The Research of Four Significant Terrorist Attacks

In the following paper, four significant terrorist attacks will be critically researched and explored. The four terrorist attacks that will be mentioned are the hijacking of a Southern Airways flight, the Octoberfest bombing, the 9/11 terrorist attack and the shooting of Aaron Driver. This paper will begin with a brief introduction of each event, followed by a comparison of the main similarities and differences between these attacks. Proceeding that will be key sections that focus on the evolution of terrorism and how terrorism will continue to evolve based on previous patterns and research. The final section of this paper will examine the significance of these terrorist attacks and will clearly demonstrate the relevance of the facts provided. These terrorist attacks are extremely significant because they greatly impact the way terrorism progresses and is dealt with in society.

Terrorist attacks play a vital role in creating more effective counterterrorism techniques to help aid society in preventing similar situations. Hijacking of Southern Airways flight The hijacking of a Southern Airways flight in Birmingham occurred on November 10th, 1972. Three men- Melvin Cale, Lewis D. Moore and Henry Jackson- were involved in the politically motivated hijacking. These three men had specific, thought out requests that they desired from Detroit. They requested 10 million dollars from the city and stated if they did not receive the funds that they would to crash the aircraft into a nuclear reactor, which was a factor in determining their crime as an act of nuclear terrorism (Embry, 2017, para. 3).

Interestingly enough, when they received the money, which was 8 million short of what they hoped, they were so ecstatic, they handed out cash to everyone on the flight (Koerner, 2013, para. 6). In fact, Moore said he did not actually intend to hurt anyone, and although one gunshot was fired, Moore was adamant that it went off by accident (Allen, 2016, para. 7). In terms of motives, Lewis Moore in particular was motivated to hijack this plane to riot against Detroit police accusing him of rape after he stood up for black lives regarding police brutality (Allen, 2016, para. 2). However, all three of these men were facing charges regarding sexual assault and burglary which motivated them to riot against Detroit police (Koerner, 2013, para. 3). They sought out to do this by loading up with concealed weapons and hijacking an airplane to demonstrate their power to Detroit police (Allen, 2016, para. 3).

Oktoberfest BombingNearly ten years after the hijacking of the Southern Airways flight, another politically motivated attack occurred in Munich, Germany on September 26th,1980. A man by the name of Gundolf Kohler who had extreme right-wing ideologies and built a bomb at home with plans for it to go off at Oktoberfest (Konzert-Wenzel, 1985, para.1). 200 people were injured by the detonation of the bomb, and 13 were killed (Smale, 2017, para. 2). For many years, it was believed the Kohler acted alone, but there has been speculation that his right-wing ideologies were linked to him working with right-wing associations as well (Smale, 2017, para. 3).

Kohler was among the 13 individuals who were killed in this bombing, so the speculation has remained unresolved.9/11 Terrorist AttackFollowing the Oktoberfest bombing, on September 11th, 2001 another plane hijacking occurred, except this time, much more violent. A terrorist group by the name Al-Qaeda sent 19 men to hijack four commercial airplanes which were crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon Headquarters in New York (Bergan, 2018, para. 1). This terrorist attack resulted in roughly 2,700 confirmed and identified deaths (Owoseje, 2018, para. 4). The terrorist group Al-Qaeda has politically extreme views, and believed that Islam should dominate the world. They wanted to weaken the United States but knew they were not a match for the U.S military, so they decided to attack monumental symbols of American power to ignite fear in Americans (9/11 FAQ, 2018, para. 1). This is one of the most significant events in American history and created extreme grief across the nation.

Shooting of Aaron Driver

A more recent event that occurred on August 10th 2016, was the shooting of Aaron Driver in Strathroy, Ontario. Aaron Driver was a terrorist sympathizer and aligned his ideologies with an extremist group by the name of ISIS (Bell, 2016, para. 6). He planned to detonate a home-made explosive bomb at Toronto’s Union station (Bell, 2016, para. 10). The FBI tipped off Canadian Authorities about Aaron Driver (The Canadian Press, 2016, para. 3). After investigating and realizing the threat, they were able to identify him sitting in a taxi, wearing a mask and carrying a backpack. RCMP shot him fatally when he detonated an explosive device inside the back of the taxi, but prevented him from carrying out his terrorist attack in Toronto (Bell, 2016, para. 5).

Similarities and Differences

All four of these terrorist attacks have significant commonalities. They are all carried out by political extremists, the victims of their crimes are targeted in mass numbers and they are inspired by ideologies that are encouraged by large groups with the same views. Mahdi Abdile, an author and researcher on the topic of terrorism conducted a study at the European Institute of Peace that showed that 21% of terrorists join organizations for a sense of belonging. In addition, 27% of individuals who join terrorist organizations do it for the economic compensation they receive in doing so (European Institute, 2015, para. 2). He also believes that it would not be likely for individuals to act on their radical views unless they were encouraged to do so by an organization (European Institute, 2015, para. 4).

All four of these attacks were carried out by individuals who were encouraged or inspired by a large organization to do so. For example, the hijacking of the Southern Airways flight was done to riot against a large organization- the Detroit Police- and to advocate for African American’s rights. The Oktoberfest bombing was inspired by German right-wing ideologies and has been speculated to be involved with right-wing associations. The 9/11 terrorist attack was carried out by an organization known as Al-Qaeda who believes in extreme Islamic views. The shooting of Aaron Driver was a preventative measure to ensure a man who sympathized with a terrorist organization didn’t follow through with an attack in Toronto. However, they differ quite significantly too.

The hijacking of the Southern Airways flight was intended to be a harmless crime with no injuries, where the hijacking of the aircrafts on 9/11 were intended to kill thousands. The Oktoberfest bombing injured 200 individuals and killed 13, where the shooting of Aaron Driver prevented a situation like this from reoccurring. Evolution of Terrorism from the 1970’sAfter the Southern Airways plane hijacking, many precautions were being taken to ensure an event like this did not occur again. Across the globe, airports became required to do a screening process before traveling (Koerner, 2013, para. 11). The implementation of metal detectors and x-ray technology allowed for safer travel and deterred individuals from trying to take weapons and hazardous material on the aircraft. Despite the precautions taken, there has been breaches of airport security that have allowed terrorists to slip through the cracks.

This was evident in 2001 with the 9/11 terrorist attack. Preceding the terrorist attack in 2001, Transportation Security Administration was introduced to protect state-by-state travel and ensure safety for individuals (Mission for TSA, 2001). In addition to this, enhanced security measures were put in place, including strongly reinforced flight deck doors which are unable to be opened while the aircraft is flying (Green, 2017, para. 13). Due to the fact that this attack received extensive media coverage, the world feared terrorists, which is exactly what terrorists want. Terrorists want their message to be heard loud and clear, and for individuals to comply with their beliefs, which is one of the many reasons why terrorist groups and threats are increasing. In fact, the rate of terrorist attacks has risen from just over 1,000 in 2004 to nearly 17,000 in 2014 (Smith & Zeigler, 2014, Trends in Terrorism). In terms of the terrorist attacks involving bombings, the precautions taken by Canadian Authorities to prevent crime before it happens has increased. Transforming the method of “Reactive Policing” into “Proactive Policing” helped prevent Aaron Driver from executing his plan to attack Toronto.

Future Evolution of Terrorism

Based on the above information, it is evident that terrorism has become not only a national, but a worldwide crisis. However, without these tragedies, security involving terrorism would be much weaker. For example, if the 9/11 terrorist attack did not occur, perhaps Islamic terrorist threats made by Al-Qaeda and ISIS would not be taken as seriously. In theory, Aaron Driver’s profile may not have gotten as much attention if the public did not fear extremist terrorist groups. It is no doubt that security regarding terrorism will improve and evolve as new advanced technology emerges. It is likely that police will continue to use proactive vs. reactive methods to combat these incidents before they occur. With terrorist attacks rising, there is a dyer urgency to improve these systems, which in the future will help prevent larger, more serious terrorist threats and attacks.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight as to how counterterrorism techniques emerging from horrific events help prevent larger scale terrorist attacks in the future. Educating individuals on the effects and patterns of terrorism, as well as the evolution of terrorist attacks is extremely important. It is not only important to understand how terrorism has evolved since 1970, but also how counterterrorism techniques have evolved with it. As criminals become smarter with how they execute crimes, authorities are adapting and changing security to evolve with them. In the future, it would be interesting to study ways to dissipate extremist groups.

As mentioned in the section ‘Similarities and Differences’, many extremists only act on their ideologies because they are encouraged to do so by a group. This research paper was not only insightful, but interesting. Learning about current events that impact so many individuals and learning how authorities are creating new methods to prevent these heinous crimes allows for a certain level of comfort. However, it allows for a bigger desire to inspire change.