Patterns of Terrorism

Patterns of Terrorism

Introduction

The 21st century starts with diverting the attentions of the world's states, organizational partnerships and international implementation of the main threats to international peace and security. Unlike in the past, today's profound qualitative advances in all walks of life become manifest in the life span of a single generation. In order to begin a discussion of terrorism, one must begin with a clear definition of this politically charged word. To keep this study consistent with other analysis, I draw on the definition from the Global Terrorism Database which defines terrorism as, the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation. Terrorism embodies violence, killing and injuring individuals, yet it differs from structural violence or oppression in several notable ways. Most importantly, terrorism is warfare of a psychological nature.

It influences the political process through induced fear which underlies terrorist acts. Historically, terrorism successfully produces this result. Half of all suicide terrorist incidents between 1980 and 2003 directly proceeded concessions from the targeted regime. Terrorism is limited in scale, directly affecting few people and is commissioned by a small number of individuals. Terrorist movements propagate on a smaller magnitude; they stem from anti-establishment principals, in a clandestine environment, with an overlaying motivation of destabilizing or overthrowing a target influence. Thus, while the direct casualties of these acts pay the physical price of terrorism, the underlying goal of terrorism is to provoke fear of seemingly arbitrary violence.

Patterns

In some ways, the threat of terrorism has replaced the threat of international warfare that shaped U.S. national defense policy during the Cold War. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, few entities besides the world's superpowers could obtain weapons of mass destruction, so U.S. defense policy was focused on guarding against the threat of warfare with countries such as the Soviet Union and China. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, however, the international black market for weapons has grown, making it much easier for small groups or rogue nations to obtain the technology necessary to kill great numbers of people. Such changes pose new challenges to U.S. security.

In addition, new biological and chemical weapons are comparatively cheap and easy to manufacture. Those weapons pose unique security risks because tiny amounts of biological or chemical agents can cause massive damage. For example, one gram of anthrax culture, a bacterium that causes pneumonia and suffocation, contains enough spores to kill 100 million people. Recipes for lethal chemical weapons are widely available on the Internet and through underground publishers.

In one of the most devastating displays of the new face of terrorist warfare, a Japanese group, Aum Shinrikyo, unleashed a lethal chemical agent, sarin, in the Tokyo subway system in March 1995. Many experts and government officials are concerned that the U.S. is unprepared to safeguard itself against a similar attack. As part of the 1996 Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, Congress called ...