Excerpts from research study 'weapons of mass destruction and terrorism: Proliferation by non-state actors'

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 24-50

  Campbell, James K ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0031327131     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546559708427401     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. In an analogous argument, Zeev Chafets comments on the ease at which Israeli citizens can acquire permits to carry hand guns stating that '...this is very bad from the point of view of keeping guns out of the hands of people who talk to God'. Inherent in his statement is a subtle implication that people who claim legitimacy for their acts through an association with the Almighty are extremely dangerous. See Marjorie Miller, 'A Gun-Toting Society Confronts its Ambivalence Over Easing Controls', Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 1996.
2. 'Exodus 8-11', The Holy Bible (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 1979) pp.89-94.
3. Walter Laqueur, The Age of Terrorism (Massachusetts: Little, Brown 1977) p.12.
4. Bruce Huffman, Responding to Terrorism Across the Technological Spectrum (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 1994) p.3.
5. Ibid., p.3. Between 1968 and 1994 the RAND study catalogued 8,000 terrorist incidents of which.52 involved WMD-related chemical or biological agents.
6. The Japanese terror cult Aum Shinrikyo was responsible for releasing nerve agent in a Tokyo subway that resulted in 12 deaths and 5,500 casualties. Chechen separatists buried thirty pounds of cesium-137 in a Moscow park to demonstrate their ability to cause mass damage to Russia. See 'Five Russian Troops Killed in Chechnya: Federal Command', Agence France Presse, 23 Nov. 1995.
7. 'Recent Trends in Domestic and International Terrorism', report, Center for National Security Studies, Washington DC, 26 April 1995, p.1.
8. These questions and the framework for this analysis are slightly modified and expanded from a report published by Jeffry Simon. See Jeffry D. Simon, Terrorists and the Potential Use of Biological Weapons: A Discussion of Possibilities, R-3771-AFMC (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 1989) pp.1-22.
9. There have been numerous incidents involving the use of chemical and biological agents prior to 1995. However, from a global awareness perspective, none of these incidents was categorized as having caused mass casualties or mass disruption.
10. Ted Robert Gurr, 'Terrorism in Democracies', in Walter Reich (ed.), Origins of Terrorism (New York: Cambridge UP 1990) p.94. Also, Simon (note 8) p.11.
11. Closely associated but differentiated according to legitimacy of the government, backlash can be uniform, e.g., a truly democratic government will reflect the popular will of the people in its action against a terrorist attack/group. Backlash manifests itself differently when an authoritative government reacts without the support of the people.
12. Simon (note 8) p.11.
13. Ibid.
14. Martha Crenshaw, The Causes of Terrorism', Comparative Politics 12/4 (July 1981) p.386.
15. Laqueur, The Age of Terrorism (note 3) p.123.
16. Simons (note 8) p.6.
17. Steven Emerson, 'The Other Fundamentalists', The New Republic 212, 12 June 1995, p.21.
18. A. Cooperman and K. Belianinov, 'Moonlighting by Modem from Russia', U.S. News and World Report, 17 April 1995, p.45. Also see 'Syria Builds Nerve Gas Arsenal', The Sunday Times (London), 17 Nov. 1996.
19. A. Cooperman and K. Belianinov, 'Moonlighting by Modem from Russia', U.S. News and World Report, 17 April 1995, p.45. Also see 'Syria Builds Nerve Gas Arsenal', The Sunday Times (London), 17 Nov. 1996.
20. Bruce Huffman, Responding to Terrorism (note 4) p.19.
21. This situation is very similar to Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, e.g., an atmosphere ripe for the incipient phase of radicalization that led to development of the RAF. Also Schecterman's essay on Irrational Terrorism suggests that terrorism is an outgrowth of accelerated changes within a particular society. He contends that 'revolutionary dynamics in innovative technology and economic systems have produced great dislocation and anomie among vast populace, and especially so among the elite of such societies...Terrorism has been a reaction pattern for many people under such duress.' The case of Aum's emergence and growth in both Japan and Russia seems to reflect Schecterman's postulation.
22. David Van Biema, 'Prophet of Poison', Time, 3 April 1995, p.26.
23. James Walsh, 'Shoko Asahara: The Making of a Messiah', Time, 3 April 1995, p.30.
24. David E. Kaplan and Andrew Marshall, The Cull at the End of the World (New York: Crown Publishers 1996) p.8.
25. Ibid., p.9.
26. Ibid., p.11.
27. Ibid., p.12.
28. Ibid., p.12.
29. Ibid., p.12.
30. Ibid. See also Nick Cassway, 'The Wit and Wisdom of Gas Attack Guru Shoko Asahara', http:// www.webcom.com/-conspire/sayings.html
31. Teruaki Ueno, Reuters, 20 April 1995.
32. The Irish Times, 1 April 1995. Also, Walsh, 'The Making of a Messiah' (note 22).
33. The Irish Times, 1 April 1995. Also, Walsh, 'The Making of a Messiah' (note 22).
34. Discussion with Dr. Jerrold Post, George Washington University, 1 May 1996.
35. N.D. Kristof, 'Japan Police Arrest 2 Found Beneath Sect Headquarters', New York Times, 27 April 1995, p.A1.
36. MacNeil/Lehrer News Report, 4 May 1995.
37. Kevin Rafferty, 'Japan Looks to Transvestite Actor to Save It From Doomsday Terror Cult', The Observer, 23 April 1995, p.19.
38. The Dallas Morning News, 14 April 1995, p.10A.
39. Japanese Economic News wire, 4 April 1995.
40. Yomiur Shimbun, 'Aum Recruiters Given Decorative Swords', The Daily Yomiuri, 17 April 1995, p.2. The practices noted here provide a superb example of Crenshaw's discussion concerning terrorist group leader's control of incentives. It is also evident that Aum recruitment programs were designed to attract members in the JDF, National Police and other professional areas to allow the organization to penetrate and gain access to sensitive information.
41. The Mainichi Daily News, 25 April 1995.
42. The Irish Times, 1 April 1995.
43. Robert Guest, 'Cult's Commune of Torture: Harrowing Purification Rituals', The Daily Telegraph, 24 March 1995, p.16.
44. Kaplan and Marshall (note 23) pp.35-7.
45. Van Biema (note 21) p.26.
46. Ibid., p.31.
47. Kaplan and Marshall (note 23) p.64.
48. Congressional Testimony on Aum, 31 Oct. 1995.
49. Van Biema (note 21) p.27.
50. Kaplan and Marshall (note 23) p.98.
51. Ibid., pp.93-5.
52. Ibid., p.88. Note that the sarin recipe used by Aum is of Russian origin.
53. Ibid., p.68.
54. Ibid., p.58.
55. Ibid., pp.215-17.
56. The Economist, 25 March 1995, p.37.
57. While these facts are confirmed by several accounts, this history is based on an article by Chiaki Ishimura, 'Events surrounding Doomsday Sect Aum Supreme Truth', Agence France Presse, 22 March 1995. Also see Van Biema (note 21).
58. Nicholas D. Kristof, 'Poison Gas Targets Secret Cult; Japanese Raids Turns Up Chemicals', The International Herald Tribune, 23 March 1995.
59. Kaplan reports that JDF membership in Aum included approximately 40 active duty and 60 former members of the JDF. Kaplan and Marshall (note 23) p.188.
60. Interview with Dr. Jerrold M. Post. 9 Feb. 1996, San Francisco, CA. Quotes were taken from unpublished draft notes of a book Dr. Post is presently writing concerning cults.
61. Hajime Takano, 'Aum Veiled in Nerve-Gas Attack Suspicion - Performing its Own Armageddon?', Insider, 1 April 1995.
62. Cassway, 'Wit and Wisdom of Gas Attack Guru Shoko Asahara' (note 29).
63. 'Killer Cults Hit List' article, http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/cults1.html
64. For a full account of the Jonestown massacre see Kenneth Wooden, The Children of Jonestown (San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill 1981).
65. Ibid., p.206.
66. 'Aum Member Says Deadly Sarin Gas Attack was "Right"', Kyodo News International, 25 March 1996.
67. Irene M. Kunii, 'Engineer of Doom', Time, 12 June 1995.
68. Kaplan and Marshall (note 23) p.24.
69. Ibid, pp.126-33.
70. Ibid., p.126.
71. Ibid., p.193.
72. Ibid., p.282.
73. Norman Cohn, pp.41-3.
74. Ibid., p.46.
75. Rev. Jim Jones was the leader of a cult known as the 'Peoples Temple'. In 1978, 900 members died in a mass suicide at the cult's facilities in Jonestown, Guyana, at the direction of Jim Jones. David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, and his apocalyptic followers perished in a blaze adjunct to an assault of their compound by Federal authorities in Spring 1993.
76. 'MEPs plead for EU Action Against Dangerous Cults', Reuters, 29 Feb. 1996.