Terrorism

A. Introduction

B. Definition of Terrorism

C. Incidents of Non-State Terrorism

D. TWA 847 Hijacking: An Interpretation

E. East Asian Embassy Bombing

F. State Terrorism

Terrorism

A. Introduction

B. Definition of Terrorism

C. Incidents of Non-State Terrorism

D. TWA 847 Hijacking: An Interpretation

E. East Asian Embassy Bombing

F. State Terrorism

Terrorism

A. Introduction

B. History of Terrorism

C. Definition of Terrorism

D. Incidents of Non-State Terrorism

E. TWA 847 Hijacking: An Interpretation

F East Asian Embassy Bombing

G. State Terrorism

B. History of Terrorism– Zealots (Sicarii) Roman times– Society of Assassins

Hassan ibn Sbh Hashashin

– Plato and Aristotle– Cicero- De Officiis– John of Salisbury- Policraticus– Juan de Mariana- De Rege et Regis Institutione– John Locke- Two Treatises on Government– Jacobins- Robispierre, St. Just, Committee of Public

Safety– Wm Blackstone- Commendaries on the Law

Definition of Terrorism– “Terrorism is arbitrary and unpredictable violence

perpetrated on unsuspecting targets”Paul

Wilkinson

– “Terrorism is staged violence which is aimed not so much at its victims, but at the society at large.

A. Definition of Terrorism

Terrorists Acts involve:– The act involved violence or the threat of violence

– The act has a political motive or political goal

– It is perpetrated on innocent persons

– It is staged violence played out before an audience that it hopes will become insecure and fearful

Government – Terrorist - People

Victims– Dependent on government for protection and safety– Governments cannot always provide kind of security

they require– Terrorists use violence to undermine the people’s

confidence in government

Government– Faced with a dilemma in dealing with terrorists– Terrorist demands difficult or impossible to

meet– Terrorists justify actions by citing injustices– Want to hunt terrorists down and squash them– Danger of overreaction

Terrorists– Use force or threat of force to spread fear

among the people– Acts often directed at military targets or

population at large– Don’t want to alienate the public, but they are

prepared to do this to dramatize injustice or provoke a strong reaction from the government

Event: U.S. Embassy in Beirut is bombed. Date: April 1983 Death toll: 16 killed. Suspects: Elements of the Lebanese Party of God, the

militant Iranian- and Syrian-backed terrorist group, led by Imad Mughniyah.

Status: No arrests or convictions. Many of the terrorists involved in the plot are believed to be living in Lebanon.

U.S. Embassy in Beirut is bombed

Date: October 1983 Death toll: 241. Suspects: Elements of Lebanese Party of God led by Imad

Mughniyah.

Status: No arrests or convictions.

U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut is bombed

Date: June 1985 Event: TWA Flight 847 is hijacked en route from Athens to

Rome and forced to land in Beirut. Death toll: One, an American, Robert Dean Stethem, who is

shot, his body dumped on the airport tarmac in Beirut. Suspects: Elements of Party of God, led by Imad Mugniyah. Status: No arrests or convictions in American courts.

Charges brought against four people, including Mugniyah, in a sealed indictment in the United States.

TWA Flight 847 is Hijacked

Date: October 1985 Event: Four gunmen hijack Italian cruise ship Achille

Lauro off the Egyptian Coast, demanding release of Palestinian prisoners in Egypt, Italy and elsewhere.

Death toll: One, Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old disabled American tourist is killed, his body dumped into the sea.

Suspects: The Palestine Liberation Front, allied at times with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Status: No arrests or convictions in American courts. After the hijackers give up the ship and depart Egypt by air, their plane is intercepted by Navy fighters over the Mediterranean and forced down in Italy. The four hijackers are convicted by Italy in 1986 but two escape from prison.

Achille Lauro Hijacked

Date: November 1985 Event: Egypt Air Flight 648 is hijacked on a flight from

Athens to Cairo and lands in Malta. The hijackers kill two passengers (an American and an Israeli) before Egyptian police raid the plane. Fifty-eight others die in the raid.

Death toll: 60. Suspects: Palestinian hijackers say they are members of a

group called Egypt's Revolution, but Abu Nidal's Arab Revolutionary Command issues statement taking responsibility.

Status: Only one of the hijackers, Mohammed Ali Rezaq, survives the raid. After an 11-year diplomatic struggle, Rezaq is captured by the FBI in Nigeria in 1986 and brought to the United States for trial. He is convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Egypt Air Flight 648 is Hijacked

Date: April 1986 Event: West Berlin night club popular among American

troops is bombed. Death toll: Three, two of them American soldiers. Suspects: A Libyan diplomat, two Palestinians and two

Germans are on trial in Germany for the attack. German prosecutors say they were acting on orders from Libyan intelligence. As a result of attack, President Reagan orders air strike on Libya.

Status: No arrests or convictions in American courts.

West Berlin night club bombed

Date: February 1988 Event: Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, a member of

the U.N. peacekeeping force, is kidnapped and executed in southern Lebanon.

Death toll: One. Suspects: Lebanese Party of God. Status: No arrests or convictions.

William R. Higgins Kidnapped and Executed

Date: December 1988 Event: Pan Am 103 is destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie,

Scotland. Death toll: 270, including 11 people on the ground. Suspects: Libyan intelligence agents. Status: American and British investigators locate a fingernail

sized piece of a bomb timer, tracing it through its manufacturers to two Libyan intelligence officers, Abdel Basset Al Megrahi and Lamen Kahlifa Fhimah. They are indicted in United States and placed on FBI's Most Wanted List, with $4-million reward offered. Libya initially refuses to turn them over for trial in American court, but agrees to have them tried in a Scotish Court

Pan Am 103 Destroyed by a Bomb

Scottish Court Decision

The trial of two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 began in the Netherlands on 3 May 2000. A Scottish court presided over the trial and issued its verdict on 31 January 2001. It found Abdel Basset al-Megrahi guilty of the charge of murdering 259 passengers and crew as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland, "while acting in furtherance of the purposes of . . . Libyan Intelligence Services." Concerning the other defendant, In the case of Al-Amin Kalifa Fahima the court concluded that, the court concluded it had insufficient evidence to satisfy the high standard of "proof beyond reasonable doubt" that is necessary in criminal cases.

Date: March 1995 Event: Two American diplomats driving to work at the

U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, are killed. Death toll: Two. Suspects: Unclear, although FBI studies possible link

between murders and arrest in Pakistan several weeks earlier of Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, later convicted as mastermind of World Trade Center bombing.

Status: No arrests or convictions.

Two American Diplomats Assassinated in Karachi, Pakistan

Date: November 1995 Event: An American government-run military training

center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is bombed. Death toll: Seven, including five Americans. Suspects: Four Saudis described by Saudi government as

anti-royal dissidents. They are beheaded by the Saudis before the FBI and other American agencies have the chance to interrogate them; U.S. protests to the Saudis. Possible links to Party of God and Iran are studied.

Status: No arrests or convictions in American courts.

US Military Center Bombed in Saudi Arabia

Khobar Towers Bombing

Date: June 1996 Event: Khobar Towers Bombing A barracks used to

house American airmen in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, is bombed.

Death toll: 19 American airmen Suspects: Saudi authorities arrest dozens of Saudi citizens

identified as anti-royal dissidents; American investigators study possible connections to Party of God and Iran.

Status: No arrests or convictions in American courts

Date: August 1998 Event: Destruction of American embassies in Nairobi,

Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Death toll: 149 killed including 12 Americans. 4200

injured in the blast Suspects: Evidence points to Osama Bin Laden, a free-

lance terrorist based in Afghanistan with cells around the world.

Destruction of American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania

Attack on the USS Cole

Date: October 12, 2000 Event: Attack on the USS Cole. A small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer in Aden, Yemen

blowing a large hole in the side of the ship Death Toll: 17 sailors killed; 39 others injured Suspects: Supporters of Usama Bin Ladin were suspected.

 

  

  

Attack on the World Trade Towers in NY andthe Pentagon in Washington,D.C.

Date: September 11, 2001 Event: Attack World Trade Towers in NY City and the

Pentagon in Washington D.C. by three hijacked commercial airlines

Death Toll: Approximately 5,000 U.S. citizens and other nationals were killed as a result of these acts.

Suspects: President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism.