HONR229S Terrorism Spring 2007
M 3:30–6PM
1158 PLS
Dr. Howard Smead
Office: 3101 Taliaferro Hall
Hours: Hours: M/W 12-1pm, Th 2-3pm
Phone: 405-0874
e-mail: hsmead@umd.edu
With the president’s troop buildup in an Iraq mired in both insurgency and sectarian violence – and 70% of the public opposed to the buildup, legitimate issues about the “War on Terror” remain unaddressed. Critics call the Iraq war a diversion from it, or charge that the inept prosecution of the war and its aftermath has actually produced more terrorism and lowered U.S. prestige around the world. Others state that Iraq has become the central front in the international conflict and must be won for that reason alone. Arguments about weapons of mass destruction, regime change and an Iraqi-al Qaeda link are irrelevant. This disagreement calls for clarification of some basic questions. What exactly is the “War on Terror? Why did it start? What are our goals and how do we expect to meet them?
This course will explore the origins, history and nature of the tactic and phenomenon known as terrorism. Our awareness may have begun on September 11, 2001, but terrorism has a much longer and deeper history that its recent employment by radical, militant Islamists. Terrorism goes far beyond Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
Our nation was not only jolted by the carnage of 9/11 but frightened by the intensity of the hatred behind those cleverly contrived and well-planned operations. Despite initial success against the Taliban in Afghanistan and the initial success in Iraq, terrible problems and vexing questions remain. Threats – perhaps nuclear – to the western world and America in particular may be graver than ever.
This semester we will examine the implications of September 11 and subsequent terrorist events on national security, civil liberties, privacy, and consider how America should respond to global terrorism. We will also try to understand the scope of radical Islam’s war with the West
Texts:
Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, 2nd edition
Isaac Cronin, Confronting Fear (recommended)
Recommended reading: Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism
Peter Berger, Holy War, Inc.
Morris Dees, Gathering Storm
George Friedman, America’s Secret War
Anonymous (Michael Scheuer), Imperial Hubris
James Bamford, Pretext for War
George Packer, The Assassins’ Gate
Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower
Thomas Ricks, Fiasco
Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Thomas Friedman, Longitudes and Attitudes
Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong?
Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam
Fredrik Logevall, Terrorism and 9/11
Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld
Supplemental texts: Lutz & Lutz, Global Terrorism
George Martin, Understanding Terrorism, 2nd edition
Map source: http://www.history.umd.edu/maps/
Other useful links: http://www.comw.org/warreport/
http://www.pbs.org/americaresponds/
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/sept11/
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/commission.html
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2002/
COURSE SCHEDULE and READING ASSIGNMENTS
Jan 29 Course Introduction
Film: Excerpts from “Inside 9/11” or “In Memoriam”
Feb 5 – Terrorist attacks against U.S. since 1979
– Sept 11, Anthrax
– Historical Origins of Terrorism
– What is terrorism? Is it justifiable?
– “Just Cause” & “Just War”
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapters 1, 8
Jeffrey Herf, “What is Old and What is New is the Terrorism of Islamic Fundamentalism?” Partisan Review, January 2002. http://www.partisanreview.org/archive/2002/1/herf.html
Feb 12 Film: “The Battle of Algiers”
“Terrorism is useful as a start. Then the people themselves must act.”
Stages of violence: Terrorism, Insurrection, Guerrilla Warfare, Open Warfare
Feb 19 History of the Crisis in the Holy Land
Feb 26 Middle Eastern Terrorism:
—Survey of events from the 80s
—Al-banna (the Muslim Brotherhood)
—Wahabism
—Hezbollah, Hamas
—PLO, Islamic Jihad
—Assassination attempt on John Paul II
—Suicide terrorism (profile of a suicide bomber)
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapter 2
Mar 5 Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapters 4, 5
Wright, Lawrence, “The Man Behind Bin Laden: How an Egyptian doctor became a master of terror.” The New Yorker Sept. 16, 2002.
http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/02091fa_fact2
Raban, Jonathan, “My Holy War.” The New Yorker, Feb. 4,2002. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/020204fa_FACT
BIN LADEN FATWAS
Declaration of War 1996, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html
Jihad against Jews and Crusaders 1998, http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
Fatwa before 04 Presidential Election, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7201.htm
Mar 12 Guest Speaker: Dr. Angel Rabasa, RAND Corp.
Mar 19 Spring Break
Mar 26 Afghanistan & Iraq
Mark Danner, “Iraq: The War of the Imagination,” New York Review of Books, Dec. 21, 2006, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19720
James Fallows, “The Fifty-first State or What Will Happen after We Invade Iraq”, the Atlantic, 10 October 2002, www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/767883/posts
Ron Suskind, “Why Are These Men Laughing?”, Esquire, January 2003 http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html
The Iraq Study Group
http://www.usip.org/isg/iraq_study_group_report/report/1206/index.html
Maps: Afghanistan: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/afghanistan.html
Iraq: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/iraq.html
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/US/sept11_docs_1_030723.html http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/iz.html
From President Bush’s Sept. 20 speech:
“We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.”
The National Security Strategy of the United States of America. http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html
GEORGE W. BUSH SPEECHES
President George Bush’s speech on Sept. 20, 2001, regarding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
Second Inaugural Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural/
Axis of Evil Speech:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news
/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html
VMI Speech: http://usa.usembassy.de/gemeinsam/bush041702.htm
West Point Speech:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/
2002/06/20020601-3.html
Apr 2 International Terrorism in the 1960s & 70s:
—IRA, Basque separatists
—Red Brigades, Baader Meinhof
—Carlos the Jackal
—Tuparmaros, Shining Path
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapter 3
Apr 9 Domestic 60s Terrorism:
—Weather Underground
—Symbionese Liberation Army
—Black Panthers
—Black Liberation Army
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapter 6
Apr 16 Recent Domestic Terrorism:
—Oklahoma City
—Radical right
—Leaderless resistance, Eric Rudolph, Benjamin Smith
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapter 7
Apr 23 Other International Terrorism:
—Aum Shinrikyo http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/aums.html
—Narco-terrorism, Pablo Escobar
—Sri Lanka, Philippines, Somalia
Apr 30 Causes of Terrorism:
—Why do they hate us?
—Globalization
—Neo-Conservatism
—Huntington or Fukuyama?
George Packer, “Knowing the Enemy, The New Yorker, Dec. 18, 2006
“Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front
Statement, Feb. 23, 1998.
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
“Transcript of Usama bin Laden Video Tape,” Dec. 13, 2001.
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-video.html
Raban, Jonathan, “My Holy War.” The New Yorker, Feb. 4, 2002. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/020204fa_FACT
May 7 UA Response to Terrorism/Civil liberties issues:
—Patriots Acts, treatment and trials of POWs
Hoffman, Inside Terrorism, chapter 9
Dana Priest, “Black Sites”- Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html
David Luban; “Torture American-Style” (WA Post Nov. 27), http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/25/AR2005112501552.html?sub=AR
Mark Bowden, “The Dark Art of Interrogation” The Atlantic Monthly, <http://lawofwar.org/atlantic_monthly.htm>
Al Qaeda Training Manual (chapters 17 and 18), <http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihadmanual.html>
Heather MacDonald, "How To Interrogate Terrorists" <http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_1_terrorists.html>
Charles Krauthammer, "The Truth About Torture” <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/400rhqav.asp>
May 18 Friday, due date for Take-Home Final
Course requirements: There will be a total of five grades, each counting an equal
amount toward your course grade.
1) Each student will be required to give at least ONE in‑class presentation on a selected aspect of terrorism.
— a particular act of terrorism
— a particular terrorist group
— a terrorist leader
— an aspect of anti-terrorist policy
Here is what I look for when grading the presentations.
Two things: Information and how well it is conveyed.
— What factual information you select to impart to the students. In other words, how well you ferret out and interpret through your presentation the nature of the event and the specifics involved in it.
— How effectively you impart that information to the class.
— I do NOT grade you on how well or how long the class discusses the material, just on how effectively you present it. Some topics are inherently more interesting than others. But, there should be ample discussion for all. If you present adequate and appropriate info, the discussions generally take care of themselves.
2) The following class you will be required to submit a 5-to 7-page paper on
your presentation. The paper should be footnoted and must contain a
bibliography.
3) You are required also to do one of the following:
a. Give a second presentation
b. Write a paper on a selected topic, which you may be asked to discuss with the class.
c. Write a review of one of the recommended texts, which you will most likely be asked to discuss in class.
4) You will also be graded for participating in class discussion.
N.B. Your presentation(s) does NOT count towards your class participation grade.
5) Final exam
PLEASE NOTE:
• Academic Accommodations: If you
have a documented disability, you should contact Disability Support Services
0126 Shoemaker Hall. Each semester students with documented disabilities should
apply to DSS for accommodation request forms which you can provide to your
professors as proof of your eligibility for accommodations. The rules for
eligibility and the types of accommodations a student may request can be
reviewed on the DSS web site at
http://www.counseling.umd.edu/DSS/receiving_serv.html.
• Religious Observances: The University System of Maryland policy provides that
students should not be penalized because of observances of their religious
beliefs, students shall be given an opportunity, whenever feasible, to make up
within a reasonable time any academic assignment that is missed due to
individual participation in religious observances. It is the responsibility of
the student to inform the instructor of any intended absences for religious
observances in advance. Notice should be provided as soon as possible but no
later than the end of the schedule adjustment period. Faculty should further
remind students that prior notification is especially important in connection
with final exams, since failure to reschedule a final exam before the conclusion
of the final examination period may result in loss of credits during the
semester. The problem is especially likely to arise when final exams are
scheduled on Saturdays.
• Academic integrity: The University of Maryland has a nationally recognized
Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html
The University of Maryland is one of a small number of universities with a student-administered Honors Code and an Honors Pledge, available on the web at http://www.jpo.umd.edu/aca/honorpledge.html. The code prohibits students from cheating on exams, plagiarizing papers, submitting the same paper for credit in two courses without authorization, buying papers, submitting fraudulent documents, and forging signatures. The University Senate encourages instructors to ask students to write the following signed statement on each examination or assignment: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (or assignment).”
Terrorism
“The purpose of terror is to terrorize.” (Lenin)
“… The intentional murder or attempted murder of any person, civilian or military, man, woman, or child, old or young, who is not engaged in military combat.” (Jeffrey Herf, UMD History Dept.)
“The romance of revolution and cults pf violence pf the 1960s New Left.”
Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. (FBI)
“Terrorists practice random violence on as large a scale as possible against civilization populations to make their points or get their way.” (former secretary of State George Schultz)
“Immoral means used by diverse groups for different ends.” (Shibley Telhami, The Stakes)
Terrorism is not an ideology. It is a means to an end. (paraphrased from Shibley Telhami, UMD)
“The term ‘terrorism’ means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” (Quoted in Scott Atram, “Genesis of Suicide Terrorism”)
“Warfare deliberately waged against civilians with the purpose of destroying their will to support either leaders or policies that the agents of such violence find objectionable.” (quoted in Newsweek, 2/11/02) see: Caleb Carr, The Lessons of Terror
“The unlawful use of, or threatened use, of force or violence against individuals property to coerce and intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives.” U.S. Government (quoted in Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism, p. 5)
“Perhaps the only characteristic generally agreed upon is that terrorism always involves violence or the threat of violence.” (Laqueur, The New Terrorism, p. 6)
“Terrorism is the deliberate and systematic murder, maiming, and menacing of the innocent to inspire fear for political ends.”(Benjamin Netanyahu, “Defining Terrorism,” 1977, photocopied article)
“…a calculated series of actions deigned to intimidate and sow fear throughout a target population in an effort to produce a pervasive atmosphere of insecurity, a widespread condition of anxiety.”(Neil C. Livingstone: The War Against Terrorism, p. 4, 1982)
Guatemalan businessman: “You’re no longer a liberal after the first time they (terrorists) try to kill you.” (Quoted in Livingstone, p. 1)
“… deliberate and dispassionate [violence], carefully engineered for
theatrical effect …” (Claire Sterling, The Terror Network, 1981, p. 9)
Insurrectional strategies that can be used by various people for various reasons.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.:
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
My definition: the intentional use of violence or threat of violence, by private individuals or groups, acting with or without state sponsorship, to intimidate, persuade, influence or destroy.
Iran Hostage Crisis, November 4, 1979 - January 20, 1980
U.S. embassy bombed in Beirut, Lebanon April 18, 1983
Marine barracks bombed in Beirut, October 23, 1983
First Intifada, 1987
Iran-Contra Scandal, 1986 – 1987
Pan-AM flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, December 21, 1988
World Trade Center bombed, February 26, 1993
Attempted assassination of President George Bush, April 14, 1993
Murrah Federal Office building in Oklahoma City bombed April 19, 1995
Khobar Towers bombed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 25, 1996
U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya bombed, August 7, 1998
Second Intifada, September 25, 2000
U.S.S. Cole attacked at Aden, Yemen, October 12, 2000
World Trade Center bombed, September 11, 2001
Afghanistan attacked by Allies, October 7, 2001
Taliban overthrown in Afghanistan, December 7, 2001
Nightclub in Bali, Indonesia bombed, October 12, 2002
U.S invades Iraq, March 20, 2003
Saddam Hussein captured December 13, 2003
Iraqi insurgents/guerrillas/terrorists/Shites/Sunnis destabilize Iraq, 2003-2007
Trains bombed in Madrid, Spain, March 11, 2004
U.S. hands over sovereignty to new Iraqi government, June 28, 2004
Al Qaeda attacks American consulate in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, December 6, 2004
Elections in Afghanistan, October 9, 2004
Elections in Iraq, January 30, 2005
Commuter trains and a bus bombed in London, July 7, 2005
Elections in Iraq, January 15, 2006
Hamas wins elections in Palestine, January 22, 2006
Republicans defeated at polls over Iraq, November 7, 2006
Iraq Study Group issues report, December 6, 2006
Saddam Hussein executed, December 30, 2006
Bush announces to troop “surge” in Iraq, January 10, 2007