NCJ Number
190731
Journal
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism Volume: 24 Issue: 5 Dated: September/October 2001 Pages: 389-406
Date Published
2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article compares motives and outcomes of mass casualty terrorism involving conventional and unconventional weapons.
Abstract
A new breed of terrorists is drawn to use weapons of mass destruction or chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons (unconventional weapons) to maximize casualties. This view of the new terrorism has led to a significant shift in United States counterterrorism policy with an increasing focus on the prospect of terrorist use of unconventional weapons. American counterterrorism policy may mistakenly focus too much on unconventional weapons attacks rather than mass casualty attacks regardless of the weapons material. Over the course of the last 25 years, there have been only three terrorist mass casualty attacks involving unconventional weapons material: the Rajneeshee religious cult using salmonella to poison restaurant patrons in Oregon; a chlorine attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka; and the sarin gas attack by Aum Shinrikyo in Japan. The most significant conventional attacks that produced mass casualties and mass destruction in the 1990's demonstrated the ease with which terrorists could procure the necessary materials, fashion them into powerful weapons, and deliver them to targets. These were the World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the bombing of American embassies in Africa. Regardless of the particular type of weapons material, terrorists determined to inflict mass casualties often view themselves as victims whose war against their oppressor justifies their mass killing and helps define who they are and what role they play in the world. The perpetrators are operating according to their own logic, which may not be evident to people outside their small clique, government authorities, or society at large. A better understanding of the motivations and behavioral patterns of mass casualty terrorists will help identify means to reduce the operating room for mass casualty terrorists regardless of the weapons material they may choose. 61 notes