Targeting Terror

00:48

Beslan gym

3 September 2004: Beslan's No 1 school is overrun by Chechen separatists. More than 1,000 children and adults are held captive. Russian Special Forces storm the building but the siege leaves 331 dead, 186 of them children.edleft people including

01:19

This is the archetypal terrorist act: calculated violence aimed at innocents for political ends.

01.28

Vladimir Putin

Russian Prime Minister

We not only hadave to deal with murderers, but with people who used weapons against defenceless children.

01.38

Chechen rebels

But many terrorists describe themselves as freedom fighters.

01.46

Shamil Basayev

Former Chechen Separatist

The aim of our operation in Beslan was to stop the war, stop the genocide of the Chechen people, and withdraw the Russian occupying troops.

01.56

Stanislav Kesayev

Beslan Investigative Commission

The demands became known right away. Withdraw Russian troops from Chechnya, end the war in Chechnya. But somebody in the federal government didn’t like this, announcing that the children had been taken hostage for no reason at all.

02.11

Tamils

After centuries of religiously motivated terrorism, many 19th and 20th century movements acted in the name of self-determination. The 9/11 terror attacks epitomized a swing in the 1990’s back towards religious terrorism - even deadlier acts supposedly sanctioned by God.

02.33

Mohammed Sidique Khan,

London bomber suicide message

Muslims across the world I strongly advise you to sacrifice this life for the hereafter. Save yourselves from the fire and torment. Come back to your religion and bring back your honour.

02.48

Nuclear technology

Many analysts fear terrorists will use weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear or biological weapons. Iran and North Korea, both states believed to sponsor terrorism, have sought to acquire nuclear technology.

03.05

2364 Cliff May

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Mohamed ElBaradei, International Atomic Energy Agencyead of International Atomic Energy

Any country that aims to acquire nuclear weapons is a grave threat to international peace and security, particularly in a region like the middle east which is full of hostility, full of distrust.The most dangerous thing we face in the twenty-first century is this unbelievably combustible mix, this matrix, of rogue dictators, terrorist groups and weapons of mass destruction.

03.19

bombed out Palestinian building

Governments rarely give in to terrorists. Yet even more rarely do they work to alleviate the causes of terrorism, such as poverty and perceived discrimination.

03.30

Sulayman Al-Hattlan, Writer

The more the Americans are supporting Israel, the more popuIar Bin Laden and his like becomes.

03.41

anti-

terrorism

In this film, we look at the current terrorist threat in a range of countries, as well as how history shapes a government’s response.

Enemy Combatants 

04.14

Symbionese Liberation Army Patty Hearst

From homegrown terrorists with nationalist and communist goals in the 1960s and 70s, American terrorist movements turned against the federal government in the 1980s, culminating with the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. At the same time, US citizens became more vulnerable to terrorist attacks abroad.

04.37

first New York bombers

shots

In 1993, foreign terrorists made their first major strike on US soil – a truck bomb detonated beneath the World Trade Center, killing 6 and wounding 1,000. Then, i

04.53

Eight years later, Al-Qaeda, again attacked on US soil— hijacking 4 planes and reducing the World Trade Center to rubble, killing 2,7000 innocent people.

05.08

Bin Laden footage /Al Qaeda assemble car bomb

/USS Cole

& embassies

Saudi Osama bin Laden founded Al-Qaeda in 1988 with the goal of establishing a global Islamic state. Ten years later he declared it, quote, “the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens, civilians and military, and their allies everywhere”. His objections to the US are: Washington’s support of Israel, the US military presence in the Middle East, and the non-Islamic values the US is spreading. In 1998

05.38

Omar Sharif

Al-Qaeda Suicide Bomber

At this time when the shouting and screaming of Muslims has become loud throughout the world, Palestine, and Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya… this time we say to the old world and declare it as a thunderous scream that the resolve of Muslims will not weaken. We wish to offer our lives in the way of God, to please him and to take revenge on our enemies the Jews and the crusaders. 

06.16

Prior to 2001, bin Laden had made three successful attacks against the US, the two separate suicide truck bombings at the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, and the suicide bombing of the USS Cole moored off Yemen in the year 2000.

06.35

War on Terror

Following 9/11, President George W. Bush launched a massive military campaign to hunt down bin Laden in a “War on Terror”, starting with the invasion of Afghanistan to try to oust hard-line Islamists - the Taliban.

06.55

/ Saddam statue toppled

Bush defined an “Axis of Evil” as consisting of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He was criticized for expanding the war to include Iraq without a concrete link between Baghdad and bin Laden.

07.15

cells

Bush also gave law enforcement authorities wide-sweeping powers under the 2001 Patriot Act. Greater powers of surveillance, wire-tapping, the use of secret evidence and closed court hearings became part of the War on Terror.

07.30

Mo Abbdrabboh Lawyer

The Patriot Act now legalizes many things that in my opinion and in the opinion of many legal scholars, are in direct contradiction of our constitution.

07.48

The US constitution guarantees suspected criminals protection from detention without charge, the right to a speedy, public trial and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. In war, the government may curb these rights.

08.03

Guantanamo Bay

Terror suspects captured in Afghanistan were classified as enemy combatants and transferred to Guantanamo Bay, a US naval facility in Cuba.

08.14

Rear Admiral Harry Harris, Guantanamo Commander

We shouldn’t forget that the reason they’re here in Guantanamo Bay is because they are terrorists

08.19

The detainees there werehave been largely left in limbo, without formal charges.

But the pursuit of international terrorists under military rather than civilian rules, alienated many US allies.

08.31

Joe Marguiles, Lawyer

You don’t just hold people by casting them into a black hole and say that no one can oversee what they do because we are the US military. That’s not the rule of law – that’s military rule.

08.41

In 2006 US policy at Guantanamo came under fire, especially the use of simulated drowning – or waterboarding - sleep deprivation and force-feeding.  Humanitarian agencies said all prisoners there were entitled to a trial or release under the Geneva Convention.beatings,believe are

08.59

Asad Hayauddin

Pakistani Embassy, Washington

These were not mastermind hardened terrorists. Most of them probably did not even know the ABC of warfare or guerrilla warfare, and they were caught up in a whirlpool of hysteria and Jihad fervour, egged on by their local mullahs in the villages.

09.20

Rendition victim

Criticism also mounted over the policy of extraordinary rendition, in which the US senthas ds suspects to countries that practise torture—such as Egypt, Syria or Morocco—for interrogation.

09.34

Steve Watt, Lawyer Center for Constitutional Rights

What this is, is state-sponsored abduction and that's a violation of international law.

 09.40

When President Barack Obama took office in 2009 he signalled a different direction in the war on terror, recognising that military might alone cannot protect the US. He banned waterboarding and announced he would close Guantanamo within a year. He also announced a timetable for US combat troops to leave Iraq

Revoice & recut

10.04

Pakistan Taliban

. Bush’s anti-terror tactics had been widely discredited, not least because Osama bin Laden had never been caught and the Taliban had regrouped in Pakistan.

10.14

AHMED RASHID Writer

After the war in Afghanistan in 2001 it should be remembered the Taliban were never defeated, they were simply routed by the Americans. Many 1000s escaped into Pakistan including almost the entire Taliban leadership.

10.29

Qissa Khawani Bazaar bomb attack

The Pakistani Taliban vows to destroy the Pakistan government and army for joining the American fight against it. In 2008 the Taliban and its associated groups crippled Pakistan with 60 suicide bombings, 140 kidnappings, the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the shutting down of
But that is something that the British community need to look at - what makes a person do such a thing?

13.57

Construction Worker, Name

Withheld

They were general lads, just like ourselves, working, educated, financially secure, they were from financially secure families.
What put the picture in the mind is the media they're seeing - their own brethren getting killed day in, day out and it does affect you.

14.13

During the 1990s, firebrand imams had taken over some mosques to preach hate.

14.21

Sheikh Zaki Badawi, Founder Muslim College London

The Imam from the pulpit can influence the community in many respects, which need to be supervised, needs to be controlled.

14.30

Bakri

One of those imams was Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad. He raised money and inspired recruits to the fundamentalist cause through his group Al Muhajiroun. Hundreds of his young followers have gone overseas to train and fight in Muslim conflicts.

14.48

In 2004 Bakri disbanded Al Muhajiroun, under increasing pressure from the UK authorities, and was refused re-entry into the UK after travelling to Lebanon in 2005.

15.01

Another Muslim cleric with clear links to terrorism is Abu Hamza al-Mazri. He preached at London’s Finsbury Park Mosque, which has been connected to terrorist attacks in the Yemen, the Brixton shoe bomber and British Taliban fighters later held in Guantanamo Bay. currently

15.17

Abu Hamza al-Mazri

Radical Islamist

Finsbury Park Mosque

If they want to retaliate for their dead because you don’t listen, then I can no way say to them we are not allowed to do these things. Because they also have civilians you have killed with your bombs and your policies and your sanctions.

15.33

Qatada still

Abu Hamza had a close alliance with another Islamic extremist, Abu Qatada, whose fundamentalist teachings inspired at least four young men to join Al-Qaeda. One was Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker of the World Trade Center. Jihadi activists in Britain were swimming in a sea of like-minded individuals.

15.55

Reda Hassaine

Police Informant

London, it’s London – it’s the safe haven. There are many people, as well as Abu Hamza or Abu Qatada who, if they were in France, for example, a long time ago they are in prison. Because the problem for example, when you say that Abu Hamza or Abu Qatada incite people to kill other people…. the British take it as freedom of speech.

16.07

The UK’s 1974 Prevention of Terrorism Act had banned the IRA, but new counter terror legislation was introduced following the London bombings including the right to hold suspects without charges for 28 days and a new charge of “glorifying” terrorism. Both aspects were controversial, with critics claiming the glorification offence would damage legitimate freedom of speech.

16.34

Britain had been revealed as a key launch pad for Al-Qaeda, a base for recruitment and the channelling of terrorist money. But by shifting its emphasis to terror groups based in the UK since the London bombings, Britain foiled a suspected plot to blow up as many as 10 passenger jets leaving the UK for the US in 2006.  It not only averted what could have been another 9/11, but underscored the UK’s determination to counter the threat of Islamic terror.hard-line ideology and of young men

Germany & Japan:

Hamstrung by History

17.28

Hitler/

Japan military

Responses to terrorism are often constrained – as in Germany and Japan - by a nation’s military past. Both these countries have constitutions which limit their responses and mean terrorism is approached as a legal rather than military problem. Both countries faced left-wing groups in the 1970s but found their laws insufficient to deal with religious terrorism from the 1990s onwards.

18.01

Asahara/ Aum HQ/ survival training/ immersion in hot baths/ Russian branch/

The Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo attracted scientists capable of developing biological and chemical weapons. Led by Shoko Asahara, the group demanded loyalty through acts of violence and suffering and those starting to doubt the movement were killed. Aum attracted 10,000 members across Japan and, by 1994, had branches worldwide. The 1951 Religious Corporation law precluded the government from intruding on their activities.

18.37

factory

In 1993, the Aum began experiments with chemical weapons. Some of the work was going on right in the middle of downtown Tokyo.

18.45

Sarin gas attack

In 1995 members of Aum released sarin, a highly toxic nerve gas, into the Tokyo subway system. 12 people died and 5,000 were injured. Aum’s sarin factory was the brain child of chemist, Masami Tsuchiya.

19.09

Masami Tsuchiya

Aum Shinrikyo

I sensed a crisis in contemporary society. I was interested in bringing a spiritual dimension to modern science and harmonizing the two. I was always looking to join a group which shared this idea.

19.30

The Aum subway attack caught the Japanese government unprepared. In the wake of the attack an emergency secretariat was created to coordinate emergency response. Tokyo’s fire department received calls from 15 subway stations, but nearly all of the city’s rescue teams had scrambled to the first reported incident, leaving no crews on standby.  

19.44

Japan’s self-defense forces

Japan’s primary counterterrorism strategy is international cooperation. Since 1960 its security has been guaranteed by a treaty with the US, as the 1947 Japanese constitution renounces the right to an army. But the 9/11 attacks transformed Japanese anti-terrorist strategy. Tokyo gave logistical support to the US in both Afghanistan and the Middle East. The terrorist threat is now being used to persuade Japanese citizens of the merits of a re-militarized Japan. s

20.19

Yoichi Masuzoe Japanese Government Minister

In our case, North Korea is kidnapping people - people know that - and they shoot missiles towards our territory. So now people are getting more and more concerned about national security.

20.44

Germany

Ramstein

Germany’s approach to terrorism has been based on diplomacy rather than military action. Although Germany contributed troops to help oust the Taliban from Afghanistan, it refused to back the US led war on Iraq, a rift which has led to problems with intelligence sharing between the US and Germany.

21.03

Marienstrasse flat Hamburg

Unlike Britain, Germany has not faced widespread terrorist attacks. Yet Al-Qaeda members prepared for the 9/11 attacks in Germany. At least three of the hijackers lived in Hamburg, but had not raised any suspicions, including the ringleader Mohammed Atta.

21.19

Dr Robert Springborg

School of Oriental and African Studies

He saw all of the licentiousness of the West, and very commonly, this experience causes young Muslim men to become much more traditional, much more fundamentalist.

21.31

German police

Germany’s legal system is a reaction to its Nazi past. Reacting to the central police force created by the Nazis, Germany’s police  force is highly decentralized, with no centralized force for terrorist prevention. Specific laws were drafted for fighting1970s  left-wing terror group Bader-Meinhof, but prior to 9/11 Germany had no laws banning foreign terrorist organizations.

22.00

Hizb-ut-Tahrir leaflet

Since 2001 German law forbids joining or helping foreign terrorist organizations and allowed for the banning of religious groups thought to promote terrorism. One of those groups banned was Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a group which as of 2009, was still active in Britain.8

Colombia:

Narcoterrorism

 22.36

Pablo Escobar still/ cocaine production

Colombia suffers from narcoterrorism, where groups are complicit in drug trafficking in order to fund politically motivated violence. Colombia has no clear laws on terrorism. The main threat to guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug cartels alike are extradition laws with the US. Pablo Escobar, infamous leader of the Medellin drug cartel, surrendered to Colombian authorities in 1991only after a ban on extradition . nextradition  in 1991

23.10

FARC guerrillas

Colombia has had two left-wing insurgencies since the 1960s, and a right-wing paramilitary group, all three of which have been drawn into the cocaine trade. The guerrilla and narcotics networks have become intertwined, as the drug cartels seek protection from the insurgencies and the insurgencies seek funding from the cartels.

23.34

Founded in 1964 to be the military branch of the Colombian Communist Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has now diversified into bombing, kidnapping and drug running.

23.53

Major Bautista Castillo, Colmbian Army Gido Santzes Montoya, Saravena Police 2318

These persons are trafficking millions of dollars, they are not guerrillas any more, but bandits, kidnappers, even drug dealers. By now the guerrilla ideology has vanished.In Colombia there are just some terrorist groups. This image of guerrillas, that’s projected internationally, is long out of date.

24.07

 Commander Raul Reyes, Former FARC Spokesman

The FARC collect tax. From the cattle farmers, the coffee farmers, those who grow banana, soy beans and we also tax the buyers of the coca.”

24.22

ELN

The National Liberation Army (ELN) is the smaller of Colombia’s two left-wing insurgents, also founded in 1964. It also kidnaps foreign nationals and finances its activities through drugs.

24.36

A right-wing militia was formed in 1997 from groups frequently targeted by the guerrillas: economic leaders, drug traffickers and rural communities. It also gets 70% of its income from cocaine.

24.51

Vicente farmer904 Barry McCaffrey

Former Director of US Office of National Drug Control Policy

That drug production base is fuelling enormously violent, corrupting influences in their society.If you have a banana plantation they won’t buy the bananas. If you have a pigsty, they won’t buy pork, they buy it just from the wholesale dealers and they export it. But with the coca… Everybody buys coca, dealers, guerillas, paramilitaries, everybody.

25.15

Hostages released

Between 1996 and 2003, an average of 3,000 people were kidnapped in Colombia each year, including journalists, politicians and foreigners. FARC is responsible for most of the kidnappings.

25.33

Aerial spraying

In the year 2000 the US launched “Plan Colombia” to eradicate cocaine production including massive aerial spraying of coca fields and a huge shift in funding to the military.

25.45

Alvaro Uribe was elected President in 2002 with pledges to end the rebel insurgencies.

25.51

Alvaro Uribe 

Colombian President

 If violent groups do not have a government capable to stop them, they won't negotiate.

26.08

 2008 saw an unprecedented wave of FARC desertions, but these government successes caused FARC to launch “Plan Rebirth”, promising to step up their campaign of terror.

26.22

Daniel Garcia Pena

Former Peace Negotiator

The tragedy of the Colombian war is that the government cannot defeat the guerrillas through military force, nor can the guerrillas overthrow the government by the use of arms. This is an un-winnable war. And we are condemned, sooner or later, to sit at the negotiating table.

Outro

26.43

Terrorism is a political strategy based on violence and unpredictability. Governments may eliminate specific terrorist groups, but are powerless to stop new groups forming.

26.55

Maj. gen. Geoffrey Miller, Guantanamo Commander

The war on terror will be ongoing until the day that we win. The duration of that, we’ll have to see; we hope it ends tomorrow.

27.09

Iraq mosque shooting

Today’s global terrorist threat requires global cooperation. The UN’s International Criminal Court stands ready to prosecute terrorists, but the US has refused to ratify its creation on the basis that it would make American soldiers vulnerable to prosecution for war crimes.

27.39

Soldiers drag bodies

Meanwhile the War on Terror appears to have radicalized many against the US.

 27.46

As this Al Qaeda propaganda video shows, the ranks of those willing to undertake suicide attacks against the US are not thinning.

27.58

Al Qaeda video – voice of

MULLAH DADULLAH Rows of volunteers

I am telling you, your technology is the most successful. You have made your guts, your bellies, your flesh and bones into nuclear weapons. We don’t need anything else.