Terrorism ACW The Middle East: Terrorism 2006-07 An exploration into Terrorism -- its defining characteristics, contrasting features when measured against

TerrorismTerrorism

ACW The Middle East: Terrorism 2006-07

An exploration into Terrorism -- its defining characteristics,

contrasting features when measured against “Just War” and the implications of

varying perceptions.

Activity: Distinguishing Differences

1.Read scenarios aloud within your team—taking turns with each scenario.

2.Answer each set of questions on a separate sheet.

3.Conclude with two newly crafted definitions of…

A. “Just War” & B. “Terrorism”

4. Share your views/results with class.

What is a Just War?Historically, the just-war tradition—a set

of mutually agreed rules of combat—commonly evolves between two similar enemies.

When enemies differ greatly because of different religious beliefs, race, or language war conventions have rarely been applied.

The just-war tradition is as old as warfare itself. Early records of collective fighting indicate that some moral considerations were used by warriors. They may have involved consideration of women and children or the treatment of prisoners.

Many philosophers, scholars and military theorists have generally agreed that the following six (6) conditions must be satisfied for a war to be considered just:

Just War Conditions

1.The war must be for a just cause.

2.The war must be lawfully declared by a lawful authority.

3.The intention behind the war must be good.

4.All other ways of resolving the problem should have been tried first.

5.There must be a reasonable chance of success.

6.The means used must be in proportion to the end that the war seeks to achieve.

NOTES

How should a Just War be fought?

A war that starts as a “Just War” may stop being a “Just War” if the means used to wage it are inappropriate.

“Shelf Life” “Window” “Law of Diminishing Returns”

1.Innocent people and non-combatants should not be harmed.

2.Only appropriate force should be used – This applies to both the sort of force, and how much force is used.

3.Internationally agreed conventions regulating war must be obeyed.

• Question: Complicated?…difficult to apply?

Terrorism…some definitions

•Terrorism is the use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change.

•Terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted.

•Terrorism is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets.

•Terrorism is the premeditated, deliberate, systematic murder, mayhem, and threatening of the innocent to create fear and intimidation in order to gain a political or tactical advantage, usually to influence an audience.

Terrorism…some definitions

•Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives. It is usually intended to intimidate or coerce a government, individuals or groups, or to modify their behavior or politics.

•Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

Terrorism…and, lastly…

•What sets terrorism apart from other violence is this: terrorism consists of acts carried out in a dramatic way to attract publicity and create an atmosphere of alarm that goes far beyond the actual victims. Indeed, the identity of the victims is often secondary or irrelevant to the terrorists who aim their violence at the people watching. This distinction between actual victims and a target audience is the hallmark of terrorism and separates it from other modes of armed conflict. Terrorism is theater.Question: Which definition do you think the United States should use in its “War on Terrorism”? Why?

The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as:

"..the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85).”

The FBI describes terrorism as either domestic or international, depending on the origin, base, and objectives of the terrorists…

Classifications of Terrorism

3. Repressive/Establishment

CASE STUDY Ramírez Sánchez “Carlos the Jackal”Cell Strategy

State SponsorshipCounter Tactics

1.Revolutionary

2. Subrevolutionary/Anarchist

Internationalization

NOTES



Venezuela

Wealthy

Educated

Communist

Multi-lingual

PFLP

Attacks

OPEC

Mobility

Sudan

1994 capture

Isabelle Coutant-Peyre


SUICIDE BOMBINGORIGINS

TACTICS

MINDSET

COUNTER TACTICS


INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

•MECHANICS

•STATE/ORGANIZATIONAL SPONSORSHIP

•DIAGRAM

•COUNTER TACTICS


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm." "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."

I

C

C

N N

N

T

C C

TERRORIST NETWORK


WEAPONSCATEGORIES

•CONVENTIONAL

•UNCONVENTIONAL

•NUCLEAR

•CHEMICAL

•BIOLOGICAL

CYBER

TARGETS

MARKETPLACE

COUNTER TACTICS


IEDs











Iraq is one of the most heavily mined nations in the world.

As of early 2003, it was estimated that there were over 10 million mines already in the ground—8 million antipersonnel (AP) and 2 million antitank (AT), with Iraq both a producer and exporter of AP mines.

Iraq is considered one of the most mine-infested nations in the world.

Iraq emplaced minefields for three main purposes: •To protect its borders during the lengthy war with Iran (1980 through 1988). •To ward off invasion during the Gulf War (1990 through 1991). •To subdue the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

Types of Chemical Weapons

Sarin: A nerve gas the Aum Shinrikyo cult used on a Tokyo subway in March 1995.

VX: Like all nerve agents, it is a colorless liquid. The United States began producing VX in April 1961. VX agents are among the most toxic substances known; mere droplets can kill. Sarin and VX are the most common chemical weapon agents today.

Types of Chemical Weapons

Tabun: Invented by a German chemist, Gerhard Schrader, in the mid-1930s. Like Zyklon-B--used by the Nazis to gas victims--Tabun was developed as a pesticide.

Mustard agents: Cause severe eye and lung damage. Saddam Hussein authorized their use (along with cyanide) against Iranian soldiers and Kurdish civilians in the Iran-Iraq war.

Types of Biological Weapons

Anthrax: Spores that may lead to lesions, seizures and respiratory arrest.

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or semen of infected person. No specific treatment or vaccine exists. One of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all cases.

Types of Biological WeaponsSmallpox:

*Serious, contagious, and sometimes fatal infectious disease.

*No specific treatment -- only prevention: vaccination.

*The pox part of smallpox is derived from the Latin word for “spotted” refers to raised bumps appearing on face/body of an infected person.

*First symptoms: fever, malaise, head/body aches & vomiting. *Rash emerges first as small red spots on tongue and in mouth. *Usually the rash spreads to all parts of the body within 24 hours. *Bumps become pustules *Fever, dehydration are serious risks. *Enclosed spaces will accelerate contagion

Types of Biological Weapons

Ricin:

Potent toxin. Can be delivered via inhalation, injection or ingestion. Produced relatively easily and inexpensively in large quantities in a fairly low-technology setting. During the 1980's Iran-Iraq war, Ricin may have been used. Results in seizures, central nervous system depression, severe lung damage, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. No treatment currently available. If exposure does not prove fatal within 3-5 days, the victim will usually recover.


Terrorist Organizations

Focus groups:

•al-QAEDA

•HAMAS

•HEZBOLLAH

•FATAH * *Not recognized as terrorist organization, yet maintains strong stance against Israeli occupation of Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem.


al-Qaeda


AL-QAEDA

•Bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia in 1957 to a Syrian mother and Yemeni father.

•He is one of ~50 children of the multiple wives of Mohammed bin Laden, a construction magnate who made his fortune building palaces for the Saudi royal family.

•Inherited $30 million to $300 million

“the Base”


•As a student in Jeddah in the late 1970s, bin Laden fell in with the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical group devoted to establishing a pan-Islamic state.

•1979-89 war against the Soviets. Bin Laden raised money and supplied heavy machinery for the anticommunist mujahadeen, or holy warriors, fighting the Soviet invasion.


•Bin Laden forged an alliance with radical Islamist groups in Egypt and elsewhere, organizing al-Qaeda in 1988

•In the 1980s, bin Laden disdained America for its alliances with Israel and moderate Muslim states, but it was the Gulf crisis that crystallized his hatred.

•When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, bin Laden wanted Arab veterans of the Afghan war to help the Saudi army defend Saudi Arabia.








The destroyer was the target of a suspected terrorist attack in the port of Aden, Yemen, on October 12, 2000, during a scheduled refueling. The attack killed 17 crew members and injured 39 others.



Hamas


HAMAS Arabic, acronym for "Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia" –

‘Islamic Resistance Movement’

•Sheikh Ahmad Yasin

•Khalid Misha'al

•Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook

•Abraham Ghousheh

•Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi

•Mohammed Nazzal


Organization/History

•Largest & most influential Palestinian militant movement.

•2006, won Palestinian Authority's (PA) general elections

• Defeated Fatah, party of PA's president, Mahmoud Abbas

•Refusal to recognize Israel

•Sponsors extensive social service network.


Organization/History•Hamas has also operated a terrorist wing

•Suicide bombings/attacks w) mortars & short-range rockets

•In Arabic, the word "hamas" means zeal

•But it's also an Arabic acronym for "Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya," or Islamic Resistance Movement

•Hamas grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood,

•Religious/political organization founded in Egypt

•Branches throughout the Arab world


Organization/History•Hamas founder/spiritual leader:

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

•Hamas published official charter 1988

•1st Hamas suicide bombing April 1993

•Operates as an opposition group in Gaza, the West Bank, and inside Israel.


Organization/History•Hamas combines Palestinian nationalism with Islamic fundamentalism

•founding charter commits to destruction of Israel

•Raising “…the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine."

•Leaders have called suicide attacks the "F-16" of the Palestinian people.

•Hamas believes "peace talks will do no good" "We do not believe we can live with the enemy."


Is Hamas only a terrorist group?•No•In addition to military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas devotes much of its estimated $70M annual budget to extensive social services network•Funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues •“Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities," writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz


Is Hamas only a terrorist group?•Military wing >1,000 active •1,000’s of supporters & sympathizers. •2004, > 200,000 Palestinians marched in Yassin’s funeral.•Money from: Palestinian expatriates, private Saudi donors, Iran, charities in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe


•Hamas is believed to have killed more than five hundred people in more than 350 separate terrorist attacks since 1993

•Not all Hamas attacks suicide bombings

•Also accepted responsibility for assaults using mortars, short-range rockets, and small arms fire.

•How does Hamas recruit suicide bombers?

•The organization generally targets deeply religious young men

—although some bombers have been older.


How does Hamas recruit suicide bombers?

•Recruits do not fit usual psychological profile of suicidal people, who are often desperate or clinically depressed

•Hamas bombers often hold paying jobs

•What they have in common, studies say, is an intense hatred of Israel

•After a bombing, Hamas gives the family of the suicide bomber between $3,000-$5,000 and assures them their son died a martyr in holy jihad


How does Hamas train the bombers?•Recruits undergo intense religious indoctrination, attend lectures, and undertake long fasts •The week before the bombing, the volunteers are watched closely by two Hamas activists for any signs of wavering, according to Nasra Hassan, writing in the New Yorker. •Shortly before the “sacred explosion,” as Hamas calls it, the bomber records a video testament.


How does Hamas train the bombers?

•To draw inspiration, he repeatedly watches his video and those made by his predecessors and then sets off for his would-be martyrdom after performing a ritual ablution and donning clean clothes.

•Hamas clerics assure the bombers their deaths will be painless and that dozens of virgins await them in paradise.

•The average bombing costs about $150

















HEZBOLLAH

Hizballah, Hezbollah: Radical Shia group formed in 1982 in Lebanon. Strongly anti-Western and anti-Israeli. Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran.

Known/suspected in numerous anti-U.S. terrorist attacks, including suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984.

Also attacked: Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992

Operates in the Bekaa Valley, southern suburbs of Beirut, S. Leb.

Cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, Asia.

Receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, & organizational aid from Iran, Syria.


The flag of Hezbollah

Green logo: Shi'a political/military organization Yellow background

Logo: الله حزب "Party of God"

First letter of "Allah" reaches up to grasp a Kalashnikov rifle

Other objects: globe, book, sword, seven-leafed branch.

Much of design from Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Text above the logo: فإن حزب الله هم الغالبون "Then surely the party of God are they that shall be triumphant"

Underneath the logo: لبنان في اإلسالمية المقاومة"The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon"

Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheik Naim Qassem speaks in Tyre, Lebanon, during Martyrs' Day celebrations in 2005.



Propaganda Poster


Fatah

<Not recognized as terrorist organization, yet maintains strong stance against Israeli occupation of

Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem>


FATAH

The Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine (Fatah) was founded in the early 1960s

Backed by Syria, Fatah began carrying out terrorist raids against Israeli targets in 1965

"Fatah" is a reverse acronym of the Arabic, Harekat at-Tahrir al-Wataniyyeh al-Falastiniyyeh.

The word "Fatah" means "conquest by means of jihad.

Note the grenade and crossed rifles, superimposed on the map of Israel in the emblem. This emphasizes the dedication of Fatah, along with the other "liberation" groups, to the "armed struggle" against Israel, a euphemism for terrorism against civilians.


FATAH



Key Political Players

Yasser Arafat

Mahmoud Abbas

Hassan Nasrallah

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

President Bashar al-Assad

King Abdullah II

Documents

Terrorism ACW The Middle East: Terrorism 2006-07 An exploration into Terrorism -- its defining characteristics, contrasting features when measured against