Terrorismo

Según OCHA, mientras que no existe una definición internacional de terrorismo hasta el momento, es un concepto generalmente entendido como un acto o actos criminales que tienen la intención de inflingir heridas dramáticas y mortales sobre civiles y crear un ambiente de miedo, generalmente para avanzar un propósito político o ideológico (que sea secular o religioso). El terrorismo tipicamente se lleva a cabo por parte de grupos sub-nacionales o transnacionales, pero también se lo ha practicado en gobiernos un instrumento de control.

Según otra definición, el terrorismo es el uso sistemático del miedo, especialmente como un medio de coercion.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Aunque la comunidad internacional no ha podido formular una definición debajo de la ley criminal con fuerza.<ref>Angus Martyn, The Right of Self-Defence under International Law-the Response to the Terrorist Attacks of 11 September,</ref><ref>Thalif Deen. POLITICS: U.N. Member States Struggle to Define Terrorism, Inter Press Service, 25 de julio, 2005.</ref> Las definiciones más comunes del terrorismo solamente hacen referencia a esos actos violentos con la intención de crear miedo, son perpetrados para un objetivo ideológico, y intencionalmente tienen como blanco a no combatientes (civiles).

Algunas definiciones agregan actos de violencia y guerra. La historia de las organizaciones terroristas sugiere que no escogen al terrorismo por su eficiencia política.<ref name="Abrahm">Plantilla:Cite journal</ref> Terroristas individuales tienden ser motivados más por un sentimiento de solidaridad social con otros miembros de su organización que por plataformas políticas u objetivos estratégicos, cuales frecuentemente son borrosos o poco definidos.<ref name="Abrahm"/>

La mera plabra "terrorismo" está cargado políticamente y emocionalmente,<ref name="Hoffman-1998-p31">Hoffman, Bruce "Inside Terrorism" Columbia University Press 1998 ISBN 0-231-11468-0. p. 32. Ver análisis en el New York Times,Inside Terrorism.</ref> y esto refuerza la dificultad de ofrecer una definición precisa. Los estudios han encontrado a más de 100 definiciones del "terrorismo".<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Schmid, Alex, y Jongman, Albert. Political Terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases, theories and literature. Amsterdam ; New York : North-Holland ; New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1988.</ref> El concepto del terrorismo en sí puede ser controversial dado que frecuentemente se utiliza entre las autoridades estatales para deslegitimar a opositores políticos,<ref name=tws11janx33225/> y legitimar políticamente al uso de las fuerzas armadas del estado contra tales opositores (el uso de tal fuerza puede en sí ser descrito como "terror" por los opositores del estado).<ref name=tws11janx33225/><ref name=tws11jan757>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> A less politically and emotionally charged, and more easily definable, term is violent non-state actor<ref name=tws11jan4eer>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> (though the semantic scope of this term includes not only "terrorists," while excluding some individuals or groups who have previously been described as "terrorists").Plantilla:Citation needed

El terrorismo ha sido practicado por una amplia variedad de organizaciones políticas para poder avanzar a sus objetivos. Ha sido practicado desde la derecha y la izquierda, grupos nacionalistas, religiosas, revolucionarios y por gobiernos en el poder.<ref name="britannica">Plantilla:Cite web</ref> Una forma es el uso de la violencia contra no combatientes para el fin de ganar publicidad para un grupo, una causa o un individuo.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Origen del termino

El "terror" se origina en la palabra terrere en el latín, que significa "espantar".<ref name=tws11janrdw>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> La palabra terror cimbricus fue un panico y un estado de emergencia en Roma antigua en respuesta al acercamiento de los guerreros del tribu cimbri en 105 a.c. Los jacobines citan a esta precedente cuando crean el 'reino del terror' durante la revolución francesa.<ref name=tws11janr987>Plantilla:Cite news</ref><ref name=tws11jane435>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> After the Jacobins lost power, the word "terrorist" became a term of abuse.<ref name=tws11janx33225>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government, in modern times "terrorism" usually refers to the killing of innocent people<ref name=tws11jan1q22>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle.<ref name=tws11janteer>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Este significado se origina con Sergey Nechayev, quien se autollamó un "terrorista".<ref name="Crenshaw77">Crenshaw, Martha, Terrorism in Context, p. 77.</ref> Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group "People's Retribution" (Народная расправа) in 1869.

En Noviembre del 2004, un informe del Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas describió el terrorismo como cualquier acto "con la intención de causar la muerte o heridos serios corporales a los civiles o no combatientes con el propósito de intimidar una población o forzar a un gobierno o una organización internacional hacer o abstener de hacer cualquier acto..<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Definición

La definición del terrorismo ha sido controversial. Varios sistemas legales y agencias de gobierno utilizan diferentes definiciones en su legislación nacional. Además, la comunidad internacional ha sido lento en formular una definición legal de este crimen. Estas dificultades surgen del hecho que el termino "terrorismo" está cargado, políticamente y emocionalmente.<ref name="Hoffman-1998-p32">Hoffman (1998), p. 32,ver Inside Terrorism.</ref> En respecto a esto, Angus Martyn, frente al parlamento australiano, dijo que "la comunidad internacional nunca ha podido desarrollar una definición comprehensiva aceptada del terrorismo. Duranto los años 70 y 80, las Naciones Unidas intentó definir el termino pero falló principalmente por las diferencias de opinión entre varios miembros sobre el uso de la violencia en el contexto de conflictos sobre liberación nacional y autodeterminación."<ref>Martyn (2002)</ref> Estas divergencias lo ha hecho imposible para que las Naciones Unidas concluye una definición del terrorismo en la ley criminal.<ref>Diaz-Paniagua (2008), p. 47.</ref> Sin embargo, la comunidad internacional ha adoptada una serie de convenciones que definen y criminalizan a varios tipos de actividades terroristas. Además, desde 1994, la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas ha condenada en ocasiones repetidas a actos terroristas utilizando la descripción política del terrorismo: "Actos criminales con la intención o cálculo de provocar un estado de terror entre el público general, un grupo de personas o personas particulares por motivos políticos son en toda circunstancia sin justificación, sin respecto a las condieraciones políticas, filosóficas, ideológicas, raciales, étnicos, o de otro tipo que podría ser utilizado para justificarlos."<ref>1994 United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism annex to UN General Assembly resolution 49/60 ,"Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism," del 9 de diciembre, 1994, UN Doc. A/Res/60/49.</ref>

Bruce Hoffman, a well-known scholar, has noted that:

Nonetheless, Hoffman himself believes it is possible to identify some key characteristics of terrorism. He proposes that:

A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies, underlines the psychological and tactical aspects of terrorism:

Walter Laqueur, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that "the only general characteristic of terrorism generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence".Plantilla:Citation needed This criterion alone does not produce, however, a useful definition, since it includes many violent acts not usually considered terrorism: war, riot, organized crime, or even a simple assault.Plantilla:Citation needed Property destruction that does not endanger life is not usually considered a violent crime,Plantilla:Whom? but some have described property destruction by the Earth Liberation Front<ref name=tws11jangjh>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> and Animal Liberation Front<ref name=tws11jan4132>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> as violence and terrorism; see eco-terrorism.

Terrorist attacks are usually carried out in such a way as to maximize the severity and length of the psychological impact.<ref name=tws11janjlk>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Each act of terrorism is a “performance” devised to have an impact on many large audiences. Terrorists also attack national symbols,<ref name=tws11janbgfv>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> to show power and to attempt to shake the foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This may negatively affect a government, while increasing the prestige of the given terrorist organization and/or ideology behind a terrorist act.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref>

Terrorist acts frequently have a political purpose.<ref name=tws11janwq32>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Terrorism is a political tactic, like letter-writing or protesting, which is used by activists when they believe that no other means will effect the kind of change they desire.Plantilla:Whom? The change is desired so badly that failure to achieve change is seen as a worse outcome than the deaths of civilians.Plantilla:Citation needed This is often where the inter-relationship between terrorism and religion occurs. When a political struggle is integrated into the framework of a religious or "cosmic"<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref> struggle, such as over the control of an ancestral homeland or holy site such as Israel and Jerusalem, failing in the political goal (nationalism) becomes equated with spiritual failure, which, for the highly committed, is worse than their own death or the deaths of innocent civilians.<ref name=tws11jang555>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

Very often, the victims of terrorism are targeted not because they are threats, but because they are specific "symbols, tools, animals or corrupt beings"Plantilla:Citation needed that tie into a specific view of the world that the terrorists possess. Their suffering accomplishes the terrorists' goals of instilling fear, getting their message out to an audience or otherwise satisfying the demands of their often radical religious and political agendas.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref>

Some official, governmental definitions of terrorism use the criterion of the illegitimacy or unlawfulness of the act.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>Plantilla:Better source to distinguish between actions authorized by a government (and thus "lawful") and those of other actors, including individuals and small groups. Using this criterion, actions that would otherwise qualify as terrorism would not be considered terrorism if they were government sanctioned.Plantilla:Citation needed For example, firebombing a city, which is designed to affect civilian support for a cause, would not be considered terrorism if it were authorized by a government.Plantilla:Or This criterion is inherently problematic and is not universally accepted,Plantilla:Attribution needed because: it denies the existence of state terrorism;<ref name=tws11jan6yu>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> the same act may or may not be classed as terrorism depending on whether its sponsorship is traced to a "legitimate" government; "legitimacy" and "lawfulness" are subjective, depending on the perspective of one government or another; and it diverges from the historically accepted meaning and origin of the term.<ref>Plantilla:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Among the various definitions there are several that do not recognize the possibility of legitimate use of violence by civilians against an invader in an occupied country.Plantilla:Citation needed Other definitions would label as terrorist groups only the resistance movements that oppose an invader with violent acts that undiscriminately kill or harm civilians and non-combatants, thus making a distinction between lawful and unlawful use of violence.Plantilla:Citation needed According to Ali Khan, the distinction lies ultimatedly in a political judgment.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Pejorative use

The terms "terrorism" and "terrorist" (someone who engages in terrorism) carry strong negative connotations.<ref name=tws11jangkll>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> These terms are often used as political labels, to condemn violence or the threat of violence by certain actors as immoral, indiscriminate, unjustified or to condemn an entire segment of a population.<ref>B'Tselem Head of ISA defines a terrorist as any Palestinian killed by Israel.</ref> Those labeled "terrorists" by their opponents rarely identify themselves as such, and typically use other terms or terms specific to their situation, such as separatist, freedom fighter, liberator, revolutionary, vigilante, militant, paramilitary, guerrilla, rebel, patriot, or any similar-meaning word in other languages and cultures. Jihadi, mujaheddin, and fedayeen are similar Arabic words which have entered the English lexicon. It is common for both parties to a conflict to describe each other as terrorists.<ref name=tws11janbcvc>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

On the question of whether particular terrorist acts, such as killing civilians, can be justified as the lesser evil in a particular circumstance, philosophers have expressed different views: while, according to David Rodin, utilitarian philosophers can (in theory) conceive of cases in which the evil of terrorism is outweighed by the good which could not be achieved in a less morally costly way, in practice the "harmful effects of undermining the convention of non-combatant immunity is thought to outweigh the goods that may be achieved by particular acts of terrorism".<ref name="Robin">Rodin, David (2006). Terrorism. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge.</ref> Among the non-utilitarian philosophers, Michael Walzer argued that terrorism can be morally justified in only one specific case: when "a nation or community faces the extreme threat of complete destruction and the only way it can preserve itself is by intentionally targeting non-combatants, then it is morally entitled to do so".<ref name="Robin"/><ref name=tws11jannmllk>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

In his book Inside Terrorism Bruce Hoffman offered an explanation of why the term terrorism becomes distorted: Plantilla:Cquote

The pejorative connotations of the word can be summed up in the aphorism, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".<ref name=tws11janbcvc/> This is exemplified when a group using irregular military methods is an ally of a state against a mutual enemy, but later falls out with the state and starts to use those methods against its former ally. During World War II, the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army was allied with the British, but during the Malayan Emergency, members of its successor (the Malayan Races Liberation Army), were branded "terrorists" by the British.<ref>Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army Britannica Concise.</ref><ref>Dr Chris Clark Plantilla:Cite web, 16 June 2003.</ref> More recently, Ronald Reagan and others in the American administration frequently called the Afghan Mujahideen "freedom fighters" during their war against the Soviet Union,<ref>Ronald Reagan, speech to National Conservative Political Action Conference 8 March 1985. On the Spartacus Educational web site.</ref> yet twenty years later, when a new generation of Afghan men are fighting against what they perceive to be a regime installed by foreign powers, their attacks are labelled "terrorism" by George W. Bush.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>President Discusses Progress in War on Terrorism to National Guard White House web site February 9, 2006.</ref> Groups accused of terrorism understandably prefer terms reflecting legitimate military or ideological action.<ref>Sudha Ramachandran Death behind the wheel in Iraq Asian Times, November 12, 2004, "Insurgent groups that use suicide attacks therefore do not like their attacks to be described as suicide terrorism. They prefer to use terms like "martyrdom ..."</ref><ref>Alex Perry How Much to Tip the Terrorist? Time Magazine, September 26, 2005. "The Tamil Tigers would dispute that tag, of course. Like other guerrillas and suicide bombers, they prefer the term “freedom fighters.”</ref><ref name="TCCACR">Terrorism: concepts, causes, and conflict resolution George Mason University Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Printed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, January 2003.</ref> Leading terrorism researcher Professor Martin Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University, defines "terrorist acts" as attacks against civilians for political or other ideological goals, and said: Plantilla:Cquote

Some groups, when involved in a "liberation" struggle, have been called "terrorists" by the Western governments or media. Later, these same persons, as leaders of the liberated nations, are called "statesmen" by similar organizations. Two examples of this phenomenon are the Nobel Peace Prize laureates Menachem Begin and Nelson Mandela.<ref>Theodore P. Seto The Morality of Terrorism Includes a list in the Times published on July 23, 1946 which were described as Jewish terrorist actions, including those launched by Irgun which Begin was a leading member.</ref><ref>BBC News: Profiles: Menachem Begin BBC website "Under Begin's command, the underground terrorist group Irgun carried out numerous acts of violence."</ref><ref>Eqbal Ahmad "Straight talk on terrorism" Monthly Review, January, 2002. "including Menachem Begin, appearing in "Wanted" posters saying, "Terrorists, reward this much." The highest reward I have seen offered was 100,000 British pounds for the head of Menachem Begin".</ref><ref>Lord Desai Hansard, House of Lords 3 September 1998 : Column 72, "However, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela and Menachem Begin — to give just three examples — were all denounced as terrorists but all proved to be successful political leaders of their countries and good friends of the United Kingdom."</ref><ref>BBC NEWS:World: Americas: UN reforms receive mixed response BBC website "Of all groups active in recent times, the ANC perhaps represents best the traditional dichotomous view of armed struggle. Once regarded by western governments as a terrorist group, it now forms the legitimate, elected government of South Africa, with Nelson Mandela one of the world's genuinely iconic figures."</ref><ref>BBC NEWS: World: Africa: Profile: Nelson Mandela BBC website "Nelson Mandela remains one of the world's most revered statesman".</ref>

Sometimes states which are close allies, for reasons of history, culture and politics, can disagree over whether or not members of a certain organization are terrorists. For instance, for many years, some branches of the United States government refused to label members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as terrorists while the IRA was using methods against one of the United States' closest allies (Britain) which Britain branded as terrorism. This was highlighted by the Quinn v. Robinson case.<ref>Quinn v. Robinson (pdf), 783 F2d. 776 (9th Cir. 1986)(PDF), web site of the Syracuse University College of Law.</ref><ref>Page 17, Northern Ireland: TP , T , S 11 (PDF) Queen's University Belfast School of Law.</ref>

For these and other reasons, media outlets wishing to preserve a reputation for impartiality try to be careful in their use of the term.<ref name="GUSG">Plantilla:Cite news</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

Types of Terrorism

In early 1975, the Law Enforcement Assistant Administration in the United States formed the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. One of the five volumes that the committee wrote was entitled Disorders and Terrorism, produced by the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism under the direction of H.H.A. Cooper, Director of the Task Force staff.<ref>Disorders and Terrorism, National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (Washington D.C.:1976).</ref> The Task Force classified terrorism into six categories.

• Civil disorder – A form of collective violence interfering with the peace, security, and normal functioning of the community.
• Political terrorism – Violent criminal behavior designed primarily to generate fear in the community, or substantial segment of it, for political purposes.
• Non-Political terrorism – Terrorism that is not aimed at political purposes but which exhibits “conscious design to create and maintain a high degree of fear for coercive purposes, but the end is individual or collective gain rather than the achievement of a political objective.”
• Quasi-terrorism – The activities incidental to the commission of crimes of violence that are similar in form and method to genuine terrorism but which nevertheless lack its essential ingredient. It is not the main purpose of the quasi-terrorists to induce terror in the immediate victim as in the case of genuine terrorism, but the quasi-terrorist uses the modalities and techniques of the genuine terrorist and produces similar consequences and reaction.<ref name=tws11janvccx>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> For example, the fleeing felon who takes hostages is a quasi-terrorist, whose methods are similar to those of the genuine terrorist but whose purposes are quite different.
• Limited political terrorism – Genuine political terrorism is characterized by a revolutionary approach; limited political terrorism refers to “acts of terrorism which are committed for ideological or political motives but which are not part of a concerted campaign to capture control of the state.
• Official or state terrorism –"referring to nations whose rule is based upon fear and oppression that reach similar to terrorism or such proportions.” It may also be referred to as Structural Terrorism defined broadly as terrorist acts carried out by governments in pursuit of political objectives, often as part of their foreign policy.

Several sources<ref>Hudson, Rex A. Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why: The 1999 Government Report on Profiling Terrorists, Federal Research Division, The Lyons Press, 2002.</ref><ref>Barry Scheider, Jim Davis, Avoiding the abyss: progress, shortfalls and the way ahaed in combatting the WMD threat, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2009 p. 60.</ref> have further defined the typology of terrorism:

• Political terrorism
  • Sub-state terrorism
    • Social revolutionary terrorism
    • Nationalist-separatist terrorism
    • Religious extremist terrorism
      • Religious fundamentalist Terrorism
      • New religions terrorism
    • Right-wing terrorism
    • Left-wing terrorism
    • Single-issue terrorism
  • State-sponsored terrorism
  • Regime or state terrorism
• Criminal terrorism
• Pathological terrorism

Democracy and domestic terrorism

The relationship between domestic terrorism and democracy is very complex. Terrorism is most common in nations with intermediate political freedom, and is least common in the most democratic nations.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref><ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref> However, one study suggests that suicide terrorism may be an exception to this general rule. Evidence regarding this particular method of terrorism reveals that every modern suicide campaign has targeted a democracy–a state with a considerable degree of political freedom.<ref name=tws11janbhhj>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> The study suggests that concessions awarded to terrorists during the 1980s and 1990s for suicide attacks increased their frequency.<ref>Pape, Robert A. "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," American Political Science Review, 2003. 97 (3): pp. 1–19.</ref>

Some examples of "terrorism" in non-democracies include ETA in Spain under Francisco Franco,<ref name=tws11janfjlk>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> the Shining Path in Peru under Alberto Fujimori,<ref name=tws11janaawsw>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> the Kurdistan Workers Party when Turkey was ruled by military leaders and the ANC in South Africa.<ref name=tws11jangvdf>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Democracies, such as the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, have also experienced domestic terrorism.

While a democratic nation espousing civil liberties may claim a sense of higher moral ground than other regimes, an act of terrorism within such a state may cause a dilemma: whether to maintain its civil liberties and thus risk being perceived as ineffective in dealing with the problem; or alternatively to restrict its civil liberties and thus risk delegitimizing its claim of supporting civil liberties.<ref name=tws11janetrr>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> This dilemma, some social theorists would conclude, may very well play into the initial plans of the acting terrorist(s); namely, to delegitimize the state.<ref>shabad, goldie and francisco jose llera ramo. "Political Violence in a Democratic State," Terrorism in Context. Ed. Martha Crenshaw. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1995. pp. 467.</ref>

Religious terrorism

Plantilla:Main Religious terrorism is terrorism performed by groups or individuals, the motivation of which is typically rooted in the faith based tenets. Terrorist acts throughout the centuries have been performed on religious grounds with the hope to either spread or enforce a system of belief, viewpoint or opinion.<ref name=tws11jan>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Religious terrorism does not in itself necessarily define a specific religious standpoint or view, but instead usually defines an individual or a group view or interpretation of that belief system's teachings.

Perpetrators

The perpetrators of acts of terrorism can be individuals, groups, or states. According to some definitions, clandestine or semi-clandestine state actors may also carry out terrorist acts outside the framework of a state of war. However, the most common image of terrorism is that it is carried out by small and secretive cells, highly motivated to serve a particular cause and many of the most deadly operations in recent times, such as the September 11 attacks, the London underground bombing, and the 2002 Bali bombing were planned and carried out by a close clique, composed of close friends, family members and other strong social networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of information and efficient telecommunications to succeed where others had failed.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref>

Over the years, many people have attempted to come up with a terrorist profile to attempt to explain these individuals' actions through their psychology and social circumstances. Others, like Roderick Hindery, have sought to discern profiles in the propaganda tactics used by terrorists. Some security organizations designate these groups as violent non-state actors.<ref name=williams_isn>Plantilla:Cite web</ref> A 2007 study by economist Alan B. Krueger found that terrorists were less likely to come from an impoverished background (28% vs. 33%) and more likely to have at least a high-school education (47% vs. 38%). Another analysis foubnd only 16% or terrorists came from impoverished families, vs. 30% of male Palestinians, and over 60% had gone beyond high school, vs. 15% of the populace.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book citing Alan B. Krueger, What Makes a Terrorist (Princeton University Press 2007); Claude Berrebi, "Evidence About the Link Between Education, Poverty, and Terrorism among Palestinians," Princeton University Industrial Relations Section Working paper, 2003 and Krueger and Jita Maleckova, "Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 17 no. 4 (Fall 2003 / 63.</ref>

To avoid detection, a terrorist will look, dress, and behave normally until executing the assigned mission. Some claim that attempts to profile terrorists based on personality, physical, or sociological traits are not useful.<ref name=tws11janhfgf>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> The physical and behavioral description of the terrorist could describe almost any normal person.<ref name="Library of Congress">Library of Congress – Federal Research Division The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism.</ref> However, the majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by military age men, aged 16–40.<ref name="Library of Congress"/>

Terrorist groups

Archivo:Daschle letter FBI.jpg.png

There is speculation that anthrax mailed inside letters to U.S. politicians was the work of a lone wolf terrorist.

State sponsors

Plantilla:Main A state can sponsor terrorism by funding or harboring a terrorist organization. Opinions as to which acts of violence by states consist of state-sponsored terrorism vary widely. When states provide funding for groups considered by some to be terrorist, they rarely acknowledge them as such.

State terrorism

As with "terrorism" the concept of "state terrorism" is controversial.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref> The Chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee has stated that the Committee was conscious of 12 international Conventions on the subject, and none of them referred to State terrorism, which was not an international legal concept. If States abused their power, they should be judged against international conventions dealing with war crimes, international human rights and international humanitarian law.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref> Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that it is "time to set aside debates on so-called 'state terrorism'. The use of force by states is already thoroughly regulated under international law"<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref> However, he also made clear that, "regardless of the differences between governments on the question of definition of terrorism, what is clear and what we can all agree on is any deliberate attack on innocent civilians, regardless of one's cause, is unacceptable and fits into the definition of terrorism."<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

State terrorism has been used to refer to terrorist acts by governmental agents or forces. This involves the use of state resources employed by a state's foreign policies, such as using its military to directly perform acts of terrorism. Professor of Political Science Michael Stohl cites the examples that include Germany’s bombing of London and the U.S. atomic destruction of Hiroshima during World War II. He argues that “the use of terror tactics is common in international relations and the state has been and remains a more likely employer of terrorism within the international system than insurgents." They also cite the First strike option as an example of the "terror of coercive diplomacy" as a form of this, which holds the world hostage with the implied threat of using nuclear weapons in "crisis management." They argue that the institutionalized form of terrorism has occurred as a result of changes that took place following World War II. In this analysis, state terrorism exhibited as a form of foreign policy was shaped by the presence and use of weapons of mass destruction, and that the legitimizing of such violent behavior led to an increasingly accepted form of this state behavior.<ref name=tws11jangbhh>Plantilla:Cite news</ref><ref name=tws11jangbhhss>Plantilla:Cite news</ref><ref name=tws11jangbhhss>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-808-1238-05, Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Picture of a man in a suit with a mustache who looks like Hitler speaking behind a microphone.| Some theorists suggest genocide or democide is a type of terrorism as committed by Adolf Hitler. State terrorism has also been used to describe peacetime actions by governmental agents such as the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.<ref name=tws11janreqw>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> Charles Stewart Parnell described William Ewart Gladstone's Irish Coercion Act as terrorism in his "no-Rent manifesto" in 1881, during the Irish Land War.<ref>Plantilla:Cite news</ref> The concept is also used to describe political repressions by governments against their own civilian population with the purpose to incite fear. For example, taking and executing civilian hostages or extrajudicial elimination campaigns are commonly considered "terror" or terrorism, for example during the Red Terror or Great Terror.<ref name="Black">Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Courtois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, 1999, hardcover, 858 pages, ISBN 0-674-07608-7</ref> Such actions are often also described as democide or genocide which has been argued to be equivalent to state terrorism.<ref name=Kisangani2007>Plantilla:Cite journal</ref> Empirical studies on this have found that democracies have little democide.<ref>Death by Government By R.J. Rummel New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1994. Online links: [1][2][3]</ref><ref>No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust?Plantilla:Dead link, Barbara Harff, 2003.</ref>

Funding

State sponsors have constituted a major form of funding; for example, PLO, DFLP and some other terrorist groups were funded by the Soviet Union.<ref name=ncua/><ref name=tws11jan4r67>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

"Revolutionary tax" is another major form of funding, and essentially a euphemism for "protection money".<ref name=ncua>Detection of Terrorist Financing, U.S. National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), 2002.</ref> Revolutionary taxes are typically extorted from businesses, and they also "play a secondary role as one other means of intimidating the target population".<ref name=ncua/>

Other major sources of funding include kidnapping for ransoms, smuggling, fraud and robbery.<ref name=ncua/>

Tactics

Plantilla:Main [[File:WallStexplosion1920.jpg|thumb|right|alt=People in suits look on at bodies covered with tarps.|The Wall Street bombing at noon on September 16, 1920 killed thirty-eight people and injured several hundred. The perpetrators were never caught.]] Terrorism is a form of asymmetric warfare, and is more common when direct conventional warfare won't be effective because forces vary greatly in power.<ref name=tws11jan1q21q>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

The context in which terrorist tactics are used is often a large-scale, unresolved political conflict. The type of conflict varies widely; historical examples include:

• Secession of a territory to form a new sovereign state
• Dominance of territory or resources by various ethnic groups
• Imposition of a particular form of government
• Economic deprivation of a population
• Opposition to a domestic government or occupying army
• Religious fanaticism

Terrorist attacks are often targeted to maximize fear and publicity, usually using explosives or poison.<ref>Suicide bombings are the most effective terrorist act in this regard. See the following works:

• Plantilla:Cite news
• Plantilla:Cite journal
• Plantilla:Cite book

Cited in Plantilla:Cite book</ref> There is concern about terrorist attacks employing weapons of mass destruction. Terrorist organizations usually methodically plan attacks in advance, and may train participants, plant undercover agents, and raise money from supporters or through organized crime. Communication may occur through modern telecommunications, or through old-fashioned methods such as couriers.

Responses

Plantilla:Main Responses to terrorism are broad in scope. They can include re-alignments of the political spectrum and reassessments of fundamental values. The term counter-terrorism has a narrower connotation, implying that it is directed at terrorist actors.

Specific types of responses include:

• Targeted laws, criminal procedures, deportations, and enhanced police powers
• Target hardening, such as locking doors or adding traffic barriers
• Preemptive or reactive military action
• Increased intelligence and surveillance activities
• Preemptive humanitarian activities
• More permissive interrogation and detention policies

Mass media

Media exposure may be a primary goal of those carrying out terrorism, to expose issues that would otherwise be ignored by the media. Some consider this to be manipulation and exploitation of the media.<ref>The Media and Terrorism: A Reassessment Paul Wilkinson. Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol.9, No.2 (Summer 1997), pp.51–64 Published by Frank Cass, London.</ref> Others consider terrorism itself to be a symptom of a highly controlled mass media, which does not otherwise give voice to alternative viewpoints, a view expressed by Paul Watson who has stated that controlled media is responsible for terrorism, because "you cannot get your information across any other way". Paul Watson's organization Sea Shepherd has itself been branded "eco-terrorist", although it claims to have not caused any casualties.

The internet has created a new channel for groups to spread their messages. This has created a cycle of measures and counter measures by groups in support of and in opposition to terrorist movements. The United Nations has created its own online counter-terrorism resource.<ref>Plantilla:Cite web</ref>

The mass media will, on occasion, censor organizations involved in terrorism (through self-restraint or regulation) to discourage further terrorism. However, this may encourage organizations to perform more extreme acts of terrorism to be shown in the mass media. Conversely James F. Pastor explains the significant relationship between terrorism and the media, and the underlying benefit each receives from the other.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref>

Plantilla:Epigraph

History

Archivo:Number of terrorist incidents 2009.png

Number of terrorist incidents 2009 (January–June)

The term "terrorism" was originally used to describe the actions of the Jacobin Club during the "Reign of Terror" in the French Revolution. "Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible," said Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre. In 1795, Edmund Burke denounced the Jacobins for letting "thousands of those hell-hounds called Terrorists...loose on the people" of France.<ref name=tws11jan14432>Plantilla:Cite news</ref>

In January 1858, Italian patriot Felice Orsini threw three bombs in an attempt to assassinate French Emperor Napoleon III.<ref name="Crenshaw38">Crenshaw, Martha, Terrorism in Context, p. 38.</ref> Eight bystanders were killed and 142 injured.<ref name="Crenshaw38"/> The incident played a crucial role as an inspiration for the development of the early Russian terrorist groups.<ref name="Crenshaw38"/> Russian Sergey Nechayev, who founded People's Retribution in 1869, described himself as a "terrorist", an early example of the term being employed in its modern meaning.<ref name="Crenshaw77"/> Nechayev's story is told in fictionalized form by Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel The Possessed. German anarchist writer Johann Most dispensed "advice for terrorists" in the 1880s.<ref name="Crenshaw44">Crenshaw, p. 44.</ref>

See also

• Aircraft hijacking
• Airport security
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
• Christian Terrorism
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• Communist terrorism
• Counter-terrorism
• Crimes against humanity
• Cyber-terrorism
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Domestic terrorism in the United States
• Eco-terrorism
• Extremism
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
• Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
• Hijacking
• Hindu terrorism
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
• Insurgency

• International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)
• Islamic Terrorism
• Jewish Terrorism
• List of designated terrorist organizations
• List of terrorist incidents
• Narcoterrorism
• Patriot Act
• PDD-62
• Propaganda by deed
• S.W.A.T
• Special forces
• Strategy of tension
• Suicide attack
• Terrorism Information Awareness Program
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• Unconventional warfare
• United States Secret Service
• VNSA
• War on Terrorism

State terrorism:

• Pakistani state terrorism
• State terrorism by Iran
• State terrorism and Russia
• State terrorism and the United States

References

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External links

UN conventions

• United Nations:Conventions on Terrorism
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: Plantilla:Cite web "There are 12 major multilateral conventions and protocols related to states' responsibilities for combating terrorism. But many states are not yet party to these legal instruments, or are not yet implementing them."
• UNODC – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – Terrorism Prevention

Terrorism and international humanitarian law

• Terrorism and international humanitarian law, International Committee of the Red Cross

News monitoring websites specializing on articles on terrorism

• Insurgency Research Group – Multi-expert blog dedicated to the study of terrorism, insurgency and the development of counter-insurgency policy.
• A reliable and daily updated Open Sources Center that includes a "Terrorism" section. by ISRIA.
• Jihad Monitor
• Combating Terrorism Center at Westpoint