Transcript Powerpoint

Lecture 2: Rephrasing 911 &
Terrorism
SOSC 200t – the Post-911 World Order
Simon Shen
7th February 2003 (Friday)
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Structure of Lecture 2:
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Definition of Terrorism/
Precedent Cases
Pre-911 Terrorism against
USA
“America Under Attack”
“America Fight Back”
PART I
Terrorism: Evolution on its
Definitions in History
Historical Definition
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“All criminal acts directed against a State and
intended or calculated to create a state of terror
in the minds of particular persons or a group of
persons or the general public”
-- League of Nations (1937)
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Emphasis: (1) Terror; (2) Against State
= Political Assassination
+ Genocide
Ancient Terrorism
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Political Assassinations
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Genocide
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“Assassins of Mountains”
Shi’te Islam
Spanish Acquisition Vs Inca Empire
Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” to the Jews
“I Kill you because I want to kill you!”
Cold War Definition (I)
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Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated
violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine
individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic,
criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to
assassination - the direct targets of violence are not
the main targets.
Threat- and violence-based communication processes
between terrorist (organization), (imperilled) victims,
and main targets are used to manipulate the main
target (audience(s)), turning it into a target of terror, a
target of demands, or a target of attention, depending
on whether intimidation, coercion, or propaganda is
primarily sought.
Cold War Definition (II)
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The immediate human victims of violence are generally
chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively
(representative or symbolic targets) from a target population,
and serve as message generators.
-- Schmid (1988)
Academic Consensus: Terrorism as a “Messenger”
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“I kill you NOT because I want to kill you”
Cold War Terrorism
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Irish Republican Army
(IRA)
Basque Fatherland
and Liberty (ETA)
Bush’s Definition
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The term "terrorism" means an activity that
-(i) involves a violent act or an act
dangerous to human life, property, or
infrastructure; and
(ii) appears to be intended -(A) to intimidate or coerce a civilian
population;
(B) to influence the policy of a
government by
intimidation or coercion; or
(C) to affect the conduct of a
government by mass
destruction,
assassination, kidnapping, or
hostage-taking.
-- Executive Order on Terrorist Financing
(24th September, 2001)
Bush’s Terrorism
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Against Civilian People (instead of against
the whole State)
Mass Destruction Weapons
(MDW)
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Iraq
Asymmetrical Warfare
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Al-Qaeda
Aum Shinrikya Sect of Japan
Summary of the Evolution
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Against state leaders and the people of the
whole state (e.g. Nazi)
Against a small number of random people of
a state to spread political messages with
specific concerns (e.g. IRA) 
Against a large number of civilians to spread
messages that are not easy to be interpreted
(e.g. 911)
Terrorism: You can have your own definition!
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The “No Smoking” Analogy
Assigned Readings
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Main Text:
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.
“Definition of Terrorism”
http://www.undcp.org/odccp/terrorism_defi
nitions.html
Supplementary Text:
James Hoge and Gideon Rose.
“Introduction.” (H&R P.ix-xiv)
PART II
Pre-911 Terrorist Attack
against USA
The Neglected Messages
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1979: Assassination
of President Sadat
1993: WTC I & the
Somalian Murders
1995: KSA Car
Bombing I (Riyadh)
1996: KSA Car
Bombing II (Khobar)
Crescendo Against USA
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1998: The East
African Bombings
2000: The Millennium
LAX Warning
2001: The
Independence Day
Warning
PART III
“America Under Attack”
September 11th, 2001
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The World Trade
Center Atrocity (WTC
II)
The Pentagon Attack:
A Different Nature
The “93 Heroes”
After September 11th, 2001
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The Anthrax Attack
Chain Effects:
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Israel
India
Indonesia
Russia
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PART IV
“America Fights Back”
Stage I: Coalition Building
(Sept-Oct 2001)
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Traditional Allies
Untraditional Allies
Sympathy is not
Enough: Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan
Stage 2: War Against Afghanistan
(Oct-Dec 2001)
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Osama Bin Laden
The Taliban Regime
Symbiotic
Relationship Vs
Involuntary
Relationship
Stage 3: Consolidation of Pax
Americana (2002)
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International
Consolidation
Internal Consolidation
Philosophical
Consolidation
Stage 4: War Against Iraq? (2003)
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“Patron of Terrorism”
“Development of Mass
Destructive Weapons”
“Violation of Human
Rights”
“Evil Empire”
“Family Rival of the
Bushes”…
Conclusion
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“I can’t understand why
the great Americans can
be such hated.”
“I can’t understand why
they hate us so much…”
– George W. Bush
~~The End~~
Thank you for attending