The Real Threat

You're looking at some of the best things about being a member of the United States Armed Services. Foreign countries where you might be sent on an overseas assignment. Traveling in places like these, meeting and getting to know the people are experiences very few individuals in our country have. If you get the chance, it should really be something to look forward to and enjoy. We're in these areas in the first place because this is a big, powerful, involved nation. Unfortunately, that sometimes earns us the hatred of certain groups who want change of one kind or another and who believe violence is the most effective way to achieve it. As a member of the US military, you're a symbol of all we stand for. In a foreign country, that means you're also an ideal target for violent attack. There are many ways it could happen, but in the end they all fall into one category. Terrorism. And terrorism is a real threat. The London bombing of Harrods department store and the killing of innocent civilians was a crime, a crime by a Northern Ireland terrorist group called the IRA. That group isn't a direct threat to you if you're stationed in the British Isles, but chances of simply being caught in the action are increasing because more terrorists are planning their attacks to get the most media coverage. And wherever you are, always remember that a uniform makes a terrific target. The first bomb, planted in a car, was detonated by remote control just as the Queen's Horse Guards passed through Hyde Park on their way to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. Two guardsmen died. At least 24 people were injured by the blast and by flying nails taped to the explosive. The guards were just standing there bewildered, just shouting, "Bastards! The bastards!" Just looking at the this carnage of horses and mess and excretion that was everywhere. Seven horses were killed or were so badly mutilated they had to be shot. Debris was blown through the park into the streets of London's fashionable and crowded Knightsbridge. The sidewalk was covered with broken glass. Less than two hours later, the second bomb went off in Regent's Park to the north, hitting another military target. The bandstand, where the Army's Royal Green Jackets had been playing, was blown to bits. Musical instruments were strewn hundreds of feet away. Six of the musicians died. At least 29 people were injured, most of them seriously. Injuries and killings are a necessary part of what terrorists are trying to achieve and usually that's to get what they want politically by using violence. Terrorists believe they can make changes happen. Maybe a country decides the losses are too severe. They won't resort to the same tactics, so they pull out. Or maybe a country decides to stop the terrorism by using even greater force. In that kind of reprisal, innocent people suffer, too, and the terrorists achieve their goal by turning the population against the government. But what kind of person would want to be a terrorist? Brian Jenkins knows a lot about that subject. Once in the military himself, he's now a recognized expert on terrorism. Uh we are talking about people that of course are are are highly dedicated, whatever their whatever their particular cause is. There's enormous degree of commitment. Uh there's also a certain spirit of adventure. I mean, they they shoot weapons, they blow up things because they like to shoot people and because they like to blow up things. Uh for whatever for whatever cause. There were pools of blood for a city block. The tales from my witnesses differ. Many, after all, immediately hit the street or got hit in the first moments of the attack. For the most part, terrorists are people who are well educated. Uh the majority of them, particularly uh those that operate in in Western Europe, for example, have, at the very least, uh a secondary school education and in many cases are university trained and there are large number of advanced degrees. Obviously, terrorists probably won't look like terrorists. In Europe, they're just average men and often women on the street. And they don't usually fail. Most of their operations are successful. This is very very important to them. They operate with really better than uh a record of better than 90% success. Terrorism in the Middle East, or imported from the Middle East, has been very successful. The dedication is frightening. Important in the Middle East is religious sanction. We know from history that if God, speaking through some mad mullah or through some crazed priest, tells you that it's okay to kill people, that it is possible to kill heathens, pagans, disbelievers, infidels in large numbers, and we certainly see in the struggle in the Middle East the capacity for destruction and self-destruction. The Islamic Jihad. The name means Islamic holy war. May 1982, the French Embassy in Beirut attacked by terrorists. Islamic Jihad telephones to take responsibility. April 1983, the US Embassy in Beirut hit. Islamic Jihad telephones again. October 1983, the US Marine barracks at Beirut Airport. January, the assassination of the president of the American University in Beirut. Each time Islamic Jihad claims responsibility. But is there a single Islamic Jihad? Georgetown University's Middle East specialist Michael Hudson believes there is. That it might have a total active militant membership of a of a thousand or two thousand people, probably not more. Some say it's headquartered in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, led by a charismatic young firebrand named Hussein Musawi. Others say it draws followers from South Beirut, from the Shiite slums. Many believe it must get some of its money and orders from Khomeini's Iran. When states come into the act, they not only provide the terrorists with more resources, intelligence, technical know-how, uh specialized ammunition and specialized explosives, things that enable them to operate on a higher level, but they also reduce the constraints on them. The recipients of the support no longer have to worry about constituents, political calculations. All they have to do is please their government client. And so we see that state-sponsored terrorist groups are eight times more lethal than those that receive little or no state support. More on that kind of terrorism from Yonah Alexander, another terrorism expert. Yes, they can be Lebanese, they can have any uh passport, but uh or nationality for that matter, but that this is not the point. The point is that the government of Iran, uh in a very organized and calculated way, uh decided to resort to terrorism as a low-level conflict, uh as a convenient substitute to traditional warfare, in order to achieve specific foreign policy objectives. So it is a type of war out there and Brian Jenkins knows that the people fighting it don't play by the rules we understand. And so when we talk about terrorists like that, some of these normal deterrents that we think about, those things that would deter an ordinary person uh from carrying on action, may not necessarily apply uh to some of these to some of these terrorist groups. They are willing to die. More importantly, is that they're willing to kill for their causes. And and uh that's our that's our real concern. It must be your concern, too. From bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations to murders aboard hijacked airliners like this one, terrorists prove again and again how fanatical and how brutal they can be. And since you wear a US military uniform, you're a symbol of America. That means you're a potential target. Foreign diplomats identify the hijackers as four or five Shiite Lebanese, heavily armed. They allowed stretchers on board the plane. Ambulances arrived to take away the victims. At this point, reportedly, six hostages have been murdered. One photographer was permitted to take some pictures. Later, there were reports that the hostages on the plane were tied to their seats. An audio tape picked up some of the horror on board the plane. Terrorism is horrible and as Brian Jenkins points out, the threat of that horror is growing. International terrorism is not only increasing in volume, it's getting bloodier. The number of incidents with fatalities is increasing, the number of attacks on people are increasing. Colonel Ulrich Wegener, commander of West Germany's anti-terrorist organization GSG 9, makes it clear that the danger to you as a member of the US military is likely to increase, too. I see an an increasing cooperation of terrorist groups abroad, uh especially in the Middle East and European area. And so I think that uh we have to deal with terrorism for quite some years. Half of all the attacks are directed against persons. And there's one reason for this. People are the soft targets. We can move to protect things. It's very very hard to protect people. And that's what terrorists are going after. There was no Oktoberfest during the Second World War. It was resumed only when Hitler and the Nazis were gone. And today it was closed again because of neo-Nazi terrorism. People wept at the site where 12 died and 215 were wounded. Most Germans were shocked by the bombing, then embarrassed to learn that a Nazi fanatic was apparently responsible. Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, a self-styled führer, believes that extremism is on the rise because Germans want to change in government. There are many possibilities to lead uh uh a nation without a dictator and without a parliamentary system. With so many kinds of terrorist thinking throughout the world, every member of the US military is vulnerable. To protect yourself, always be aware that a terrorist attack is a possibility. FBI Director William Webster should know, since his agency is one that investigates attacks on Americans. For years, America has been a favored target of terrorists around the world. 40% of all terrorist incidents directed against the United States persons, targets, or institutions. We continue to be perceived as an enemy by many countries and movements that back terrorism. West German government officials said two explosive charges were planted outside the American Air Force headquarters at Ramstein Air Base on Monday. German officials are convinced the bombing at Ramstein was a sophisticated and carefully planned terrorist attack. The second charge failed to explode and remained undetected by both Air Force and German security men hours after the blast. The charge was hidden in a propane gas container, according to a spokesman for West Germany's federal prosecutor's office. The initial explosion blew the gas cylinder through the wall of the building, leaving a circular hole just above the second-floor offices of Air Force European Commander in Chief, Charles Gabriel. Obviously, heading for an overseas tour with the idea that you'll simply hide inside your compound the whole time won't eliminate the threat. Investigators discovered an American military license plate in the rubble that was reported stolen in February. And police say it may have been on the car that concealed the bombs. And overseas isn't the only area of threat, anyway. Washington, far from the Middle East, but still vulnerable to terrorism. A terrorist could strike anywhere, and there is high-level concern. You had the the US Embassy bombed in April. You had the Marine barracks bombed in October. Uh these have been successes as far as various Middle Eastern terrorist groups are concerned. To believe that they would not uh try to emulate that success here in the United States uh would be totally naive on our part. The only outward sign today of the explosion was three blown-out windows on the Capitol's second floor. Police said the bomb was planted in an alcove along the hall behind the Senate chamber. The cleanup was well underway when cameras were allowed in today, but the destruction of the woodwork and plaster inside the bombed-out alcove was clearly visible. In the Republican cloakroom, workers used vacuum cleaners to mop up shards of glass that had been hurled in all directions. Plaster dust was everywhere. Walls had been chipped by flying debris. Historic paintings, apparently ruined, had been removed. Had we been in session at 11:00, beyond the shadow of a doubt, there would have been grave injury and perhaps loss of life to members and staff caused by the explosion which occurred in the Capitol. The group claiming responsibility for the bombing calls itself the Armed Resistance Unit and said in a so-called communiqué today it opposes US imperialism in Grenada, Central America, and Lebanon. The same group also said it set off a bomb at Fort McNair here in April. Nobody was injured at Fort McNair, but since imperialism means exerting any kind of influence over another country, you can bet that terrorists who see us as imperialistic aren't going to stop trying. An act of terrorism is carried out by an organized group for some political end. The essential characteristic of terrorism is that the act of terrorism is intended to produce psychological effects beyond the immediate physical effects of that violence. Terrorism is aimed at the people watching. Paris, it too is far from the Middle East, but the streets of Paris are already a battleground in the shadowy war of terrorism. This week alone, Middle East terrorists have killed two Iranians and an Arab diplomat, and the French are also victims. You think twice before eating in some restaurants. For example, this popular Jewish restaurant. Two years ago, when it was crowded like this, without warning, it was attacked by Palestinian gunmen. Six people were killed. Israel takes a totally different approach to terrorism. This is an Israeli television film. Part of a campaign to deterrorize terrorism, to get Israelis to accept it as part of their world. But Israel also hits back. It has used counterterrorism, including assassination of PLO terrorists in the Middle East and Europe. Governments deal with terrorism in different ways, and US attitudes are still evolving. In the end, the best solutions are up to you, the individual. This is just one of several anti-terrorist teams in training in the United States. Its job is to protect nuclear missiles they transport across the country. The FBI and major police departments have similar groups, but there is no way that everything and everyone can be protected, particularly in a country with such open borders. Terrorists can attack anything, anywhere, anytime. And governments can't protect everything everywhere all the time. Wherever they are, terrorists are well organized and protected by networks of sympathizers. They're masters of deception, speed, and surprise. As they learn from their mistakes and often receive training and support from other countries, they become more innovative and destructive. No matter where you're stationed, there's a good chance you won't be a target. But there's a good statistical chance that somebody wearing a United States military uniform will be, especially in certain countries of overseas assignment. Americans abroad are the number one targets of terrorists. That means you're a potential target. Understanding that and doing everything you can to avoid the threat won't make it any less real, but it will help make your tour of duty enjoyable and safe.