MILNET: Terrorism in the U.S.

International Terrorism in the U.S. is now a critical problem for America. The first World Trade center bombing was perhaps the first event to alert the American people to the threat of terrorism in the U.S., since hijacking of U.S. aircraft has all but disappeared. And of course the threat of domestic terrorists was brought home in the Oklahoma bombing of a federal building.

The attack on the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, however, has forced the U.S. government to take action to eliminate the threat, the U.S. President vowing to fight the War on Terrorism and win.

This section will deal with both domestic and externally sourced terrorism that effects the U.S. and its allies, as well as those acts of hostage taking and execution of hostages related more to the criminal act. But whether the taking of hostages and the burden of terror on those hostages as well as all of us who read about it or see it on television is done by a political or criminal terrorist, the effects are quite similar. And while the criminal element is probably less severe in numbers of deaths or wounded, they are sometimes worse in terms of fear generation than a political terrorist act.

For the political terrorist acts incites anger and a desire for revenge, which in somes cases makes the resolution of the trauma easier to deal with. But all forms of domestic terrorism serve to remind us of how effective a truly large scale political terrorist act can be. For decades the levels of terrorism seen in Paris, London, and Munich had not reached into the American life. As sadly predicted by MILNET and other analysts, this was not destined to remain so.

We should note, before we begin, that because of the low number of external terrorist influences in the U.S., that occasionally a violent action will cause the press to jump to the conclusion that a terrorist attack has been mounted by some insidious group from outside the U.S. This is especially true since 9/11. A prime example is a domestic bombing of the van of Naval Capt. Will Rogers III, the former Captain of the U.S.S. Vincennes. The Vincennes is an Aegis equipped U.S. Navy warship that mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner during the Iran-Iraq war. The press jumped to the conclusion that this was a terrorist bombing in reprisal for the Vincennes action over a year earlier. When facts surfaced to clearly dispute the terrorist story, the press screamed of a cover up and that the government didn't want to alarm the families of U.S. servicemen. No other reprisals or attacks against U.S. serviceman at home occurred during that troublesome period.

A similar error in the press was promulgated in the early days of investigation of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing...reports surfaced that the events were a direct attack by some terrorist organization outside the U.S. But only three months afterward, it was pretty clear the explosion was the act of internal terrorists, perhaps part of an anti-government "militia" organization.

Therefore we should all be careful not to jump to conclusions about terrorists until the evidence is in, and well after the heat of the moment has passed.

On the other hand, the World Trade Center bombing appeared early on to be a foreign terrorist event, and recently the convictions of those responsible proved that initial appearance to be true.

It was also pretty clear within 24 hours that the cause of two large jet aircraft crashing into the Trade Center Twin Towers was most likely a terrorist and the terrorists identified were probably linked to mid-eastern terrorist groups.

Political Acts

The U.S. hasn't seen as much political violence as her European Allies. But we have had our share. From the Symbonese Liberation Front, the Weatherman to others like ACT in Philadelphia. But these domestic terrorist acts haven't been as random and terror inciting as say the IRA, whose wholesale salughter of innocent children is untouched by any other terrorist group in world history. But the U.S. will not continue to be immune to larger scale and more identifiable terrorist acts.

Witness the World Trade Center explosion, as perhaps the first in a series of external terrorist activities gaining widespread visibility in the U.S., a politically motivated attack on random victims, intended to incite fear as well as add an external terrorist signature to an act of violence as well as proclaim a political message.

But terrorism in the U.S. is not limited to terrorists with external agendas. Witness the attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The example terrorist in this case was Terry McVay, a paramilitary survivalist from Michigan, and angry with the U.S. government over the "Waco Massacre" (David Koresh).

The page will deal with terror tactics by criminal and political terrorists in two ways. First to chronicle the major cases of either criminal or terrorist acts in the U.S. in the form of a chronology , as well as to give details of some of these cases where these facts illustrate the effectiveness and incidious nature of the act of terrorism.

Violence Begats Terror

The United States has not escaped the terror of extreme violence. Anyone who lived during prohibition will tell you about the effects of the gangs and mobsters upon society. Gruesome and bloody deaths traumitize all who witness them, either directly in person or vicariously via our incredibly timely and accurate media coverage of today. Witness the University Bar in Berkeley, CA., where a deranged gunman held Berkely students hostage forcing sexual acts between male and female students as well as with himself before killing several and wounding still others. A whole communiity watched the deaths of very identifiable victims on their television screens.

Such was the community trauma that the local television stations, which were part of the traumitc events themselves, both apologized for their lack of sensitivity as well as broadcast phone numbers for those in the community who needed counseling following the unprecedented news coverage.

The single, seemingly random killer has been extraordinary in his or her ability to strike terror into communities. Perhaps the cause is due to the unpredictability and the randomness itself. "It could have been anyone I know" seems to incite the fear of the community in strangers, minorities or just people who are a little different. From killings at a McDonalds restaurant, to the University Bar, to Asian gang violence in Sacramento, California, it is clear that all forms of violence are becomming more and more terror inciting.

Cultism Continues To Grow

People thought Jim Jones and his followers had made cults very unpopular. This may be true. But several instances from Oregon to Texas, have made the cult a very visible violent event generator in the last few years of the twentieth century. It seems that some cults, while preaching non-secular means for finding their own peace, also tend to arm themselves against the legal authorities. In both the Oregon and Texas cases, this armament consisted of high power, automatic or semi- automatic weapons. In Waco, Texas, the Koresh followers opened fire through doors and covered windows to kill agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency. After counting their wounded the ATF admitted they had simply been "outgunned".

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