Chapter 10 Flashcards
- What happened to American Journalist James Foley?
- What was the date of this crime?
- What was it titled?
- Who commited it?
- And why was it carried out?
- the horrific video of American journalist named James Foley being beheaded by a member of ISIS in Guantanamo Bay
- on August 19, 2014,
- with the title A Message to America -
- killed by Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old Muslim from London, England, who traveled to Syria to join the group ISIS.
- it was carried out because Obama authorized military operations against the Islamic State, effectively placing America upon a slippery slope towards a new war against Muslims
A Message to America (the video) - signaled a new era of terrorism, how so? What did it also marked?
> It was an act which coupled brutal violence with the sophisticated use of social media platforms to promote extremist causes and recruit new members to these missions.
> The video also marked the arrival of ISIS on the world stage.
What is ISIS and how did it start?
> ISIS is a terrorist group that emerged out of Al Qaeda in Iraq and expanded into Syria in 2011 after the start of the Syrian civil war
> In 2010, protests broke out across North Africa and the Middle East in what became known as the “Arab Spring,”
> but in Syria, the government proved more resilient than the protestors and responded with extreme force.
> This revolution soon devolved into a civil war that pitted a number of opposition groups against the army supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. I
Who was the face of ISIS?
Was he considered the most wanted terrorrist?
When and how did he die?
> Emwazi, the masked man who conducted the beheadings in the james Foley video
became the face of ISIS and simultaneously the most wanted terrorist since Osama bin Laden.
> On November 12, 2015, he was identified leaving an apartment and getting into a car in Raqqa, Syria. As he got into the car, a British and U.S.–operated predator drone launched a missile strike that obliterated “Jihadi John,” along with another member of ISIS.
What ISIS attack occurred after Emwazi’s death?
> Paris attack on November 13, 2015, only one day after Emwazi was killed.
> In that attack, a number of coordinated assaults involving suicide bombers and shooters with assault weapons took place in locations around Paris and included the area around a soccer stadium, cafes, restaurants, and a theater.
> These attacks resulted in 130 fatalities and many hundreds of others wounded.
The rise of ISIS appeared to mark a new resurgent era of terrorism that utilized what? Was it the most deadly?
> that utilized social media to recruit disaffected young Muslims from Western countries and increased attacks on European targets.
> Despite the media attention given to ISIS, it might surprise you that in 2014, when ISIS was at its height, this group was not the deadliest terrorist organization.
What terrorist group was actually more deadly than ISIS when they were at their height?
BKOHAR is the group
> Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group that is largely based in the African country of Nigeria.
> The term loosely translates to Western education is forbidden. Boko Haram was inspired by ISIS and, in fact, had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
What is terrorism like in the modern age?
> global and multi-faceted?
How many definitions of terrorism were created between 1936 and 1983? Is the current number the same or higher?
> one writer identified over 100 different definitions of terrorism?
> current number is even greater
What are two reasons describing why terrorism is so hard to define? What is terrorism considered as a phenomenon?
- terrorism encompasses many different types of behavior perpetrated for many different reasons
- plus it has a complexity and variation in motive
> terrorism is a continuously evolving phenomenon
What behaviour can be perpetrated under terrorism? What must be noted about these behaviours (are they all acts of terrorism? what does it depend on?
INT, ASSA, BMBS, HJKS, TFT, MSA, KNPS, + OTHS
> Includes:
intimidation,
assassinations,
bombings,
hijackings,
theft,
military-style attacks,
kidnappings,
and any number of other violent or threatening acts.
> Yet, at the same time, not all bombings, killings, thefts, and kidnappings are acts of terrorism.
> depends in large part on your particular point of view - may be a matter of perception
- During the 19th and early 20th century, what was terrorism considered, what did it focus on, and what were the targets like?
- What is the character of terrorism in the 20th century changed to include?
- What are the targets like in the 20th century?
- terrorism was nationalistic,
- focused on helping a population group achieve political independence and sovereignty,
- targets of terrorism tended to be military and political leaders who represented the government system in power. - the character of terrorism changed and came to include a broader spectrum of organizations
- had a more indiscriminate in target selection.
Sometimes referred to as “leaderless Jihad,” this new model of terrorism is largely based on what?
> based on informal networks of friends who are inspired to commit acts of terrorism in support of a larger cause or organization to which they have no real connection or ties, except that they share a religious and/or political worldview.
- The word “Terrorist” is what kind of term?
- It has has tremendous power to remove to what
- Governments and politicians often use the word to do what?
- is an inherently a negative term
- to remove whatever legitimacy or moral authority an organization or movement may aspire to possess.
- to undermine the support a group may have among a larger population.
Bruce Hoffman points out that many terrorist groups try to avoid being labeled as terrorists and instead try to link themselves to what? What is a specific example?
> try to link themselves with the concepts and language of freedom and liberation, armies and military organizations, self-defense, and justified retribution
> Ramzi Yousef, for example, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack, asserted in a newspaper interview that he was a warrior.
What are the essential qualities of terrorism that most definitions share and overall that terrorism has?
TIAVA, TIITASG, TUTDV, TPOTITT, TIS.
- terrorism is a violent activity.
- At its core, terrorism is about destruction and harm, whether of people or property or both. (is the preferred method to achieve their agenda and goals) - terrorism is intended to achieve some goal
- the violence is instrumental + rational - for some goal. - terrorism usually targets defenseless victims.
- soft targets - not hard targets. - the purpose of terrorism is to terrorize.
- This is important because terrorist groups want to create a climate of fear within a society - terrorism is systematic.
- a recurring phenomenon.
What is a common victim of terrorism? What are the two most frequent focus of terrorist attacks in the world?
> In military terminology, they are soft targets, also called defenseless targets, as opposed to hard targets that are more difficult to assault because they are better protected. (though both are possible)
> Far more common are civilian and noncombatant targets who are placed in the crosshairs precisely because they are civilians
> private citizens and property are by far the most frequent focus of terrorist attacks around the world.
What is the difference in killing innocent noncombatants and combatants?
> When soldiers or police officers are killed, it is recognized as being a tragedy, but at some level, there is the sense that these victims are part of the sacrifice societies make in protecting its citizens.
> The killing of noncombatants, on the other hand, is often perceived as being more terrible because these victims did not choose to be in harm’s way but were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What was the single deadliest act of terrorism ever perpetrated and the deadliest single day for Americans since the Civil War?
> September 11, 2001, when the United States was the victim of a deadly series of terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda
Who established Al Qaeda?
> Among the international volunteers was a wealthy young Saudi named Osama bin Laden, who helped cofound an organization called the Maktab al-Khidmat, or the Afghan Services Bureau, which was based in neighboring Pakistan and helped recruit and train Muslim fighters for the war in Afghanistan.
> was a successful military leader
> Al Qaeda soon began providing resources, training, and financing to Muslim terrorist groups around the world.
What three things does Al Qaeda want to do?
1) help to create a unified Islamic world order under the rule of a caliph.
2) Second, the group intends to destroy the United States because it is seen as a foreign and corrupting influence and an impediment to the creation of an Islamic world order.
3) Third, Al Qaeda intends the destruction of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state
Al Qaeda issued a manifesto that stated one of its goals- what was it?
> To kill Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al Aqsa mosque and the Holy Mosque [in Mecca] and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.
The definitions provided by the textbook also provide one weakness - what is it?
> They tend to ignore state-perpetrated terrorism.
Why do governments conduct terrorism? What is it referred to?
> Governments engage in terrorism in order to suppress dissent, quash a social or political movement, or intimidate a population.
> This is sometimes termed authorized terror, repressive terror, or even enforcement terror.
What is an example of a government form of terrorism? Who did they kill? What did their victims come to be known as? and What was a method of disposing their victims?
> During the 1970s, for example, the military junta that ruled Argentina engaged in what has been termed a dirty war against its own citizens.
> killed anyone who was even suspected of being a leftist sympathizer or of not supporting the state.
> Their victims became known as the desaparecidos, or “disappeared ones.”
> One method of disposing of victims involved drugging individuals, loading them on planes, stripping them, and then throwing them alive into the ocean.
What is the difference between terrorism and guerrilla warfare.
> terrorism and guerrilla warfare are not the same thing, even though there may be some overlap between their goals and methods.
> guerrilla warfare—which is also sometimes called low-intensity warfare or insurgency warfare—is usually different from terrorism because it involves larger, military-style forces that tend to attack the military forces of their enemy and often seek to hold and control territory.
> Terrorist organizations tend to be smaller, do not usually operate in the open, target primarily noncombatants, and generally do not hold territory and exercise sovereign political authority over the land and people they control or influence.
There is overlap between terrorism and guerrilla warfare- what is that overlap?
> guerrilla forces sometimes use terror tactics in their military campaigns, and terrorist groups may organize into military-style units and take land. Government forces may also resort to repressive terrorism to deprive guerrilla forces of support.
Government forces may also resort to repressive terrorism to deprive guerrilla forces of support. What are some examples?
> During Guatemala’s civil war of the 1970s and 1980s, when the government was fighting to wipe out a popular guerrilla movement, the state engaged in wholesale terrorism against the rural civilian population in an effort to destroy the popular support upon which the guerrillas depended
Can groups move between terrorism and guerrilla warfare? Who is a good example?
> Individuals and movements can also move from one type to the other; a good example of this is Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
> Osama bin Laden was a guerrilla leader turned to terror tactics as their goals shifted and evolved.
Can groups be terrorist / and guerrilla warfare? Provide an example:
HZBOHis the example - where ar they based +
> some organizations are large enough that they can encompass both terrorist and paramilitary wings of the organization.
> Hezbollah, for example, is an Islamic group based in Lebanon, and their organization engages in traditional-style terrorism + gurellia warfeare
What was the first recognizable terroist grouo?
> he first recognizable terrorist group was found in Roman-occupied Judea or Palestine—present-day Israel.
> Here, a group of Jewish rebels known as the Zealots used assassination and terror to fight the Roman occupation
When looking at the tactics of the Zealots, it is easy to see why their name has become synonymous with uncompromising extremism- explain what this means:
> Their favorite weapon was a short, curved knife known as a sica, from which they derived their other name, the Sicarii.
> They attacked Roman administrators and soldiers, Jewish collaborators, and priests and leaders who were seen as being supportive of or sympathetic to Roman rule.
Another example of early terrorism concerns an 11th century radical group known as?
> the Nizari Isma’ilis or more colloquially as the Assassins.
> Based in what is now Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Assassins were dedicated to creating a pure Islamic state and used terrorism against Muslim officials and Christian crusaders alike.
Despite these early examples of terrorist groups, the first use of the word terrorism did not emerge until when?
> the late 1700s in France during the french Revolution where the revolutionaries increasingly relied on the Committee of Public Safety and the Revolutionary Tribunal.
What was the community of public safety in France?
1. How many memembers were there?
2. Who was the key member and what were the names for his fellow extremeistss?
3. how many people were beheaded and how many died in prisions around the country?
[Historical example of terrorism]
> Comprising 12 men, the Committee of Public Safety was invested with more and more dictatorial powers over time.
> Its most influential member was a man named Maximilien Robespierre, known to all as “the Incorruptible,” and his fellow extremists became known as the Jacobins.
> Some estimates suggest that up to 40,000 people were beheaded on the guillotine, and several hundred thousand more died in prisons around the country
Are our perceptions of terrorism accurate?
> Our perceptions are often not based on objective reality (out of proportion compared to the real risk)
After the September 11 attacks, many people stopped flying and began driving instead. As a result, what figure of people died during the three months following more than what the average figure have been if the usual patterns of travel had stayed in effect?
> According to one calculation, about a thousand more people died on our nation’s highways in the three months following the 9/11 attack
What is the actual number of attacks that the United States suffers from terrorism? Where does it occur and what was the percentage?
> in any given year tends to be rather limited, especially when compared with terrorist activities in other parts of the world.
> most terrorism attacks occur outside of the US.
> Less than 2% of terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2017 were perpetrated in the North America
What is North America considered in comparison to other parts of the world with respect to terrorism? What is important to note about this consideration?
> Contrary to our fears, North America is one of the safest parts of the world—at least regarding the risk of terrorism.
> It is, however, important to point out that these figures count only those attacks perpetrated in North America and excludes attacks against Americans in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan (if these were included it would be higher)
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, an organization that compiles the Global Terrorism Index, how many terrorism deaths have occured in Western countries?
> less than 1% (.5%) of terrorism deaths since 2000 have occurred in western countries (United States, Canada, Australia, Europe)
Importantly, most of the terrorist attacks in Western countries since 2006 (about 70% of all such assaults) are what can be termed what kind of attack?
> lone wolf attacks.
What is a lone wolf attack?
> an attack in which the perpetrator is a single individual who is acting on his or her own.
- Although these individuals may be inspired by an organization or movement, they plan and execute their terrorism independently.
What are lone wolf attacks of terrorism not solely linked to? What 3 factors do they also reflect?
NATIO-, ANTI-GE, R+ESUP
> most of these acts of terrorism are not solely linked with militant Islam
but also reflect
1. nationalism,
2. anti-government extremism,
3. and racial and ethnic supremacism
In fact, most deaths (84%) due to terrorism in 2017 occurred in only ten countries- what were the 10 countries?
A,IRQ, NIG, SOM, SY, PKS, EYG, DROC, CAR, I
1) Afghanistan,
2) Iraq,
3) Nigeria,
4) Somalia,
5) Syria,
6) Pakistan,
7) Egypt,
8) Democratic Republic of the Congo,
9) Central African Republic, and
10) India
Every region of the world suffers from the problem of terrorism; but what varies in these regions?
> the local and regional dynamics that affect the specific intent and motivation.
While we often believe that most terrorists attacking the United States are foreign, the truth is that most of the attackers are considered what? What kind of terrorist are they considered?
> are Americans
> These “homegrown” terrorists come from a variety of backgrounds and belief systems, and they engage in their violence for diverse reasons.
What does the Oklahoma City bombing illustrate about “homegrown” terrorists?
> On April 19, 1995, a rental van blew up in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people and wounding another 850.
> The perpetrator of this bombing was not some foreign extremist but a decorated former soldier named Timothy McVeigh.
> Fueled by anti-government resentment and hatred, and with co-conspirator Terry Nichols, McVeigh planned and implemented the act of terrorism in Oklahoma City.
> These two terrorists felt justified in retaliating for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the siege of Randy Weaver’s cabin at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
What are some examples of “homegrown” terrorist groups in the United states?
> the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Posse Comitatus,
Puerto Rican nationalist group the Macheteros
and the antiabortion group Army of God,
Jerrold Post suggests that there are three main types of terrorism: what are they?
pcp
> political, criminal, and pathological
What is the criminal typology for terrorism [Jerald Post] and what is an example?
> refers to terrorism committed to achieve some illicit goal or to protect an illegal operation.
> The best contemporary example of this involves the Medellin drug cartel of Pablo Escobar.
