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| | Content below is from http://www.newsbatch.com What are the general implications of modern terrorism? With the decline in Cold War tensions, many military experts now consider terrorist activity as perhaps the greatest threat to world security. The possibility that terrorists could have access to weapons of mass destruction means that small bands of criminals fortified by rogue nations could conceivably have the ability to exert extensive global influence and destruction. This is a scenario not unlike those portrayed by Ian Fleming's James Bond novels decades ago. Much of the terrorist activity comes from organizations and countries in the Middle East. Is there a common motivation? The common thread appears to be a concern with the impact of western values and culture on Islamic traditions. Movies and television entertainment which display such values are considered evil. There is particular concern about issues concerning sexual morality and the status of women. Although most Muslims are not fanatical and deplore the tactics of terrorists, the anti-Western sentiment has widespread popular political appeal in all of these Islamic countries. There is particular animosity with Israel mainly because this Jewish state is "westernized" and because it is geographically situated in the heart of the Islamic world. What is the likelihood that these and other terrorist organizations can use weapons of mass destruction? This issue has been a policy concern. Osama Bin Laden has publicly pronounced that acquiring weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), is a religious duty. The threats are the following:  | Nuclear weapons There is no persuasive evidence that the terrorist organizations possess nuclear weaponry or the means to deliver such weapons. However, both the United States and the Soviet Union developed portable "suitcase" nuclear weaponry during the cold war. Due to the secrecy involved with the development and locations of this weaponry, it is difficult to determine with certainty that all such devices are accounted for. Pakistan does have a limited nuclear capability but the threat of terrorist use of this weaponry is remote. | Chemical weapons These are agents such as the sarin gas used by an extremist organization in the Tokyo subway attack. There is no evidence at this point that terrorist organizations have the ability to cause mass destruction through the use of this weaponry because they are not believed to have weapons which could efficiently deliver such chemicals. | Biological weapons These are agents which spread infectious diseases and are considered a real and evolving threat by experts. It could take days, or even weeks, for the symptoms of a biological agent to begin to manifest themselves. In the case of a BW attack, the first responder, the very tip of the spear, is likely to be a primary care physician, healthcare provider, veterinarian, agricultural services inspector, or perhaps an entomologist. Given the unheralded nature of these silent killers, it would fall upon the public health and medical communities to detect the attack, contain the incident, and treat the victims. Biological weapons can be delivered through several, different means, ranging from using people as carriers of the disease (including person to person infections), covert dissemination such as aerosolization, or via missile. It is unclear whether the known terrorist organizations have the capacity to develop and deliver these agents. While the likelihood of a catastrophic biological attack on the U.S. homeland, whether committed by state or non-state actors, whether delivered covertly or by missile, remains relatively low in the foreseeable future, the consequences are too high to be ignored. Experts believe that the United States is inadequately prepared and underequipped and resourced to deal with bioterrorism. In particular, they maintain that the biomedical, public health, and human services communities are under-equipped, under-informed, and ill prepared for a biological attack and for infectious disease in general. | Use of hijacked aircraft The fully fueled aircraft which exploded into the World Trade Center and Pentagon must be considered another type of weapon of mass destruction. It is highly unlikely that there will be a repetition of this event because a key element to the success of this tactic was that it was not anticipated. | | | |
What efforts have been made to combat terrorism? The U.S. presently is spending approximately 9.3 billion dollars annually  (Click to see chart) to combat terrorism. This expenditure will obviously dramatically increase as indications are that a massive military effort is being mobilized. A combination of measures have been used by the U.S. and the United Nations: | Economic Sanctions The U.S. maintains an official list of countries involved in state-sponsored terrorism. This list presently consists of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea. These countries are subject to U.S. economic sanctions because of their support for terrorism although in some cases, notably North Korea and Cuba, the policy is rooted in other objectives. The UN has also imposed sanctions on Libya and presently Afghanistan because of terrorist policies. It is generally agreed that UN economic sanctions have been effective in reducing Libya's sponsorship of terrorism. | Preemptive military strikes by the U.S. have been directed at Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Sudan for purposes of retaliation and destruction of terrorist capability. Some of these missions have not succeeded and in any event, they have clearly not uniformly deterred further acts of terrorism. | Preparedness and security measures have actually been quite successful in deterring some types of terrorist activity. In particular, airline security measures have kept guns and bombs off aircraft. The success of the terrorist hijacking attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was not due to a security failure, but rather the failure of the intelligence community to anticipate this type of event and make design changes in aircraft which would prevent such attacks. These adjustments almost certainly will now occur and will be successful in preventing similar attacks. Funding has been in place for stockpiling vaccines to prepare for a possible chemical or biological weapon attack. | Intelligence involves infiltrating terrorist groups, intercepting their communications and anticipating the types of terrorist activity. Infiltrating these groups is difficult and has not been successful although many intelligence experts are now saying that more resources must be devoted to this activity. The volume and ease of modern communication, especially through use of the Internet, makes the electronic interception of terrorist communications very difficult. It is quite apparent that the method of attack used at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was a complete surprise. The failure to anticipate this tactic by intelligence experts has to be regarded as a major and costly failure. | | | |
What are the major Middle East terrorist organizations? Among the more prominent terrorist organizations presently active in the Middle East are the following: | Al-Qa'ida (the Base)  (Click map to review terrorist activity) This is unquestionably the most prominent organization because of its resources, sophistication, and alliances with other groups. It was created by a wealthy Saudi national, Osama Bin Laden, and is rooted in Muslim fundamentalism. Based in Afghanistan, bin Laden uses an extensive international network to maintain a loose connection between Muslim extremists in diverse countries. Working through high-tech means, such as faxes, satellite telephones, and the internet, he is in touch with an unknown number of followers all over the Arab world, as well as in Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada. His organization is also an umbrella organization and includes other groups, notably the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad. The organization's primary goal is the overthrow of what it sees as the corrupt and heretical governments of Muslim states, and their replacement with the rule of Islamic law. Bin Laden is intensely anti-Western, and views the United States in particular as the prime enemy of Islam. |
| Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) (Click map to review terrorist activity) is a radical Islamic organization which became active in the early stages of the Intifada (the mainstream Palestinian resistance movement begun in 1987), operating primarily in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank. The Hamas has played a major role in violent fundamentalist subversion and radical terrorist operations against both Israelis and Arabs. Hamas is committed to a "holy war" for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of an Islamic Palestine "from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River". By its participation in street violence and murder, it boosted its appeal in the eyes of the Palestinians, further enhancing its growth potential and enabling it to play a central role in the Intifada. As a result of its subversive and terrorist activity, Hamas was outlawed in September 1989. After the Gulf War, Hamas has become the leading perpetrator of terrorist activity throughout the territories as well as inside Israel. | Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group, IG) (Click map to review terrorist activity) is not an organization but rather a collective name for several Egyptian fundamentalist groups. Following the release of most of the Islamic prisoners from the Egyptian jails by president Sadat after 1971, several groups of militants began to organize themselves. These militant groups or cells took names such as the Islamic Liberation Party, al-Takfir wal-Hijra (Excommunication and Emigration), Al-Najun min al-nar (Saved from the Inferno), and Jihad (Holy War), as well as many others, including al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group). Each cell operated separately and was self-contained, a fact that allowed the organization to be structured, but at the same time losely organized. | Jihad Group (Click map to review terrorist activity) The Jihad movement in Egypt is an Islamic group active since the late 1970s. The movement appears to be divided into two factions: one led by Ayman al-Zawahiri—currently in Afghanistan—and the Vanguards of Conquest (Talaa' al-Fateh) led by Ahmad Husayn Agiza. Al-Zawahiri is a key leader in terrorist financier Osama Bin Laden's new World Islamic Front. Like al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, the Jihad factions regard Sheikh Umar Abd-al Rahman, imprisoned in the United States, as their spiritual leader.Abbud al-Zumar, leader of the original Jihad, is imprisoned in Egypt and recently joined Sheikh al-Rahman, in a call for a "peaceful front." The goal of all Jihad factions is to overthrow the government of President Hosni Mubarak and replace it with an Islamic state. They have become increasingly vocal in calling for an end to Western influence in Muslim countries, and have shown a willingness to target Western—particularly American—interests. | Harakat ul-Ansar (HUM) is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates primarily in Kashmir and regularly carries out terrorist activities in that region. Originally established to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviet occupation, this organization is a member of Osama bin Laden's "Islamic World Front for the struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders". The organization operates terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan and suffered casualties in the US missile strikes on Bin Laden-associated training camps in Khost in August 1998. Its leader subsequently warned that HUM would take revenge on the United States. In 1997 the US Government placed the HUM on its list of foreign terrorist groups. This prompted Pakistani security agencies, which covertly back Muslim insurgents in Kashmir, to distance themselves from the organizations. But Pakistan has not cracked down on the group's militant activities in Kashmir fearing a backlash from Islamic fundamentalist groups. | | | |
What Islamic nations are known to protect and support terrorists? | Afghanistan (Click map for country information) is an extremely poor, landlocked country, highly dependent on farming and livestock raising (sheep and goats). It is also a major world supplier of opium and hashish. Its population is almost entirely Islamic; about 84% are Sunni Muslims. During the first decades of the cold war, Afghanistan was a neutral "buffer" state which received foreign aid from the west and the Soviet Union. That status changed in 1978 when a government friendly to the Soviet Union gained power. When that government was attacked by fundamentalist Islam factions in 1979, the Soviet Union began a military occupation which lasted until 1989. A civil war waged during this period and the opposition consisted of radical Islamic factions financed and trained by the west, particularly the CIA. During that conflict one-third of the population fled the country, with Pakistan and Iran sheltering a combined peak of more than 6 million refugees. In early 1999, 1.2 million Afghan refugees remained in Pakistan and about 1.4 million in Iran. Subsequent to the Soviet withdrawal, a civil war has been waged between the various opposition factions. The group which has achieved ascendancy is known as the Taliban which have declared themselves rulers of the country. In actuality, there is no functioning government although the Taliban controls the capital of Kabul and now about 90% of the country including the predominately ethnic Pashtun areas in southern Afghanistan. The United Nations still recognizes the prior government. Only three states recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. The United States embassy in Kabul has been closed since 1989. The Taliban is a group comprised of Afghans trained in religious schools in Pakistan along with former Islamic fighters. Upon their ascendancy to power in 1996, they achieved some popular support because of their success in stamping out corruption, restoring peace and allowing commerce to resume. The Taliban said their aim was to set up the world's most pure Islamic state, banning frivolities like television, music and cinema. Their attempts to eradicate crime were reinforced by the introduction of Islamic law including public executions and amputations. Regulations forbidding girls from going to school and women from working quickly brought Taliban into conflict with the international community. Such issues, along with restrictions on women's access to health care, have also caused some resentment among ordinary Afghans. Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan in 1979, the year of the Soviet invasion and formed one of the insurgency groups financed and supplied by the CIA. Bin Laden advertised all over the Arab world for young Muslims to come fight in Afghanistan. Bin Laden paid for the transportation of the new recruits to Afghanistan, and set up facilities to train them. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 fighters received training and combat experience in Afghanistan, with only a fraction coming from the native Afghan population. Nearly half of the fighting force came from bin Laden's native Saudi Arabia. Others came from Algeria (roughly 3,000), from Egypt (2,000), with thousands more coming from other Muslim countries such as Yemen, Pakistan and the Sudan. In ten years of savage fighting the Islamic factions (including bin Laden's group) vanquished the Soviet Union. What had begun as a fragmented army of tribal warriors ended up a well-organized and equipped modern army--one capable of beating a super power. The departing Soviet troops left behind an Afghanistan with a huge arsenal of sophisticated weapons and thousands of seasoned Islamic warriors from a variety of countries. In the early 1990s, bin Laden returned to his native Saudi Arabia but he was soon expelled and operated out of Sudan, building an business empire there. The Sudanese government, responding to Western pressure, also expelled bin Laden in 1996 and he returned to Afghanistan. Bin Laden has been tolerated by the Taliban partly because of his wealth and partly because of a mutual opposition to all things western. |
| Pakistan was created after the breakup of British India. The primary Muslim areas of the former colony in the east and west were formed into one country named Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan became the separate country of Bangladesh after a civil war which ultimately involved India as well. After Indian forces were victorious, Pakistan was forced to permit Bangladesh independence. The country is 97% Muslim, 77% of which are Sunni. The country is a poor, heavily populated country, suffering from internal political disputes, lack of foreign investment, and a costly confrontation with neighboring India. Presently, the government is based on a military dictatorship which took power through a coup in 1999. Pakistan remains in conflict with India and began testing nuclear in response to similar Indian tests. Pakistan's association with terrorism is in part based on its support of regular terrorist activities of HUM and other groups in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir and its very warm relationship with the Taliban government of Afghanistan. Pakistan has benefited from the order which Taliban has restored to Afghanistan in that the trade routes to its northwest have been restored. |
| Iraq was formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. Iraq became an independent kingdom in 1932. A "republic" was proclaimed in 1958, but in actuality a series of military strongmen have ruled the country, most recently Saddam Hussein. Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-1988). In August 1990 Iraq seized Kuwait, but was expelled by US-led, UN coalition forces during January-February 1991. The victors did not occupy Iraq, however, thus allowing the regime to stay in control. Following Kuwait's liberation, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections. UN trade sanctions remain in effect due to incomplete Iraqi compliance with relevant UNSC resolutions. These international economic sanctions, and damage from military action by an international coalition beginning in January 1991 drastically reduced economic activity. The United States at present does not maintain diplomatic relations with Iraq. On September 13, 1990, Iraq was placed once again on the Unite States list of countries which support terrorism list. The extent of Iraq's present complicity in international terrorist activity is not completely known although indications are that Saddam Hussein’s regime continues to murder dissidents and provide a safe haven for a variety of Palestinian rejectionist groups. There are claims that the Iraqi intelligence is behind killings and at least one planned bombing during 1999. Iraqi government media has been supportive of the recent World Trade Center attacks. The possibility of a Saddam Hussein alliance with bin Laden and other Arab fundamentalists cannot be ignored. A recent book by Iraqi expert Laurie Mylroie argues in her book, "Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War against America," that the previous administration of President Bill Clinton erred by prosecuting such individuals in Justice Department-led criminal trials. Rather, she says, it should have conducted national security investigations that would have determined Saddam's role. Her book, which is based on an investigation of phone records and other documents, finds Saddam's involvement in four terrorist attacks: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City; the 1995 bombing of the U.S. training mission for Saudi troops in Riyadh; the 1996 attack against the U.S. base in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 U.S. servicemen; and the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. |
| Iran has a modern history which is in part affected by the cold war and in part by religious fundamentalism. Because of its proximity to the Soviet Union and because of its rich oil reserves, the United States and Britain were anxious to keep Iran under western influence after World War II. In 1951, the National Front movement, headed by Premier Mussadegh, a militant nationalist, forced the parliament to nationalize the oil industry and form the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). The CIA engineered a covert operation which successfully restored the Shah, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi, to power. What followed was two decades of dictatorship which ultimately resulted in a revolution in 1978. The revolution was led by two diverse elements: students and intellectuals with western values who opposed the repressive Shah regime and fundamental Islamics who opposed the westernization of Iranian society. In the revolution's aftermath, a religious regime resulted. The new government, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, represented a major shift toward conservatism. It nationalized industries and revived Islamic traditions. Western influence and music were banned, women were forced to return to traditional veiled dress, and Westernized elites fled the country. Iran helped pioneer the current wave of state-sponsored terrorism in 1979 by permitting a student group to occupy the United States embassy and taking 52 American hostages. Khomeini refused all appeals, and agitation increased toward the West with the Carter administration's economic boycott, the breaking of diplomatic relations, and an unsuccessful rescue attempt. The hostage crisis lasted 444 days and was finally resolved after all Iranian conditions had been met, including the unfreezing of nearly $8 billion in Iranian assets. According to the United States State Department, Iran continues to be deeply involved in the planning and execution of terrorist acts by its own agents and surrogate groups. It provides ongoing direction, safe haven, funding, training, weapons and other support to a variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups including Hizballah in Lebanon, as well as Hammas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to undermine the Middle East peace process. There are press reports that Iran is building a terrorist infrastructure in the region by providing political indoctrination, military training, and financial help to dissident Shia groups in neighboring countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. |
| Sudan is a very poor country which has been ravaged by two decades of civil war between the Islamic north and the Christian/African south. In recent years, up to 2 million deaths have been attributed to this conflict and its associated economic conditions. Until 1956, Sudan was controlled by Great Britain. Its history as an independent nation has been characterized by an ongoing struggle between the north and the south. Political and economic power has been dominated by the Muslim north. Recent discovery of oil in the south promises an emergence from its status as among the world's most impoverished countries but also exacerbates the conflict between the north and the south. Sudan has been ruled by a succession of military regimes. The present military regime has strengthened ties with Libya, Iran, and Iraq and reinforced Islamic law. Like Libya, Iran and Iraq, Sudan has also been associated with international terrorism and served for a time as headquarters for Osama Bin Laden's organization. In 1998, U.S. missiles destroyed a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum that was suspected of manufacturing chemical-weapons compounds to be used in terrorist activities; however, international investigators were unable to find evidence to support the charges. According to the U.S. State Department, Sudan continues to serve as a refuge, nexus, and training hub for a number of terrorist organizations including Hizballah, Hamas, and bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization. Egypt and Ethiopia have charged the Sudanese government with involvement in a failed assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak while in Ethiopia in June 1995. Sudan continues to permit its territory to be used by Iran to transport weapons to Islamic extremist groups and as a meeting place for Iranian-backed terrorist groups. |
| Syria has been independent since 1946. It is primarily a Moslem country although 10% of the population is Christian. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. From 1971 until his death last year, Syria was been ruled by Gen. Hafez al-Assad. In recent decades there has been a vocal fundamentalist Islamic minority which supports a religious oriented government similar to Iran. Recent negotiations for the return of the Golan Heights have been stalled after the recent Israeli elections and the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. It is generally believed within the western community that Syria has a long history of using terrorists to advance its own interests. The United States has said that it has no evidence of Syrian government direct involvement in terrorism since 1986. Informed sources suggest, however, that the Syrian government remains active, hiding behind the sophisticated operational level of their intelligence services and their ability to mask such involvement. Many major terrorist groups are known to maintain an active presence in Syria including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. |
| Libya was a very poor nation known primarily as a major World War 2 battleground until oil was discovered in 1958. The development of that resource improved the economy significantly. In 1969, a military strongman, Muammar al-Qaddafi, seized power and has ruled the country ever since. The regime pursued a policy of Arab nationalism and strict adherence to Islamic law. Although Qaddafi espoused socialist principles, he was strongly anti-Communist. He was particularly concerned with reducing Western influences. Libya under Qaddafi was another pioneer of state-sponsored terrorism. In 1980 he began ordering the assassination of Libyan dissidents who were living in exile in Europe. In 1981, two Libyan fighter planes attacked U.S. forces on maneuvers in the Gulf of Sidra (which Libya claims as national waters) and were shot down. Libya's relations with the United States became even more hostile when it began to support international terrorist organizations. In 1986, in an apparent attempt to kill Qaddafi, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes in retaliation for the Libyan-sponsored terrorist attack in West Berlin that had killed two American servicemen. In 1988, a bomb blew up on a Pan Am commercial airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. International warrants were issued for the arrest and extradition to Great Britain of two Libyan suspects in the case, but the government refused to surrender them. In 1989, it was discovered that a West German company was selling Libya equipment for the construction of a chemical weapons plant. These actions led to economic sanctions by the United Nations and by the United States. In 1999, Libya handed over the suspects in the Lockerbie crash to the United Nations; and the trial resulted in the conviction of one of them. The UN sanctions were lifted, but those imposed by the United States remain in place. |
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