Perspective: Terrorism Vs. State-Terrorism

Posted by On January 12, 2015 0 Comment

 

By T.J. Coles

 

12 January, 2015.

 

From 1980 to 2003, terrorists from all over the world committed 315 suicide bombings.1 From 1968 to 2009, nearly 115,000 individuals died as a result of terrorism (mostly non-suicide bombings).2 In the first year of the Iraq War 2003 alone, the British RAF launched 395 Enhanced Paveway II precision-guided bombs.3 In collusion with the RAF, the US Air Force killed 100,000 Iraqis in the first eighteen months4 as a deliberate objective of the Shock and Awe air assault.5

 

 

Notes

 

  1. Robert A. Pape, 2006, Dying to Win, Gibson Square.

 

  1. US State Department and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory data cited in Seth Borenstein and Julie Reed Bell, ‘2010 Extreme Weather’, Associated Press, 20 December, 2010, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/20/2010-extreme-weather-dead_n_798956.html

 

  1. Anthony H. Cordesman, 2003, The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics and Military Lessons, Center for Strategic and International Studies (p. 297)).

 

  1. The Lancet cited in Sarah Boseley, ‘100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, says study’, 29 October, 2004, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/29/iraq.sarahboseley

 

5. Harlan Ullman and James Wade, ‘Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance’, National Defense University, October, 1996, www.pipr.co.uk/archive . The authors write, for instance: ‘The intent here is to impose a regime a Shock and Awe through delivery of instant, nearly incomprehensible levels of massive destruction directed at influencing society writ large, meaning its leadership and public, rather than targeting directly against military or strategic objectives’ (p. 23).