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1 Overview of Terrorist Threats An explosives-laden truck crashes into a hotel. A suicide bomber carries out an attack at a shopping mall. Electricity grids and railroad tracks are sabotaged. Terrorists attack a housing complex with gunfire and bombs. Sarin gas is released in a crowded subway. Such terror incidents have occurred globally during the past decade. The United States is a principal target of terrorism. Not only do domestic extremist groups commit acts of terrorism at home, but also, international groups carry out attacks against American targets abroad. Attacks by foreign terrorists on U.S. soil occurred less frequently than attacks on Americans abroad, although the 9/11 incidents are an obvious dramatic exception. It is expected that more terror attacks by foreign groups will occur in the United States. The United States has been the most popular single target of international terrorism. Also, global citizenry—officials, diplomats, military officers, businessmen, and children—have been victimized by both state-sponsored terrorism (e.g., Libya, Iran, Sudan, and Syria) and substate groups, including Marxist-oriented (e.g., Germany’s Red Army Faction), nationalists (e.g., Abu Nidal Organization), Islamic fundamentalism (e.g., al Qaeda), and ideological mercenaries (e.g., Japanese Red Army). This chapter addresses various terrorist threats, including: previous terrorist threats against U.S. and non-U.S. targets and recent attacks against business and non-business interests worldwide. In doing so, we 21 will gain a better understanding of broad private and public targets that have been attacked by terrorists worldwide. This exposure will enable us to have a better grasp of the vast challenges society faces as terrorists view all persons and entities as “worthy of punishment.” Selected Attacks by Foreign Terrorists against U.S. Targets The most spectacular and deadliest terrorist incidents in U.S. history were the September 11, 2001, attacks. In this twenty-first century “Pearl Harbor,” 19 al Qaeda terrorists, wielding knives and box-cutters, hijacked 4 U.S. aircraft, which they used to crash into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and a third location, not the intended target, a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died and thousands others were injured. The 110-floor World Trade Center twin building, the symbol of American financial prowess, collapsed. Other buildings in the World Trade Center complex and surrounding area fell, partially collapsed, or were severely damaged. Portions of the Pentagon sustained serious damage but were completely rebuilt within a year. The hundreds of billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs arising from the 9/11 attacks, coupled with broad post-9/11 legal enforcement, legal, political, social, and military responses to terrorism, demonstrate the momentous impact of the incidents. Prior to 9/11, the al Qaeda network carried out other attacks in the Untied States including: the February 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, killing 6 people and injuring over 1,000; and the June 1993, a Pakistani terrorist opened fire outside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), killing 2 and wounding 3 CIA employees. Also that month, the FBI caught a group planning to attack New York City landmarks and various political figures. Major al Qaeda operations against U.S. interests abroad include: • November 1995: A car bomb explosion outside the Americanoperated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed five Americans and two Indians. • June 1996: A car bombing attack at Khobar Towers, a U.S. Air Force housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 soldiers and wounded hundreds more. • August 1998: Two truck bombings outside the U.S. embassies 22 Overview of Terrorist Threats s in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, killed 234 people, 12 of them American, and wounded over 5,000 others. • October 2000: The suicide bombing of the USS Cole killed 17 and wounded 39 American sailors in Aden harbor, Yemen. An analysis of American business victimization by domestic and international terrorist attacks abroad illustrates that nearly every type of business sector engaged in by U.S. companies overseas has been targeted . A wide range of U.S. industries that were affected by terrorism overseas were: financial and banking; energy; aviation; automobile and tires; technology, industrial, and defense; mining and engineering; tourism and hospitality; franchises and beverages; pharmaceutical and consumer products; retail; service firms; and other business categories. These U.S. business targets were singled out because of their symbolism such as...

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