The Geography of Terrorism More than 80 percent of last year's terrorism fatalities occurred in just five countries. KATHY GILSINANNOV 18 2014, 6:08 PM ET Institute for Economics and Peace Of the 17,958 people who died in terrorist attacks in 2013, 82 percent were in one of five countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. That's one finding from this year's Global Terrorism Index report, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace. The report is based on data from the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, which has information on more than 125,000 terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2013. The report found a 61-percent jump in terrorism fatalities between 2012 and 2013. "Over the same period," the authors wrote, "the number of countries that experienced more than 50 [terrorism-related] deaths rose from 15 to 24" an indication that the problem of terrorism was getting both more fatal and more widespread a year before ISIS declared a new caliphate. But it's also striking where terrorism didn't occur. Much of the increase in terrorism-related fatalities in 2013 took place in Iraq, where terrorists claimed nearly 4,000 lives a 168-percent increase over 2012. Worldwide, Iraq was the worstaffected country, accounting for 34 percent of terrorism-related fatalities in 2013, with Afghanistan ranked next with 17.3 percent. Meanwhile, between 2000 and 2013, the report found, around 5 percent of terrorism-related fatalities occurred in the 34 wealthy countries of the OECD. In 2013 specifically, there were 113 terrorism-related deaths in OECD countries 0.6 percent of the worldwide total. Six of these took place in the United States.
Deaths From Terrorism, 2000-2013 Global Terrorism Database/Institute for Economics and Peace Percentage of Global Terrorism-Related Deaths, 2013 Global Terrorism Database/Institute for Economics and Peace
Biggest Increases in Terrorism-Related Deaths, 2012-2013 Global Terrorism Database/Institute for Economics and Peace While last year's terrorism fatalities may have been concentrated in a small number of countries, the authors do note that overall, "Since 2000 there has been over a five-fold increase in the number of deaths from terrorism, rising from 3,361 in 2000 to 17,958 in 2013." Much of that period corresponded with massive international military efforts to root out terrorism. And as the U.S. winds up its war in Afghanistan a country that saw a 13-percent increase in terrorism-related fatalities last year and considers the extent to which it wants to intervene militarily to halt the spread of ISIS, it's worth asking: How does terrorism actually end? The question is one that the Rand Corporation addressed in a 2008 study that the Global Terrorism Index authors cite. That report examined 268 terrorist groups that halted their attacks between 1968 and 2006. In only 7 percent of those cases, the report found, military intervention brought about the end of a terrorist group.
RAND/Institute for Economics and Peace That finding suggests the debate over whether to put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria and whose boots, and how many, and whether they should be combat boots or just training-and-advisory boots misses a larger point about the conditions that are most associated with terrorism. The report's authors devote the final section of the study to examining the factors that correlated with higher levels of terrorism in 2012-2013; among the most significant they found were ethnic and religious tensions, as well as levels of state repression including, for example, human-rights abuses and extrajudicial killings. "This can be viewed in two ways," the authors write. "Either increased terrorism leads governments to implement stricter, authoritarian and illegal acts toward its citizens through torture or state violence, or the repression results in terrorist acts as retaliation. This can create a vicious cycle of violence making it difficult to clearly identify causality." These correlations also speak to the relationship between terrorism and conflict more broadly. "The most common context for the onset of terrorist violence is within an ongoing conflict," the authors write. About 70 percent of the fatal terrorist attacks recorded in the Global Terrorism Database between 1970 and 2013 took place in countries with serious ongoing conflicts. This point that war breeds violence is not particularly novel or satisfying. But the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq continue to top the list of countries most affected by terrorism does highlight the limitations of foreign military intervention in ending terrorist violence. And warnings about threats to the homeland notwithstanding, it's not primarily Americans who suffer for it.
How ISIS Works The jihadist group has oil revenues, arms and organization, controls vast stretches of Syria and Iraq and aspires to statehood. UPDATED Sept. 16, 2014 Organization The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has a detailed structure that encompasses many functions and jurisdictions, according to ISIS documents seized by Iraqi forces and seen by American officials and Hashim Alhashimi, an Iraqi researcher. Many of its leaders are former officers from Saddam Hussein s long-disbanded army who augmented their military training with terrorist techniques during years of fighting American troops. RELATED ARTICLE»
Territory ISIS has rapidly expanded its control over Iraq and Syria by seizing towns and cities near major supply routes, critical infrastructure and border crossings. Over the summer, the group pressed deeper into Syria, regaining some territory it had lost to other rebel groups and capturing several government military bases. It is still trying to consolidate its control along the border between Iraq and Syria. ISIS fighters experienced some setbacks in Iraq, where American airstrikes helped Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaim the Mosul Dam and the Turkmen city of Amerli.
Financing Millions of dollars in oil revenue have made ISIS one of the wealthiest terror groups in history. Experts estimate the value of the output from the dozen or so oil fields and refineries under its control in Iraq and Syria at $1 million to $2 million a day. RELATED ARTICLE» Oil fields Oil fields controlled by ISIS The group controls many of Syria s eastern oil fields. In July, ISIS fighters took control of the country's largest oil field, Omar, which was producing about 30,000 barrels a day when it was fully functioning. Recently it was producing about a third of that or less. ISIS expanded its attacks into Iraq s oil-producing areas in June, and an August sweep into the Kurdish region gave it access to more of the country s oil assets. Experts estimate that the Iraqi oil fields under ISIS control may produce 25,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil a day worth a minimum of $1.2 million in the underground market.
Governing When it seizes a city, ISIS keeps select services operating while using brute force to impose its vision of a fundamentalist Islamic state. Religious police make sure that shops close during Muslim prayers and that women cover their hair and faces in public. Public spaces are walled off with heavy metal fences topped with the black flags of ISIS. People accused of disobeying the law are punished by public executions or amputations. At the same time, ISIS keeps markets, bakeries and gas stations functioning.
Military The Central Intelligence Agency believes that ISIS has between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria and estimates that 15,000 of the jihadists are foreign recruits. RELATED ARTICLE» The origins of ISIS s foreign recruits The largest blocs of foreign fighters come from nearby Muslim countries, like Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Smaller contingents come from countries as far away and disparate as Belgium, China, Russia and the United States.
Weapons ISIS has stolen hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of weapons and equipment from Iraqi and Syrian military installations. It has also intercepted supplies en route to Syrian rebel groups from foreign governments. Conflict Armament Research, a private firm that investigates arms trafficking, has tracked small arms and rockets used by ISIS that appear to have been provided to other combatants by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Among the weapons that Conflict Armament Research examined were M16 and M4 rifles stamped Property of U.S. Govt. Such weapons are also in the hands of irregular Shiite forces in Iraq, where the United States provided hundreds of thousands of small arms to supportive forces during its long occupation. Conflict Armament Research found M79 antitank rockets from the former Yugoslavia that were identical to M79 rockets provided by Saudi Arabia to rebels in Syria. Sources: Conflict Armament Research; IHS Jane's http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/16/world/middleeast/how-isis-works.html?_r=0
U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan begins On this day in 2001, a U.S.- led coalition begins attacks on Taliban- controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. Logistical support was provided by other nations including France, Germany, Australia and Canada and, later, troops were provided by the anti- Taliban Northern Alliance rebels. The invasion of Afghanistan was the opening salvo in the United States "war on terrorism" and a response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York andwashington, D.C. Dubbed "Operation Enduring Freedom" in U.S. military parlance, the invasion of Afghanistan was intended to target terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden's al- Qaida organization, which was based in the country, as well as the extreme fundamentalist Taliban government that had ruled most of the country since 1996 and supported and protected al- Qaida. The Taliban, which had imposed its extremist version of Islam on the entire country, also perpetrated countless human rights abuses against its people, especially women, girls and ethnic Hazaras. During their rule, large numbers of Afghans lived in utter poverty, and as many as 4 million Afghans are thought to have suffered from starvation. In the weeks prior to the invasion, both the United States and the U.N. Security Council had demanded that the Taliban turn over Osama bin Laden for prosecution. After deeming the Taliban's counteroffers unsatisfactory among them to try bin Laden in an Islamic court the invasion began with an aerial bombardment of Taliban and al- Qaida installations in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Konduz and Mazar- e- Sharif. Other coalition planes flew in airdrops of humanitarian supplies for Afghan civilians. The Taliban called the actions "an attack on Islam." In a taped statement released to the Arabic al- Jazeera television network, Osama bin Laden called for a war against the entire non- Muslim world. After the air campaign softened Taliban defenses, the coalition began a ground invasion, with Northern Alliance forces providing most of the troops and the U.S. and other nations giving air and ground support. On November 12, a little over a month after the military action began, Taliban officials and their forces retreated from the capital of Kabul. By early December, Kandahar, the last Taliban stronghold, had fallen and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar went into hiding rather than surrender. Al- Qaida fighters continued to hide out in Afghanistan's mountainous Tora Bora region, where they were engaged by anti- Taliban Afghan forces, backed by U.S. Special Forces troops. Al- Qaida soon initiated a truce, which is now believed to have been a ploy to allow Osama bin Laden and other key al- Qaida members time to escape into neighboring Pakistan. By mid- December, the bunker and cave complex used by al- Qaida at Tora Bora had been captured, but there was no sign of bin Laden. After Tora Bora, a grand council of Afghan tribal leaders and former exiles was convened under the leadership of Hamid Karzai, who first served as interim leader before becoming the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan on December 7, 2004. Even as Afghanistan began to take the first steps toward democracy, however, with more than 10,000 U.S. troops in country, al- Qaida and Taliban forces began to regroup in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They continue to engage U.S. and Afghan troops in guerilla- style warfare and have also been responsible for the deaths of elected government officials and aid workers and the kidnapping of foreigners. Hundreds of American and coalition soldiers and thousands of Afghans have been killed and wounded in the fighting. Afghans continue to make up the largest refugee population in the world, though nearly 3 million have returned to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, further straining the country's war- ravaged economy. http://www.history.com/this- day- in- history/us- led- attack- on- afghanistan- begins
Name Period Case Study STATE SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM 1. Define the following terms: a. Terrorist b. Taliban c. Al-Qaeda 2. Go to http://mrsleaversclass.weebly.com/chapter-8.html and download the State Support for Terrorism document. Skim the supplemental information and write a summary (20 words or less) for each document: a. The Geography of Terrorism (did you read the graphs?) b. How ISIS Works (did you read the captions with the images?) c. U.S. Led Attack on Afghanistan Begins & Biography of Saddam Hussein (What is the difference between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?) 3. Go to http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224826.htm and view the Country Reports on Terrorism (2013). Choose ONE country (Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria) that is currently under U.S. sanctions for supporting terrorism. Summarize why your country is considered a state sponsor of terrorism. How long has it been? What is the current situation? What were some countries (at least 2) that you were surprised had not made the list? Why? 4. Find a current event on terrorism and complete the following: a. Title of the current event, publication (CNN, AP, etc), date b. Summary: Where did the event happen? What groups were involved? What action has been taken to stop the perpetrators?