Page 100 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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74———Biological Terrorism

Following the attacks, U.S. president George toxic biological products, or organic biocides to
W. Bush demanded that the Taliban turn bin Laden inflict death or injury. The mail-borne anthrax
over to American authorities. The Taliban refused, attacks against U.S. citizens in the fall of 2001
requesting proof of bin Laden’s involvement in the demonstrated that every nation, even one as power-
attacks. The American government did, in fact, present ful as the United States, is at risk from terrorists
ample evidence to the rogue state, which still refused using biological or toxin weapons. The attacks also
to hand over the suspected mastermind. Washington revealed that the United States (like most other
responded with Operation Enduring Freedom, which nations) did not have effective plans to deal with
began air strikes in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, such an attack.
whereupon U.S. and friendly Afghan forces disman- Terrorists have used bioweapons before. In 1984,
tled Taliban and Al Qaeda strongholds throughout the U.S.-based Rajneeshee cult used salmonella bac-
the country. Bin Laden, however, was thought to have teria to poison citizens by spreading the bacteria via
escaped during an especially intense battle at the Tora salad bars in restaurants in an Oregon town. In 1993
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Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan. and 1994, the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo used bio-
While the hunt for bin Laden continues, several logical weapons in and around Japan. Despite these
videotapes have emerged whereby he lauded the attacks and repeated warnings from experts about the
attacks of September 11, talked of their planning, and threat posed by biological weapons, the United States
threatened America with more violence. Last seen in and other governments took little concerted action to
Afghanistan, bin Laden’s location as of autumn 2002 deal with the problem prior to fall 2001. In the after-
has remained a mystery. The U.S. has since offered up math of that anthrax attack, many governments are
to $25 million for information leading to his arrest. taking steps to reduce the chances that terrorists can
obtain the materials needed to make bioweapons, and
See also ABU SAYYAF GROUP; AL QAEDA; EAST AFRICAN
EMBASSY BOMBINGS; MILITANT ISLAM; SEPTEMBER 11 respond to outbreaks of disease if they should occur.
To assess the magnitude of the bioterror threat, it is
ATTACKS; TALIBAN; U.S.S. COLE BOMBING; Y2K PLOT
vital to understand how biological agents can be used
as deadly tools and how terrorists might use them to
Further Reading
instill fear or inflict heavy casualties.
Alexander, Yonah, and Alex Swetman. Osama bin Laden’s
al-Qaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network. New York:
Transnational, 2001. BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Biological weapons use pathogens or organisms
Osama bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001. that cause disease in humans, other animals, or
Bodansky, Yossef. Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War plants. Pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi,
on America. Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1999.
Gunaratna, Rohan. Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of and toxins (poisons produced by animals or plants).
Terror. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Crude biological weapons (or agents) have a long
Reeve, Simon. The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin history of use in warfare. In ancient times, wells
Laden, and the Future of Terrorism. Boston: Northeastern were poisoned with the carcasses of dead animals,
University Press, 1999. and infected corpses were thrown over the walls
Schweitzer, Yoram. Osama bin Ladin: Wealth Plus Extre- of besieged cities in efforts to spread sickness
mism Equals Terrorism. www.ict.org, July 27, 1998. among defenders. During the French and Indian
Wars in the 1700s, British troops gave blankets from
smallpox victims to Native Americans to spread the
BINALSHIBH, RAMZI. See MOUSSAOUI, disease.
ZACARIAS. The large number of casualties inflicted by chemi-
cal attacks in World War I and the military’s general
distaste for using such weapons led to the signing of
BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM the Geneva Convention of 1925, a treaty prohibiting
the use of both chemical and biological agents in
warfare. However, that treaty did not prohibit nations
Biological weapons are just what their name implies: from manufacturing or stockpiling them. Many
devices that use disease-producing microorganisms, nations chose to do just that in the belief that the