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Technology also plays an important role in understanding the nature of the modern terrorist threat. The instruments used by ter- rorists have evolved with emerging technologies. In ancient times, 133 Sauter ch04-08 3/14/05 11:45 AM Page 134 134 PART 2 " UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM terrorists struck with daggers, stabbing their victims in public mar- kets to spread fear. The development of modern explosives allowed extremists to attack with far greater impact, a trend being accelerated by the increasing sophistication and availability of automatic weapons, plastic explosives, missiles, and WMD. Technology has also created entirely new venues for terrorism: jet airliners opened the way for hijackings, and the Internet created a new battleground in cyberspace. Other new technologies such as advanced communica- tions systems enabled terrorists to disperse their operations while still maintaining command and control. Technological forces, exacerbated by the rise of extremist groups bent on achieving significant casual- ties, are combining to make terrorist attacks increasingly lethal. CHAPTER LEARNI NG OBJECTI VES After reading this chapter, you should be able to 1. Identify common organizational features of terrorist groups. 2. Explain the major tactical phases of a terrorist operation. 3. Describe considerations used by terrorists in selecting targets. 4. List common terrorist tactics. TERRORI ST PLANNI NG Terrorist groups typically function based on a hierarchy of planning levels. Each group has a driving ideology a top-level orientation, such as religious or racial extremism, from which the organization generates strategic objectives. These objectives have ranged from forcing the withdrawal of the United States from the Middle East to sparking a race war in America. To pursue its goal, the group devel- ops a plan, which focuses resources to achieve specific results. Plans are driven by doctrine, or the basic principles that guide operations. On the level of specific missions, terrorist units use tactics, or prac- ticed actions relating to the group and its adversary, which are built upon the individual skills possessed by members of the group. Sauter ch04-08 3/14/05 11:45 AM Page 135 CHAPTER 8 " TERRORIST OPERATIONS AND TACTICS 135 Terrorism by In the 1980s, state sponsors such as the Soviets, Cubans, and the Book Palestinians, who trained large numbers of terrorists during the Cold War, and the Iranians, who influenced terrorist groups in later years, refined the concepts for adopting terrorism to the realities of a glob- alizing world. Their students performed on an international stage; interested parties could study the attributes of successful attacks, and learn the lessons of failed ones, from the nearest television or news- stand. Behind the scenes, counterterrorism officials could also trace the dissemination of sophisticated techniques, such as advanced bomb-making skills, from one group to another. Soviet and Western military doctrine, detailed in widely available manuals, provided many of these groups with a fundamental under- standing of military tactics and skills that could be used for terrorism. From these and other sources, specific terrorist texts evolved. Minimanual of the Urban Guerilla, written by a South American revo- lutionary, detailed tactics for communist guerillas attacking U.S.-sup- ported nations. These tactics were emulated by terrorists in the Americas and Europe, among other locations. At home, The Anarchist s Cookbook with its detailed instructions on topics such as explosives, lock picking, and document fraud has been associated with numerous extremists. Right-wing radicals have closely studied The Turner Diaries, a novel in which racists take over the United States. The book, with detailed descriptions of terrorist operations, was cited as an inspiration by Timothy McVeigh, who bombed Oklahoma City s Murrah Federal Building in 1995, and other domestic terrorists.1 One of the most important terrorist documents today is Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants, also known as the al-Qaida manual. Found in the British residence of a suspect in al-Qaida s 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Africa, it was translated and intro- duced into evidence at a federal court. Reflecting lessons from decades of jihadist combat in the Middle East, it probably also represents the influence of a burly al-Qaida terrorist named Ali Mohamed. Trained by the U.S. military in Special Forces tactics while an Egyptian military officer, Mohamed served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during the late 1980s, teaching troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, about the Middle East. During this time Mohamed was also an al-Qaida operative, and before his eventual capture, he translated U.S. military manuals and provided advanced special operations type training to the group.2 Sauter ch04-08 3/14/05 11:45 AM Page 136 136 PART 2 " UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM Terrorist Skills Successful terrorist operations require a broad range of talents. Most and Weapons members of a terrorist group have only limited capabilities; none has all the skills needed. These competencies include ideology/religious knowledge; weapons; explosives; small unit tactics; intelligence tech- niques or tradecraft such as clandestine communication and dis- guises; counterintelligence; codes and ciphers; map reading; sabotage; surveillance and countersurveillance; photography; docu- ment falsification; foreign languages; propaganda; medicine/first aid; the operation of aircraft, automobiles, and watercraft; target selection and assessment; and hand-to-hand combat. Modern terrorist groups include personnel capable of using a range of weapons. In the case of domestic and international terrorist [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |