Lessons Learned from a Decade of Conflict - Boekje Pienter

The Department of Homeland Security(DHS), after a lengthy study, recently compileda list of 7,000 of the most “at risk” sitesfor terror attack. 2 But even that does not beginto acknowledge the many thousands morethat are not only predictably attractive to terrorists,but are the very types of targets thathave been attacked by this same enemy countlesstimes around the world.Indeed, in developing its 7,000-site terrortarget list, the DHS included merely 100 of thenation’s 3,400 drinking-water facilities thatstore large amounts of chlorine gas; if any ofthese facilities were attacked, the gas storedcould result in harm to, or the deaths of, 1,000or more people. 2Worse still: There isn’t a single elementary,middle or high school on the list.Why Schools?When anyone with a terrorist mindset isdeciding what type of attack to launch, theyhave two essential options: decimation assaultor mass-hostage siege. Decimation assaultsare much more frequent, easier to planand execute, and can usually yield all theresults the terrorists seek with the majorityof targets. That is, they need only send suicidebombers into a site, or plant explosivesin advance of actual detonation. By simplybombing most physical targets,they accomplish this objective;however, because the attacks areusually cleaned up quickly and thebody count is generally low, theseattacks rarely have long-lastingimpact.However, when seeking to causethe greatest psychological, emotionaland lifestyle impact on anentire nation, through the deathsof large numbers of the most innocent,no target offers terrorists asmuch impact as the killing of children.Terrorists have learned that when you takeand hold large numbers of children hostage,you, in fact, hold an entire nation hostage.Should terrorists come to America and takemore than 1,000 of our children and womenhostage as they did in September 2004 atBeslan Middle School No.1 in southern Russia,all of America would hold its collective breaththrough the days of that siege, terrified of theend result. Holding innocents hostage overlong periods of time exponentially increasesthe terror impact on not only the target governmentand the citizens of that country, butof that nation’s allies.Prolific Terror TargetsWhether decimation assaults or mass-hostage sieges, childrenand schools rate high among the most prolific terror targetsin the world. Israel experienced its own Beslan on May 4,1974, when terrorists took and held 105 children in a school inthe town of Ma’a lot, near the Syrian border. When the battle toretake the school was over, 22 children were dead and 56 otherswounded. Another school was taken in Bovennsmilde, Holland,in May 1977. Between 1984 and 1993, more than 300 schoolswere attacked in Turkey, ultimately resulting in the closing downof more than 3,000 schools in that country.In the first six months of 2006 alone, 204 schools were attackedin Afghanistan, at a time when U.S. and NATO troops held theirpeak control of that country. Many more have been attacked sincethen. The number of schools being attacked in Pakistan is rising,as well as in Indonesia and Iraq. All of the schools in the southernzone of Thailand have been closed due to Syrian planned andexecuted attacks on them in recent years. The list goes on.Famed military and law enforcement trainer Lt. Col. DaveGrossman stresses repeatedly that the best predictor of futurebehavior is past behavior. From its own past behavior, our enemyhas not only learned the great value of children in schools as anoptimal terror target, but has told us what they may yet do to anAmerica that has gone back to sleep since 9/11.Usama bin Laden has stated on prior occasions that before thisjihad is over he will see to the deaths of millions of Americancitizens, and that children are viable targets. Having been assuredthat the Koran and the Hadith give him the right to exact sucha toll, his statement has been repeated by al Qaeda spokesmenTerrorists have learned that whenyou take & hold large numbers ofchildren hostage, you, in fact, holdan entire nation hostage.and exists on Web sites to this day, including the following bybin Laden spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith in May 2002: “Wehave the right to kill 4 million Americans—2 million of themchildren—and to exile twice as many, and wound and cripplehundreds of thousands.”For this reason, there’s much to be derived from studying previousattacks. Whether dealing with a strategic-level attack byal Qaeda or similar international terrorist groups, or our ownterror-minded citizens who crave revenge on an uncaring societyfor all the wrongs done to them in their lives—real or imagined—they all come to recognize the value of attacking children.When terrorists desire to hold and control an exponentiallygreater number of hostages, no population is easier to controlthan children. And when terrorists ultimately seek to kill a largenumber of hostages, no one is easier to kill than children.Elsevier Public Safety War on Trauma 5