TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat

Course Text:

Martin, Gus (2006). Understanding Terrorism.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Chapter 9• Emerging Terrorist Environments

– Gender-selective– Criminal dissident

Gender-selective• Systematic violence directed against

men and women because of their gender.

Criminal dissident• Motivated by profit• Motivation for Violence

– to keep government away (profit)– to advance political agenda (political)

Regional Criminal Dissidents• Asia• Afghanistan• Sri Lanka• Myanmar• The Philippines• Italy

• Russia• Ireland• Macedonia• Mexico• Columbia• Peru

The Golden Triangle includes western Laos, four northern Thai provinces, northeastern Burma.

The Golden Crescent includes parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

The Golden Triangle • After France annexed Laos in 1893, opium monopolies were established

to finance the heavy initial expense of colonial rule. The French imported over 60 tons of opium per year from the Middle East for this purpose.

• When World War II cut off supply, opium production in Indochina (now Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam) increased from 7 tons in 1940 to 60 tons in 1944. Following the end of French occupation, opium continued to be traded to fund the covert activities of paramilitary forces in the region.

• Opium poppy cultivation in South-East Asia expanded significantly during the 1950s due to its suppression in China and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The term Golden Triangle was first coined in 1971 to refer to the opium-producing highlands in Laos, Thailand and Burma (now Myanmar). At its peak in 1989, production in the region exceeded 3,000 tons.

• Today, the situation is different: Thailand is opium-free and Laos no longer supplies opiates to the illicit drug market. The Chairman of Laos' National Committee for Drug Control and Supervision, Minister Soubanh Srithirath, has suggested the international community stop using the term Golden Triangle.

www.unodc.org/newsletter/200602/page005.html

Golden Crescent

opium poppy (papaver somniferum)

www.ch.ic.ac.uk/.../drugs/html/morphine_text.htm

Heroin-Morphine

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/photo_library2.html#heroin

Mexico

Columbia

Cocaine

Mid-nineteenth-century scientists experimented with cocaine as a local anesthetic.

Initially used to treat morphine addiction, the result was often a morphine addict who also became dependent on cocaine.

By late 1880s, feel-good pharmacology based on coca and its derivative cocaine was tried for almost any ailment.

After the first flush of enthusiasm, use declined as it gained a reputation for inducing bizarre, unpredictable behavior.

Chapter #10• Tactics and Targets

–Moral Disengagement• Cognitively restructuring the moral value of killing

–Terrorist Violence is not senseless

–Terrorist Violence is not random

Objectives• Changing the Existing Order

– Even if only short-term• Psychological Disruption• Social Disruption• Publicizing the Cause• Creating a Revolutionary Environment

Objectives – New Terrorism

• Vaguely articulated political objectives• Indiscriminate attacks• Attempt to achieve maximum

psychological and social disruption• Potential use of WMD• Emphasis on horizontally organized,

semi-autonomous cell-based networks

The Covenant, Sword, and the Arm of the Lord• "We believe the Scandinavian-German-Teutonic-

British-American people to be the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel which Jesus was sent for."

• "Jews of today are not God's chosen people, but are in fact an anti-Christ race, whose purpose is to destroy God's people and Christianity through its Talmudic teaching, forced inter-racial mixings, and perversions."

• The Jews are "the seed of Satan, not the seed of God."

• "We do believe non-whites and Jews are a threat to our Christian, white race" and that "Jews are financing the training of Blacks to take over most of our major cities."

The Covenant, Sword, and the Arm of the Lord• Prosecuted 1985 – Possession of potassium

cyanide – to poison water supplies in the US.• Once more than 3–4 mg of potassium

cyanide is consumed, consciousness is lost within one minute, sometimes within 10 seconds. After a span of about 45 minutes, the body goes into a state of coma or deep sleep and the person may die within two hours if not treated medically. During this period, convulsions may occur. Death occurs mainly by cardiac arrest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_cyanide

Ramzi Yousef• Sodium cyanide is a

highly toxic chemical compound, also known as sodium salt of hydrocyanic acid and cyanogran. Immediate medical attention is required in the event of cyanide poisoning, as it is quickly fatal.

• Some claimed Yousef incorporated sodium cyanide into the 1993 WTC bomb

Aum Shinrikyo• Aum Shinrikyo (also

spelled Om Shin Rikyo) was a religious group which mixed Buddhist and Hindu beliefs and was based in Japan.

• It gained international notoriety in 1995, when its founder, Shōkō Asahara, and a group of followers were accused of carrying out a sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway. Since 2000, it has been called Aleph.

Sarin• Sarin or GB is

an extrememely toxic substance that is one of the world's most dangerous weapons of war.

• As a chemical weapon, it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations

• Its production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.

Methods• New type of Organization• Weapon usage• Weapon type• WMD

Asymmetrical Warfare• Asymmetrical

– Unconventional, unexpected, unpredictable– Allows use of WMD, indiscriminate attacks,

maximum casualties, techno-terrorism, etc.• Netwar

– Networked organizations– Small, dispersed groups– No central command– Chain, Star/Hub/Wheel, All-Channel networks

Sources: (Gunnery Sergeant Wiley Bob Howard USMC)

http://www.picsearch.com http://www.cs.cas.cz/ hakl/ Art_Galery/ Caravaggio_Michelangelo, _1573-1610

Asymmetric Warfare (AW)

Asymmetric Warfare (AW)• What is it?

– David and Goliath warfare• Unsophisticated vs. the sophisticated (technologically)• Poor countries or entities against rich countries or rich entities• Threat can be internal or external (i.e. Israel, Vietnam or Afghanistan)

– Often state sponsored/supported– Attacking opponent via indirect means such as

• Terrorism• Critical infrastructures• Avoids combat w/ conventional forces• Tends to have a purpose that focuses on a force, but not always the case• Misc. unconventional means i.e., poisoning water/food supplies, exploitation of

media by staging scenes to sway public opinion.• Examples? Vietnam, Hannibal, a-bomb, War & Peace tactics (Tolstoy), computer

hackers, deception tactics (i.e. Serb/Iraqi decoys against coalition aircraft); use of children to kill soldiers (Sergeant 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, 1st SFG(a), assigned to 5th SFG(a)) SFC Chapman was KIA 4 JAN 2002 while on patrol near Khost by a 14-year-old boy; other examples of child soldiers are Colombia & Vietnam.

Gunnery Sergeant Wiley Bob Howard USMC)

Asymmetric Warfare (AW)• Why so dangerous to our country?

– Our over-reliance on technology– Our open society & our belief that the US is impervious to a foreign attack.

“Complacency kills”– Can hit anytime, anywhere, anything– Our greed or failing moral character; legal & illegal businesses turning the blind eye

to activities that could harm the security of the US i.e., immigrant smuggling, drug dealing, money laundering, illegal selling of technologies and equipment.

– Uneducated advisors to senior government officials, or the officials themselves, who deploy forces w/out long-term considerations. Forces deployed for perceived “quick fix” ops forces become isolated from the local populace over a period of time, eventually becoming a soft target because of the force being perceived as an occupation force vice a helping hand. Examples: US forces in Vietnam; Somalia; Soviet forces in Afghanistan (although actually an occupying force, the Soviets are an example of what can happen to a force operating without clear objectives on foreign soil over an extended period of time); potential exists for forces stretched out all over the current Balkans region i.e. Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

Gunnery Sergeant Wiley Bob Howard USMC)

Common Methods• Bombings• Ambushes-Assassinations (sidearms)• Kidnappings• Hijackings

Signature Methods

Weapons• High Range

– CBRN• Chemical• Biological• Radiological• Nuclear

• Medium Range– Automatic Weapons, Rocket Launchers, Explosives

• Low Range– Ammonium nitrate & fuel oil (ANFO)

Firearms• Submachine guns

• Assault rifles

• Rocket-Propelled Grenades

• Precision-guided munitions

Explosives• Plastic Explosives – RDX

• Semtex

• Composite-4

• Ammonium Nitrate-Fuel Oil (ANFO)

IRA Semtex: Smuggled from Libya

Types of Bombs• Gasoline Bomb

• Pipe Bomb

• Vehicular Bombs

Targets• Selected because of the expectation

that any moral ambiguities will be outweighed by the propaganda value

• Positive propaganda– Innocent civilians as hostages– Attack third-country military– Indiscriminate attacks on civilians– Regularly target symbolic buildings

END

TerrorismUnderstanding the Threat

Class #16

Final Examination