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Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780231700016
Category : Terrorism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Today more than ever, governments are determined to protect the public by rooting out terrorists and bringing them to justice, but in dealing with extremism, governments often violate citizens' individual civil liberties. In their zeal to attack terrorism and preserve domestic security, governments pass laws that violate basic freedoms and privacies and undermine the support of the public. To avoid hysteria and unwise policymaking, both citizens and officials need to rely on fact and sound judgment and remain skeptical of political propaganda.In this collection, scholars demonstrate that the realities of our post-9/11 world are not necessarily new. Many governments, from Putin's Russia and Fujimori's Peru to Italy in the 1970s have at times repressed the very liberty and democratic freedoms terrorists seek to destroy. Essays address the use of terrorist threat to sustain a credible anti-terrorist narrative, sway public opinion, and push through draconian legislation. For the most part, the contributors remain sympathetic to the efforts made by states to protect their citizenry; however, they encourage awareness and vigilance to prevent the wholesale exploitation of the fundamental rights of a democracy.
Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780231700016
Category : Terrorism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Today more than ever, governments are determined to protect the public by rooting out terrorists and bringing them to justice, but in dealing with extremism, governments often violate citizens' individual civil liberties. In their zeal to attack terrorism and preserve domestic security, governments pass laws that violate basic freedoms and privacies and undermine the support of the public. To avoid hysteria and unwise policymaking, both citizens and officials need to rely on fact and sound judgment and remain skeptical of political propaganda.In this collection, scholars demonstrate that the realities of our post-9/11 world are not necessarily new. Many governments, from Putin's Russia and Fujimori's Peru to Italy in the 1970s have at times repressed the very liberty and democratic freedoms terrorists seek to destroy. Essays address the use of terrorist threat to sustain a credible anti-terrorist narrative, sway public opinion, and push through draconian legislation. For the most part, the contributors remain sympathetic to the efforts made by states to protect their citizenry; however, they encourage awareness and vigilance to prevent the wholesale exploitation of the fundamental rights of a democracy.
Author: John Mueller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416574654
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
Why have there been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11? It is ridiculously easy for a single person with a bomb-filled backpack, or a single explosives-laden automobile, to launch an attack. So why hasn't it happened? The answer is surely not the Department of Homeland Security, which cannot stop terrorists from entering the country, legally or otherwise. It is surely not the Iraq war, which has stoked the hatred of Muslim extremists around the world and wasted many thousands of lives. Terrorist attacks have been regular events for many years -- usually killing handfuls of people, occasionally more than that. Is it possible that there is a simple explanation for the peaceful American homefront? Is it possible that there are no al-Qaeda terrorists here? Is it possible that the war on terror has been a radical overreaction to a rare event? Consider: 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants have been subjected to fingerprinting and registration, and more than 5,000 foreign nationals have been imprisoned -- yet there has not been a single conviction for a terrorist crime in America. A handful of plots -- some deadly, some intercepted -- have plagued Europe and elsewhere, and even so, the death toll has been modest. We have gone to war in two countries and killed tens of thousands of people. We have launched a massive domestic wiretapping program and created vast databases of information once considered private. Politicians and pundits have berated us about national security and patriotic duty, while encroaching our freedoms and sending thousands of young men off to die. It is time to consider the hypothesis that dare not speak its name: we have wildly overreacted. Terrorism has been used by murderous groups for many decades, yet even including 9/11, the odds of an American being killed by international terrorism are microscopic. In general, international terrorism doesn't do much damage when considered in almost any reasonable context. The capacity of al-Qaeda or of any similar group to do damage in the United States pales in comparison to the capacity other dedicated enemies, particularly international Communism, have possessed in the past. Lashing out at the terrorist threat is frequently an exercise in self-flagellation because it is usually more expensive than the terrorist attack itself and because it gives the terrorists exactly what they are looking for. Much, probably most, of the money and effort expended on counterterrorism since 2001 (and before, for that matter) has been wasted. The terrorism industry and its allies in the White House and Congress have preyed on our fears and caused enormous damage. It is time to rethink the entire enterprise and spend much smaller amounts on only those things that do matter: intelligence, law enforcement, and disruption of radical groups overseas. Above all, it is time to stop playing into the terrorists' hands, by fear-mongering and helping spread terror itself.
Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
ISBN: 1849042837
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
The long story of Greek terrorism was meant to have ended in the summer of 2002 with the collapse of the country’s premier terrorist organisation and one of Europe’s longest-running gangs, the notorious 17 November group (17N). However, rather than demoralising and emasculating the country’s armed struggle movement, the dismantling of 17N and the imprisonment of its members led to the emergence of new urban guerrilla groups and an upsurge in and intensification of revolutionary violence. Given the sheer longevity of the 17N terrorist experience, George Kassimeris sets out to analyse the life histories of the group’s imprisoned members. Their stories, told through their own words, offer us a clearer picture than we have ever had of the political and ideological environment that provided the foundations upon which revolutionary terrorism took root in the mid-1970s. This book also brings up to date the gritty story of Greek terrorism, by analysing the country’s post-17N generation of urban guerrilla groups, placing their extremism and violence in a broader political and cultural perspective.
Author: Richard Jackson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134050518
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
In direct response to the growth of a critical perspective on contemporary issues of terrorism, this edited volume brings together a number of leading scholars to debate the need for and the shape of the exciting new subfield of ‘critical terrorism studies’.
Author: Michael A. Sheehan
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307409643
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
Written by a man who is arguably the country’s most authoritative voice on counterterrorism, Crush the Cell demolishes, with simple logic, the edifice of false “terror punditry” that has been laid, brick by brick, since 9/11. A veteran of special ops, international diplomacy, and bruising clashes with federal law enforcement agencies, Michael Sheehan delivers in this book a two-part message: First, that we’ve wasted–and are continuing to waste–billions of dollars on the wrong protective measures, and second, that knowing the bad guys’ next move is paramount. Somewhere in America, Sheehan maintains, are a number of terrorist cells, their members’ heads filled with schemes of mayhem and destruction. Motivated not, as some believe, by feelings of disenfranchisement, disdain for freedom, or economic envy but by a compelling ideological hatred, these individuals plot not just terror but paralyzing terror–the kind that can shut down a country. Unwittingly aiding and abetting them are many (but not all) “terror experts” and members of the media who, for reasons that are partly self- serving, rate the bad guys’ capabilities far higher than they are, playing into terrorists’ hands with their hype. Spurred by the pundits’ inflated assessments, legislation follows that drains billions from taxpayers’ pockets and pours money into a bloated Washington bureaucracy championing needless programs. Here, Sheehan shows why defensive fortresses don’t work, but offensive operational intelligence does. He also peels back the mystery surrounding terrorist cells, portraying them as, typically, a group of bumblers searching for a charismatic leader who has what it takes to conduct a complex symphony of violence. Sharing time in the narrative spotlight are not just agents of al Qaeda, but also frighteningly destructive lone wolves, cults, and radical movements. In his career, Sheehan has operated in the mountain jungles of Central America, the back alleys of Mogadishu, and the teeming streets of New York City–but he has also participated at the highest levels of policy making at the White House, the State Department, and the United Nations. It’s his time protecting America’s most populous city as its counterterrorism czar, however, that yields this book’s most fascinating insights. As Sheehan reveals thwarted threats to New York’s bridges, subways, and landmarks, and recounts extraordinary simulations staged to gauge terrorists’ true abilities, we gain perhaps the clearest picture yet of what modern terror-fighting is all about.
Author: Chris Hale
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199691290
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 599
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Book Description
Criminology is a broad-ranging and stimulating introduction that is ideal for undergraduates approaching the subject for the first time. Each chapter is written by an expert in their field and includes a range of learning features designed to help students engage with the material covered.
Author: Samuel J. Sinclair
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199925925
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359
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Book Description
The Political Psychology of Terrorism Fears examines how emotional responses to terrorism, and specifically, fear, impact on political processes in multiple international contexts. The volume presents an integrated collection of empirical and theoretical studies and discusses the implications of this body of research.
Author: George Kassimeris
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814747973
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 333
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Book Description
The images from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have been a grim reminder of warfare's undiminished capacity for brutality and indiscriminate excess. What happened in Abu Ghraib has happened before: the World War II, and more recent wars and insurgencies in Algeria, Congo, Angola, Vietnam, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, and many others, all bear witness to the ever-present human capacity to commit barbaric acts if circumstances allow. What drives people to mistreat, humiliate, and torment others? In an age when real time war, violence, and torture are becoming addictive forms of entertainment, it is now more critical than ever to deepen our understanding of the extraordinary distortions of the human psyche and spirit that occur in wartime. Eight distinguished scholars explore, in this first collective effort, the effects of the barbarization of warfare on our cultures and societies. Contributors: Joanna Bourke, Niall Ferguson, Jay Winter, Richard Overy, David Anderson, Hew Strachan, Paul Rogers, Kathleen Taylor, Marilyn Young, Paul Rogers, Anthony Dworkin, Amir Weiner, Mary Habeck, and David Simpson.
Author: Michael Scheuer
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597973084
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382
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Book Description
Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one anonymous member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger. According to the author, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe-at the urging of U.S. leaders-that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetor.
Author: Stephen Sloan
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806186445
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
Keeping ahead of terrorists requires innovative, up-to-date training. This follow-up to Stephen Sloan's pioneering 1981 book, Simulating Terrorism, takes stock of twenty-first-century terrorism—then equips readers to effectively counter it. Quickly canvassing the evolution of terrorism—and of counterterrorism efforts—over the past thirty years, co-authors Sloan and Robert J. Bunker draw on examples from the early 2000s, following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, to emphasize the need to prevent or respond quickly to "active aggressors"—terrorists who announce their presence and seek credibility through killing. Training for such situations requires realistic simulations—whose effectiveness, the authors show, depends on incorporating red teams; that is, the groups that play the part of active aggressors. In Red Teams and Counterterrorism Training, Sloan and Bunker, developers of simulation-driven counterterrorist training, take readers through the prerequisites for and basic principles of conducting a successful simulation and preparing responders to face threats—whether from teenage shooters or from sophisticated terrorist organizations. The authors clearly explain how to create an effective red team whose members can operate from within the terrorists' mindset. An innovative chapter by theater professional Roberta Sloan demonstrates how to use dramatic techniques to teach red teams believable role-playing. Rounding out this book, a case study of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood illustrates the cost of failures in intelligence and underscores the still-current need for serious attention to potential threats. First responders—whether civilian or military—will find Red Teams and Counterterrorism Training indispensible as they address and deter terrorism now and in the future.
