Page 107 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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Bombings and Bomb Scares———81

casualties as possible, and terrorist bombings frequently used in attacks. The pipe bomb, in which a length of
take place in crowded public spaces. Airports and air- metal plumbing is filled with black powder, capped,
craft, shopping districts, government buildings and and a fuse attached, is perhaps the one of the simplest
corporate headquarters, train and subway stations, and most common examples of bomb construction.
even movie theaters and sports arenas are potential
terrorist targets.
USE OF BOMBS IN TERRORISM:
THE LONE BOMBER
BOMB MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION
The Unabomber case illuminates one of the advan-
A vast array of materials can be used to construct tages of the bomb as a terrorist weapon. Theodore
bombs. Some of them include black powder (gunpow- Kaczynski, a former University of California,
der), trinitrotoluene (TNT), nitroglycerin, ammonium Berkeley, math professor, loathed technology and
nitrate (a common ingredient in fertilizer), and gaso- blamed the Industrial Revolution and its successors
line. Dozens of widely available commercial products for all of society’s ills. (He was later diagnosed as
that have common everyday uses—household cleansers, paranoid schizophrenic, although experts differ as to
car products, photographic chemicals—can become the extent of his irrationality.) In 1971, he withdrew
the basic ingredients for a bomb. Through theft or the from the world, building himself a cabin in the remote
international black market, professional terrorists or mountains of Montana. His extremist ideology turned
other bomb makers may be able to acquire military or violent in 1978, when he mailed his first bomb to a
industrial explosives such as Semtex, a plastic explo- professor at Northwestern University. Over the next
sive used in the Lockerbie bombing. 18 years, Kaczynski was able to execute more than
To construct the bomb, the explosive material is two dozen bombings, killing three people and injuring
packed into a container, usually metal but sometimes 23. Despite his meager means and primitive hide-
glass or plastic or even cardboard. Pieces of jagged away—his cabin had no electricity or running water,
metal may also be added to the explosive material to and most of his bombs were packaged in boxes that he
act as shrapnel when the bomb explodes; this is often hand-built—he was able to construct increasingly
done when the purpose of the bomb is to wound as sophisticated and destructive devices during his ter-
many people as possible, as it was in the case of London rorist career and was almost successful entirely in
nail bomber David Copeland. A source of ignition is frustrating the detectives sent on his trail.
attached—this may be a simple fuse, a battery, or a Kaczynski undertook his campaign first as a
blasting cap, as is used in controlled demolitions. method of striking back at technology—most of his
In addition, many bombers, and almost all profes- victims were professors, often in fields like computer
sional terrorists, also attach a timing device to the science, engineering, and neuroscience—but also as
bomb that will allow the criminal to plant the bomb way of publicizing his views. In 1996, he sent a letter
and remove himself or herself from the area of the to federal authorities claiming he would stop his
explosion well before it occurs. Timing devices vary assassination campaign if his 30,000-word manifesto
widely in construction and sophistication; in the 1984 was printed by a major national news outlet. The New
Brighton bombing that nearly killed British prime York Times and the Washington Post, acting on the
minister Margaret Thatcher, the Irish Republican advice of federal authorities, acceded to this demand.
Army (IRA) bomber was able to plant the device As authorities had hoped, the publication of the
weeks before it was detonated. A particular type of manifesto did eventually result in Kaczynski’s arrest,
timing device is a radio detonator. A bomb with a after family members familiar with his writings
radio detonator attached will not detonate unless it is recognized his style. But the publication of the
sent a certain signal at a particular frequency from a manifesto, and the extensive media coverage of the
radio transmitter. With this type of bomb, the bomber entire affair, granted Kaczynski and his ideas a degree
is able to observe the target area from afar and deto- of public attention he could not otherwise have hoped
nate the explosives only when and if the bomb’s target to attain. In this respect, then, his bombing campaign
is within range. Such sophisticated bombs require was extremely effective. That a single man working in
specialized knowledge, training, and experience to such primitive conditions could achieve this goal is
construct; they are by no means the majority of bombs remarkable testament to the fearsomeness of the bomb