EDMG340 Week 1 Assignment – Examples of Terroristic Attacks, Methods & Motives

Assignment Instructions
Investigate four terrorist attacks and provide a short paper delineating the methods and motives associated with each of your selected attacks. For each attack, please include one website URL as a reference.

Terrorism has been used in many ways and on many occasions throughout history as a means to further some form or fashion of personal, political or religious agenda. One might find it possible to imagine acts of terrorism having taken place in the extreme early days of human development. Picture some megalomaniacal Neolithic man baiting sites surrounding his tribe, drawing fearsome predatory creatures nearer to his people, in order to aid in his push to overtake or establish leadership; is the thought that far-fetched? And does it honestly differ that greatly from the event that we see in today’s society? This illustration may not fit what we’ve grown accustomed to declaring terrorism; today, terrorism is more “clearly’ defined by the general population as an action against a certain sect of people by extremists subscribing to some form of religious zealotry—much like the Judea’s Zealots of the first century, if certain historical records and theories are held to be true.

For the purposes of this assignment, however, we shall focus on more modern times and events, where the battle has been between those holding ideological and political differences between the “Islamic” and “Christian” communities, as well as the “Christian” and more “secular” divide. The events and actions described hereon are not necessarily representative of the greater communities, to which the perpetrators claim to either be a member or faction of, thus the use of quotes in the preceding sentence, implying merely an “alleged” tie thereto.

As of the time of this writing, the most recent event occurring on United States soil is that of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, on December 2, 2015, conducted by a married couple declaring allegiance to the caliphate—the present leader of ISIL, self-proclaimed earthly successor to the Muslim prophet Mohammed, and self-proclaimed leader of Islam (Calamachi 2015; Ryan, 2015). Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, conspired to and conducted an attack at a private training event and holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, using weapons that had been modified to become fully automatic assault rifles. Farook and Malik had also planted a remotely operated explosive device outside the location that failed to activate or be detonated; it is assumed that the device was planted in order to cause harm to emergency responders upon arrival (Bruton, 2015). In their attack on the center, Farook and Malik killed 14, and injured 17. The couple fled the scene to their apartment, where investigators discovered an arsenal of munitions and plans for future devices and events. Farook and Malik evaded police at their apartment, and led law enforcement on a chase, before stopping the vehicle they were occupying and entering a gunfight with police. The couple was shot to death in said vehicle by authorities (KABC-TV, 2015). Despite declaring their allegiance to the Islamic State, ISIL has not acknowledged any affiliation with the couple, or any plans for what had transpired. As of the present time, the federal government’s investigations have not found valid ties between the couple and ISIL, other than similarities between the IEDs constructed by Farook and Malik and documentation known to be of al-Queda descent or inspiration. Where the event was perpetrated by “radicalized” Islamists, it is viewed as and has been declared an act of domestic terrorism.

A few short weeks prior to the mass shooting in San Bernardino, multiple bombings and shootings took place in the city of Paris, France in an act of retaliation by ISIL against the French government for their involvement in air-strikes in Syria and Iraq (Dalton, 2015). Between the evening hours of November 13 and early hours of November 14, six different locations became sites for nine ISIL affiliated EU nationals. In total, 130 lives were taken—not including seven of the nine perpetrators—and 368 were injured; of those injured, 80-99 were listed as being in critical condition (BBC, 2015), depending upon information sources. As stated, ISIL did declare responsibility for the attacks, and investigators have positively identified 7 of the perps, and have enough evidence to identify and eighth; the eight are known to have been associated with the Islamic State. The ninth suspect, who was killed during the attacks, remains unknown.

Continuing the ISIL threat, and returning to the United States, mention can be made of the first “attack” on American soil by Islamic extremists with ISIL claiming responsibility; on May 3, 2015, two men attempted to wage an attack at an event hosted by the AFDI at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. On said date, when ISIL—known by the then preferred ISIS—had declared jihad and rallied for support in Syria, American citizens Ernest Simpson and Nadir Soofi drove to the Center and opened fire upon a parked police cruiser, occupied by one police officer and security guard. Simpson and Soofi soon had fire returned upon them by other officers and members of Federal law enforcement that were already on scene for security detail. The event which attracted Simpson and Soofi was the unveiling and judging of artwork depicting—and, thus mocking, according to Islamic tradition—the Muslim prophet Mohammed (Hallman, 2015). Simpson and Soofi had been armed with three assault rifles and three handguns. Only one person was injured in the attempted attack—the security guard occupying the cruiser was shot in his ankle. Simpson and Soofi were killed on scene. ISIS declared responsibility of the event; however, Federal investigations have not revealed any evidence of direct involvement or inspiration, and continue to view the event as an act of ill-planned domestic terrorism. Critics view the event as poor attempt at AFDI drawing attention and attempting to incite action; AFDI has been regarded as an anti-Muslim group. Conspiracy theories abound surrounding this event, where the perpetrators had been flagged as potential threats, yet were capable to acquire weaponry legally through a shop known for participating in what became known as the ATF Gunwalking Scandal (Serrano, 2015).

Finally, we return to more recent events with a “true” case of domestic terrorism, and look to the Colorado Springs shootings of November 27, 2015. Robert Lewis Dear, Jr.—known by some for his radical Christian views, views against abortion, and voiced support of the Army of God—armed with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire in the vicinity of and in the Planned Parenthood Westside Health Center (Fausset, 2015). In his attack, Dear took three lives and injured nine. After a five-hour standoff, police breached the front of the health center with an armored vehicle, and captured Dear (Paul, 2015). Dear has maintained that he was the sole conspirator, and has even admitted his guilt in court, though an official guilty plea has not been entered. On at least two occasions Dear has alluded to motivation for his attack having to do with “baby parts”; it has been theorized that Dear is referring to one extremists group’s alleged undercover videos discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Other evidence related to the case has been sealed at the request of the prosecution (Gurman, 2015).

As one can see in the cases above, terrorism can have many faces and occur in varied places. Motivations, methods, planning, skill—and degree of sanity or intelligence—can vary and be as subjective as well. Review of these instances, however, do suggest that the more common instances of terrorism seem to revolve around notions associated with a religious belief system, and that many of the incidents have and may continue to involve indirect or more “impersonal” targets and relatively easily accessible weaponry. This generalization, however, will not continue to hold true as terrorist groups will undoubtedly continue to gain strength and following, as has been seen in other events. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves for a range of possibilities; the question, however, is to what degree or cost.

References

BBC (November 17, 2015.) Paris attacks: Search goes on for missing. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34836330

Bruton, F. B.; Lucht, K.; Ortiz, E. (Dec. 2015.) San Bernardino Massacre Suspects Appear to Have Been Radicalized. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/san-bernardino-shooting/san-bernardino-massacre-suspects-appear-have-been-radicalized-n473261

Calamachi, R. (Dec. 5, 2015.) Islamic State Says ‘Soldiers of Caliphate’ Attacked in San Bernardino. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/world/middleeast/islamic-state-san-bernardino-massacre.html?_r=0

Dalton, M.; Horobin, Wm.; Varela, T.; Landauro, I. (Nov. 14, 2015.) Seven Militants Led Deadly Paris Attacks. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/paris-attacks-were-an-act-of-war-by-islamic-state-french-president-francois-hollande-says-1447498080

Fausset, R (Dec. 1, 2015.) For Robert Dear, Religion and Rage Before Planned Parenthood Attack. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/us/robert-dear-planned-parenthood-shooting.html

Gurman, S. (Nov. 30, 2015.) Suspect in Colorado clinic attack will face murder charges. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article47206975.html

Hallman, T; Leszynski, R. (May 4, 2015.) Police: Men killed in Garland shooting had assault rifles, body armor. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20150503-breaking-gunfire-reported-at-anti-islam-event-at-garland-isd-facility.ece

KABC-TV (Dec. 2, 2015.) WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT SAN BERNARDINO MASS SHOOTERS SYED FAROOK, TASHFEEN MALIK. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://abc7.com/news/2-suspects-in-san-bernardino-mass-shooting-identified/1107640/

Paul, J.; Steffan, J.; Ingold, J. (Nov. 27, 2015.) Planned Parenthood shooting: 3 killed, including 1 police officer in Colorado Springs. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29172660/colorado-springs-firefighters-respond-active-shooter-at-planned

Ryan, M.; Goldman, A.; Phillip, A.; Berman, M. (Dec. 8, 2015.) Officials: San Bernardino shooters pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-san-bernardino-shooting-20151208-story.html

Serrano, R. (Aug. 1, 2015.) Garland, Texas, shooter bought gun in 2010 during Fast and Furious. Retrieved 12 December 2105 from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-garland-gun-20150801-story.html#page=1