The Message of Terrorism TABLE

City early in the year was followed by the arrest at midyear of

an Islamic fundamentalist cell which allegedly was planning a

series of further bombings in New York, reportedly targeting

the United Nations Building and two highway tunnels leading into Manhattan. Had the tunnel bombings been carried out, they might have killed hundreds of commuters; even if they did not cause flooding in either tunnel, explosions and fires in tunnels crowded with rushhour traffic could have disastrous consequences.

The World Trade Center bombing and the subsequent alleged plot (which appear to have been indirectly connected) caused a spate of reports in the American press, speculating that the relative immunity of the United States from international terrorism was at an end. More generally, the bombing and threat of more bombings drew greater attention to the subject of terrorism as a whole. The press response to the New York incidents had a further consequence, a consequence which is, perhaps, worthy of closer examination.

The Trade Center bombing and the alleged plot were both associated with followers of a previously obscure New Jersey clergyman, Shaikh Abdul Rahman, a Muslim fundamentalist who preaches at a mosque which occupies an upstairs room in a building in a nondescript New Jersey neighborhood near New York City (Frantz, 1993). Un

. . .
rance. Assassinations of this type, however, were not terrorist attacks in the modern sense of operations intended primarily to send a message. The assassins of William the Silent and Henri IV targeted their victims specifically as individuals, probably in the belief that their deaths would in and of themselves prompt desired changes of policy. They were thus direct strikes to the head of the enemy, and not primarily intended as warnings to others. In contrast, it is unlikely that the modern terrorists who killed former Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy and attempted to kill NATO chief Gen. Alexander Haig were under any illusion that the deaths of those individuals would decapitate the political forces they represented. Their goal, instead, was to send a message to others. (This point will be examined in greater detail in Chapter Three, below.) In contrast, the sicarii of ancient Judea may have frequently chosen victims for symbolic value. The hashishins evidently acted both to eliminate specific foes and to spread terror among other opponents. "Terror," as a specifically political term, entered the lexicon with the Terror of the French Revolution (Laqueur, 1987, p. 11). This was not, however, terrorism in the modern
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Trade Center, Middle East, Significance Study, Iran Islamic, Iranians Muslim, Shaikh Rahman, Middle Eastern, Latin America, Review Literature, Americans Western, trade center, middle eastern, mass media, islamic fundamentalism, middle eastern terrorism, eastern terrorism, american public, world trade center, world trade, center bombing, terrorist actions, trade center bombing, middle east, laqueur 1987 pp, terrorist campaign 1970s,
Approximate Word count = 6006
Approximate Pages = 24 (250 words per page)

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