TerrorismA Brief Overview

The Beginning

Terrorism: Key Terms• Vision• Power• Strategy• Tactic• Duty• Shame• Freedom fighter

• Ideology• Indoctrination• Radicalization• Rationalization• Emotions• Moral

Disengagement• Communicative

Acts

• Political act– Desire for political change– Terrorism is typically non-state in character

• (Note the separate but related topic of state terrorism – typically antithetical to the desire for political change.)

• States can terrorize, but they are not terrorists.

– Terrorists do not abide by norms• They target innocents• They seek psychological trauma

Defining Terrorism

• Driven by liberal or idealist political concepts

• Prefer revolutionary anti-authoritarian anti-materialist agendas

• Typically target elites that symbolize authority

• Examples?

Left wing terrorist

Right wing terrorists

•Often target race and ethnicity

•Examples?

Ethno nationalist/separatists

•Usually have clear territorial objectives–Liberation/separation–Popular support usually along ethnic/racial lines.

•Examples?

Religious terrorists

• Believe involved in a struggle of good vs evil

• Acting along desires of a diety (god) – audience is thus not necessarily human.

• Feel unconstrained by law – higher calling• Complete alienation from existing

socio/political order• Ideologies are supremacist & absolutist• Examples?

Historical Examples

• Zealots – Sicarri 1st century BCE– Murdered Romans in broad daylight in

Jerusalem

• Hindu Thugee– Thugs originally religious sect that

strangled & robbed victims in ritual sacrifice

• Muslim Assassins– It is a myth that the word assassin comes

from the Arabic word haschishin for hashish user.

– Assassin comes from Hassassin -- a follower of Hassan – Hassan was Persian not Arabic

Historical Examples

• Irish Republican Army• Hizballah• ETA (Basque Separatists)• LEHI, Stern Gang and Zvi Irgun

(Jewish extremists)• Tamil Tigers (LTTE)• Sendero Luminoso• FARC• MRTA (Tupac Amaru movement)• Al Qaida• Jemaah Islamiya• Aum Shinrikyo• Moro Islamic Liberation Front• Egyptian Islamic Jihad

• Algerian GIA and GSPC• Syrian Muslim Brotherhood• Hizb ut-Tahrir• Al Qaeda in Iraq• Lashkar-e Taiba (and other

Kashmir groups)• Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan• Italian Red Brigades• Red Army Faction (Baader

Meinhof Gang)• U.S.-based militia groups• The Order, the Aryan

Brotherhood, Christian Identity, The Sword, the Covenant & Arm of the Lord

• Many, many others . . .

• First VBIED (or “Car Bomb”) terrorist attack?

New York City, September 1920• Terrorist: Italian anarchist Mario Buda • Vehicle: Horse-drawn wagon • Target: Corner of Wall and Broad streets (directly

across from JP Morgan Company)• Attack: The wagon—packed with dynamite and iron

slugs—exploded at precisely noon in a fireball of shrapnel, killing 40 and wounding more than 200.

Historical Examples

• Islam is fastest growing religion in U.S. & elsewhere; estimated over 1.2 billion followers worldwide.

• More than a religion: a system of laws, courts, traditions, customs, etc. to govern all aspects of life

• “Islam is the answer” – Muslim Brotherhood

Religious Inspiration Wave – Islamic Extremism