ARE we in a World War? You be the judge...

US State Dept; wikipedia; UCal; multiple others ^ | 7/24/05

[Wolfstar]

An incredible number of attacks by Islamic jihadists have been planned over the last 35 years. Although many have been averted, far too many plots have succeeded:

Since 1970, jihadists carried out attacks in over 60 cities, in at least 41 countries, on five continents and Pacific islands. Jihadists have assassinated heads of state, ambassadors and military personnel, and killed thousands of men, women, and children of many ages, ethnicities and religions (including Muslims). They have sometimes deliberately targeted children and babies.

The 78 incidents listed below should not be taken as a complete list, merely a representative one. The listed attacks resulted in at least 7478 deaths (rate of over two attacks/death toll over 210 annually). They began 33 years before our invasion of Iraq.

Had just one of the biggest known aborted attacks been successful (e.g., Operation Bojinka), the death toll would have been in the tens of thousands, resulting in an annual rate of many hundreds killed. Luck, as much as intelligence and investigative skill, has prevented some massive attacks. Operation Bojinka was only discovered due to an apartment fire. However, the frequency and complexity of such attacks have continued to escalate since the 1970's.

We easily could have lost well over 10,000 on 9/11/01. Yet that was not the biggest known planned attack on New York City. The same cell which carried out the 1993 WTC attack intended to bomb the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the UN building, and other NYC landmarks on one day. Had they succeeded, the death toll could have been beyond unthinkable. Similarly, had the plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport succeeded during New Year's, 2000, the death toll could have been horrendous. Sooner or later, we may run out of luck.

We know the jihadists train and carry out small test runs for much larger planned attacks. Was the 2001 anthrax bioweapons attack such a test run? We may never know — that is, we may never know until the day we're hit with a much larger bioweapons attack. We also know from captured terrorist documents, computers and equipment that the jihadist network wants to make or obtain chemical and nuclear weapons. They are already way too close to such weapons in Pakistan and Iran. Most importantly, we know they take a very long view of history. Their plots can and often do take years to execute.

If this list doesn't make clear that we are in a bona fide World War, what will? Yes, it's an unconventional war or, to use the current faddish term, an asymmetrical war. We are facing what amounts to a shadowy guerrilla army that operates worldwide, rather than massed armies openly fielded by nations. Nevertheless, for our own survival we need to come to grips with the fact that we are, indeed, in a World War such as has never been seen before. The enemy has been escalating the frequency and ferocity of his attacks over the past 35 years while we have been oblivious to the growing danger.

Year	Month	Day	Location	Description	Dead
1970	Feb	21	Zurich, Switzerland	SwissAir 330 bombed by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a member group of Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). All aboard were killed.	47
1970	Sept	6–7	Europe: Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Zurich	First multiple aircraft hijackings: Five planes were hijacked. (Two landed at a desert airstrip in Jordan called Dawson's Field, giving the incident it’s name.) The PFLP was responsible.	2
1972	May	30	Tel Aviv, Israel	First known joint operation between jihadists and a terroristic Communist group. PFLP dispatches members of the Japanese Red Army to attack Lod Airport in Tel Aviv.	27
1972	Sept	5	Munich, Germany	Israeli athletes murdered at Munich Olympics by a group calling themselves "Black September," an arm of Fatah operating under Yasser Arafat's direct command. (The PLO was kicked out of Jordan and fled to Lebanon in September, hence the term "black.").	11
1973	Dec	17	Rome, Italy	Phosphorus bombs thrown aboard Pan Am 110. The terrorists were all members of Fatah, and Abu Nidal masterminded the attack.	30
1973	Mar	1	Khartoum, Sudan	Palestinian terrorists take over Saudi embassy. A Belgian and two Americans, were killed, including Cleo Noel, U.S. Amb. to Sudan.	3
1974	May	15	Ma'alot, Israel	One of the earliest known incidents when jihadists deliberately targeted children. PFLP broke into a high school where 14 to 16-year-olds were resting after an outing. They killed a security guard, detonated grenades and shot the children.	26
1974	Sept	8	Athens, Greece	TWA 841 explodes after takeoff killing all aboard. A youth group in Beirut claimed responsibility. Abu Nidal was the suspected mastermind.	88
1976	July	3–4	Entebbe, Uganda	Hijacking of Air France 139 and subsequent Operation Entebbe: Six terrorists and three hostages died. Ugandan forces opened fire on Israeli troops killing Col. Jonathan "Yoni" Netanyahu, the operation’s commander; 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed and Ugandan fighter planes sitting on the ramp were "put into non-flying condition."	55
1979	Nov	4	Tehran, Iran	A militant Islamic mob took over the U.S. embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for the next 444 days. A U.S. rescue attempt in April 1980 failed. The hostages were released Jan. 20, 1981.	8
1981	Oct	6	Cairo, Egypt	Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Egyptian branch of Islamic Jihad (a code name for Hezobllah).	1
1982	Sept	14	Lebanon	Lebanese Prime Minister Bashir Gemayel and 25 others were killed in a car bomb attack. Gemayel was seen by many Muslims as too "pro" Israel.	26
1983	Apr	18	Beirut, Lebanon	A van drove up to the U.S. embassy, parked under the portico and exploded. The front section of the embassy collapsed. Islamic Jihad was responsible.	63
1983	Dec	12	Kuwait City, Kuwait	A truck loaded with explosives crashed into the U.S. Embassy annex. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.	4
1983	Oct	23	Beirut, Lebanon	A truck drove to HQ, U.S. Marines. The driver gunned his engine, crashed through a barbed-wire fence, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate, and barreled into the lobby. The Marine sentries did not have loaded weapons and were unable to shoot the driver. (According to one Marine, the driver was smiling as he sped past him.) The suicide bomber detonated his truck. The force collapsed the four-story cinder-block building.About 20 seconds later, an identical attack occurred on the French paratroop barracks.It was the deadliest single-day death toll for the American military since World War II. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, were responsible.	299
1983	Sept	23	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Gulf Air 771 enroute from Abu Dhabi to Karachi exploded and crashed in the desert near Mina Jebel Ali, UAE, killing all aboard.	117
1985	Apr	12	Madrid, Spain	A bomb exploded in a restaurant where U.S. soldiers liked to eat.	18
1985	Dec	27	Rome, Italy & Vienna, Austria	Four terrorists walked to the ticket counter of El Al airlines at Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport and opened fire with assault rifles and grenades. Minutes later, an identical attack occurred at the Vienna International Airport. The Abu Nidal group was responsible.	20
1985	Nov	23	Valeta, Malta	EgyptAir 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group. The plane was flown to Malta where Egyptian commandos stormed it.	60
1985	Oct	7	Port Said, Egypt	Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Wheelchair-bound elderly man, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard. Instructions for the attack originated from Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Tunis.	1
1986	Apr	2	Athens, Greece	A bomb exploded aboard TWA 840, sucking four American passengers, including a nine-month-old baby, to their deaths below. The "Arab Revolutionary Cells" claimed responsibility. The group was later connected to Yasser Arafat.	4
1986	Apr	6	Berlin, West Germany	The La Belle discotheque was bombed in an attack on U.S. servicemen. Libya was responsible.	3
1986	Sept	5	Karachi, Pakista	Pan Am 7 hijacked by four armed men (Abu Nidal). The leader ordered flight attendants to collect passports. Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old California resident who had recently become a naturalized U.S. citizen, was shot in the head, then heaved onto the tarmac. The terrorists positioned themselves in front and behind the crowd of passengers/crew. After reciting a martyrdom prayer in Arabic, they opened fire, throwing hand grenades into the crowd and spraying the trapped people with automatic weapons fire. A 2nd U.S. citizen was killed; the father of two young children who were next to their dad when he was shot. Scores of other passengers were injured.	21
1988	Dec	21	Lockerbie, Scotland	Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie killing 270, including 11 people on the ground; 189 were Americans. The terrorists were traced to Libya.	270
1989	Sept	19	Sahara Desert	UTA 772, a French DC-10, exploded killing all aboard. The brother-in-law of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and five other Libyans were put on trial in absentia for the bombing. In 2003, Libya admitted responsibility and agreed to pay the families of the victims.	170
1992	Mar	17	Buenos Aires, Argentina	A car bomb exploded in front of the Israeli Embassy. Most victims were Argentine civilians, including children. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. In 1998, a telephone call intercepted from the Iranian embassy in Argentina proved Iran had been involved in the attack.	29
1993	Feb	26	New York	First World Trade Center bombing, which was planned by Ramzi Youssef.	6
1993	Jan	25	Langley, Virginia	Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fired an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of CIA HQ. He was captured in Pakistan and executed in the United States Nov 14, 2002.	2
1994	Dec	11	Near Okinawa, Japan	Small bomb on Philippines Airlines plane kills one, injures six. Authorities learned that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb as a test run for "Operation Bojinka."	1
1994	Dec	24	Algiers, Algeria	Air France 8969 was hijacked by GIA (Armed Islamic Group). The terrorists planned to crash the plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris.	7
1994	July	18	Buenos Aires, Argentina	A powerful bomb made of ammonium nitrate was driven through the front gates of the seven-story Argentina-Israeli Mutual Association, leveling the building. The suicide bomber, Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a 29-year-old Shiite Muslim, has been honored with a plaque in southern Lebanon.	86
1994	July	19	Panama	A Panamanian commuter plane exploded killing all aboard. A group based in Lebanon claimed the attack, but it is believe Hezbollah was responsible, with backing from Iran.	29
1995	Jan	6–7	Manila, Philippines	Plans for "Operation Bojinka" were discovered on a laptop computer in Manila after an apartment fire. It was to be a large-scale attack on airliners in 1995, and was a precursor to the Sept 11 attacks. The plot was developed by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed while they were in Manila in 1994 and early 1995. Bombs were to be planted on 11 U.S.-bound airliners that had stopovers all around East Asia and Southeast Asia. The aircraft would have blown up over the Pacific and South China Sea almost simultaneously. If this plan worked, as many as 4000 would have perished and air travel would have been shut down worldwide.	0
1995	Nov	13	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	A car bomb exploded outside a joint HQ for U.S. and Saudi military. Three Islamic terror organizations claimed responsibility.	7
1995	Nov	19	Islamabad, Pakistan	Egyptian Embassy was bombed.	19
1996	Dec	3	Paris, France	A bomb exploded aboard a subway train killing four and injuring 86, including a U.S. citizen. No one claimed responsibility, but Algerian extremists were suspected.	4
1996	June	25	Dhahran, Saudi Arabia	Fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the U.S. military's Khobar Towers housing facility. The Saudi branch of Hezbollah was responsible.	19
1997	Nov	17	Luxor, Egypt	Six gunmen emerged from desert cliffs into the Temple of Hatshepsut and opened fire with automatic weapons at dozens of tourists. The dead included Japanese, German, Swiss and Egyptian citizens.	71
1997	Sept	18	Cairo, Egypt	Three men calmly walked up to a tourist bus outside the Egyptian Museum, pulled weapons from a plastic bag, and unleashed an attack that killed 10, at least seven of them German tourists. One gunman, Saber Mohammed Farhat Abu el-Ulla, had carried out a similar attack four years earlier, killing two Americans and a French citizen.	10
1998	Aug	7	Nairobi, Kenya & Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania	Twin truck bomb attacks against U.S. embassies. At least 225 dead and more than 4000 wounded.	225
1999	Jan	3	Islamabad, Pakistan	Gunmen opened fire on Shi'a Muslims worshipping in a mosque.	16
1999	Dec	24	Kathmandu, Nepal	Indian Airlines 814 was hijacked by Taliban agents.	1
1999	Aug	31	Moscow, Russia	Multiple Russian apartment bombings by Chechen terrorists, killing at least 300.	300
2000	Oct	12	Aden, Yemen	Boat bomb attack on the USS Cole.	17
2001	Dec	13	New Delhi, India	Terrorists attack Indian Parliament building. Laskhar-e-Taiba, a radical Islamic group (affiliated with Al Qaeda), was thought responsible. A terrorist arrested in connection with the attack told investigators Al Qaeda had plans to attack the British and Australian Embassies, and Parliament.	12
2001	Sept	11	New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania	Hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3000 dead, including 265 on the planes; 343 firemen; 60 New York City and Port Authority police officers; 125 at the Pentagon.	2,985
2002	Oct	17–18	Zamboanga & Manila, Philippines	Two bombs exploded in the main shopping district of the mostly Christian city of Zamboanga. A day later, a bus was bombed in Manila. Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic extremist group affiliated with Al Qaeda, was responsible.	9
2002	Apr	11	Djerba, Tunisia	Car bomb attack against a synagogue on the resort island of Djerba. At least 21 dead.	21
2002	June	14	Karachi, Pakistan	Truck bomb attack against U.S. Consulate.	12
2002	May	9	Kaspiisk, Dagestan	A bomb explosion in kills at least 42 people and injures 130 or more during Victory Day festivities.	42
2002	Nov	28	Mombasa, Kenya	Attack on an Israeli-owned hotel. Surface-to-air missile launched at Israeli airliner the same day.	12
2002	Oct	12	Bali, Indonesia	Attacks against U.S. Consulate, Sari Club and Paddy's Bar. Most of the dead were Australian tourists.	202
2002	Oct	23	Moscow, Russia	Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue 3 days later.	160
2003	Apr	3	Russia	Chechen Islamists carry out 10 deadly suicide bombings across Russia and nearby provinces between Apr and Dec.	250
2003	Aug	19	Baghdad, Iraq	Canal Hotel Bombing (UN HQ) in Baghdad, Iraq kills 22 people including the top UN representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello.	22
2003	Aug	5	Indonesia	Car bomb attack against Marriott Hotel. At least 12 dead.	12
2003	Aug	1	Mozdok, Russia	The Russian hospital in Mozdok, North Ossetia, was bombed.	50
2003	May	12	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Attacks at three compounds housing non-Saudi workers. At least 30 dead. Al Qaeda was responsible.	30
2003	May	16	Casablanca, Morocco	Multiple suicide bombings against Spanish and Jewish facilities, and involved 12 bombers and 5 targets. The Attack was attributed to a Moroccan Al Qaeda-linked group.	45
2003	May	12	Znamenskoye, Chechnya	Truck bomb attack on a government building.	59
2003	Nov	8	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Car bomb attack against residential compound housing mainly workers from other Arab countries.	17
2003	Nov	15–20	Istanbul, Turkey	Two car bomb attacks at Jewish synagogues, plus car bomb attacks at HSBC Bank and the British Consulate.	60
2004	Feb	1	Arbil, Iraq	Two suicide bombings kill 109 Kurds.	109
2004	Mar	2	Iraq	Known as the Ashoura Massacre, Al Qaeda carries out suicide bombings at Shia holy sites killing 181 and wounding over 500.	181
2004	Aug	24	Russia	Multiple, nearly simultaneous Russian airplane bombings.	90
2004	Aug	31	Moscow, Russia	Suicide bombing near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow.	10
2004	Dec	12	Gen. Santos, Philippines	Bombing at Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines.	15
2004	Feb	6	Moscow, Russia	Bomb on Moscow subway.	41
2004	Feb	27	Philippines	Superferry 14 was bombed by Abu Sayyaf group.	116
2004	Mar	11	Madrid, Spain	Bomb attacks against four trains. Terrorists blew themselves up when confronted by police.	199
2004	May	1	Yanbu, Saudi Arabia	Attack on non-Saudi oil workers.	7
2004	May	29	Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia	Islamic terrorists kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.	22
2004	Oct	8	Taba, Egypt	Large explosions at Hilton Hotel in Taba and at two campsites in the Sinai area.	30
2004	Oct	7	Sinai, Egypt	Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 32 and wounding 114, most of them Israeli tourists.	32
2004	Sept	9	Jakarta, Indonesia	Car bomb outside Australian Embassy.	9
2004	Sept	1–3	Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia	Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia results in a massacre of children.	330
2004	Sept	9	Jakarta, Indonesia	The Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed.	8
2005	July	7	London, England	Four suicide bomb attacks in three tube trains and a bus. At least 56 dead.	56

[Wolfstar]

...(and for use as club against any numbskull who tries to say that ANY terrorism is our President's fault).

Thanks OWF. That's one of the BIG points of this list. I was motivated to do it by the absolutely insulting questions British PM Tony Blair had to endure the other day, and by the superb, very brave answer by Australian PM John Howard.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the link. I'll look into it.

[Bahbah]

Nice work there, kiddo. You write well. It is much appreciated.

[weegee]

We know that radical muslims would not hestitate to use nuclear weapons (their mass murder of innocents on 9-11 has shown us that). I have little doubt that our own leaders WOULD hesitate to use such weapons even after an attack.

[stylin19a]

Not one of these attacks was done by a blue-haired senior lady from Iowa....but NY is going to check only her packages.

[Wolfstar]

Islam's anger with the West didn't just start in the last century...and it certainly didn't have anything to do with oil, or even Israel, for that matter.

Brilliant analysis, CWB. Thanks for posting it on this thread. Your statement I quoted above is critical. For far too long, we have lulled ourselves into complacency by thinking it's a war only between Israel and the "Palestinians." Even a few early responses on this thread fell into that trap.

However, as you so correctly point out, this is a much older, much more insidious war waged by those who adhere to an expansionist ideology.

[Peach]

...we need to stop seeing terrorist attacks as independent crimes. We need to stop fooling ourselves that any action on our part caused any of these attacks. Rather, we need to see them as operations in one long, sustained, worldwide campaign by jihadists against the "infidel." And we need to help educate other Americans to the peril we all face. The purpose of this list is to help us begin to do so.

I couldn't agree more.

And the next time one of us hears a leftist say or write that the war in Iraq has made other country's more vulnterable to terrorist attacks, we should write/call and remind them of Prime Minister Howard's words the other day:

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that?

When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?

When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq -- a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations -- when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.

[weegee]

There is no liberal logic. Only lies to push through an agenda.

[snugs]

Aussie PM John Howard did us proud I was Tony Blair had been less PC though. This supposed talking with Islamic groups is not going to help one little bit.

[Wolfstar]

If there is no pressure from the public to recreate the Civil Defense Corps (by whatever name), the government certainly won't do anything to involve the public.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Please send this to Hugh Hewitt.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks, Bahbah. Ammunition against those who keep insisting it's Bush's or Blair's fault.

[rockabyebaby]

Yes, we are in a world war and YES we need to start racially profiling, YES, YES, YES we do. If these attacks were being done by white males you can bet your bippy profiling would be going on.

[snugs]

Here here

[Wolfstar]

I have little doubt that our own leaders WOULD hesitate to use such weapons even after an attack.

I agree. They'd wring their hands while those who've made common cause with the jihadists urge "understanding for the root causes."

[Officer and a Gentleman]

Wolf , Could you add me to your PING lists as well ?


Many thanks

[Wolfstar]

Not one of these attacks was done by a blue-haired senior lady from Iowa....but NY is going to check only her packages.

Ridiculous, isn't it.

[cwb]

Thanks for letting me piggy-back on your excellent post. It seemed like the perfect place to expand on Islam's history...and expose the fraud that is liberalism.

[weegee]

Warn them before the drop but taking Mecca off the map would be a start.

Let's see them "Move On" after that.

[Stu Cohen]

I submit to you that more casualties are committed in the U.S. by illegal Mexicans than by people from any other country.

I see Muslims as a minor threat in comparison.