T E R R O R I S M
Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim
The strategy of terrorists is to commit acts of violence that .draws the attention of the local populace, the government, and the world to their cause
The terrorists plan their attack to obtain the greatest publicity, choosing targets that symbolize what they oppose.
The effectiveness of the terrorist act lies not in the act itself, but in the public’s or government’s reaction to the act.
For example, in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, the Black September Organization killed 11 Israelis. The Israelis were the immediate victims.
But the true target was the estimated 1 billion people watching the televised event.
Key criteria ViolencePsychological impact and fear Perpetrated for a political goal Deliberate targeting of non-combatantsUnlawfulness or illegitimacy
T Y P E S Civil disorderPolitical terrorismNon-Political terrorismQuasi-terrorismLimited political terrorismOfficial or state terrorism
Tactics Secession of a territory to form a new sovereign stateDominance of territory or resources by various ethnic groupsImposition of a particular form of governmentEconomic deprivation of a populationOpposition to a domestic government or occupying armyReligious fanatism
Some famous terrorist organizations of the 20th century include: the American Ku Klux Klan (founded in 1865 and revived several times since), the Irish Republican Army (founded 1919), the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, two pre-state Zionist groups: Irgun (founded 1931) and Lehi (founded 1940), the Spanish ETA (founded 1959), the Canadian Front de Libération du Québec (founded 1963), the Palestine Liberation Organization (founded 1964), the German Red Army Faction (also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, founded 1967), the Italian Red Brigade (founded 1969), the American Weathermen (founded in 1969), the Peruvian Shining Path (active since the late 1960s), the Palestinian Black September (founded 1970), Puerto Rico's Los Macheteros (founded 1976), Hezbollah (founded 1982, the Islamic Jihad (active in Egypt and Palestine since the late 1970s) and internationaly acting al-Qaeda (founded in 1988).
List of terrorist incidents 2001 September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack ("9/11") kills thousands in New York, and hundreds in Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. 2002 Moscow theatre siege May 12, 2003 - Riyadh Compound Bombings--bombings of United States expat housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160. Al-Qaeda blamed. 2003 Borrowing a name from a 1996 book on the tactic, Shock and Awe, the U.S. president targeted the civil infrastructure of Iraq to terrorize supporters of Saddam Hussein.
THE LEADERS
one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter