On the morning of March 20th 1995 a terrorist group used unconventional tactics to attack a civilian population in a clandestine attempt to overthrow a world superpower. Both the method and the goal of the radical group appeared out of character from what the world had seen previously from extremists but a result that did open they eyes of many governments is a self-reflection that we as a society were not prepared for the evils that lie in wait. By using John Parachini risk assessment perspective on chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) weapons of mass destruction a government can become proactive and have the ability to plan, prepare, and respond when just a type event happens on their soil. The agenda attempted by the terrorist group did not come to fruition due to their inability but it did expose the Japanese government’s failure to identify an active terrorist group operating inside its boarders and a massive disappointment for not successfully responding to its citizens in the midst of the attack.
The 1995 subway attacks in Tokyo, Japan were perpetrated by the religious group calling themselves Aum Shinrikyo, meaning Supreme Truth, in an attempt to destroy the Japanese government leaving a vacuum for them to assume leadership of the country (Parachini, 2003). The Aum Shinrikyo leader, Shoko Asahara, envisioned that planet was about to enter a third world war that was fought super weapons such as nuclear and chemical weapons opposed to the use of the standardized weaponry of guns and bombs. Aum Shinrikyo network at its height had a following of 30,000 spread throughout Japan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Australia. Australian intelligence agencies reported in 1994 that a raid on a rural ranch ...
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...wer can be granted to carry out this mission but it is an end all belief by Parachini that guarantees a government is committed to saving the lives of its citizens.
The horrific events of March 20th 1995 will forever haunt the nation of Japan much as September 11th 2001 is an eternal moment for Americans. Many similarities can be made of both attacks as they were meant to destabilize each respective government. Both attempts failed and both encouraged and empower each country to become proactive about dealing with terrorist organizations and a realization on how to respond when it happens again. By understanding risk assessments that include all the capabilities of a nation’s enemy, foreign and domestic, and hardening those vulnerabilities coupled with policies, with teeth, we as a society are taking corrective measures to deal with true adversaries of the state.
This paper will discuss similarities between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor that describe the Presidential responses to the attacks, as well as investigate the roles that class, culture, religion, and nations of superiority played in these attacks on the United States.
From 100 CE to 600 CE the Chinese had many cultural and political life changes and continuities. A political change was in the end of the Classical Chinese period when the Han Dynasty fell. A cultural change during 100 CE to 600 CE was the paper invention that led to passing down cultural rituals. Not only were there changes but there was also continuities in the Chinese political and cultural life. An example of a cultural continuity is the increasing power of Buddhism. A political continuity is the ruler of the Chinese wanting the people to be protected with for instance The Great Wall of China.
ABSTRACT: Terrorists were very active long before September 11. This essay reviews the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the March 1995 gas attack in the Tokyo subway. The results of these terrorist acts, who carried them out, how they were carried out, and what can be done in the future to prevent such incidents from happening again are all investigated.
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
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.
It was no secret that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, countless Americans were frightened on what will happen next. The attack transpiring during WW2 only added to the hysteria of American citizens. According to the article “Betrayed by America” it expressed,”After the bombing many members of the public and media began calling for anyone of Japanese ancestry။citizens or not။to be removed from the West Coast.”(7) The corroboration supports the reason why America interned Japanese-Americans because it talks about Americans wanting to remove Japanese-Americans from the West Coast due to Japan bombing America. Japan bombing America led to Americans grow fear and hysteria. Fear due to the recent attack caused internment because Americans were afraid of what people with Japanese ancestry could do. In order to cease the hysteria, America turned to internment. American logic tells us that by getting the Japanese-Americans interned, many
“For more than 50 years, the alliance between Japan and the United States has been the cornerstone of security in the Asia Pacific region” (Clinton, 2011). In its fiftieth anniversary, the alliance faced a tumultuous year, but appears to have recovered following North Korea’s shelling of Yeonyeong Island, the arrest of a Chinese captain following a collision with a Japanese Coast Guard ship, and the collective joint effort after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 dubbed Operation Tomodachi. These events have reinforced the notion that mutual regional and global interests will help ensure the alliance remains strong. However, the strategic environment of the Asia-Pacific region has and continues to change, and the alliance will have to learn to adapt quickly to the new environment.
INTRODUCTION : a brief overview of the current situation regarding the security issue in the Pacific region
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.
One of, if not the most influential part, of allowing the bombs to drop is because of the mentality of the Japanese military and the pull they had in politics. As Maddox stated, “[t]he army, not the Foreign Office controlled the situation” (Maddox, pg. 286). Although Japan had an influential leader in regards to their emperor, the military wanted to and would have engag...
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.
As Berger composes his essay, he argues against things that everyone is told are wrong. However, he is one of the few who actually make the connection between the Hiroshima attack and terrorism. His argument is utterly flawless. He defines terrorism and then points out every aspect of this definition in the Hiroshima bombing. From the lack of necessity to the loss of thousands of innocent lives, the Hiroshima incident represents the model terrorist attack.
The debate over Japan’s potential instigation of World War II raged on as intensely as the aggressive policies of Japan in question. Both teams engaged in total warfare, utilizing statistics, harsh interrogations through cross-examinations, and all other weapons available to them, in order to defend their grounds from attack. But while some arguments had proven to be successfully devastating, several others had been misused, misinterpreted, or simply unstated; specifically, the contentions regarding Japan’s excluded state from global international politics, the trigger of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the rationale behind the attack on Pearl Harbor could have been substantially augmented on both sides.
Reuters. On anniversary of Japanese subway attack, many fear cult resurgence. Retrieved November 18, 2002, from CNN web site: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9903/20/japan.cult/index.html