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A number of these national political movements, formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of
which owed much of their success to violence, Lebanon. This Lebanon-based radical Shi’a group
adopted a strategy that would have lasting signifi- takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revo-
cance in the war of semantics surrounding the use of lution and the teachings of the Ayatollah Ruhollah
violence. These newly created Third World countries, Khomeini. Its members not only were interested in
as well as their brethren from the communist bloc carrying out the goals of the revolution but also were
states, advanced the argument that their fight against concerned with the social conditions of their fellow
colonial oppression was not terrorism but rather the Shiites throughout the Middle East. Hezbollah’s out-
hard work of dedicated freedom fighters. reach in Lebanon during the 1980s solidified
The 1960s saw terrorism spring up throughout the Lebanese Shiite support and helped spawn smaller
world. This upsurge was not limited to Europe and terrorist groups, the most recognizable of which was
Asia. It affected the United States in a number of the Islamic Jihad.
ways. Frustrated with the slow pace of social change Hamas, the main Islamic movement in the
(and, in the eyes of some, simply bored with their Palestinian territories, was formed by Sheik Ahmed
middle-class privilege), some radical activists broke Yassin in 1987 during the first intifada, or uprising,
off from Students for a Democratic Society to found against Israeli occupation of the territories. Hamas
the violent group Weatherman. Puerto Rican national- members seek their identity in their Islamic roots.
ists and Jewish extremists also became active in the Hamas is uncompromising and maximalist, insisting
1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, a variety of terrorist on the total liberation of the sacred land of Palestine
groups espousing a virulent philosophy of white they interpret as demanded by Allah, who will repay
supremacy became active throughout the United martyrs for this cause with life everlasting
States, as did single-issue terrorist organizations such The militancy of Hamas is a common feature of the
as the ecoterrorist group Earth First!. Although a com- new terrorists. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan
bination of aggressive law enforcement and a lack of in 1979 to prop up an embattled communist govern-
support by the general public weakened these groups ment, thousands of young warriors of Islam, including
toward the end of the decade, the ranks grew again in the Saudi Osama bin Laden, from as far away as
the 1990s, inspired by events at Ruby Ridge, Idaho (a Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United States
bungled federal government attempt to arrest a white answered the call to fight a jihad (jihad is commonly
separatist) and at Waco, Texas (the tragic FBI siege of translated as “holy war”) at the side of their Afghan
the Branch Davidian compound). brothers. Stirred by the preaching of incendiary clerics,
Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, many Middle 10,000 or more Muslims streamed into Peshawar,
Eastern terrorist groups sent their recruits to the Pakistan, for weapons training and indoctrination.
Soviet Union for training in low-intensity warfare, Veterans of these Afghan classrooms have taken their
which is a benign-sounding name for terrorism. The jihad abroad not only to Sudanese terror camps but
Soviets viewed terrorism as compatible with their also to Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia,
efforts to support wars of national liberation, even Myanmar, Egypt, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Tajikistan,
though violence against civilian populations is incon- Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and the United States.
sistent with traditional Marxist-Leninist thinking on The new terrorists are less hierarchically organized
class struggle. The Soviets also hoped that their sup- than their secular predecessors and, consequently,
port of Palestinian terrorism against Israel would more difficult to spot, track, and intercept. In the past,
enhance their position within the Arab world. For terrorist groups organized themselves very much like
nearly a decade, Soviet-trained and -supported terror- a large corporation, that is, pyramidally and linearly,
ism operated with impunity in the Middle East and, to with a discernible descending or ascending power
a lesser extent, in Europe. However, as events in the structure. Knowing the structure of the terrorist group
Middle East or Europe threatened to affect public made fighting terrorism easier. Law enforcement and
opinion—or more significantly, threaten to inspire intelligence agencies could contain terrorist organi-
U.S. intervention—Soviet leaders reined in their zation by infiltrating them at either the top or the
client terrorists. bottom. It is much more difficult for today’s law
A significant turning point in the history of terror- enforcement agencies to infiltrate militant Islamic
ism was the formation of Hezbollah (Party of God), groups, such as bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, that are fluid