International Terrorism

Griset02.qxd 9/20/02 5:58 PM Page 45 2 INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness. —Margaret Atwood he attacks of September 11, 2001, were the most ghastly acts of transnational terrorism in history. Yet, as is true for other terrorists’ strikes throughout the Tages, understanding the atrocities of September 11 requires knowledge of the social, economic, political, and religious conditions from which terrorism arises. As in earlier eras, advances in communication, transportation, and weaponry are exploited by today’s terrorists. Contemporary terrorists have a vast and terrifying array of choices, but they also face a new enemy: the forces of globalization. Our world has become more unified, and evidence of interconnections are every- where. Commerce and technology have brought the people of our planet together in ways previously unimaginable. The Internet has penetrated into remote corners of the planet, and new discoveries in digital and optical technologies are likely to drive human beings even closer together. McDonald’s sells hamburgers in Beijing, and American music and videos can be heard and seen in remote corners of the world. Free-trade agree- ments make national borders more porous; someday, they may make them obsolete. Falling stock markets in Tokyo devastate investors in Chicago. The International Monetary Fund intervenes in the economies of many underdeveloped countries because of global interdependence and the push for prosperity. International peace and stability are invaluable in this new world order. Problems and their solutions are no longer isolated geographically. Terrorism is at odds with civilization’s march toward globalization. Terrorists often focus on separatism and pitting one religious, ethnic, or social group against another. Terrorism generally is not about coming together as a unified whole; it is about break- ing apart into smaller, antagonistic units. Some terrorists would like to impose their religion or political ideology on the whole world, but their tactics are brute force, not the international collaboration that is the hallmark of globalization. Barber (1992) captures this phenomenon when he notes that the “planet is falling precipitantly apart AND coming reluctantly together at the very same moment” (p. 53). He labels this division as “Jihad” versus “McWorld.” Jihad, which means “struggle” in Arabic, can be applied to either the internal struggle against evil or the external struggle against the perceived enemies of Islam. It is the latter meaning that has been invoked 45 Griset02.qxd 9/20/02 5:58 PM Page 46 46 • TERRORISM IN PERSPECTIVE by many contemporary terrorists, who are on a collision course with the forces of globalization. The effects of globalization were quickly evident after the September 11, 2001, assaults on the United States. The day after the attacks, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), founded in 1949 and comprising 19 member states, invoked, for the first time, Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which declares that an armed attack on one member was an attack against all of them. Other nations around the world joined in condemning the terrorists and demonstrating solidarity with the United States. Many Muslim leaders in Africa and Asia expressed sympathy with the United States, noting that the Koran and Islamic teachings prohibit the slaughter of innocents. The international display of unity in the immediate aftermath of the attacks does not diminish the reality that, in many spots around the globe, the United States and Western nations are despised. Anti-American sentiment is particularly virulent in portions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa, an area known as the Middle East, although the sentiment exists elsewhere. Poverty, authoritarian governments, and U.S. intervention in the area have provided fertile ground for the growth of religious extremists and denunciations of the United States as the “Great Satan.” TERRORISM AROUND THE WORLD Although the outcome of the clash between “Jihad” and “McWorld” is unknown, it is clear that terrorism continues to exist in virtually every region of the globe. No one knows the true number of foreign terrorist groups. The United States Department of State (2000) identified 42 foreign terrorist groups. A list for the Terrorism Research Center (2000), compiled by the Dudley Knox Library Naval Postgraduate School, named 85 foreign terrorist groups. Precise counts are difficult, in part, because terrorist organizations are dynamic; change is therefore endemic to the phenomenon. Some terrorist organizations splinter into subgroups, and others disband and reassemble with new names. Being labeled as a terrorist organization carries political repercussions. Every 2 years, the U.S. secretary of state publishes a list of active foreign terrorist groups. These are divided into two categories—Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), which are terrorist organizations that meet the criteria of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and Other Terrorist Groups (OTGs), which do not meet the criteria of the Act. In the secretary of state’s 2001 report (U.S. Department of State, 2002), released in April 2002, 33 groups were designated as FTOs and another 28 were identified as OTGs. The report, which is reproduced in Appendix B of this volume, notes the specific terrorist activities attributed to each group. The legal and fiscal consequences of being designated an FTO are severe. It is a crime to donate money or otherwise assist an FTO, even if the funds are to be used for charitable purposes. Medicine and religious materials are excluded from the ban. Some FTOs have used charitable donations to provide sorely needed basic social services, such as hospitals and schools. Nevertheless, U.S. citizens are prohibited from con- tributing to these organizations on the premise that charitable donations make it easier for the groups to recruit supporters. In addition, members of FTOs are denied visas and barred from the United States. Financial institutions are required to block any funds intended for FTOs. The identification of an FTO is inherently political. By definition, FTOs threaten the security of U.S. citizens or endanger the national defense, foreign relations, or economic interests of the United States. A few highlights of FTOs from the U.S. secretary of state’s list follow. Griset02.qxd 9/20/02 5:58 PM Page 47 International Terrorism • 47 1. Europe • The Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) group, founded in 1959, aims to create an independent state in northern Spain comprising the seven Basque provinces. • Issued during the Easter Rising of 1916, the Proclamation of the Republic, which declared Ireland independent from England, is considered to be the founding document of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The Easter Rising was crushed and its leaders were executed, but the struggle for independence continued. Today, the IRA is the terrorist wing of Sinn Fein, the Northern Ireland political organization trying to unite Ireland and expel British forces. In 1999, for the first time, the IRA was identified as an OTG, not an FTO, because of its willingness to enforce a cease-fire and participate in the peace process in Northern Ireland. • Established in 1974, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) wants to create an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. Its leader, Chairman Abdullah Ocalan, was captured and sentenced to death in 1999. 2. South America • The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), established in 1964, is believed to be responsible for atrocities claiming untold numbers of innocent victims. • Begun in 1965 by Jesuit priests influenced by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the National Liberation Army (ELN) engages in widespread kidnapping for ransom and wages an insurgent war against the Colombian government. • Peru’s Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), founded in 1983, is most famous for its 1996 assault on the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, where 72 hostages were held for more than 4 months. No new terrorist activities have been attributed to MRTA since Peruvian armed forces rescued all but one of the hostages and killed most of the group’s leaders. • Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), founded in the late 1960s and based on a communist ideology, is believed responsible for roughly 30,000 deaths. Leaders of the group were the focus of massive counterterrorism operations by the Peruvian government. 3. Asia • Aum Shinrikyo (Aum), founded in 1987 by Shoko Asahara, is a Japanese doomsday cult responsible for releasing sarin nerve gas on several Tokyo subway trains in 1995, killing 12 and injuring thousands. • During its heyday in the 1970s, the Japanese Red Army (JRA), which is devoted to overthrowing the Japanese monarchy and fostering world revolution, conducted terrorist attacks around the world, including the massacre in 1972 at Lod Airport in Israel and the hijacking of two Japanese airlines. Fusako Shigenobu, one of the founders and leaders, had been on the run for 30 years when she was captured in Japan in 2000. • Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), founded in 1976, engages in assassinations and bombings to promote its goal of creating an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka. LTTE is known outside Sri Lanka for the suicide bomb attack that killed India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. 4. Middle East and Africa • For the first time, the 1999 report added al-Qaeda, meaning the “Base,” the organization led by Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, to the list of FTOs. • Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) split from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1974 and launched an international campaign of terrorism, carrying out attacks in 20 countries against the United States, Britain, Israel, and various Arab countries. Griset02.qxd 9/20/02 5:58 PM Page 48 48 • TERRORISM IN PERSPECTIVE • Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) was formed in 1987 with the goal of establishing an Islamic state and expelling Israelis. Located primarily in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hamas has gained widespread support from Arabs throughout the region.

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