State-sponsored terrorism is a term loosely used to describe
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
sponsored by nation-states. As with terrorism, the precise definition, and the identification of particular examples, are subjects of heated political dispute. In general
state-sponsored terrorism is associated with para-militaries. It is also frequently used in conjunction with
state terrorismState terrorism refers to acts of terrorism conducted by governments. Like the definition of terrorism and that of state-sponsored terrorism, the definition of state terrorism remains controversial and without international consensus.-Definition:...
, which is terrorism committed by
nation-stateThe nation-state is a certain form of state that derives its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
s.
India
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
's
counter-intelligenceCounterintelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of nations, are vulnerable...
unit, the
Research & Analysis Wing (RAW)Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968, after the newly independent Republic of India was faced with 2 consecutive wars, the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965, as it was evident that a credible intelligence...
has been accused of supporting
insurgentInsurgent, insurgents or insurgency can refer to:*The act of InsurgencySpecific insurgencies*Iraqi insurgency, uprising in Iraq*Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, uprising in India*Insurgency in North-East India*Iraq War insurgent attacks...
groups by
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
. It has also been accused of training and arming the
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
n
TamilTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
group, LTTE, during the 1970s before it withdrew its support when the LTTE increased its activities in the 1980s.
Iran
The governments of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, and
YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
have accused the
Ahmadinejad administrationMahmoud Ahmadinejad is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country.An engineer and teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the...
of sponsoring terrorism either in their, or against their, respective countries. Britain and the United States have also accused Iran of backing Shia militias in
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, which have at times attacked
CoalitionA coalition is an alliance among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in his own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
troops, Iraqi Sunni militias and civilians, and Anglo-American-supported Iraqi government forces.
United States President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
has called Iran the "world's primary state sponsor of terror." Iran sponsors
HezbollahHezbollah is a Shi'a Islamist political and paramilitary organisation based in Lebanon. Hezbollah is now also a major provider of social services, which operate schools, hospitals, and agricultural services for thousands of Lebanese Shiites, and plays a significant force in Lebanese politics...
,
HamasHamas is a Palestinian Islamic socio-political organization which includes a paramilitary force, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the al-Mahdi army, groups that Iran doesn't view as terrorist.
Libya
After the military overthrow of King Idris in 1969 the Libyan Arab Republic (later the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), to the bewilderment of some the new government supported (with weapon supplies, training camps located within Libya and monetary finances) an array of armed
paramilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
groups both
leftIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
and right wing. Leftist and
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
groups included the
Provisional Irish Republican ArmyThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty, the
Umkhonto We SizweUmkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the active military wing of the African National Congress in cooperation with the South African Communist Party in their fight against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government...
, the
Polisario FrontThe Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
, the
Palestine Liberation OrganizationThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
and the
Popular Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Marxist-Leninist, secular, nationalist Palestinian political and paramilitary organization, founded in 1967...
, while others were on the
Far RightFar right, extreme right, hard right, ultra-right or radical right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within a political spectrum...
such as the
Moro National Liberation FrontThe Moro National Liberation Front is a political organization in the Philippines. It is accredited by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which allows it to represent Moro people with an observer status...
. The government of Libya even had brief contacts with the Neo-Nazi
British National FrontThe British National Front is a far-right and whites-only British political party whose major political activities were during the 1970s and 1980s. Where in the 1979 general election, in party polled 191,719 votes, 0.6% of the vote overall...
, which attempted to enlist financial aid from Libya during the 1980s. These contacts were ended after the fascist nature of the NF was discovered during
Nick GriffinNicholas John Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England. He is married with four children, and lives in Wales....
's visit to Libya in 1986.
In 2006 Libya was removed from the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
list of terrorist supporting nations after it had ended all of its support for armed groups and the development of
weapons of mass destructionThe term weapon of mass destruction is often used to describe a weapon that can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general....
.
Out of the armed groups Libya used to support the Provisional IRA, Umkhonto we Sizwe and the Moro National Liberation Front have completely abandoned terrorist tactics or political violence.
Pakistan
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
has been accused by
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
,
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
, the United States, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
of involvement in
Terrorism in KashmirInsurgency in Kashmir has existed in various forms, both on the Indian administrated side of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Kashmir has been the target of a campaign of militancy by all sides in the conflict...
and Afghanistan.
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
has also alleged that the terrorists have "friends in Pakistani government structures". In July 2009, current
President of PakistanThe President of Pakistan is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan has a parliamentary form of government. According to the Constitution, the President is chosen by the Electoral College to serve a five-year term. The electoral college comprises the Senate, National...
Asif Ali ZardariAsif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party . Zardari is the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who twice served as Prime Minister of Pakistan. When his wife was assassinated in December 2007, he became the leader of the PPP...
stated that Pakistan had "created and nurtured" terrorist groups to achieve its short-term foreign policy goals.
The
Jammu Kashmir Liberation FrontThe Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front , founded by Amanullah Khan and Maqbool Bhat, is a Kashmiri nationalist organization founded in Birmingham, UK on May 29, 1977. Within a couple of years branches were established in several cities and towns of the UK; and also in several countries of Europe, USA...
(JKLF) has stated that more than 3,000 militants from various nationalities were being trained.
The
Council on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
has stated that both Pakistan’s military and
Inter-Services IntelligenceThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest intelligence service in Pakistan...
(ISI) include personnel who sympathize with and help Islamic terrorists.
According to some sources ISI has provided covert but well-documented support to terrorist groups active in Kashmir, including the
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
affiliate
Jaish-e-MohammedJaish-e-Mohammed is a major Islamic mujahedeen organization in South Asia. Jaish-e-Mohammed was formed in 2000 and is based in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan...
".
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the terrorist activities in
KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...
, arguing that it only provides political and moral support to the secessionist groups.
Many Kashmir terrorist groups also maintain their headquarters in
Pakistan-administered KashmirPakistan administered Kashmir refers to a disputed region between India and Pakistan in South Asia that is under the de facto administration of Pakistan...
, which is cited as further proof by the Indian Government.
Many of the terrorist organisations are banned by the UN, but continue to operate under different names.
The
UNO-Government:* UNO , an officer who administer a Upazial in Bangladesh* United Nations Organization-Media, sports and entertainment:* Uno , a card game** Uno , a video game based on the card game* Uno...
has publicly increased pressure on Pakistan on its inability to control its Afghanistan border and not restricting the activities of Taliban leaders who have been declared by the UN as terrorists.
Experts believe that the ISI has also been involved in training and supplying
ChechnyaThe Chechen Republic , or, informally, Chechnya , sometimes referred to as Ichkeria, Chechnia, Chechenia or Noxçiyn, is a federal subject of Russia...
n militants.
Many consider that Pakistan has been playing both sides in the fight against terror, on the one hand helping to curtail it while secretly stoking terrorism.
Ahmed RashidAhmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist and best-selling author of several books about Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.-Biography:...
, a noted Pakistani journalist, has accused Pakistan's ISI of providing help to the Taliban.
Author Ted Galen Carpenter echoed that statement, stating that Pakistan "...assisted rebel forces in Kashmir even though those groups have committed terrorist acts against civilians"
Author Gordon Thomas stated that whilst aiding in the capture of Al Qaeda members, Pakistan "still sponsored terrorist groups in the disputed state of Kashmir, funding, training and arming them in their war on attrition against India." Journalist
Stephen SchwartzStephen Suleyman Schwartz is an American journalist, columnist, and author. His background is on the political left, but now describes himself as a neoconservative. In 1997 he became Muslim, and is a vocal critic of Islamic Fundamentalism, especially in the form of the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam...
notes that several terrorist and criminal groups are "backed by senior officers in the Pakistani army, the country's ISI intelligence establishment and other armed bodies of the state." According to one author, Daniel Byman, "Pakistan is probably today's most active sponsor of terrorism."
Pakistan's intelligence agency, the
ISIThe Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest intelligence service in Pakistan...
, has often been accused of playing a role in major terrorist attacks across the world including the
September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
in the United States, terrorism in Kashmir,
Mumbai Train BombingsThe 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings were a series of seven bomb blasts that took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai , capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the nation's financial capital. The bombs were set off in pressure cookers on trains plying...
,
London BombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings, also known as 7/7, were a series of coordinated suicide attacks on London's public transport system during the morning rush hour...
,
Indian Parliament AttackThe 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against the building housing the Parliament of India in New Delhi...
,
Varnasi bombingsThe 2006 Varanasi bombings were a series of bombings that occurred across the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in India on 7 March 2006. At least 28 people are reported to have been killed and as many as 101 others were injured.-Blast at the Temple:...
,
Hyderabad bombingsThe Hyderabad bombings refers to the incident in which two bombs exploded almost simultaneously on 25 August 2007 in Hyderabad, capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The first bomb exploded in Lumbini Amusement Park at 19:45 hrs IST...
and Mumbai terror attacks. The ISI is also accused of supporting Taliban forces and recruiting and training
mujahideenA Mujahideen is a person who is fighting for freedom. The plural is mujahideen . The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad ....
to fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir. Based on communication intercepts US intelligence agencies concluded Pakistan's ISI was behind the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008, a charge that the governments of India and Afghanistan had laid previously. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has constantly reiterated allegations that militants operating training camps in Pakistan have used it as a launch platform to attack targets in Afghanistan urged western military allies to target extremist hideouts in neighbouring Pakistan.
When the United States, during the
ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
administration, targeted Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan with cruise missiles,
SlateSlate is an English-language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft, as part of MSN. On December 21, 2004, it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
reported that two officers of the ISI were killed.
Pakistan is accused of sheltering and training the Taliban in operations "which include soliciting funding for the Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and on several occasions apparently directly providing combat support," as quoted by the
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
.
Soviet Union
After the 1953 death of Stalin and subsequent destalinization, according to defector
Ion Mihai PacepaIon Mihai Pacepa is the highest-ranking intelligence official ever to have defected from the former Eastern Bloc...
, the KGB continued its policy of supporting a number of terrorist organizations. KGB General Aleksandr Sakharovsky said that "In today’s world, when nuclear arms have made military force obsolete, terrorism should become our main weapon." He also claimed that "Airplane hijacking is my own invention".
In 1969 alone 82 planes were hijacked worldwide by the KGB-financed
PLOThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
.
Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa also described operation "SIG" (“Zionist Governments”) that was devised in 1972, to turn the whole Islamic world against
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. According to him, KGB chairman Yury Andropov explained him that "a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States." Andropov also told him that "the Islamic world was a waiting
petri dishA petri dish is a shallow glass or plastic cylindrical lidded dish that biologists use to culture cells. It was named after German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri, who invented it when working as an assistant to Robert Koch...
in which we could nurture a virulent strain of America-hatred, grown from the bacterium of Marxist-Leninist thought."
According to Pacepa, the following organizations were assisted, at one period or another, by the KGB:
PLOThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
,
National Liberation Army of BoliviaThe National Liberation Army was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization that operated in Bolivia during the 1960s and 1970s. It was formed by Che Guevara and backed by Fidel Castro's government in Cuba and the Soviet-led alliance in the Cold War...
(created in 1964 with help from Ernesto Che Guevara);
the National Liberation Army of ColombiaNational Liberation Army is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964....
(created in 1965 with help from
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
),
Democratic Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist, secular political and military organization. It is also frequently referred to as the Democratic Front, or al-Jabha al-Dimuqratiyah...
in 1969, and the
Secret Army for Liberation of ArmeniaThe Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia was a Marxist-Leninist militant organization, that operated from 1975 to 1986. The group also operated under other names such as The Orly Group and the 3 October Organization...
in 1975.
The PFLP was also claimed to have received support from the Soviet Union.
United Kingdom
The
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
(UK) has been accused of supporting
LoyalistUlster loyalism is a militant unionist ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are working-class unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims...
paramilitary groups, both within the UK and also in cross-border operations into the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
, namely the
Ulster Volunteer ForceThe Ulster Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. The current incarnation was formed in May 1966 and named after the Ulster Volunteers of 1912, although there is no direct connection between the two....
(UVF) and
Ulster Defence AssociationThe Ulster Defence Association is a loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland. Its main objective has been to reject unification of Ireland. The UDA is outlawed as a proscribed terrorist group in the United Kingdom....
(UDA). These groups support the territory of
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
remaining part of the UK. The UK is accused of providing intelligence material,
trainingThe term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
, firearms, explosives and lists of people that the security forces wanted to have killed. The UK security services have been accused of involvement in the
Dublin and Monaghan BombingsThe Dublin and Monaghan Bombings on May 17 1974 was a series of car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks left 33 persons dead and almost 300 injured, the largest number of casualties in any single day in The Troubles....
by the UVF on 17 May,1974 which killed 33 and wounded nearly 300 civilians.
On the 17 April 2003,
Sir John StevensJohn Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington KStJ QPM DL FRSA was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996...
published his
third inquiryThe Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces...
into collusion between the British Army and the
Royal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary GC was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary , the Belfast Borough Police Force and the Londonderry Borough Police Force...
(RUC) with Loyalist paramilitaries. It stated that there had been collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane by Loyalists.
A former RUC officer, John Weir, has admitted to colluding with Loyalist terrorists in the 1970s in activities that led to the death of ten Catholics and that his superiors had knowledge of 76 more killings carried out by the UVF in the same time period. He also alleges that members of the
SASThe Special Air Service is a special forces regiment within the British Army which has served as a model for the special forces of other countries. The SAS forms a significant section of United Kingdom Special Forces alongside the Special Boat Service , Special Reconnaissance Regiment , and the...
killed Loyalists who may have planned to expose the collusion.
The UK has also been accused by Iran of supporting Arab separatist terrorism in the southern city of Ahwaz in 2006.
United States
The
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was accused of being a state sponsor of
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
by
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
and
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
during the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and arguably met the official US definition of "sponsoring terrorism" against Soviet-occupied
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
in the 1980s when U.S. governments covertly sponsored Afghan Mujahideen guerrillas against the Soviet-backed Afghan government.
See also
- State terrorism
State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism conducted by governments. Like the definition of terrorism and that of state-sponsored terrorism, the definition of state terrorism remains controversial and without international consensus.-Definition:...
- Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly....
- False flag
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of...
- U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism
"State Sponsors of Terrorism" is a designation applied by the United States Department of State to nations who are designated by the Secretary of State "to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism." Inclusion on the list imposes strict sanctions.The list began on...
Further reading
xDreyfus, Robert.
The Devil's Game: How the United States unleashed Fundamentalist Islam. Pluto Press, 2005.
- Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. Terrorism: Essential primary sources. Thomson Gale, 2006. ISBN 9781414406213 Library of Congress. Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms LC Control Number: 2005024002.
- Tarpley, Webster G. 9/11 Synthetic Terror, Made in USA -Progressive Press. ISBN 0-93085-231-1
- Chomsky, Noam. The Culture of Terrorism ISBN 0-89608-334-9
- Chomsky, Noam. 9/11 ISBN 1-58322-489-0
- George, Alexander. Western State Terrorism, Polity Press. ISBN 0-7456-0931-7
External links