Aum Shinrikyo
On an ordinary Monday morning in 1995, millions of Tokyo residents on the way to work or school boarded trains on the second busiest subway system in the world. Only five people on the trains that morning knew that the events of March 20th would change the lives of nearly everyone commuting that day. Between 8:00 and 8:10 that morning, a simultaneous attack on five deferent cars, all set to converge on the Kasumigaseki station, a key location where several government ministries are located, killed 12 people, and injured another 5,000. The attacks were carried out by members of a religious doomsday cult known as Aum Shinrikyo (Aum), and consisted of vials of the nerve agent sarin thinly wrapped in newspaper. The five men who carried the packages, eleven in all, placed them on the train’s floors and in overhead compartments, punctured the vials with specially sharpened umbrella tips, and exited at the next stop. The sarin liquid leaked and quickly vaporized, making anyone who was near subject to darkened vision, ocular pain, nausea, miosis, hyperaemia, and nosebleeds (Seto, 2001). On that spring day in Tokyo, Aum succeeded in becoming the first non-state sponsored terrorist group to carry out a large scale indiscriminate chemical attack on a civilian population. The events of March 20th were not unprecedented, however. Aum engaged in various forms of biological and chemical attacks for five years before they attacked the innocent citizens riding the subway in Tokyo, however the signs were ignored and the group was able to continue developing deadly weapons and experimenting with effective delivery methods with remarkably little government and law enforcement suspicion until shortly before the 1995 attack. ...
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...een of particular note since Japan’s military is limited to a small Self Defense Force, and any legitimate need for weapons coming into the country was well documented. MSO operations concentrated on customs enforcement and shipping in and out of the ports of Vladivostok, Russia, and the major shipping ports in Northwest Japan. As it concerns weapons and military equipment import, MSO is not the only effort that could have been useful. Law Enforcement agencies in the United States, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, were well versed on the threat of domestic terrorism. Liaison between American and Japanese law enforcement agencies could have provided crucial insight to local authorities in how to recognize illegal weapons imports and the significance of such an operation.
On June 23, 1985, a bomb was planted on Air India Flight 182 that exploded and killed the 329 passengers and crew while airborne (Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182: Final report, 2010). A second bomb at Tokyo’s Narita Airport killed two baggage handlers that were unloading luggage from a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight, the baggage was also prepared to be on the Air India flight. Sikh terrorists were responsible for planting the two bombs. In total 331 people were killed (CIIBAIF 182, 2010).
September 16-18, 1862, outside of the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, between the Potomac River and Antietam Creek, was the location of the bloodiest battle in American history. Confederate Colonel Stephen D. Lee described it as “Artillery Hell” because of the frightful toll on his gunners and horses from Federal counter battery and infantry fire. (AotW, 2014) The battle of Antietam, or the Battle of Sharpsburg, would collect an estimated 23,100 total casualties (Luvaas and Nelson, 1987). The body count far exceeded any of the other three battles waged in the Maryland Campaign (Harpers Ferry, South Mountain, and Shepherdstown). This battle was a contributing factor in the outcome of our country and the rest of the world. The Union Army desperately needed a victory at Antietam; however, a victory for the Confederate rebels may have very well gained them international recognition as a sovereign country in the eyes of the rest of the world. The Federal Army, which belonged to the Union States, consisted of an all-volunteer army and was a larger army than the Confederate States. Even though the Battle of Antietam was inconclusive, President Lincoln went on to read the Emancipation Proclamation to the country, effectively ending slavery, and ensuring that no foreign nation would intervene on the Confederates behave.
It has been widely accepted from media depiction of terrorist attacks, that they normally occur in the streets of some Middle Eastern town, within a war-torn over ran village seized by a drug cartel, on a train or discotheque in Europe, or somewhere other than in the sky. As stated within The National Counterterrorism Center: Report on Terrorism (2011), traditional or well know tactics account for some 80% of all attacks, terrorist attacks directed toward airlines or air vehicles are less than 2%. For this reason many such threats are discounted or its relevance to put resources toward investigating. Prior to the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, intelligence data received was disseminated however, no high level officials were directly involved in the security measures required to thwart the event. December 21, 1988 was a day when the consequences of complacency would be felt by the nation.
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
Walsh, Julie. "September 11 Terrorist Attacks." In Campell, Ballard C., Ph.D., Gen. Ed. Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=DACH0197&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 6, 2014).
Timothy McVeigh was just another man until he changed the lives of many forever. “The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, was the most severe incident of terrorism ever experienced on American soil” (“Psychiatric” 755). This explosion created a widespread panic in Oklahoma and across the United States. Adults and children lost their lives due to an unethical act, and it did not go unnoticed. Parents had to bury their babies,
Being the oldest daughter of a Senior ATF Agent, I have been exposed to domestic terrorism all of my life. My father has investigated thousands of bombings, fires, and explosions for more than twenty years now. Many of these incidents were examples of the terrorism that I speak about. His experiences have taught me countless lessons and informed me of many current events. The information that I have obtained from him is far more valuable than anything that the media could ever possibly convey. Though he is always strictly guarded with the confidences of his profession, he has always provided me with a firsthand knowledge of the impact that domestic terrorism has on the citizens and law enforcement. Through him, I learn the facts of these incidents without the media’s exaggerations. Today I will share with you some of these facts. I will talk to you about the impact that domestic terrorism has on our citizens. These impacts include: the monetary damages that terrorism inflicts, along with the injuries to the victims, the shocking repercussions that are embedded into the minds and souls of the people who come to sort through the rubble to find the survivors and the remaining evidence.
Terror is rising day by day all over the world, and United States is no exception. There have been mass shootings at schools, shopping malls, music concerts and even at a movie theatre. So far, there have been 398 mass shootings recorded only in the past 50 years which resulted in 1996 deaths and 2488 people injured[1]. According to Van Dorn et al., a history of childhood abuse, binge drinking, and male gender are all predictive risk factors for serious violence[2]. The average number of genocides is 7 per year for last 50 years which took 39 lives and 48 person injuries per year[1]. These incidents affect the society on a high rate which in turn contributes for such situations again indirectly.
“ The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (also known as the Oklahoma City bombing) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995, was a major act of domestic terrorism that killed 168 people, including women and children in the daycare on the first floor, and injured over 500 more.” (Netzley 1) The morning of April 19th, 1995, was a normal day for many people, kids were going to school, and adults were going to work. Many people were looking forward to the day because it was a day of many
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.
On March 20, 1972 at 11:45 a.m. an anonymous phone call was made to police headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland warning of a bomb in crowded Church Street (Fisk 2). At 11:52 a.m. a second emergency call reached police headquarters confirming the threat of a bomb (Fisk 2). The police made efforts to evacuate the street as quickly as possible. Then, at 11:55 a.m. headquarters received a third emergency call warning of a bomb, but this time the caller gave the location of the bomb to be in the adjoining Donegall Street (Fisk 2). Three minutes later a 100-pound gelignite bomb exploded in Donegall Street killing six people and wounding 147 others (Fisk 1). The bombing was a terrorist act by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), whose mission is to drive the British out of Northern Ireland.
Miller, M. A. (2013). The foundations of modern terrorism: state, society and the dynamics of
In 1945, the United States was facing severe causalities in the war in the Pacific. Over 12,000 soldiers had already lost their lives, including 7,000 Army and Marine soldiers and 5,000 sailors (32). The United States was eager to end the war against Japan, and to prevent more American causalities (92). An invasion of Japan could result in hundreds of thousands killed, wounded and missing soldiers, and there was still no clear path to an unconditional surrender. President Truman sought advice from his cabinet members over how to approach the war in the Pacific. Although there were alternatives to the use of atomic weapons, the evidence, or lack thereof, shows that the bombs were created for the purpose of use in the war against Japan. Both the political members, such as Henry L. Stimson and James F. Byrnes, and military advisors George C. Marshall and George F. Kennan showed little objection to completely wiping out these Japanese cities with atomic weapons (92-97). The alternatives to this tactic included invading Japanese c...
Americans and Japanese are both fond of pointing out the difference in crime rates. To many Japanese, America is seen as an outlaw nation, bristling with guns. And for many Americans, the juxtaposition of Japan's often ultra-violent entertainment with their low crime rate is fascinating. Japanese pop culture and crime statistics are often cited to defend American entertainment when it is accused of inspiring violence. But for anyone paying attention, startling crimes have a way of popping up in Japan unexpectedly. There were the "Otaku Murders" of 1988 and 1989, where Tsutomo Miyazaki kidnapped and killed four girls of around five years of age, reenacting gruesome scenes from his hentai collection. The serin gas attack in 1995 is another notable incident in the analogs of Japanese crime history. Perpetrated by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, almost a dozen people were killed during the terrorist attack.
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...