Modern Terrorism

Modern Terrorism

Terrorism • The purpose of Terrorism is to instill a sense of fear in a Civilian population • The FBI defines terrorism as "the unlawful use of force against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in the furtherance of political or social objectives” • Small groups attempt to impose their will on larger groups or nations through these acts because they know they can’t win a conventional conflict

History of Terror • 1965 the Palestinian Liberation Organization is formed to support the formation of a Palestinian state • The PLO adopts terror as a key strategy to fighting for their independence

1972 Munich • The Israelis are targeted by 8 Arab terrorists and 11 athletes and coaches are taken hostage from the Olympic Village • The terrorists were preparing to take the hostages to the Middle East and the German Police opened fire on the terrorists

After the smoke cleared all the athletes were dead as were the terrorists

1980’s • The 1980’s saw terrorists take a different set of tactics to try and achieve their goals • The targets became larger and the goals more ambitious • The US embassy in Beirut was blown up in 1983 killing 65

IRA • The IRA was also active attacking the English

Terror in the Air • In the 1980’s Terrorists also began to target the skies and civilian airliners • Hijacking was common place and terrorist began to also blow up airliners • To famous examples of this were Pan Am Flight 103 and Air India • The Hijacking of Trans World Flight 847 gained headlines worldwide

Air India • Air India Flight 182 is on its way to London from Montreal when it explodes near Ireland, killing 329 people, including 125 children. • The men on trial for this crime were recently found not guilty

Pan Am Flight 103 • Flight was headed from London to NY on December 21st, 1987 • It blew up and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 people aboard.

The US was warned that this flight had been targeted and chose to ignore the warnings • There had been a bomb stowed aboard in luggage • The bomb was traced back to Libya and their leader Momar Ghadafi who had allowed the terrorists to use Libya as a base of operations • The US bombed Libya as retribution

Modern Terrorism • The 1990’s saw terrorists begin to attack Americans on US soil • Groups such as Al Qaeda have gained notoriety for their attacks against the US

Oklahoma City Bombing • April 19, 1995 Timothy McViegh a disgruntled Gulf War vet detonatted a massive bomb in the parkade of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK • The bomb was located inside a rental van directly underneath the Daycare

The bomb killed 168 people in what was the worst attack on US Soil at the time • McVeigh was found guilty and was sentenced to death as punishment

Al Qaeda • Al Qaeda has become the leading enemy of the United States in terms of Terrorist Actvity • They have carried out numerous attacks against the US in the last ten years • Their goal is to have the US leave the Middle East and specifically Saudi Arabia alone

World Trade Center • The first attack on the WTC occurred in 1994 when they planted a bomb in a rental van in the parkade • The buildings survived but had bad smoke damage • This was Al Qaeda’s first attack

Embassy Bombings • August 7, 1998 the United States Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were attacked by Al-Qaida killing 213 and injuring almost 4000 • In response to this attack President Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against Sudan and Afghanistan

USS Cole • Al-Qaida next struck in October 12, 2000 as the USS Cole stopped in Yemen to refuel and was attacked by a suicide bomber killing 17 sailors

September 11th • Early morning September 11th hijacked planes crash in to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon • Within minutes of the second collision the towers collapsed

When the day was over 3000 people had died and a Nation was angered • President Bush told the world that the United States would react with force

Modern Terrorism