J Andres Gannon Assistant Debate Coach – Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart

Section Uno Introduction

A) Purpose of Backgrounder  Debate context-free  Academic and policy oriented knowledge of terrorism

B) Thinking about terrorism  Terrorism is complex and emotive  Complex  Emotive  Challenge is the acknowledge the moral outrage while understanding the rationale

C) History of Terrorism  Not a new phenomena  0 BC – Roman Empire  18 th century – France  Present – globally

Section Dos Defining Terrorism

A) Key Criteria  No chemical formula for terrorism  Shaped by social and political processes, bureaucratic needs, and media structures

B) Key Questions  How does terrorism differ from other forms of violence?  Warfare?  Criminal violence?  Politics?

C) Different Definitions “the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” - US Code, Title 22 Section 2656f(d)

C) Different Definitions “The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological” - Department of Defense

C) Different Definitions “action that is intended to cause death or seriously bodily harm to civilians or non combatants when the purpose of such an act by its nature or context is to intimidate the population or compel a government or IO to act or abstain from acting” - United Nations

C) Different Definitions “Terrorism is defined here as the recurrent use or threatened use of politically motivated and clandestinely organised violence, by a group whose aim is to influence a psychological target in order to make it behave in a way which the group desires” - CJM Drake

C) Different Definitions “Terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted” - Walter Laqueur

Section Tres Conceptualizing Terrorism

A) Purpose and Goals 1) Impose high costs on the victims to hurt the target 2) Impose high costs on the perpetrators to signal resolve 3) Capture a wide audience’s attention 4) Provoke a disproportionate reaction

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)  Most terrorists are fighting in civil wars for political control of unstable places  They are part-time terrorists and part-time insurgent/guerilla groups  Compare success rate of rebel groups that use terrorism vs those that don’t

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)

A) Purpose and Goals  Does terrorism work? (Page Fornta, 2015)

B) Causes of Terrorism 1) Psychological Perspective  Done for purely personal reasons based on their psychological state of mind Auguste Vaillant (1983)

B) Causes of Terrorism 2) Ideological Perspective  Ideology is defined as the beliefs, values, and/or principles by which a group identifies its particular aims and goals (religious or political) IRA Tamil Tigers Bader Meinhoff

B) Causes of Terrorism 3) Strategic Perspective  Logical extension of the failure of politics. When redress of grievances through government fails, groups resort to violence. Terrorism is the result of a logical analysis of a group’s goals/objectives

B) Causes of Terrorism  Conclusion  Impossible to say for sure what causes terrorism  May occur for any of those reasons or all  Differs by group, within group, and over time

C) Responses to Terrorism 1. Negotiation  Not admitted publicly  IRA and Great Britain, ANC and South Africa

C) Responses to Terrorism 2. International conventions  Create norms to oppose terrorism  UN conventions

C) Responses to Terrorism 3. Address underlying causes  Reduce poverty, spread democracy, increase state-building capacity

C) Responses to Terrorism 4. Violence  Tit-for-tat strategy and attempt to hinder their ability to operate  Armed intervention, drone strikes, etc

C) Responses to Terrorism 4. Violence  Does it work?  Johnston (2012) – killing leaders causes shorter campaigns, higher odds of defeating the insurgency, and lower overall violence  Byman (2006) – leadership strikes caused short- term hardening of attitudes vs Israel but long-term reduction in lethality of HAMAS attacks

C) Responses to Terrorism 4. Violence  Does it work?  Phillips (2015) – whacking Mexican cartel leads caused short-term decrease in violence and long- term increase in violence  Jordan (2009) – decapitation prolongs the life of terrorist organizations  Abrahms and Potter (2015) – groups with leadership deficits more likely to attack civilians

C) Responses to Terrorism 4. Violence  Does it work?  Unclear  Problem is absence of great data on decapitation

Section Quatro Modern Day Terrorism

A) Origins of War on Terror 1. Cold War  1979 – USSR invades Afghanistan to spread communism

A) Origins of War on Terror 1. Cold War  Mujahideen rebels secretly funded by the US to repel communist occupation

A) Origins of War on Terror 1. Cold War  Strongest of those rebel groups was the Taliban and they were joined by Osama bin Laden

A) Origins of War on Terror 2. Post-Cold War  Osama bin laden founded al Qaeda for like- minded extremists  1996 announced goals to drive US forces out of the Arabian Peninsula, overthrow Saudi Arabia, liberate Muslim holy sites in Palestine, and support Islamic revolutionary groups

A) Origins of War on Terror 3. 9/11

B) Status Quo Terrorism 1. Terrorism has gotten worse

B) Status Quo Terrorism 2. Where terrorism happens  Iraq  Pakistan  Afghanistan  India  Nigeria  Syria

B) Status Quo Terrorism 3. Terrorism is a small threat  508,000 violent deaths worldwide (<7% are terrorism)

B) Status Quo Terrorism 3. Terrorism is a small threat

Section Cinco Terrorist Profiles

A) Islamic Jihad Islam (1.6 billion) Islamism (100 million) Jihadism (100,000)

B) al Qaeda Established: late 1980’s Location: Afghanistan and Pakistan Founder: Osama bin Laden

B) al Qaeda Goal: Establish caliphate by pushing the US out of the Arab world Current leadership: al Zawahiri Major attacks: Benazir Bhutto ’07, London ’05, Madrid ’04, 9/11

C) al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Established: 2009 Location: Yemen Founder: Nasser al-Wuhayshi

C) al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Goal: purge Muslim countries of Western influence and install fundamentalist Islamic regimes Current leadership: al-Raimi Major attacks: printer toner bombing ’10, attempted Saudi assassination ’09, US embassy ’08, Christmas day bomber ’09, USS Cole ‘00

D) al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Established: 1990’s Location: Algeria

D) al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Goal: rid North Africa of Western influence and establish fundamentalist regimes Major attacks: unlikely to strike US or Europe

E) al Qaeda in Iraq (ISIS) Established: 2006 Location: Iraq Founder: al-Zarqawi

E) al Qaeda in Iraq (ISIS) Goal: caliphate Current leadership: al-Baghdadi Major attacks: many

F) Jabhat al-Nusra Established: 2011 Location: Syria Founder: al-Julani

F) Jabhat al-Nusra Goal: overthrow Syrian regime Current leadership: al-Julani Major attacks: vs ISIS

G) Boko Haram Established: 2002 Location: Nigeria

G) Boko Haram Goal: establish Islamic state in Nigeria Major attacks: schoolgirl kidnapping ‘14

H) HAMAS Established: 1987 Location: Palestine/Gaza Strip

H) HAMAS Goal: Palestinian statehood Current leadership: Mashal Major attacks: Second Intifada

I) Hezbollah Established: 1975 Location: Lebanon

I) Hezbollah Goal: resist Israel and US involvement in Middle East Current leadership: Nasrallah Major attacks: many

J) Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Established: 1993 Location: Kashmir

J) Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Goal: attack India Major attacks: Mumbai ‘08