Terrorism Flashcards
What is terrorism
What is terrorism
• Terrorism is a tactic that has been used for different purposes by different actors , for different reasons
• Can you declare war on it?
• “Violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or, ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians”
Terrorism in US history
Terrorism in US history
• Ronald Reagan’s war on terrorism
• Hostages, aircraft and ship hijacks, bombs
• 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis
• 1983 Beirut barracks bombing (Lebanon)
○ 299 American and French servicemen killed
• 1988 Lockerbie bomber
○ PanAm flight 103 – over 250 casualties
○ Libya – Colonel Gaddafi
• Clinton era- embassies and USS Cole
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki as terrorism?
• Other mass bombings of World War Two?
• Dresden, fire-bombing Tokyo?
What is the War on Terror
What is the War on Terror
• Metaphorical meaning: ‘war on…’
• implies priority
• Literal meaning:
• signals a decision to think of fighting
terrorism not as a matter of criminal justice,
but of war
“The deliberate and deadly attacks which
were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war” (Bush, 12th September 2001)
• The ‘War on Terror’ as only possible response?
• Fight against al Qaeda
• Public required something big
• Semantics at this point were absolutely vital…
Bush and the war on terror
Bush and the war on terror
• “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them”
• “The mind-set of war must change. It is a different type of battle. It’s a different type of battlefield. It’s a different type of war”
• “You are either with US, or with the terrorists”
• Leads to Afghanistan, and less directly, to Iraq
• Misleading links between Iraq and 9-11…
More than a War on Terror?
More than a War on Terror?
• War on Terror part of the broader ‘Bush Doctrine’ of prevention and pre-emption
• Not just about terrorists but about the ‘axis of evil’
• Hubris, democracy promotion and a once in a lifetime opportunity?
• Neoconservatives
• Did the WoT go too far beyond its original conception?
An attempt to create an entirely new post-Cold War rationale for US foreign policy
security vs Civil Liberties
Security vs Civil Liberties • Detention and interrogation outside normal law is a key feature of WoT • Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility • Torture: ‘enhanced interrogation’ • Abu Ghraib human rights violations • Rendition • The extra-judicial removal of one person from one state to another • Targeted killing/drone strikes • Also domestic security – PATRIOT Act
A self fulfilling prophecy?
A self fulfilling prophecy?
• Fuelling anti-Americanism
• The war on terror as central to terrorist recruitment?
• Danger of perceived war on Islam?
• Double standards
• Work with authoritarian regimes to defeat terrorism
• Legitimises other ‘terrorist crack downs’
• Russia in Caucuses, China human rights, Israel and Palestine?
• Did it go too far with invasion of Iraq?
The US as a terrorist organisation
The US as a terrorist organisation • Some critics of the war on terror argue that the US is really no better than the terrorists…. • Does what it likes despite international law ○ Invasions ○ Iraq • Targeted killings ○ Drones ○ Osama bin Laden assassination • ‘Collateral damage’ • Support for Israeli actions against Palestinians? • This has historical precedence to… • World War Two Bombings • Vietnam
Conceptual problems with a war on Terror
Conceptual problems with a war on Terror
• The enemy is a concept, not an ideology or a specific enemy
• E.g. you can never defeat ‘terrorism’ in its totality
• War is not against ‘terror’ - it’s a tactic
• Obama has moved away from the term
• Victory over al Qaeda? ‘Victory’ in Iraq and Afghanistan?
• Future victories elsewhere?
• What would ‘victory’ actually look like
• Has the War on Terror been successful?
• No more attacks on US soil, but
• Problem of proving a negative…
• Has the cost of civil liberties been to high?
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