Role of the US and UN: Terrorism

1
Role of the US and UN Terrorism

• Presentation by
• Ng Zhong Jin (17) Melvin Ong (20) Low Zi Xin
  (15)

2
Background US and UN

• The US and the UN shared a common vision
• Believe in a world in which peace and prosperity
  are property of all people
  
• Share core principles of freedom, democracy, good
  governance and human rights

3
Background US and UN

• They aim to
• Promote international peace and security through
  multilateral diplomacy
• Fight poverty and eradicate pandemic disease by
  building solid foundations for
  development
• Advance freedom, human rights, and democratic
  institutions through cooperation with other
  nations
• Improve health and education

4
Background Terrorism

• What is terrorism?
• It is violence against civilians to achieve
  political or ideological
  objectives by creating fear.
• Examples of terrorism
• Bali Bombing
• September 11 attacks

5
The Role of the UN

• Implemented the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
• Strategy was adopted by the GA on 8 September
  2006
• Marks the first time member states agree to a
  global strategic framework to
  counter-terrorism

6
The Role of the UN

• Objectives of the Strategy
• Address conditions conducive to the spread of
  terrorism
• Defend human rights while combating terrorism
• Prevent and combat terrorism
• Build state capacity to counter terrorism
• To achieve these objectives, various measures
  have been taken.

7
Addressing conditions conducive to the
spread of terrorism

• Department of Public Information
• Cooperates with member states of the UN to
  promote respect, tolerance, and
  cultural diversity
• Organized seminars to confront anti-Semitism and
  Islamophobia

8
Addressing conditions conducive to the
spread of terrorism

• UNESCO
• Promotes dialogue among civilizations, culture
  and people by fostering
  quality education

9
Defend human rights while combating terrorism

• United Nations High Commissioner for
  Human Rights
• Provides assistance and advice to member states
  on the protection
  of human rights and fundamental
  freedoms while countering terrorism, including
  the development of human
  rights-compliant anti-terrorism legislation and
  policy

10
Defend human rights while combating terrorism

• United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice
  Research Institute
• Provides training on witness protection,
  especially the
  persons who have participated in terrorist or
  organized criminal groups and
  the victims of terrorism

11
Prevent and combat terrorism

• Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC)
• Monitors implementation of Resolution 1373
• Resolution 1373 calls on countries to enact
  measures to prevent terrorist act
  and provides recommendations for
  improvements

12
Prevent and combat terrorism

• Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions regime
• Security Council requires states to impose
  sanctions on individuals listed as
  associated with Al-Qaida and the
  Taliban
• Currently, 362 individuals and 125 entities have
  been placed on that list by the
  Security Council and over 90
  million in financial assets of those listed have
  been frozen by 34 States

13
Build state capacity to counter
terrorism

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• Assisted more than 125 countries to implement
  universal instruments related to
  the prevention and
  suppression of international terrorism
• Deploy professional expertise in the field to
  train officials of
  relevant authorities
• Build institutions to improve countries
  capacities in
  combating money laundering and the financing
  of terrorism

14
Build state capacity to counter
terrorism

• UN Interregional Crime Justice Research
  Institute
• Provide support to numerous member states
  engaged in security preparations of
  major events (eg.
  Olympics)
• Promote development of integrated research area
  on major event
  security

15
Evaluation Role of the UN

• Since the implementation of the Global
  Counter-Terrorism Strategy, it is evident that
  the UN counter-terrorism framework strikes and
  more balanced focus on both the threat and
  measures to address it effectively
• The focus is not solely on security-related
  preventative measures but also gives priority
  attention to addressing terrorisms underlying
  conditions such as poverty, prolonged unresolved
  conflicts, dehumanization of victims of terrorism
  etc
• It has become a holistic, inclusive approach to
  counter-terrorism

16
The Role of the US

• Before and After the September 11 incident
• US had no anti-terrorism policy or strategy based
  upon risk assessment
• Each department and agency developed its own
  approach
• Little or no effort to develop a coordinated risk
  assessment policy

17
Introduction

• Concept of Operations Plan (CONPLAN)
• FBI is responsible for Crisis Management after a
  terrorist attack
• FBI secures all evidences before responders can
  enter the area

18
Introduction

• Domestic Terrorism Program
• Also carried out by FBI
• Responds to threats involving atomic energy,
  weapons of mass destruction, sabotage,
  hostage-killing and civil unrest

19
Introduction

• Terrorism Budget
• Federal buildings security
• Response equipment that could be used to respond
  to Nuclear, Biological and Chemical terrorism
• Anti-terrorist trainings

20
US Anti-Terrorism Policies

• Developed plans involving crisis and consequence
  management
• Trained army/ soldiers to respond to terrorist
  threats such as Nuclear, Biological and Chemical
  Terrorism

21
US Anti-Terrorism Policies

• Did nothing to evaluate what terrorists
  could accomplish
• In 9-11 incident, these plans provided a good
  response mechanism to respond to terrorist
  attacks, but did nothing to analyze the risk of
  what the terrorists could achieve or do
• In other words, US trained its people to respond
  to terrorism, not to deal with it or fight it.

22
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• April 1983 - A suicide car bombing against the
  U.S. embassy in Beirut kills 63, including 17
  Americans.
• October 1983 - A suicide car bomb attack against
  the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut kills 241
  servicemen. A simultaneous attack on a French
  base kills 58 paratroopers.
• November 1984 - A bomb attack on the U.S. embassy
  in Bogota, Colombia kills a passer-by. The attack
  was preceded by death threats against U.S.
  officials by drug traffickers.
• April 1985 - A bomb explodes in a restaurant near
  a U.S. air base in Madrid, Spain, killing 18, all
  Spaniards, and wounding 82, including 15
  Americans.

23
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• June 1985 - In San Salvador, El Salvador, 13
  people are killed in a machine gun attack at an
  outdoor café, including four U.S. Marines and two
  American businessmen.
• June 1985 - A TWA airliner is hijacked over the
  Mediterranean, the start of a two-week hostage
  ordeal. The last 39 passengers are eventually
  released in Damascus after being held in various
  locations in Beirut.
• August 1985 - A car bomb at a U.S. military base
  in Frankfurt, Germany kills two and injures 20. A
  U.S. soldier murdered for his identity papers is
  found a day after the explosion.

24
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• October 1985 - Palestinian terrorists hijack the
  cruise liner Achille Lauro (in response to the
  Israeli attack on PLO headquarters in Tunisia)
  Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly, wheelchair-bound
  American, is killed and thrown overboard.
• November 1985 - Hijackers aboard an Egyptair
  flight kill one American. Egyptian commandos
  later storm the aircraft on the isle of Malta,
  and 60 people are killed.
• December 1985 - Simultaneous suicide attacks are
  carried out against U.S. and Israeli check-in
  desks at Rome and Vienna international airports.
  20 people are killed in the two attacks,
  including four terrorists.

25
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• April 5, 1986 - A bomb destroys the LaBelle
  discotheque in West Berlin. The disco was known
  to be frequented by U.S. servicemen. The attack
  kills one American and one German woman and
  wounds 150, including 44 Americans
• In response, on April 15 the United States
  retaliated in an operation dubbed El Dorado
  Canyon. Approximately 100 aircraft were launched
  in direct support of the raid. It was an attack
  against military targets involving land-based
  bombers from Great Britain together with
  carrier-based air strikes from ships in the Gulf
  of Sidra.
• April 1986 - An explosion damages a TWA flight as
  it prepares to land in Athens, Greece. Four
  people are killed when they are sucked out of the
  aircraft.

26
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• Dec. 21, 1988 - A bomb destroys Pan Am 103 over
  Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the
  Boeing 747 are killed including 189 Americans, as
  are 11 people on the ground.
• February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the
  underground parking garage in New York's World
  Trade Center, killing six people and wounding
  1,042.
• April 19, 1995 - A car bomb destroys the Murrah
  Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168
  people and wounding over 600.
• Nov. 13, 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi
  Arabia kills seven people, five of them American
  military and civilian advisers for National Guard
  training. The "Tigers of the Gulf," "Islamist
  Movement for Change," and "Fighting Advocates of
  God" claim responsibility.

27
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• June 25, 1996 - A bomb aboard a fuel truck
  explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in
  Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel
  are killed in the Khubar Towers housing facility,
  and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans.
• July 27, 1996 - A pipe bomb explodes during the
  Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and
  wounding 111.
• June 21, 1998 - Rocket-propelled grenades explode
  near the U.S. embassy in Beirut.

28
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• Aug. 7, 1998 - Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S.
  embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam,
  Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the
  291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including
  6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen
  is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured.
• In response, on August 20 the United States
  attacked targets in Afghanistan and Sudan with
  over 75 cruise missiles fired from Navy ships in
  the Arabian and Red seas. About 60 Tomahawk
  cruise missiles were fired from warships in the
  Arabian Sea. Most struck six separate targets in
  a camp near Khost, Afghanistan. Simultaneously,
  about 20 cruise missiles were fired from U.S.
  ships in the Red Sea striking a factory in
  Khartoum, Sudan, which was suspected of producing
  components for making chemical weapons.

29
Chronology of Terrorist Attacks

• Oct. 12, 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the
  destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen,
  killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.
• September 11, 2001 - Terrorists hijack four U.S.
  commercial airliners taking off from various
  locations in the United States in a coordinated
  suicide attack.
• In separate attacks, two of the airliners crash
  into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in
  New York City, which catch fire and eventually
  collapse.
• A third airliner crashes into the Pentagon in
  Washington, DC, causing extensive damage.
• The fourth airliner, also believed to be heading
  towards Washington, DC, crashes outside
  Shanksville, PA., killing all 45 people on board.
  
• Casualty estimates from New York put the possible
  death toll close to 5,000, while as many as 200
  people may have been lost at the Pentagon crash
  site.

30
Evaluation Iraq War

• The US-led coalition's defeat of Saddam Hussein
  rid the Middle
  East of a brutal regime
• And eliminated a potential source of state-
  sponsored terrorism
• But continuing instability in Iraq may make the
  country a breeding
  ground for anti-US terrorism

31
Evaluation Afghanistan War

• The removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan
  has deprived al Qaeda
  of a state-based
  center of operations
• But, the weak central government in Afghanistan
  has been unable to gain
  stability and Taliban forces
  seem to be reemerging.

32
Evaluation Role of US

• Have achieved some forms of success
• But does not address the problem of terrorism
  fully
• Many al-Qaeda leaders have been captured, and is
  a decrease in terrorist
  attacks. However, terrorist
  attacks continue in the Middle East, South
  East Asia,
  Africa, and Russia
• States supporting terrorism, including Syria and
  Iran, remain
  threats, and options for military
  actions against them are
  limited
• Allies of the US in the Muslim World have become
  targets for Islamist
  militants and terrorist attacks

33
Evaluation Role of the US

• US support for some authoritarian regimes in
  the Muslim world
  provokes resentment over
  the suppression of democracy and human
  rights, creating
  hostility that can be exploited by terrorist
  groups for recruitment
• Terrorist attacks can be expected to
  continue in coming years. The
  elimination of
  global terrorism remains far off.

34
Proposed Resolutions

• Understanding that terrorism stems from the
  hostile ideology of
  militant Islam is the first step
  towards formulating an effective,
  long-term
  anti-terrorism strategy
• The next phase of a successful effort against
  global terrorism should
  differ in part from the approach
  of the two years following
  9/11
• The focus must be on long-term and deep-
  seated issues, including
  democratization,
  economic growth, and educational reform in
  the Muslim
  world.
• Also, the development of more open societies
  and increased
  prosperity should be key goals.

35
Proposed Resolutions

• To realize these goals, U.S. policy should
  concentrate on
• building consensus and enhancing international
  cooperation
• applying cautious pressure for reform in Muslim
  states
• encouraging moderate Islamic voices
• achieving political stability and economic
  reconstruction in Iraq and
  Afghanistan
• With effective policies, global terrorism may
  diminish over time, but
  at present public opinion
  has turned sharply against the United States.
  Closer cooperation with the
  UN may help in USs
  counter-terrorism efforts.

36
Past Cooperation

• In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the US
  succeeded in reaching out to the UN, to help
  globalize the war on terror.
• In September 2006, the GA adopted the first ever
  global counter-terrorism strategy, which is very
  much in line with the Bush Administrations
  updated counter-terrorism strategy.

37
Future Cooperation

• With a Secretary-General Ban and US Ambassador
  Khalizad newly appointed in 2007, the US should
  seize the opportunity to show that she is
  committed to working with its global partners in
  addressing global threats.

38
References

• http//www.state.gov/p/io/rls/rm/2003/21913.htm
• http//www.globalct.org/images/content/pdf/article
  s/unf_insights.pdf
• http//www.state.gov/s/ct/
• http//idl.stanford.edu/conference/powerpoint/Vdov
  in.ppt.
• http//www.un.org/terrorism/pdfs/CT_factsheet_may2
  007x.pdf
• http//www.brookings.edu/papers/2003/0303middleeas
  t_byman.aspx
• http//www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr111.pdf
• http//internationalteenlife.pbwiki.com/f/Terroris
  mPic123.JPG
• http//learnsigma.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/t
  errorism.gif
• http//www.cdi.org/terrorism/chronology.html

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Thank you!

• Questions?