comes from such incidents as Jesus driving the money chargers from
the temple and such enigmatic statements as Jesus’ dark prophecy ‘Do not think that I have come
to bring peace on earth; I have come not to bring peace but a sword’ (Mt 10:34; see also Lk
12:51-52)."

3.3.5 Religious Terrorism Part 2

Slide 2
The objective of this lesson is to elicit questions and discussion on what has become an
international concern that holds no quick-fix solutions. In this lesson, we will examine some core
characteristics of religious terrorism and discuss how it is defined. We will explore the motives
and methods of different groups as compared to the motives of secular, cultural and political
agendas. We will also expose the fact that each religion has its own brand of “terrorists,” but it
will also illustrate the capability of religions to provide “ideological resources” for terrorist
leaders and their followers.
As we saw earlier, contemporary theologians have also used the ideas of just war.
One of these religious scholars and religious leaders was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German
theologian and Lutheran pastor who abandoned his studies in New York City to return to
Germany and joined a plot to assassinate Hitler. His plan was uncovered and he was hanged by
the Nazis.
Bonhoeffer is often cited by "moral theorists" as an example of "how Christians could undertake
actions for a just cause and occasionally they are constrained to break laws for a higher
purpose.”
Another example is Reinhold Niebuhr.
His ideas can be traced back to the origins of Christianity, more specifically "the revolutionary
struggles against Roman occupation of Israel." On this issue, “the New Testament indicates that
at least two of Jesus’ disciples were members of the rebellious Jewish party, the Zealots." Of
course, many facts continue to be contested. Yet the New Testament records that Jesus was
arrested and convicted on sedition charges.
Bonhoeffer and Niebuhr are often cited by modern exponents of just war theory to justify acts of
terror against abortion clinic providers. Thomas Bray found support for their "war against
abortion-clinic providers" and their defenders – the secular state, in the ethical principles offered
by Niebuhr along with the example of Christian sacrifice in Hitler’s assassination plot by
Bonhoeffer.
Interestingly, Juergensmeyer notes, Bonhoeffer and Niebuhr, "like most theologians, supported
the principle of separation of church and state, and were wary of what Niebuhr called 'moralism'
– the intrusion of religious or other ideological values into the political calculations of statecraft."

Slide 3
The preceding theoretical analysis helped us to understand the Christian theological justification
for violence. But it also exposed that Bray’s interpretation radically differs from Bonhoeffer and
Niehbuhr’s ideas.
As Juergensmeyer notes, the comparison of America’s democratic state to Nazism and
advocating a biblical based religious politics to replace the secular government is unlikely to find
support in the writings of these or any other theologians.
Therefore, Bray had to look for other intellectual sources to support his position and justify his
acts of terror. Juergensmeyer argues that Bray found this support in Dominion theology.
From this point of view, “Christianity must reassert the dominion of God over all things,
including secular and political society.” Exponents of dominion theology include Rev. Jerry
Falwell and Pat Roberson.

Slide 4
At the extreme right of the dominion theology spectrum is a movement known as reconstruction
theology. From this perspective, "the moral obligation of Christians is to recapture every
institution for Jesus Christ." According to reconstructionist scholar Gary North, "this is to be
especially so in the United States, where secular law as construed by the Supreme Court and
defended by liberal politicians is moving in an 'un-Christian' direction; particularly in matters
regarding abortion and homosexuality.“
Reconstructionism offers a "post-millenial" view of history, that is, they believe that Christ will
return to earth only after the thousand years of religious rule that characterizes the Christian idea
of the millennium, and therefore Christians have an obligation to provide the political and social
conditions that will make Christ’s return possible.

Slide 5
Another justification used to support acts of terror is Christian Identity, a theology based on
racial supremacy and biblical law.
This movement emerged in Britain during the mid-nineteenth century. One of the founders was
John Wilson, author of Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin, who claimed that the ten lost tribes of
ancient Israel were composed of blue-eyed Aryans, and that the "lost sheep of the house of
Israel" were none other than present-day Englishmen.
Other versions of this theory assert not only that Jews are imposters but regard them as
"descendants of an illicit sexual act between Eve and Satan." At the heart of Identity thought is
the belief that "Jews pretend to be Jews in order to assert their superiority in a scheme to control
the world."
The contemporary interpretation of Identity doctrine has been in the background of American
extremist groups such as the Posse Comitatus, the Order, the Aryan Nations, infamous terrorist
Timothy McVeigh and others. The basic tenets of the contemporary American interpretation
include the beliefs that Jesus was not a Semite but an Aryan, the lost tribes of Israel are blue-
eyed Aryans and not Jews and the U.S. is the "promised land."

Slide 6
Although the militias are a relatively recent phenomenon, their pedigree can be traced back to the
Posse Comitatus(Latin for "power of the county") movement founded during the 1970s and its
1980s offshoot—with which Timothy McVeigh is also believed to have had ties—the Arizona
Patriots.
The Michigan Militia
The Michigan Militia, an allegedly 12,000-strong paramilitary, survivalist organization, believes
that the U.S. government has already initiated a program to completely control the life of every
American.
At one time, an estimated 800 other similarly oriented militias—with a total membership claimed
to be more than 5 million, though more realistically put at no more than 100,000—had reportedly
organized in almost every American state.
“Talking Militia” vs. “Marching Militia”
On the one hand, there are the so-called "talking" militias (also known as "out-front" militias), to
which the vast majority of the movement’s adherents belong. The members of such groups are
primarily concerned with opposing anti-gun legislation.
The "marching" militias (also known as "up-front" militias), on the other hand, are actively
involved in violent, seditious activities, embracing the combination of revolutionary, racist and
anti-Semitic doctrines inherent in the wider American Christian Patriot movement today.

Slide 7
Although the militias are a relatively recent phenomenon, their pedigree can be traced back to the
Posse Comitatus(Latin for "power of the county") movement founded during the 1970s and its
1980s offshoot—with which Timothy McVeigh is also believed to have had ties—the Arizona
Patriots.
The Michigan Militia
The Michigan Militia, an allegedly 12,000-strong paramilitary, survivalist organization, believes
that the U.S. government has already initiated a program to completely control the life of every
American.
At one time, an estimated 800 other similarly oriented militias—with a total membership claimed
to be more than 5 million, though more realistically put at no more than 100,000—had reportedly
organized in almost every American state.
“Talking Militia” vs. “Marching Militia”
On the one hand, there are the so-called "talking" militias (also known as "out-front" militias), to
which the vast majority of the movement’s adherents belong. The members of such groups are
primarily concerned with opposing anti-gun legislation.
The "marching" militias (also known as "up-front" militias), on the other hand, are actively
involved in violent, seditious activities, embracing the combination of revolutionary, racist and
anti-Semitic doctrines inherent in the wider American Christian Patriot movement today.

Slide 8
Army of God is a terrorist network of “soldiers” fighting against abortion.
The soldiers never meet, but are led by their Chaplain, Pastor Michael Bray, which defends the
use of violence against abortion providers. Army of God also distributes an instruction manual
for attacking abortion clinics, cutting off the hands of abortion doctors, manufacturing bombs
and other illegal activities.
Many of its members have been involved in terrorist incidents, including the Atlanta Centennial
Olympic Park bombing in 1996, bombings of abortion clinics and gay bars, the murder of Dr.
Barnett Slepian in 1998, and sending 550 anthrax threat letters to clinics in 2001.
Recent reports have noted an increase in the Army’s anti-gay rhetoric, and authorities are
worried that the group may direct their violence toward homosexuals as well. Key leaders
include Don Benny Anderson, Michael Bray, Neal Horsley, James C. Kopp and Eric Robert
Rudolph.

Slide 9
The aims and motivations of these extremist groups span a broad spectrum of anti-federalist and
seditious beliefs coupled with religious hatred and racial intolerance, masked by a transparent
veneer of religious precepts.
They are bound together by the ethos of the broader Christian Patriot movement, which includes:
 Hostility to any form of government above the county level;
 The vilification of Jews and non-whites as children of Satan;
 An obsession with achieving the religious and racial purification of the United States;
 Belief in a conspiracy theory of powerful Jewish interests controlling the government,
banks and the media;
 Advocacy of the overthrow of the U.S. government, or the ZOG, Zionist Occupation
Government, as the Patriot/militia groups disparagingly refer to it.
The connecting thread in this seemingly diverse and disparate collection of citizens’ militias, tax
resisters, anti-federalists, bigots and racists is the white supremacist religious dogma of identity
espoused by the Christian Identity movement.
 Slide 10
Since India gained independence from the British in 1947, the country has been plagued by
religious violence between Sikhs and Hindus. India engaged in brutal warfare throughout the
1980s against Sikh separatism.
Similar to other religious traditions, Sikhism contains a variety of views. Yet if there was
someone who saw the world almost exclusively in religious terms, it was a preacher named Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. In Punjab, Bhindranwale called for "repentance and action in
defence of the faith." As one Sikh militant said about Bhindranwale, “he articulated hegemony of
Hindu power and the injustice suffered by the Sikhs, and he did it all with a consciousness to the
Sikh history and tradition.”
Of particular importance to his ideas was the Sikh concept of miri-piri, the notion that spiritual
and temporal powers are linked.
Bhindranwale’s sermons elicited hatred for "the enemies of religion." Interestingly, these
"enemies" included Hindus as well as other Sikhs, “especially those who had fallen from
disciplined fold and sought the comforts of modern life.” Some of the radical organizations that
have been directly influenced by this doctrine include groups such as the Babbar Khalsa,
Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Liberation Force, Bhidrawal Tiger Force of Khalistan
and other extremist factions of the All-India Sikh Students Federation.

Slide 11
The special potential of terrorism motivated by a religious imperative to cause mass,
indiscriminate killing has been perhaps most clearly demonstrated by the ominous activities of
various religious cults and sects in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere since the 1980s.
In 1984, for example, a non-lethal but disturbingly portentous incident occurred in the small
Oregon town of Dalles. Followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh poisoned the local reservoir
and contaminated the salad bars in restaurants with salmonella bacteria in hopes of debilitating
the local population and thereby rigging a key municipal election in the cult’s favor.
The release of deadly nerve gas on the Tokyo subway in March 1995 not only confirmed those
fears but marked a significant historical watershed in terrorist tactics and weaponry.
Previously, most terrorists had shown an aversion to the esoteric and exotic weapons of mass
destruction popularized in fictional thrillers or depicted in action-hero films and television
shows.
Indeed, from the time of the late nineteenth-century Russian revolutionaries and the Fenian
dynamiters who terrorized Victorian-era London, terrorists have continued to rely almost
exclusively on the same two weapons: the gun and the bomb.

Slide 12
The sarin-induced deaths of a dozen Tokyo commuters and the injuries inflicted on nearly four
hundred others may have changed the face of terrorism forever.
The Aum Shinrikyo, Aum "Supreme Truth" sect, arguably represents a new kind of terrorist
threat, posed not by traditional secular adversaries but by a mass religious movement motivated
by a mystical, almost transcendental, divinely inspired imperative.
The group was founded in 1987 by Shoko Asahara. Asahara regularly blamed the United States
for all of Japan’s economic and social problems, as well as for attempting to destroy his own
health. Asahara thus deliberately fostered a climate of paranoiac expectation within the cult,
driven by the same Manichean worldview embraced by other religious terrorist movements, with
its conviction of the world as a battleground between good and evil.
Aum’s intentions went far beyond a revolution facilitated by conventional armaments alone: the
group also armed itself with chemical and biological warfare agents, and had unrequited nuclear
aspirations.
When police raided the sect’s laboratories following the nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway,
they found enough sarin to kill an estimated 4.2 million people.
In February 2004, a Tokyo district court sentenced Asahara to death. His avenues for appeals ran
out in 2006. Ten other members of the cult have also received death sentences.
In 2000, Aum renamed itself Aleph, and under a new leader, Fumhiro Joyu, its former
spokesman, the group attracted some 1,500 members. An additional 300 members are said to live
in Russia.
In 2001, Russia arrested a number of the movement's followers for planning to bomb Japan’s
Imperial Palace in an effort to free Asahara.
In 2003, the group suffered a split. It remains unknown whether it now has any kind of
disciplined leadership.
The Aum movement astonishingly not only still exists but is reportedly thriving. Canada, the
U.S. and the European Union have all designated Aum Shinrikyo as a terrorist group. In January
2015, Japan announced that they would remain under surveillance for three more years.

Slide 13
The use of violence has always been considered a common attribute found in virtually all
religious terrorist groups.
Nonetheless, there are a number of features that distinguish ancient and modern terrorist groups.
Perhaps the most significant distinguishing feature in the context of this discussion is the
different views on the use of violence.
An article published in the 2008–2009 Annual Edition of Violence and Terrorism noted that the
brand of violence used by ancient groups like the Thuggee in India, “who killed to sacrifice the
blood of their victims to the Goddess Kali,” is different from the violence used by religious
terrorists today, who see “violence as a means of achieving political, economical and social
objectives. Religion is often seen as a means, rather than an end in itself.”
Not until 1980—as a result of the repercussions of the revolution in Iran the previous year—did
the first "modern" religious terrorist groups appear. As the number of religious terrorist groups
increased, the number of ethno-nationalist/separatist terrorist groups declined appreciably. The
number of groups espousing Marxist-Leninist-Maoist dogma remained unchanged.
The salience of religion as the major driving force behind international terrorism in the 1990s is
further evidenced by the fact that the most serious terrorist acts of the decade—whether reckoned
in terms of political implications and consequences or in the numbers of fatalities caused—have
all had a significant religious dimension and/or motivation.
The events in the Timeline represent some of the serious terrorist attacks over the past two
decades.

Slide 14
As we have observed, religious terrorists share a number of characteristics. All these groups
transform abstract political ideologies and objectives into a religious imperative. Violence is not
only sanctioned, it is divinely decreed. What happens, then, when we compare religious and
secular terrorism? Are there any differences between the two types of terrorism?
According to Dr. Nathan Yungher, a noted scholar of terrorism, there are a number of
characteristics that distinguish secular from religious terrorism. Secular terrorists, he argues,
operate within the sphere of their own political and cultural framework. Religious terrorists, in
contrast, “look at the world as an arena in which good is engaged in a constant battle against
evil.”
In terms of objectives, secular terrorists use terrorism in an attempt to create "theater" for the
consumption of the larger audience—society at large. Religious terrorists do not cater to a wider
audience, with the exception of co-religionists, whose approval of the cause and material support
terrorists crave, argues Yungher.
In this context, it can be argued that religious terrorists "act on behalf of God" whereas secular
terrorists act for the consumption of a wider audience—society at large.

Slide 15
The reasons why terrorist incidents perpetrated for religious motives result in so many more
deaths may be found in the radically different value systems, mechanisms of legitimization and
justification, concepts of morality, and worldview embraced by the religious terrorist, compared
with his or her secular counterpart.
Terrorism motivated either in whole or in part by a religious imperative, where violence is
regarded by its practitioners as a divine duty or sacramental act, embraces markedly different
means of legitimization and justification than that committed by secular terrorists; and these
distinguishing features lead, in turn, to yet greater bloodshed and destruction.
Audrey Kurth Cronin addresses five reasons that makes religious terrorism significantly more
dangerous than other forms of terrorism such as left-wing, nationalist, and right-wing terrorism:
1. All non-believers are considered evil and therefore potential targets.
2. Religious terrorists see their commands coming from a higher power or deity.
3. Religious terrorists view religious texts above secular laws.
4. Religious terrorists do not try to correct the social system, they strive to replace it.
5. They transcend borders. Groups like al Qaeda are a global network and are able to recruit
members not on the basis of ethnicity or nationality but on religious belief.

Slide 16
Much has been written about the degree of media bias in the use of the word “terrorist.”
While the media continues to portray Islam as the most vital source of terrorism, the American
government and the media ignore the potential threat posed by extremists and right-wing groups
in the U.S., says Michael Reynolds, author of Homegrown Terror. The statement was made in
reference to the two American citizens who were prosecuted in 2002 and 2003, and who
Reynolds asserts were "accountable for far more chemical weapons than have been found in
post-war Iraq.“
According to terrorist expert Daniel Levitas, this double standard is often overlooked and is also
employed by law enforcement agencies when some groups are labelled as “terrorists” and others
as just criminals. From this point of view, “Osama bin Laden is no more representative of
mainstream Islam than Timothy McVeigh, the white supremacist who blew up the Alfred
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, is of Christianity, or the founder of the
Japanese Aum Shinrikyo, Shoko Asahara, is of Buddhism,” points out Professor Jurgensmeyer.
Joseph Konopka, also known as “Dr Chaos,” a 26-year-old anti-governmental extremist, was
arrested “after being caught with cyanide, a potentially deadly chemical, near the Chicago
subway system.” Konopka was charged with possession of a chemical weapon, sodium cyanide.
He was later sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Slide 17
A second individual, William Krar, had ties to members of white supremacist and anti-
government militia groups. According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Eastern District of Texas, “Krar accumulated a large quantity of sodium cyanide and acids such
as hydrochloric, nitric and acetic acids, as well as a large cache of guns and ammunition.”
Without a doubt, “the two cases rank at the very top of all domestic terrorist arrests in the past 20
years in terms of the lethality of the arsenal," says terrorist expert Daniel Levitas, author of The
Terrorist Next Door. Yet neither of the two individuals were labelled as “terrorists” or
prosecuted on terror-related charges. The cases captured no media attention and there were no
press conferences by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft or Homeland Security Secretary Tom
Ridge.
Regardless of the moral or ethical concerns regarding the use of the term “terrorist,” terrorist
expert Reynolds warns against this double standard: “Just like Ashcroft and the FBI, the press
thinks of “angry white guys” like McVeigh, Nichols and Rudolph as old news. Well maybe Bill
Krar and his compatriots don’t fit the politically marketable paradigm, the post 9/11 face and
faith of terrorism – non white and Muslim. But such thinking may prove unnecessarily fatal in
times to come.” The Krar and Konopka cases should be considered fair warning, as Reynolds
puts it, that “a bomb is a bomb. A chemical weapon is a chemical weapon. It won’t matter to the
victims whether their attacker’s name is Ahmed or Bill.”

Slide 18
Terrorists use violence to signal their strength and resolve in an effort to produce concessions
from their enemy and obedience and support from their followers. Taken together, a variety of
political, socioeconomic and religious motives combined with personal conditions and trigger
events provide clues for understanding the making of terrorist groups, the motivations of
individual recruits, and the decisions to commence violent campaigns. But in the absence of a
predominant causal model, it is always difficult for target societies to fully comprehend the
complex causes of a particular terrorist threat and more thorny yet to alleviate the roots of
terrorism.
Lesson 4

4.3.1 Media and Terrorism

1. Introduction
In this module we will examine the relation between media and terrorism. We will have a look at
the impact of terrorism on transformation of reporting. We will also discuss the goals of the
terrorists with media and communication. Finally, we will go over the global impact of the media
on the terrorism.
2. Introduction(cont.)
All terrorist groups have one trait in common: none commits actions randomly or senselessly.
Each wants maximum publicity to be generated by its actions and, moreover, aims at
intimidation and subjection to attain its objectives.
The modern news media, as the principal conduit of information on such acts, thus play a vital
part in terrorists’ calculus. Without the media’s coverage the act’s impact is arguably wasted,
remaining narrowly confined to the immediate victim(s) of the attack rather than reaching the
wider “target audience” at whom the terrorists’ violence is actually aimed.
The media respond to terrorist overtures with almost unbridled zest, proving unable to ignore
what has been accurately described as “an event... fashioned specifically for their needs.”
The networks profess little or no concern that they may move beyond reporting the news to
actively helping to determine policy. There is little doubt that the feverish television coverage
afforded to hijackings and hostage situations involving American citizens complicates and
undermines governmental efforts to obtain their release.
The problem of terrorism’s ability to capture media attention and manipulate and exploit it in
ways amenable to the terrorists’ cause is endemic to democratic countries with open and
unrestricted press reporting. Modern terrorist groups make extensive use of the mass media,
particularly the electronic media.

3. ContagionTheoryortheCopycatSyndrome The contagion effect is motivated by the media

There is no doubt that the copycat, or contagion effect, is motivated by the media. The basis for
contagion theory is that any time someone does something new and novel and is successful,
others will attempt to imitate that success. Historically, this was particularly evident in the case
of skyjacking.
4. TerrorismandtheTransformationofReporting Invention of the steam-powered printing
press
The invention of the steam-powered printing press in 1830 began the modern era of mass media
and communication.
Transformation of the newspaper business because of electric power coupled with the
development of curved stereotype printing plates
By the 1870s the newspaper business had been completely transformed by the advent of electric
power coupled with the development of curved stereotype printing plates, together resulting in
the automatic rotary cylinder press—and the capability to print on both sides of a continuous roll
of paper.
Propaganda by deed
The symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media was forged during this era by both
the Russian constitutionalists in the Narodnaya Volya and their anarchist contemporaries who,
through “propaganda by deed,” deliberately sought to communicate their revolutionary message
to a wide audience.
5. TerrorismandtheTransformationofReporting(cont.) 1968: Launching of the first
television satellite
The second great revolution in mass communication that directly impacted terrorism occurred in
1968.
That year marked not only the birth of international terrorism—when Palestinian terrorists began
to hijack airliners in Europe—but also the launching by the United States of the first television
satellite.
Now stories could be transmitted from local studios back to network news headquarters for
editing and broadcast far more rapidly than was previously possible.

U.S.A. became the number one target of terrorists around the world
It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that from this time forward, the U.S. became the number
one target of terrorists around the world. Throughout the following thirty years, terrorists have
attacked American citizens and interests more than any other country’s.
Unparalleled opportunities for publicity and exposure
While there are various reasons why terrorists find American targets so attractive, a salient
consideration has always been the unparalleled opportunities for publicity and exposure that
terrorists the world over know they will get from the extensive U.S. news media.
In retrospect, therefore, the U.S. satellite launch was the first, critical step in facilitating the
American news media’s worldwide predominance through its ability to reach a numerically vast
audience. Ironically, it was also this development that made the same audience exponentially
more attractive to terrorists than any other nation’s.
6. TerrorismandtheTransformationofReporting(cont.) Equipment that made possible the
reporting of events in ’real time’
By the early 1970s, the effect of this technological leap was further enhanced by the availability
of three critical pieces of television equipment that made possible the reporting of events in “real
time”. These were:
 The Minicam
 The battery-powered video recorder
 The time-base corrector (which converts video footage into transmittable output
that in turn can be broadcast over the airwaves).
One additional, even paramount, consideration influencing television news coverage that has
emerged in recent years is financial cost.
On top of increasingly constrained news budgets, today foreign network news coverage
especially must increasingly justify itself and its vast expense by winning larger audience shares.
The result is a trivialization of television news that inevitably emphasizes aspects of the story
that the wider viewing audience can “relate to” rather than genuine analysis or probing to gain an
understanding of the background to a particular issue.
Unfortunately, the approach to terrorism coverage embraced by broadcast journalists is often
emulated by their print counterparts. Terrorists make conscious efforts to play to the modern
media and the media is usually eager to respond.

7. CauseandEffect?Terrorism,theMedia,andPublicOpinion Terrorism and media are

bound together
Clearly, terrorism and the media are bound together in an inherently symbiotic relationship,
feeding off and exploiting the other for their own purposes. The real issue, however, is whether
this actually affects public opinion and government decision- making, as the media’s critics
claim, in a manner that favours or assists terrorists.
Starved of the publicity
The implication is that if the terrorists could somehow be “starved” of the publicity on which
they “thrive,” both their malignant influence and the frequency with which they act would be
greatly reduced.
Moreover, even though the majority of Americans have little sympathy towards groups that
sponsor or commit terrorist acts, they nonetheless evinced a profound and abiding fascination
with both terrorists and terrorism.
Public fascination
The phenomenon of public fascination with terrorism is by no means confined to American news
audiences only.
There is an undeniably inherent element of drama in terrorism that seems to enable it genuinely
to transcend the mundane and stimulate among audiences an almost insatiable interest, which the
media, of course, actively encourage and feed.
Thus, while the media may be guilty of constantly—perhaps even shamelessly— scrambling to
fill a vacuum created by twenty-four-hour news channels, rolling news shows and intense
competition, the media neither exist nor function in a vacuum and, like any other business,
respond naturally to “consumer demand.”
8. TheImpactonTravelandGovernmentDecision-Making Two areas
There are two areas where the relationship between terrorism and the attention it receives from
the media impacts negatively on public and governmental behaviour:
• Public’s perception of personal risk from terrorism, and the consequent effect on willingness
to travel.
• The time pressures imposed by the media under which governments confronted with
terrorist-created crises labour.

Distortion in perception

The distortion in perception that results in higher probabilities being

accorded to terrorism than to other life-threatening acts is in large measure
doubtless a reflection of the disproportionate coverage accorded to terrorism
by the American media.
At one time in the 1980s, the American television networks were devoting
more attention to terrorism than to poverty, unemployment and crime
combined—despite the fact that these were arguably more important
political issues since they had a far greater and more immediate impact on
most Americans’ daily lives.

Nexus between news media and terrorism

The effects of the nexus between the news media and terrorism on decision-
making go far beyond the question of U.S. citizens’ overseas travel plans.
The “CNN Syndrome” has revolutionized news broadcasting through the
emergence of dedicated round-the- clock, “all news all the time” television
stations on both satellite and cable.

“Policy driver”

The effects of this immediacy, however, are such that television becomes not
just an “opinion shaper” but a “policy driver,” its presenters and on-air
analysts racing to define the range of options at a government’s disposal or
interpret likely public reaction—and its repercussions.

Governments are in consequence increasingly pressured to respond to

events before they can be evaluated fully, taking their cue from the “spin”
that the media give them rather than working towards decisions based on all
the available information.

9. TheNewMedia,Terrorism,andtheShapingofGlobalOpinion New
weapons: Minicam, videotape, editing suite, CD-ROMs, etc.

For Osama bin Laden and his followers—and no less for other terrorists
around the globe—the weapons of terrorism are no longer simply the guns
and bombs that they have always used.

Now those weapons include the Minicam and videotape; editing suite and
attendant production facilities; professionally produced and mass-marketed
CD-ROMs and DVDs; and, most critically, the laptop and desktop computers,
CD burners and e-mail accounts, and Internet and World Wide Web access
that have defined the information revolution today.

In recent years, the art of terrorist communication has evolved to a point at

which the terrorists themselves can now control the entire production
process: determining the
© May not be copied or duplicated without the permission of the owner.

content, context, and medium over which their message is projected and
targeting precisely the audience (or multiple audiences) they seek to reach.

New information revolution

A new information revolution has occurred to empower these movements

with the ability to shape and disseminate their own message in their own
way, enabling them to completely bypass traditional, established media
outlets.

10.Media-Related Goals Three goals

There are three goals in particular that terrorists tie to news coverage and
other forms of communication:

 They want attention.

 They want their grievances, demands and objectives recognized.
 They want to win respect and even gain legitimacy in some circles,
countries, or

regions.

Over coverage

News organizations tend to overcover terrorist strikes when they are

especially dramatic and shocking and offer plenty of human interest
aspects. While the print press has escaped similar criticism,
newspapers and news magazines have displayed the same appetite for
terrorist dramas as the television networks.

There was one shocking incident in the early 1970s that received an up
to then- unprecedented amount of news coverage: the assault on
members of Israel’s national team during the 1972 Olympic Games in
Munich by the Palestinian Black September group. The architects of the
assault had chosen this site to take advantage of the international
media present in Germany to report on the sports competition.

In the United States, television and radio reported virtually nothing

else in the days and nights following the 9/11 attacks. Not even
commercials were aired. Most sports and entertainment channels
 switched to crisis news, many of them carrying the coverage of one of
the networks; others suspended their programming altogether and
simply showed the American flag on the screen.

Newspapers vs. radio and television

Opinion polls showed that 99 percent of the American public followed

the news of the terrorist attacks by watching television or listening to
the radio.

© May not be copied or duplicated without the permission of the owner.

11.Media-Related Goals (cont.)

Intimidate their target society, and spread fear and anxiety in the

population

Foreign audiences were just as aware of the horrible events in the United
States as were Americans.

By getting the attention of their target audience, terrorists achieve another

objective: they intimidate their target society and spread fear and anxiety in
the population.

Public opinion surveys taken in the weeks after 9/11 revealed that many
Americans were traumatized and feared that they or their loved ones could
become the victims of future terrorism. Their feelings did not evaporate in
the following months and even years—especially not in the United States.

The public’s concerns reflected the volume of the news devoted to

terrorism

As one would expect, the public’s concerns reflected the volume of the news
devoted to terrorism and to the events of 9/11 in particular.

12.The Recognition Goal Stockholm syndrome

The so-called Stockholm syndrome is the tendency of some hostages to

identify with their captors. Government officials are critical of the media’s
willingness, if not eagerness, to give terrorists a public platform to articulate
their motives.

Root causes of terrorist violence

A surprisingly large proportion of the news on terrorism—more than a

quarter of the total reporting—described, articulated, or commented on the
root causes of terrorist violence.

After 9/11, there was far more thematic or contextual coverage from Arab
and Muslim countries than before the attacks. By striking hard at the United
States, the terrorists enticed the media to explore their grievances in ways
that transcended by far the quantity and quality of the press’s coverage. This
had an impact on the public in the United States and elsewhere in the West.

While there are no data on conversions to Islam in the West on the heels of
the 9/11 attacks, universities and adult education programs added courses
on Islam and the Middle East because of the increased demands.

News coverage helped kindle this sudden interest. It is certainly

understandable that after 9/11, the media devoted an extraordinary amount
of column inches and airtime to Muslims, Arabs, and the religion of Islam at
home and abroad.

But one would have wished that the press had paid more attention to the
sentiments among Arabs and Muslims in the years and decades before 9/11
—not as a direct result of an act of terrorism.

If one accepts the notion that terrorists strike in order to publicize their
grievances, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were extraordinarily successful
in realizing this objective.

13.The Respectability/Legitimacy Goal

Media bestow respectability and even legitimacy upon terrorists

John O’Sullivan has correctly argued that the media, and especially
television, bestow respectability and perhaps even legitimacy upon terrorists
—simply by interviewing them the same way they interview legitimate
political actors.
In the months following the attacks of 9/11, it was impossible to miss the
image of Osama bin Laden when TV audiences were channel surfing. This
prominence in the news made bin Laden a household name around the
world.

Evildoer-in-chief

To be sure, in the United States and many other countries, the al-Qaeda
leader did not win the hearts and minds of the people. Instead, he became
the evildoer-in-chief.

But this played into his hands as well. After all, terrorists do not want to be
loved by their targets; they want to be feared. This is especially true when
they strike on the territory of a foreign enemy. But bin Laden became a
larger-than-life hero in countries and regions where he wanted to establish or
broaden his popular support.

Gain in public esteem

These gains in public esteem for bin Laden in the Arab and Muslim world
were not short-lived. In some countries and regions, the al-Qaeda leader
gained a tremendous amount of respectability and legitimacy precisely
because of his association with the events of 9/11.

14.A Marriage of Convenience Financial considerations

Financial considerations became far more pressing in news organizations

because of increasingly fierce competition caused by the proliferation of
television channels, the emergence of the Internet as an increasingly
attractive news source, and the creation of mega-media corporations with
more commitment to profits than to serious news.

Years ago, the widely respected journalist David Broder suggested that “the
essential ingredient of any effective antiterrorist policy must be the denial to
the terrorist of access to mass media outlets.”

Laws that restricted news coverage during terrorists incidents

In the past, some liberal democracies, for example, the United Kingdom,
Germany, and Greece adopted press laws that restricted news coverage
during terrorist incidents and especially during hostage situations. These
laws were enacted in response to domestic terrorism.
Given the strong commitment to the First Amendment’s constitutional
guarantee of a free press in the United States, government censorship is less
likely in the United States and is certainly not a desirable solution.

15.Terrorism and the Global Media

Today, neither government censorship nor self-censorship in the media

prevents citizens from getting access to uncensored news. If such news is
not offered by any of the global TV and radio networks, there is always the
Internet.

The Russian government learned this lesson in the fall of 2002, when
Chechen separatists seized a Moscow theatre and held hundreds of
hostages.

While the Russian government was quite successful in preventing the news
media— especially broadcasters—from reporting extensively on the crisis,
the Russian public was well informed, thanks to global TV networks and the
World Wide Web.

16.Defending the Media

Service role during terrorist situations

The best case in defence of the media concerns their service role during
terrorist situations. News organizations, especially those on radio and
television, are as essential for the management of a terrorist attack as they
are during and after

devastating earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, riots, or other natural and

manmade disasters.

When people are directly or indirectly affected by an emergency, they

immediately turn to the news media for information. At no other times are
radio and television audiences larger than during and after major disasters.

Provide a public meeting place around the clock

By providing a public meeting place literally around the clock, whether via
broadcasting, cable, or print, news organizations served the public’s interest
well in the hours and days after the terrorists struck New York and
Washington.
Perhaps that was the most important reason why the American public looked
far more favourably upon the news media in the weeks after 9/11 than
before the shocking events.

However, these newly found public sympathies for the media were short-
lived and soon replaced by far more critical public attitudes toward the
press.

4.3.2 Terrorists and Communication

1. Introduction

In this module we will examine the relation between terrorists and

communications.
We will also have a look on how terrorists use violence as a way of
communication.
We will also analyze terrorists and insurgents use of the Internet. Finally, we
will go over publicity, alternative view and the communication triangle.

2. ViolenceasCommunication Propaganda

Propaganda is directed toward a committed audience to strengthen resolve

or toward an uncommitted audience to win sympathy and support.

It can be variously focused on the terrorists’ or insurgents’ actual or would-

be constituents, the public at large, the enemy government and its
bureaucratic minions and security forces, or even inwardly on the
underground fighters themselves as a means to promote and enhance
internal cohesion and morale.

Means of facilitating the communication process

The terrorist of the past used three principal means of facilitating this
communication process:

 Clandestine, rebel radio stations.

 Underground newspapers, posters, flyers, and other publications.
 Conventional, commercial or state-owned mass media (e.g., television,
radio and

the press).

By the mid-1980s, the latent romanticism of the underground fighter

that at times had surfaced in some reporting was rapidly ebbing.
 In addition, the opportunities for terrorist exploitation were diminishing
as new guidelines were imposed and more stringent self-policing was
practised in response to the wave of criticism levelled at the media.

Then, in the 1990s, the advent of three new technological developments

afforded terrorists the opportunity to break the stranglehold over mass
communications hitherto enjoyed by commercial and state-owned media.
These were:

 The Internet.
 Affordable, if not extraordinarily cheap, video production and
duplication

processes.

 Private, terrorist-owned television stations.

3. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet Impact of the Internet

Few technological innovations have had the impact of the Internet and
the World Wide Web. In terms of political activism, they have been
something of a godsend, providing an effective way for groups to
promote what some observers call a “global dialectic.”

A variety of terrorist and insurgent groups were quick to exploit this

feature as a means of mobilizing international support and pressure
and actively enlisting international and humanitarian relief
organizations and other NGOs on their behalf.

Internet advantages

In addition to ubiquity and timeliness, the Internet has other

advantages. It can circumvent government censorship, messages can be
sent anonymously and also quickly and almost effortlessly, and it is an
especially cost-effective means of mass communication.

Perception management

It also enables terrorists to undertake “perception management”: they

can use it to portray themselves and their actions in precisely the light
and context they wish– unencumbered by the filter, screening and spin
of established media.
 Information Laundering

The Internet also facilitates their engagement in “information

laundering”: taking an interesting or provocative video clip and/or
sound bite and featuring it and focusing on it and creating an “Internet
buzz” about it in the hope that it will move into the mainstream press.

Finally, the Internet carries with it new and significantly enhanced fund-
raising capabilities for otherwise illegal or underground entities.

4. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet(cont.) Zapatista National

Liberation Army (EZLN): first group

The first group to successfully harness the power of the Internet was
arguably the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), known more
familiarly as the Zapatistas.

Insurgent movement

The group is not a terrorist organization but an insurgent movement.

Nonetheless, its effective exploitation of the Internet at the beginning of the
1990s was subsequently emulated by other insurgent movements and
terrorist groups alike.
Other groups began rapidly to awake to the power of electronic external
communication and the distinct advantages that they offered over other,
older propaganda vehicles.

LTTE (Tamil Tigers)

Among the first were the LTTE (Tamil Tigers).

1995: TamilNet.com

The group established TamilNet.com in 1995, and its success has since
spawned several additional sites.

Like the Zapatistas, the Tigers’ initial presence on the Internet was
motivated by a desire to present an alternative news source to the Sri
Lankan state-controlled media.
Not surprisingly, the success of the Tiger websites prompted determined
government attempts to shut them down.

5. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet(cont.) Almost all groups have

websites

Today, almost all major (and minor) terrorist and insurgent groups have
websites. Virtually without exception, all sites studiously avoid focusing on or
drawing any attention to either violence or death and destruction that they
are responsible for.

Freedom of expression and the plight of imprisoned comrades

Instead, issues such as freedom of expression and the plight of imprisoned

comrades are highlighted. Arab and Islamic groups, Basque and Irish national
separatist movements, religious cults, Marxist-Leninist and Maoist
movements, European neo- Nazi groups, and even al-Qaeda can all be found
on the Web.

Hezbollah

Perhaps the preeminent group in this respect, and one of the first to harness
fully the communications power of the Web, is Hezbollah. The group has
often maintained as many as twenty different sites, in three different
languages: English, French and Arabic.

From the start of its leadership, al-Qaeda seems to have intuitively grasped
the enormous communicative potential of the Internet and sought to harness
this power both to further the movement’s strategic aims and to facilitate its
tactical operations.

6. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet(cont.)

Al-Qaeda

The Internet has long facilitated three critical functions for al-Qaeda.

 Propaganda for recruitment and fund-raising and to shape public

opinion in the Muslim world.
 Terrorist training and instruction.
  Operational planning for attacks through both e-mail communication
and the

access it provides to an array of useful open source information.

Core Message

The core messages that remain the basic staple of al-Qaeda and other
jihadist websites today are:

 First, that the West is implacably hostile to Islam.

 Second, that the only way to address this threat and the only language
that the

West understands is violence.

 Third, that jihad, therefore, is the only option.

Osama bin Laden has long argued that the United States is poised on
the verge of financial ruin and total collapse much as the USSR once
was–with the force of Islam ensuring America’s demise much as it
achieved that of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago.

Along with propaganda and training, al-Qaeda has also made extensive
use of the Internet for intelligence-gathering purposes and targeting.

7. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet(cont.) Websites and social media

use are growing

The use of websites and social media platforms for terrorist purposes is a
rapidly growing phenomenon that requires coordinated responses from
states and private actors.

They are used for a variety of purposes

Terrorist organizations have used the Internet to disseminate their messages

via traditional websites, social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter,
and Facebook, as well encrypted messaging applications to post their
propaganda, inspire new adherents to their causes, as well as to offer
training or to recruit new members.
In a 2017 op-ed published in the Financial Times, Google’s general counsel,
Kent Walker, acknowledged the severity of the problem on YouTube and
announced a series of measures the platform would be taking to rein in on
this type of content.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of the problem, in the first three
months of 2019, Google manually reviewed one million videos, and in the
process determined that 90,000 videos violated its terms of service.

8. TerroristandInsurgentUseofInternet(cont.)
Terrorist Organizations use various means to spread their message

Terrorist Organizations use a variety of means to disseminate their

messages, from website through web-hosting sites to social media platforms.

Their online activity is risky and prone to detection

However, being active online carries its share of risks. Websites and social
media accounts can be either shut down or seized by governments. They
could also be found, infiltrated, and monitored by counter-terrorism
agencies. To minimize potential risks, terrorist organizations are turning to
the dark web and to encrypted messaging platforms, which I will get to in a
moment.

9. TheDarkWebExodus

The World Wide Web—properly understood—is comprised of the surface

web, the deep web and the dark web.

Surface web

The surface web refers to content that is easily accessible and that is
indexed by search engines. Approximately 4% of the Internet is part of the
surface web.

Deep web

The deep web, which represents 90% of all content on the Internet, refers to
content that is not indexed by search engines. That would, for example,
include online banking, e-mail, and Netflix.
Dark web

The dark web is said to represent the remainder of the Internet, and it
contains content that has been deliberately concealed. It is used for both
legitimate and illegitimate purposes, from journalists and dissidents in
repressive states evading government surveillance to criminals evading law
enforcement monitoring.

A study found that 57% of the dark web is occupied by illegal pornography,
drug and weapons trafficking, counterfeit currency, terrorist communication
and much more.

Terrorist organizations use the dark web to provide information to each

other, to recruit and radicalize prospective members, raise funds, spread
propaganda or to coordinate their actions.

10.Encrypted Messaging Applications Telegram messaging application

Similarly, terrorist organizations have increasingly started to use encrypted

messaging applications, such as Telegram. Since its launch, the application
has been immensely successful.

Telegram Channels

Once it launched its channels in September 2015, a feature that allowed

users to broadcast their messages to large audiences, the Terrorism
Research & Analysis Consortium remarked an exodus from social media
sites, like Twitter, to Telegram.

Terrorist Organizations and Channels

ISIS agents on Twitter started advertising their channel named Nashir,

distributor in English, in the days following the unveiling of this new feature.
In March 2016, there were 700 ISIS-linked channels and more channels from
other terrorist organizations. ISIS members who were involved in the 2015
Paris Attacks had used Telegram to

spread their propaganda. ISIS had also used the application to recruit the
perpetrator of the Christmas market attack in Berlin the year after.
Additionally, a high-ranking ISIS official had sent the attacker of the Reina
Nightclub in Istanbul directives from Raqqua.
11. Publicity
Iranian hostage crisis: videotapes

During the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1981 and subsequent hostage

situations in and around Beirut throughout the 1980s, the captors repeatedly
produced videotapes that depicted the plight of their American hostages.
Such tapes were made available to Western news organizations—in some
instances with the mutual understanding that the material would be aired
unedited.

Margaret Thatcher: publicity is the oxygen of terrorism

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said that publicity is the
oxygen of terrorism. Terrorists at all times understood this and acted
accordingly. Whenever possible, terrorists do not depend on the media’s
gatekeepers to facilitate their desire for publicity but rather try to convey
their messages directly. This was also true of earlier terrorists.

Most important targets in the terrorist publicity

The traditional mass media, namely, newspapers, news magazines, radio

and television, remain the most important targets in the terrorist publicity
scheme because they are still the predominant sources of information.

Because they guarantee freedom of expression and press freedom, liberal

democracies have been susceptible to terrorism; the fundamental civil
liberties in democracies play into the terrorists’ appetite for publicity.

12. Publicity
Universal goal of terrorists

While publicity is what one may call a universal goal of terrorists, it is never
their only and ultimate objective. According to Bruce Hoffman, however, all
terrorists share one trait: Each group wants “maximum publicity to be
generated by its [terrorism’s] actions.”

Importance of publicity in their scheme

In their writings and in interviews, terrorists have revealed that they

understand the importance of publicity in their scheme.
13.The 1985 TWA Hijacking by Hezbollah

Graduates of media studies and communications programs at American

universities acted as advisors to the hijackers and those who negotiated on
the terrorists’ behalf

According to some reports on the 1985 TWA hijacking, graduates of media

studies and communications programs at American universities acted as
advisors to the hijackers and those who negotiated on the terrorists’ behalf.

Following these experts’ advice, the militants granted television reporters

preferential treatment for the sake of reaching the largest audiences.

Terrorists were aware that visual images affect audiences far more deeply
and for longer periods of time than the spoken or written word

But there was another reason for favouring television over print: terrorists
were aware that visual images affect audiences far more deeply and for
longer periods of time than the spoken or written word.

14.An Alternative View

When terrorists struck in the 1970s and 1980s, they typically claimed
responsibility for

their deeds and communicated their motives.

More recently, the perpetrators of major terrorist attacks often failed to claim
responsibility in an explicit and timely fashion. The new “faceless”
superterrorism is said to have no publicity goals. Some terrorists thus do not
necessarily seek media attention.

However, the perpetrators of political violence will get news coverage—

regardless of whether they seek it or not. It is also unlikely that terrorists
who make no claims would not be pleased when their deeds are highlighted
in the news.

15.The Triangle of Communication

To be at least partially successful, terrorists calculate that they need and will
get access

to what one might call the triangle of political communication.

The mass media, governmental decision-makers, and the public constitute the
corners of this triangle.
4.3.3 Cyberterrorism

1. Introduction

In this module we will examine what is cyberterrorism? We will also have a

look at terrorists’ use of computers and the advantages for cyberterrorists.
Finally, we will go over what could happen in the future and what are the
difficulties of counterterrorism.

2. Introduction(cont.)

As the face of terrorism changes according to new societal trends,

cyberterrorism constitute “logical” new form of terrorism associated with the
Information Age. These forms of terrorism also suggest links between
terrorism and organized crime. This criminal-terrorist connection is
considered by most terrorism specialists to be a new way to generate funds
since the worldwide decrease in state-funded terrorism. Indeed, while there
has been an increase in terrorist activity worldwide, there has also been an
increasing intolerance in the international community of states that use
covert warfare as a weapon of choice.

In its broadest definition, cyberterrorism is essentially “terrorism that involves

computers, networks, and the information they contain.” However, there are
varying degrees of activities carried out by cyberterrorists that range from
the use of computers during the commission of terrorist acts on one end to
the use of information technologies to attack the integral information
infrastructure of a given country at the other end. Indeed, while the rapid
expansion of new International Communications Technologies (ICTs) has had
a dramatic impact on political, diplomatic, military, economic, social and
cultural affairs, it has also been exploited by terrorists who use cyberspace
to draw attention to a cause, spread their message or fear, raise funds, seek
new members and influence the public and decision makers.

3. WhatisCyberterrorism? “Information warfare”

There has been increasing concern over a new form of threat that can be
carried out via the World Wide Web and that is broadly referred to as
“information warfare.” It has
emerged as a consequence of the growing reliance on information
technology in the United States and other nations, namely the transition
towards the Information Age.

Cyberterrorism is not equivalent to cybercrime

However, “information warfare” should not necessarily be interpreted as

“cyberterrorism” and “cyberterrorism” should not be mistaken for
“cybercrime” either.

Cyberterrorism is a term that still lacks an internationally recognized

definition and acts of cybercrime are often mistaken for cyberterrorism.

Cyberterrorism requires a terrorist component

Cyberspace attacks require a “terrorist” component to constitute

cyberterrorism, involving technology used as a weapon or target by non-
state actors to instill terror (that is, result in death and/or large-scale
destruction), with a political motivation. Such “ingredients” are specifically
attributed to terrorism in cyberspace.

Keith Lourdeau claims that “The true threat of ‘Cyberterrorism’ will be

realized when all the factors that constitute a terrorist attack, coupled with
the use of the Internet, are met. Cyberterrorism is a criminal act perpetrated
by the use of computers and telecommunications capabilities, resulting in
violence, destruction and/or disruption of services, where the intended
purpose is to create fear by causing confusion and uncertainty within a given
population, with the goal of influencing a government or population to
conform to a particular political, social or ideological agenda.”

If the exercise of establishing a proper definition of such a term may seem

arbitrary, it is important with regard to the establishment of boundaries,
policies, organizational responsibilities and the resource allocations of a
given threat.

4. WhatisCyberterrorism?

For example, information warfare carried out by states is a category of

cyberwar that does not fall under the definition of “cyberterrorism,”
according to Gregory J. Rattray, who argues that “The activities of states
conducting hostile activities in cyberspace against the US fall outside the
realm of cyberterrorism into areas which can be labelled information warfare,
espionage, or public diplomacy.”

Cybercrimes that do not necessarily involve terrorism

The following are some examples of cybercrimes that fall under the category
of white- collar crimes, but that do not necessarily involve terrorism. They
involve a modification of a conventional crime by using computers and fall
out of the purview of conventional criminal law: financial crimes, cyber
pornography, sale of illegal articles, online gambling, intellectual property
crimes, e-mail spoofing, forgery, cyber defamation, cyber

stalking, unauthorized access to computer systems or networks, theft of

information contained in electric form, phishing for consumers’ credit
information, e-mail bombing, data diddling, salami attacks, denial of service
attacks, virus/worm attacks, logic bombs, Web jacking, theft of computer
systems, or physically damaging a computer system.

In April 2000, a 15-year-old Canadian hacker known as “Mafiaboy” pleaded

guilty to 56 charges against him, which included mischief and illegal use of a
computer service. The teenager had hacked several major sites, including
CNN, Yahoo, Dell, Amazon and eBay. One single day of cyberattacks cost
these companies approximately $1.7 billion in lost sales and damages. This
example of cybercrime reveals the facility with which many individuals can
execute serious damage through simple knowledge and use of computer
systems.

Cybercrime may, however, be used to support cyberterrorism.

Another concern over the use of the term cyberterrorism relates to terrorists’
use of information technology for their own activities, including propaganda,
communication and training; activities that raise questions about the
concept of freedom of information but do not fall under the category of
cyberterrorism.

5. WhatisCyberterrorism?(cont.)
Distinctions between terrorist use of information technology and terrorism

involving computer technology as a weapon/target

Maura Conway points out that “[a]s regards the distinction between terrorist
use of information technology and terrorism involving computer technology
as a weapon/target, only the latter may be defined as cyberterrorism.”

Another distinction is between cyberterrorism and hacktivism

Another important distinction to be made in attempting to define
cyberterrorism is that between cyberterrorism and “hacktivism,” a term
coined by scholars to describe the marriage of hacking with political
activism. (“Hacking” is here understood to mean activities conducted online
and covertly that seek to reveal, manipulate, or otherwise exploit
vulnerabilities in computer operating systems and other software. Unlike
hacktivists, hackers tend not to have political agendas.) Hacktivists have four
main weapons at their disposal: virtual blockades; e-mail attacks; hacking
and computer break-ins; and computer viruses and worms. Cyberterrorism
appears to constitute a threat because of the growing dependency on
technology in modern society. Indeed, since modern Western society
functions on information, cyberterrorists could act by interrupting the flow of
information infrastructures.

FBI Definition

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has offered the following working

definition: “Cyber terrorism is the premeditated, politically motivated attack
against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which
result in violence against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or
clandestine agents.”

6. Terrorists’UseofComputerstoFacilitateActivities Terrorism is about

information

Maura Conway stresses the extent to which terrorism is really about

information, and how the information revolution has in turn had an impact on
new forms of terrorism: “Indeed, terrorism has long been about ‘information’
— from the fact that trainees for suicide bombings are kept from listening to
international media, through the ways that terrorists seek to create disasters
that will consume the front pages, to the related debates about
countermeasures that would limit freedom of the press, increase public
surveillance and intelligence gathering, and heighten security over
information and communications systems. Terrorist tactics focus attention on
the importance of information and communications for the functioning of
democratic institutions; debates about how terrorist threats undermine
democratic practices may revolve around freedom of information issues.”

Internet allows communication of uncensored information and reaching

broader audiences
The Internet allows terrorists to communicate uncensored information and
reach broader audiences, which, according to Conway, classifies the Internet
as an instrument of a political power shift: “The Internet is neither simply a
potential vehicle for carrying out attacks nor a potential target, however. The
Internet is also the instrument of a political power shift. It is the first many-
to-many communication system. The ability to communicate words, images,
and sounds, which underlies the power to persuade, inform, witness, debate,
and discuss (not to mention the power to slander, propagandize, disseminate
bad or misleading information, engage in misinformation and/or
disinformation, etc.) is no longer the sole province of those who own or
control printing presses, radio stations, or television networks.

7. Terrorists’UseofComputerstoFacilitateActivities Internet is an ideal

propaganda tool

Every machine connected to the Internet is potentially a printing press, a

broadcasting station, or a place of assembly. And in the twenty-first century,
terrorists are availing of the opportunity to connect. The Internet is an ideal
propaganda tool for terrorists: in the past they had to communicate through
acts of violence and hope that those acts garnered sufficient attention to
publicize the perpetrators’ cause or explain their ideological justification.
With the advent of the Internet, however, the same groups can disseminate
their information undiluted by the media and untouched by government
sensors.”

Global reach

In another account on the use of the Internet by terrorist groups, Brigitte L.

Nacos argues that “Today all other means of communication, print and
broadcasting included, pale in comparison to the opportunities that the
Internet offers terrorists and hatemongers. The Internet is an ideal vehicle to
disseminate terrorist propaganda and hate speech, glorify the ‘heroes’ and
‘martyrs’ of the movement’s cause, facilitate communication between
members and sympathizers, plot terrorist acts, retrieve strategic and tactical
information, recruit new members, and, finally, raise funds. Unlike any other
communication means, the Internet’s global reach allows like-minded people
in any country around the world to learn of each other’s existence and
communicate with each other. The Internet combines the characteristics of
all information technologies—text, audio, and video—and terrorist
organizations and hate groups exploit all of these opportunities for their
purposes.”
8. Terrorists’UseofComputerstoFacilitateActivities
Adopting the power of modern communications technology for planning,

recruiting, propaganda purposes, etc.

Terrorist groups are increasingly adopting the power of modern

communications technology for planning, recruiting, propaganda purposes,
enhancing communications, command and control, fundraising and funds
transfer, and information gathering. Computers allow groups to remain
connected and communicate covertly and anonymously. Without necessarily
using the Internet at the expense of others when it serves their own online
activities, terrorist groups have incorporated the Internet into their strategy
of terror and hate.

Freedom of speech

Use of computers to carry out one’s own activities is legal and relates to
freedom of speech. The most popular terrorist sites draw tens of thousands
of visitors each month.

As of 2005, a majority of 33 of the 42 terrorist groups designated Foreign

Terrorist Organizations by the U.S. Department of State had their own
websites.

In his 2006 testimony on the Use of the Internet by Islamic extremists, Bruce
Hoffman states that “The Internet has long facilitated three critical functions
for al-Qaida”:

Internet facilitates critical functions:

 Propaganda for recruitment and fundraising and to shape public

opinion in the Muslim world.
 Terrorist training and instruction.
 Operational planning for attacks through both e-mail communication
and the

access it provides to an array of useful open source information.

9. Cyberterrorism:AGrowingSourceofFear
 The Western dependency on technology in this age of information is
alarming insofar as technology is now clearly being employed as a
vehicle to directly or indirectly disseminate mischief, death and
destruction.

Ultimately, the medium of computer technology serves virtually every

single purpose of a terrorist organization and has become an
undeniable threat. One expert has suggested that “with $1 billion and
20 knowledgeable hackers, a single terrorist could shut down the
United States.”

Despite such concerns, however, some analysts contend that

“cyberfears” have been exaggerated. Gabriel Weimann, for instance, is
quick to remind us that “so far, there has been no recorded instance of
a terrorist cyberattack on U.S. public facilities, transportation systems,
nuclear power plants, power grids, or other key components of the
national infrastructure.”

He also notes that neither al-Qaeda nor any other known terrorist
group has yet attempted a serious cyberattack.

Thus, despite the real fears and the potential threat, terrorism experts
also remind us to remain critical about the plausibility and likelihood of
cyberterrorism threats, which have at times been exaggerated and
manipulated for various reasons.

10.Advantages for Cyberterrorists

Reasons for the appeal in computer technology

There are several reasons why terrorists from any given group or nation
would discern an appeal in computer technology.

 First, computers are a force multiplier for terrorist groups. Force

multipliers enable small groups or individuals to function as if they were
a much larger group, thus enhancing their striking power without
actually augmenting the strength of the unit.
 Second, computers allow such groups to remain connected and to reach
vast audiences without great costs or efforts.
 Moreover, computers afford cyberterrorists the ability to attack the
infrastructure of a society. With the contemporary flow of information
comes a more exposed and vulnerable social base. Modern Western
societies function on information to such a large extent and
 cyberterrorists threaten to interrupt or confuse this flow of information.
The repercussions of such a social vulnerability are only beginning to
be understood.

According to Gregory J. Rattray, “Increasingly, cyberterrorists can

achieve effects in the US from nearly anywhere on the globe.

Terrorist groups can access global information infrastructures owned

and operated by the governments and corporations they want to
target. Digital attackers have a wide variety of means to cause
disruption and/or destruction.”

11.Advantages for Cyberterrorists (cont.)

The following are examples of ways in which terrorists may use
computers to further

their goals:

 Viruses could be implanted in an enemy’s computer.

 “Logic bombs” could lie dormant until they suddenly overwhelm a
computer

system.

 Bogus chips could be sold to sabotage an enemy’s computer system.

 Overloading an electrical system could threaten computer security.
 Electronic information sites could be defaced, and disinformation and

propaganda could be spread.

 Denial of service to legitimate computer users through Denial of Service

Attacks (DoS) and the exploitation of inherent computer security

vulnerabilities.

 Unauthorized intrusions into systems and networks critical to some

infrastructures could be committed.

12.Advantages for Cyberterrorists (cont.)

List of potential cyberterrorist acts

In a worst-case scenario, Barry C. Collin depicts a list of potential
cyberterrorist acts:

 Sicken and kill children: A cyberterrorist will remotely access the

processing control systems of a cereal manufacturer, change the levels
of iron supplement, and sicken and kill the children of a nation
enjoying their food. That cyberterrorist will then perform similar
remote alterations at a processor of infant formula. The key: the
cyberterrorist does not have to be at the factory to execute these acts.
 Simultaneous computerized bombs: A cyberterrorist will place a number
of computerized bombs around a city, all simultaneously transmitting
unique numeric patterns, each bomb receiving each other’s pattern. If
bomb one stops transmitting, all the bombs detonate simultaneously.

o The keys: (1) the cyberterrorist does not have to be strapped to any of
these bombs, (2) no large truck is required, (3) the number of bombs and
urban dispersion are extensive, (4) the encrypted patterns cannot be
predicted and matched through alternate transmission, and (5) the number
of bombs prevents disarming them all simultaneously. The bombs will
detonate.

13.Advantages for Cyberterrorists (cont.)

Disruption of banks, international financial transactions, stock exchanges

A cyberterrorist will disrupt the banks, the international financial

transactions, the stock exchanges. The key: the people of a country will lose
all confidence in the economic system.

Would a cyberterrorist attempt to gain entry to the Federal Reserve building

or equivalent? Unlikely, since arrest would be immediate. Furthermore, a
large truck pulling alongside the building would be noticed.

However, in the case of the cyberterrorist, the perpetrator is sitting on

another continent while a nation’s economic systems grind to a halt.
Destabilization will be achieved.

Attack of air traffic control systems

A cyberterrorist will attack the next generation of air traffic control systems
and collide two large civilian aircraft. This is a realistic scenario since the
cyberterrorist will also crack the aircraft’s in-cockpit sensors. Much of the
same can be done to the rail lines.
Alter the formulas of medication

A cyberterrorist will remotely alter the formulas of medication at

pharmaceutical manufacturers. The potential loss of life is unfathomable.

The cyberterrorist may then decide to remotely change the pressure in the
gas lines, causing a valve failure, and a block of a sleepy suburb detonates
and burns. Likewise, the electrical grid is becoming steadily more vulnerable.

14.It Hasn’t Happened Yet Threat

Since the end of the 20th century and the inception of the “information age,”
the threat of information warfare has been on the rise. Concern over the
threat is covered by the media and cyberterrorism ranks alongside other
weapons of mass destruction in the public consciousness.

For example, the United States, being the society the most dependent on its
information systems and infrastructures, may face adversaries, including
terrorists, wanting to achieve their destruction for political reasons. In this
light, the concept of asymmetrical warfare may very well apply to
cyberterrorism which could provide powerful weapons for the weak to
destabilize the strong.

No existing instance of anyone ever having been killed by a terrorist using

a computer

However, there is a problem: there has still been no instance of anyone ever
having been killed by a terrorist using a computer.

15.It Hasn’t Happened Yet (cont.) Cyberterrorists challenges

As Gregory J. Rattray points out, “so far the US has suffered very little from
cyberterrorism despite continuing conflicts with numerous adversaries,
including those who employ terrorist means.”

He goes on to say that “cyberterrorists too will face significant challenges.

When terrorists will develop requisite capabilities to conduct significant
cyberattacks remains highly uncertain. The calculus of how cyberterrorism
fits in with other terrorist tools, including conventional weapons, weapons of
mass disruption, and other techniques will determine the future significance
of cyberterrorism. Cyberterrorism may well become a
supplement to other terrorist means similar to how information warfare
operations complement conventional military forces.”

Hacktivism is real and widespread, cyberterrorism exists only in theory

“Whereas hacktivism is real and widespread, cyberterrorism exists only in

theory. Terrorist groups are using the Internet, but they still prefer bombs to
bytes as a means of inciting terror,” wrote Dorothy Denning before the
September attacks.

16.Counterterrorism Difficulties Law enforcement challenges

Law enforcement faces many challenges when confronted with warfare as

unconventional as cyberterrorism. On January 22, 2000, former President
Clinton announced his one billion dollar plan to fight cyberterrorism.

Such an investment demonstrates the fact that cyberterrorists do exist and

that they are likely continue to inflict damage and impose economic loss
upon various organizations, governments, and societies.

Critical challenge: decentralized nature of networking

A critical challenge within anti-cyberterrorism measures relates to the

decentralized nature of networking.

Indeed, many terrorist groups have adopted a decentralized structure for

protective reasons, as it has been proven that governments have more
difficulty in defeating networks than more classical forms of group
hierarchies.

Elements to consider when building a counter cyberterrorist program

According to Barry C. Collin, “We must consider the following elements when
building a counter-CyberTerrorist program”:

 Methods: We must accept that while the theories of terrorism stand

true, the way in which we approach counterterrorism, in this case,
counter-cyberterrorism, must change.
 We must cooperate and share intelligence in ways we never have before.
 We must enlist the assistance of those individuals who understand the

weapons we are facing and have experienced fighting these wars.

 We must learn the new rules, the new technologies, and the new
players.
17.Counterterrorism Difficulties

Collin concludes: “Unfortunately, one cannot learn how to fight this very
unconventional warfare from someone who hasn’t been there, nor from
someone whose experience is in the old ways and old technologies. The old
data processing, auditing, and computer security models in use today are
obsolete.

On this battlefield, against this weapon, the terrorist is already far ahead.
The building of a counter-CyberTerrorist team must be real-time and
dynamic, as the weapons will continually change, to morph, in an attempt to
beat you, your systems, and your people.

There is no re-machining, and unlike other terrorists, if the CyberTerrorist

loses today, he does not die - he learns what did not work, and will use that
information against you tomorrow.”

More recently, the administration of President Barack Obama announced the

creation of a cybersecurity chief’s office as part of his national cybersecurity
strategy.

In June 2009, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
appointed his first national cybersecurity chief, announcing that work was
continuing on a national cybersecurity plan and that a major exercise would
take place later in the year to test the country’s ability to withstand a serious
attack on its communications network.