WHICH GROUPS POSE AN URBAN TERRORIST THREAT
There is not one particular group that poses an urban terrorist threat as long as the spread of the message is the only goal of the movement. Many organizations wish to gain the understanding of “outsider Americans” and try to reach as many sympathizers as possible for their movement. The problem arises when an organization seeks to gain understanding or recognition through force. An organization becomes an actual threat when they start to build up arms, purchase biological or chemical weapon supplies, or cast threats to surrounding areas. The most dangerous type of organization, which poses the greatest urban terrorist threat, is the radical doomsday organization.
The Branch Dividian compound was an example of a doomsday organization that was building up arms for an attack in 1993. Branch Davidians believed that they are God’s chosen people and were preparing for the end of the world (John Mann). Although David Koresh, along with his organization, had not began to attack outside of its Waco Compound in Texas; the buildup of arms demonstrated the threat. The right action was taken to control group, although many have complained about the result of the government’s movement.
During 1995 the Japanese experienced what could happen if a doomsday organization practices extreme measures to gain the audience of its fellow citizens. Members of the Aum Supreme Truth (Aum Shinrikyo) dropped sarin gas in the tunnels of a Tokyo subway system in March of 1995 killing 12 and injuring up to 6,000 more. The group’s leader Shoko Asahara (AKA Chizuo Matsumoto) was trying to forcefully fulfill his own prophecies in order to gain the attention of the people (Kaplan, 12). The same type of ill-fated incident could have been planned and executed by the Branch Davidians had they been allowed to continue to operate, and probably one day build a biological or chemical weapon of mass destruction.
Timothy McVeigh was said to have been acting out of revenge for the Waco Compound seizure and attack by bombing the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City exactly 2 years later on April 19, 1995. There is little evidence that McVeigh was a member of any organization, and had only attended a few militia meetings (Grosscup, 117). The fact that the doomsday organization was preparing for the end of the world could very well have lead them to take an offensive action, just like McVeighs’, to facilitate their goals.
The Oklahoma City Bombing was a domestic terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 19, 1995. It was led by Timothy McVeigh, an Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War. The explosive was a homemade bomb which was built by McVeigh and the help of Terry Nichols; the bomb consisted of a deadly cocktail and was put inside a rented Ryder truck in front of the Murrah Federal Building. McVeigh then proceeded out of the truck and headed towards his getaway car a few blocks away. He then started the detonation of the timed bomb at exactly 9:02 A.M. then the bomb exploded.
A review of Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City reveal that McVeigh grew up the All-American boy, who grew increasingly dissatisfied with the level of governmental control of individual’s freedoms and constitutional rights specifically the Second Amendment which afforded citizens the right to bear arms. A known gun collector and survivalist, McVeigh taking direction from the novel “The Turner Diaries” grew more paranoid in his perception of the government’s stance on gun control and the anti-semitic views expressed by the novel’s neo-Nazi author William Pierce who wrote of race wars and the bombing of a federal building. (BIO).
In his final days, Timothy McVeigh sounded that alarm. He spoke of Ruby Ridge and he spoke of Waco and of how, all around him, he saw the government beating down the very people it was created to serve. He could take no more of this abuse, but what can one man hope to do against the behemoth that our government has become? And so, on April 19th, 1995, he drove up to a federal institution with a massive bomb, and the rest, skewed though it may be, is history.
While terrorism—that is, violence or the threat of violence aimed intentionally at civilians—has been employed since time immemorial as a means of securing political goals, the 1960s ushered in an entirely new form of political violence. Motivated by thinkers like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this new breed of terrorism struggled in vain to halt the vehicle of Capitalism: as it was steered by the opulent and sustained through exploitation of a bloodied working class. Significant amongst likeminded New Left groups was the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), which conducted a series of bombings in protest against perceived American injustice. This expression of hostility by student activists, albeit far from a true revolutionary movement, stands out as one of the only so-called "terrorist movements" to consistently attack and antagonize on American soil.
The Branch Davidians were a religious group who were based in Waco Texas. They got many reports that they had violated to firearms regulations, which led for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to got information that they were engaged that the Branch Davidians were stockpiling and holding machine gun, they were illegally doing this so then the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms get involved with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. On february 28 1993 the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms got an arrest warrant for David Koresh; who was one of the current leader of the Branch Davidians at the time. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also got a search warrant for the Mount Carmel compound outside of Waco Texas, as they wanted to search the compound to find the illegal weapons they were holding to be able to arrest the whole Branch Davidian group.
On April 19, 1993, the fifty-one day standoff between the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and U.S. government law enforcement agencies ended in a tragic fire, leaving David Koresh and eighty of his followers dead (PBS). That final confrontation between the FBI and the Branch Davidians has sparked debate over the government's responsibility to oversee the actions of its agencies and to uphold the rights of its citizens, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms.
America has seen a rise in terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001. Preceding these attacks by Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida an ostensibly new threat emerged on American soil. However, this apparent growing new threat of terrorism to America has been active for decades and is known as the Lone Wolf terrorist. Mark S. Hamm and Ramon Spaaj have indicated and disclosed in their research that the lone wolf terrorist has been active in 98 cases in America between 1940-2013. In their 2015 grant report after further examinations were concluded; the definition of lone wolf terrorism needs to include the following: Lone wolf terrorism is political violence perpetrated by individuals who act alone; who do not belong to an organized terrorist group Ted Kaczynski also known as the Una Bomber, lived deep in a Montana forest, secluded from society and shunned it.
Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...
He ordered his cohorts to attack the village in which the judges of the case lived, producing over 150 casualties. After this attack, the local police launched another investigation, but again were unable to tie anything to the cult due to most of the evidence being circumstantial. Having never dealt with domestic terrorism, the Japanese police force attributed the sickness to WWII munitions found locally around the village. In the coming years police continued to compile intelligence on the Aum Shinrikyo group. With the police conducting more and more investigations into the cult activity, Asahara began to plan his ultimate attack. During an earlier investigation, the police were able to obtain information about chemicals being stored at the house of one of the less educated members. This proved to be reason for alarm for Asahara. In early 1995, he had gotten word that the police were planning a raid on the Aum Shinrikyo compound. This is when he began to plot his largest attack, the Sarin subway attack of
There have been many horrible crimes that have been committed by suspected members of certain cults. There have been crime cases such as , murder, kidnapping, assault, and sexual-assault. It has also been reported that there have been terrorist attacks leading to certain cults that made death threats in the past. In the days following the subway gas attack on March 20, 1995, as suspicion fell on the Aum, most people outside of Japan learned for the first time of this rather obscure Japanese religious sect. To most, their criminal actions of March 20th were out of character for a religious group. Yet, a closer review of the Aum's history show that this group's character had a common thread of criminality leading back to almost the date it was legally chartered. They include murder, attempted murder, kidnappings and burglaries. These incidents, most of which only became known to the outside world in the aftermath of the Tokyo attack, have led many to conclude that Japanese authorities should not have been surprised by either the subway attack or its perpetrators.
The members of the aforementioned organizations are primarily peaceful and seek redress via nonviolent means. However, as with any highly charged political issue, the issues that drive these organizations to take to the streets has the potential to attract lone-wolf fringe individuals who may use violence to address perceived injustices. The FBI defines lone wolf attackers as “a single individual driven to hateful attacks based on a particular set of beliefs without a larger group’s knowledge or support” and that “most domestic attacks are carried out by lone offenders to promote their own grievances and agendas”. (FBI, 2009) Furthermore, it is difficult to define, categorize, or pattern such individuals, as they can “run the gamut, from hate-filled
“In the days following the subway gas attack on March 20, 1995, as suspicion fell on the Aum, most people outside of Japan learned for the first time of this rathe...
“I understand what they felt in Oklahoma City. I have no sympathy for them,” a remorseless Timothy McVeigh told a Dan Herbeck, author of American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Timothy McVeigh was a sort of social outcast who found comfort with the idea of many white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and members of the Aryan Nations. He grew up living in the fantasy of comics and fictional literary works. He was enthralled with guns from a very young age, that carried over into adulthood. He flew through the ranks in the army but was rejected by the rangers. After he was rejected he came back and did not fit into society. McVeigh began going to gun shows; at these events he began to talk to these radicals of all kinds, he
Discuss the relationship between terrorist organizations and the raising of, transfer of, and use of funds.?
“The trauma of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., which were quickly interpreted as religious as well as political phenomena, provoked yet another body of studies. On the other hand, general studies of the relationship between religion and violence are rare, and they often appear to be somewhat one-sided...