Topic: Terrorism (Individual & State Sponsored)

• Aim: For what reasons has terrorism increased?

• Do Now: Describe in detail the mental image you have when you hear the terms “terrorist” and “terrorism”

• Textbook Key Issue 4: pages 260-266

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_PzCfpPug

In what ways does globalization change the nature of terrorism?

How does the NYPD use geographic concepts and technology to confront

terrorism?

Terrorism Discussion Questions:

1. Whether individual or state sponsored, what are the aims of ‘terrorists’ or ‘terrorist organizations’?

2. In what ways does topic relate to other topics such as: religion, politics (boundaries, supranational organizations, etc), ethnicity, development, and/or gender?

3. If terrorism is state sponsored, what reaction should other states take if they are attacked?

4. In what ways is classifying someone as a terrorism a matter of perspective?

5. Are terrorist actions ever justified in your opinion - if so describe the circumstances

• Terrorism: systematic use of violence by a group to intimidate a population or coerce a government into granting its demands (spreads fear and anxiety)–Bombing–Kidnapping–Hijacking–Taking hostages–Assassination

Attack by CIA-funded Mujahideen

terrorists in Afghanistan in 1985.

Ronald Reagan praised Afghan Mujahideen as

"freedom fighters".

The scene after the Taliban attack near the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan. The militants struck with suicide bombs, grenades and gunfire. (Anjum Naveed / Associated Press)

What do all of these men have in common?

American Presidential Assassinations:

Lincoln, 1865

Garfield, 1881

McKinley, 1901

Kennedy, 1963

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwAPubfJ0r8

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie

The Victims…

I. Terrorism by Individuals and Organizations

A. Attacks on America & Americans:1. Oklahoma City bombing

a. Timothy McVeighb. 168 people killed

2. Unabomber a. Ted Kaczynskib. 3 killed and 23 injured

3. World Trade Center (1993)a. 6 killed and 1,000 injured

4. Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotlanda. 259 killed who were on board and 11 killed on the

ground

I. Terrorism by Individuals and Organizations

September 11, 2001 Attacks1.2 planes crashed into World Trade

Center, another into the Pentagon, and another crashed in Pennsylvania

2.Nearly 3,000 fatalities

I. Terrorism by Individuals and OrganizationsAl-Qaeda

1.Responsible or implicated in most anti-U.S. terrorism

2.Terrorist network founded by Osama bin Laden3.Created to unite jihad fighters in

Afghanistan4.Membership is estimated at 20,000 and

dispersed in as many as 34 countries5.Uses religion to justify their attacks

II. State Support for Terrorism

A.Afghanistan1.U.S. attacked

Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban sheltered bin Laden and other al-Qaeda terrorists

2.Removal of Taliban has unleashed a new struggle for control of Afghanistan among the country’s many ethnic groups - Taliban are continuing insurgency in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan

Libya:1. Sponsored 1986

bombing of nightclub in Berlin which killed 3 U.S. citizens

2. Libyan agents planted bombs on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 & UTA Flight 772 in 1989

3. Renounced terrorism in 2003, UN sanctions were removed

Saddam Hussein:

II. State Support for Terrorism

Iraq1.U.S. claims of state sponsored terrorism

proved controversial because of unproven claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction

2.International community also challenged U.S. beliefs that Hussein’s government had close links with al-Qaeda

3.U.S. then argued that Iraq needed a regime change; despite removal of Hussein, U.S. still involved in complex and violent struggle among religious sects

4.Sunni Muslims oppose U.S. because they had considerable power under Hussein who was also a Sunni

5.Shiites feel tensions toward U.S. because of close ties with Shiite-controlled Iran

Iran1.Hostility between U.S. and Iran dates back

to 1979 Iranian Revolution when the pro-western Shah Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini

2.Militant supporters of Ayatollah seized the U.S. embassy in Iran on November 4, 1979 and held 62 Americans hostage until January 20, 1981

3.Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s (U.S. supported Iraq)

4.Since September 11, U.S. has accused Iran of harboring al-Qaeda members

5.Also evidence that Iran has been developing a nuclear weapons program led to negotiations with Iran

Summary: “Mideast Land Conflict Now Includes Street Signs” (New York Times, April

2010)

A street in Ramallah is named after the most cunning Hamas bomb maker of the 1990s.