Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

lx • INTRODUCTIONopened: “The behavior of Iran, Libya, and other countries points tothe development of rogue, or outlaw states, who no longer use terror[solely] as an instrument of maintaining internal control, but rather asa technique in a new diplomatic method—‘armed diplomacy’—as ameans of carrying out foreign policy.” 15In the 1980s states increasingly supported various terrorist groupsin pursuit of their foreign policy objectives. “State-sponsored terrorism”by the Soviet Union, the United States, Iran, Iraq, Syria, NorthKorea, and other governments enabled terrorists to have levels of financial,logistical, and tactical support unavailable to them in the past.The linkages between various terrorist groups and their state sponsorswere hotly debated, particularly by the United States, which soughtto verify the degree of Moscow’s involvement with terrorists duringthe waning days of the cold war. Such diverse groups as the WestGerman Baader-Meinhof Gang, the Irish Republican Army, and thePFLP received funding from their respective state sponsors. 16 Statesponsorship, particularly in the Middle East, continues to enhance thecapability of various terrorist groups to pursue their objectives andfor sponsoring states to pursue their geopolitical goals through proxywarfare.THREATS OF MASS DESTRUCTIONAND CHANGING MOTIVATIONSIn the introduction to the first edition of this book, we noted, “Modernterrorism is entering a very dangerous period.” We were referring tothe disintegration of the Soviet Union, the resurgence of ethnicity thathad long been suppressed during the cold war by the Soviet empire,and the revival of religious fundamentalism. Our concerns particularlyfocused on the increased availability of chemical, biological, andnuclear weapons, or what are now called weapons of mass destruction(WMD), that could be used by a state, state-sponsored terrorists,or independent terrorist groups to pursue their objectives. While therehave been threats and resorts to such weapons, they had been limiteduntil the sarin gas attack by Aum Shinrikyo in the Tokyo subway systemin March 1995. Just as the Oklahoma City bombing represented anew phase in terrorism to the United States, so did that attack (and aprevious, less publicized one by the group upon a prefecture building)