Dictionary of Terrorism

governments involved but also a global media that is aware of its democratic responsibilities. This can be hard to achieve.

These outrages have occurred around the world; and have sparked great fear and a renewed determination to catch the killers. In Saudi Arabia in October 2001 a suicide bomber struck a busy shopping area in Al Khubar killing one person and injuring many more. No one claimed responsibility. In India in December 2001 twelve people were killed in a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament building. The perpetrators could have been Kashmiri militants or Islamic radicals upset by American attacks in Afghanistan or both. In Pakistan three attacks occurred in March 2002 two Americans and others were killed when a man threw grenades into a church. Two months later a bomber killed eleven French engineers in Karachi and in the same city in June a suicide bomber killed 13 persons at the US consulate. In October 2002 off the Yemeni coast a blast occurred on a French oil tanker, it was blamed on a small boat laden with explosives manned by suicide bombers, colliding with the tanker. The USS Cole, an American warship had been attacked in similar fashion in Yemen in October 2000. Both attacks were blamed on Al Qaeda. Also in October in Kuwait a US marine was killed while on exercises on Failaka Island. Shots were fired on US forces in the country and both were blamed on Al Qaeda.

An individual example was shown in December 2001 by the so-called 'Shoebomber' Richard Reed. Reed, a British-born convert to Islam and Al Qaeda set out to blow up a Paris to Miami flight in December 2001. A stewardess saw him trying to light his shoes with a match. Each of the soles of his shoes on examination contained about four ounces of Pentarythritol Tetranitrate - PETN, a constituent of the plastic explosive Semtex. This was a sophisticated device virtually impossible to detect by airport security. He was arrested on the plane and charged with attempted murder using a weapon of mass destruction. An indication that he was 'mule' (a person who carries out a terrorist atrocity on behalf of a terrorist organisation) with intensive backing came from a strand of hair and a palm print that were not Reeds. It has been suggested that Al Qaeda members in France and Belgium assisted him. Reed was accused of having been trained at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan having originally attended the British mosque in south London - known for its radical Islamic teaching. In January 2003 under American law he was sentenced to 180 years in jail and fined $2 million by a Boston court for his various offences.

Non-state individuals and groups play a key role in foreign policy. They affect foreign policy in two ways - exercising indirect influence by lobbying their governments, or interacting directly with foreign actors. Ultimately terrorists threaten our sense of well-being. The proliferation of terrorist groups has reduced the sense of security.

As the world has witnessed in relations between Russia and Chechnya, the world has become enmeshed in a vicious cycle of terrorism and counter-terrorism. When governments fail to respect human rights their adversaries are unlikely to do so. Political terrorism and common criminality may merge, for example, profits from international drug trafficking sometimes help purchase weapons for revolutionaries - this is particularly prevalent in Latin America.

As we have seen with September 11, lax immigration procedures and growing numbers of political refugees have brought the USA into the front line of global terrorism. State support for terrorist groups and the propensity of terrorists' effect have contributed to the trend of increasing terrorism. Escalating terrorist violence can make countries ungovernable.

In the Middle East, much terrorist violence is directed against Israel by violent Arab-Palestinian groups. The difficulty, however, that terrorists have in striking Israel directly has encouraged them to strike at 'softer' targets especially the interests of Americans and Europeans whom the terrorists

-236-