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Crime and Violence: Forces for Good or Evil?

Terrorism

Dr Helen Jones

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Where were you when the world stopped turning?

September 11th   8.46am: American Airlines flight 11, from Boston, crashes into the north tower of

the World Trade Centre 9.03am: United Airlines flight 175, also from Boston, crashes into the south

tower. Both buildings are aflame   9.17am: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area

airports.   9.21am: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and

tunnels in the New York area closed

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9.30am: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

9.37am: American Airlines flight 77 follows the course of the Potomac River before crashing into the Pentagon

9.40am: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted

10.03am: The south tower collapses, sending clouds of dust and debris into the streets of lower Manhattan

10.06am: United Airlines flight 93 crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

10.10am: A portion of the Pentagon collapses 10.29am: The north tower collapses

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Who Knew?

In January 1996 the CIA's Counterterrorism Center created a special unit focusing on Osama bin Laden after his involvement in planning and directing terrorist acts becomes more evident to the U.S. intelligence community.

May 26, 1998 Osama bin Laden held a news conference in Afghanistan declaring war on the United States.

August 1998 the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration receive information that unidentified Arabs plan to fly an "explosive-laden plane" from an unnamed country into the World Trade Centre.

By October 1998 U.S. intelligence officials learn that al Qaeda was trying to establish an operative cell within the United States.

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  April 2001 A source with terrorist connections speculates that bin

Laden might be interested in using commercial pilots as terrorists.   April 18, 2001 The FAA sends another warning to U.S. airlines that

Middle Eastern terrorists could try to hijack or blow up a U.S. plane and that carriers should "demonstrate a high degree of alertness."

June 22, 2001 The FAA issues another warning to U.S. airlines July 10, 2001 FBI Agent Ken Williams sends a memo to the

counterterrorism division at the FBI's Washington headquarters. It outlines a theory that Middle Eastern students at an Arizona flight school could be al Qaeda agents training for hijackings. FBI analysts review the memo but do nothing.

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September 10, 2001 The National Security Agency intercepts two communications from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia. "Tomorrow is zero hour," says one. "The match begins tomorrow," says the other. The messages are not translated until September 12.

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Labelling theory and legitimisation

How do we interact with each other?

Does interaction indicate power relations? Do you understand my behaviour in the same way I do? If you are known by a certain name or title will I feel differently about

you?

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If you look through hundreds of years of history, the imperial countries have been basically immune [from attack] …

…almost any crime, a crime in the streets, a war, whatever it may be, there’s usually something behind it that has elements of legitimacy…

the atrocities you commit somewhere else don’t exist … take the United States … [centuries ago] fundamentalist fanatics from England came over here and started exterminating the local population … it wasn’t a small affair; it was millions of people … When I was growing up as a kid, we played cowboys and Indians. We were the cowboys and we killed the Indians.

(Chomsky, 2003 Power and Terror. pp14-17)

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Adbusters – provides an alternative view on US culture

http://kinfish.com/usa/index.php?page=4

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WORLD WAR II 1941-45Fought Axis forces for three years; first nuclear war, against Japan.

GREECE 1947-49Supports and directs extreme right in civil war.

PHILIPPINES 1948-54CIA directs war against leftist Huk Rebellion.

PUERTO RICO 1950Nationalist insurrection challenges American occupation; US command operation puts down rebellion.

KOREAN WAR 1950-53Joins South Korea and other allies to fight China and North Korea.

IRAN 1953CIA directs overthrow of elected left-leaning government, installs Shah.

GUATEMALA 1954CIA directs exile invasion and overthrow of leftist government; military junta installed.

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LEBANON 1958US occupation ends under UN Observer Group.

VIETNAM WAR 1960-75Fought South Vietnam rebels and North Vietnam forces; 1-2 million killed.

CUBA 1961CIA-directed "Bay of Pigs" invasion.

LAOS 1962Green Berets active in training, military buildup, support of rightist forces during guerrilla war.

PANAMA 1964Control of Panama Canal Zone challenged; rioting against US forces.

INDONESIA 1965Army coup assisted to an unknown degree by CIA; left-leaning elected government toppled; between 250,000 to 1,000,000 lives lost.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66Troops invade during election as pre-emptive action against leftist rebellion or communist government.

GUATEMALA 1966-67Command operation; Green Berets aid in combat against leftist rebels.

CAMBODIA 1969-75War against leftist forces; intense bombing; up to 2 million killed.

OMAN 1970US directs Iranian invasion in support of Omani government against Marxist "Dhufar rebellion."

LAOS 1971-73US directs South Vietnamese invasion.

CHILE 1973CIA-backed coup ousts elected leftist president; rightist dictator installed.

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ANGOLA 1976-92CIA assists South African-backed rebels.

EL SALVADOR 1981-92Advisors aid government forces against leftist rebels.

NICARAGUA 1981-90US directs guerrilla exile invasion ("Contra war") against revolutionary government; US forces plant mines.

LEBANON 1982-84Marines help police negotiated evacuation of Palestine Liberation Organization; US forces combat Muslim and Syrian fighters in support of Christian government.

HONDURAS 1983-89Military bases established for US-backed "Contra war" with Nicaragua.

GRENADA 1983-84US troops topple pro-Cuban government.

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LIBYA 1986Air strikes against nationalist government with terrorist links.

BOLIVIA 1986Operation Blast Furnace; US troops and Bolivian police face peasant resistance in cocaine-producing regions.

IRAN 1987-88Intervention on side of Iraq in war against Iran.

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS 1989Troops restore order after civil unrest spurred by Hurricane Hugo.

PHILIPPINES 1989Armed US aircraft support constitutional government against failed coup.

PANAMA 1989-90Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 US soldiers; more than 2,000 people killed.

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GULF WAR 1990-Operation Desert Storm drives Iraq out of Kuwait; 200,000+ killed. No-fly zone ongoing; periodic bombing.

SOMALIA 1992-94US-led United Nations occupation during civil war.

YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94US troops in NATO operation to enforce sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro.

BOSNIA 1993-95Operation Deny Flight patrols civil war no-fly zone; air combat, Serbs bombed.

HAITI 1994-96Troops restore elected leftist president to office three years after coup.

CROATIA 1995American and NATO forces attack Bosnian Serb airfields prior to Croatian offensive.

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SUDAN 1998Pharmaceutical factory with terrorist links bombed; retaliation for terrorist attacks on US embassies in Africa.

AFGHANISTAN 1998Bombing of Islamic fundamentalist military camps; retaliation for terrorist attacks on US embassies in Africa.

YUGOSLAVIA 1999US aircraft play the key role in heavy NATO air strikes against Serbian forces in Kosovo.

COLOMBIA 2000Special Forces train anti-narcotics and anti-rebel battalions, supply combat aircraft.

MACEDONIA 2001US forces in NATO's Operation Essential Harvest partially disarm Albanian rebels.

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AFGHANISTAN 2001In retaliation for terrorist attacks in US, forces attempt ouster of Afghanistan's Taliban government, attack bases linked to Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.

Since then, there have been more than 30 further ‘Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad’ according to the US Congress (report ends in 2007):

  http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl32170.pdf

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…you don’t consider that what you do to other people matters … if you take a poll among US intellectuals, support for bombing Afghanistan is just overwhelming. But how many of them think that you should bomb Washington because of the US war against Nicaragua, let’s say, or Cuba or Turkey or anyone else? …if one is right, why is the other one wrong? …there couldn’t be a moral principle more elementary. All you have to do is read George Bush’s favorite philosopher (Jesus). There’s a famous definition in the Gospels of the hypocrite, and the hypocrite is the person who refuses to apply to himself the standards he applies to others. (Chomsky, 2003: pp28-29)

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Terrorism

A dictionary definition might give us:

“The systematic use of violence as a means to intimate or coerce societies or governments”.

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

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Expected result of the violence: Let's define an action as "terrorism" if the use of violence would reasonably be expected to harm innocent civilians. This is to be distinguished from a "military" action, where the use of violence is not reasonably expected to harm innocent civilians.

  Nature of the actor: A "state" action would be one conducted by a

sovereign government. A "guerrilla" action will be one conducted by a non-governmental entity.

  Four different types of violent acts: Hence, we can have both state

military actions and state terrorism actions. Likewise, there can be both guerrilla military actions and guerrilla terrorism actions.

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US and UK terrorism?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1740538.stm In January 2002 the BBC reported on the number of Afghan

civilians killed by US bombs. Nearly 3,800 Afghans died between 7 October and 7 December 2001.

US military contravened Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The Protocol categorically prohibits:

direct attacks against civilians or civilian objects; indiscriminate attacks (attacks which do not attempt to distinguish between

military targets and civilians or civilian objects); disproportionate attacks (attacks which, although aimed at a legitimate military

target, have a disproportionate impact on civilians or civilian objects). http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=9DEF4263FC2E35CA80256FE7004FE4C0

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Amnesty International is concerned about the use of cluster bombs close to civilian areas in Iraq.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2946054.stm

Human Rights Watch suggest that the number of civilians killed or wounded since the war ended in Iraq is higher than it was during the conflict.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2003/04/26/northern-iraq-civilian-deaths-higher-war-ended

Was Britain’s decision to enter the war in Iraq legal according to international law?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1042998,00.html

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"In some ways, the peace has proved more lethal than the war," said Hania Mufti, London Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.