Re: Attacks Justified ?
<~~ Doesn’t understand the need to defend or make excuses for those [terrorists] that participate in acts designed with deliberate intent of killing and maiming innocent civilians.
Excuses have been…
Palestine.
Iraq sanctions.
Afghanistan.
War in Iraq.
Support of Saudi rulers.
Support of the Shah.
Goes on and on.
Kidnapping, attacks on civilians.
Pre-Afghanistan acts include:
1996
11 February
Bahrain
A bomb exploded at the Diplomat Hotel in Manama, injuring a British guest and two employees and causing significant damage to the hotel. The London-based Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain claimed the bombing, but later denied responsibility.
27 March
Algeria
Armed Islamic Group (GIA) extremists kidnapped seven French monks from their monastery in the Medea region. On 26 April the GIA offered to free the monks in exchange for the release of GIA members held in France. On 21 May the group stated that they killed the monks in response to the French Government’s refusal to negotiate with them.
25 June
Saudi Arabia
A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the US military’s Khubar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 US military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 US personnel.
Several groups claimed responsibility for the attack, which remains under investigation.
11 September
Iraq
Kurdish refugees seized nine UN employees near Sairanbar. A World Food Program official, a UNICEF official, and a UNHCR employee were among those taken. A crowd of refugees demonstrating near the UN offices seized the workers as thousands chanted anti-US slogans and threw rocks at UN employees. The refugees later released all the hostages.
1997
2-13 January
United States
A series of letter bombs with Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, DC; New York City; London, United Kingdom; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts defused all the devices, but one detonated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two security guards and causing minor damage.
23 February
United States
A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the “enemies of Palestine.”
12 November
Pakistan
After the conviction of Mir Aimal Kansi, two unidentified gunmen shot to death four US auditors from Union Texas Petroleum and their Pakistani driver after they drove away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the US Consulate in Karachi. The Aimal Secret Committee, or Aimal Khufia Action Committee, also claimed responsibility in a letter to Pakistani newspapers.
17 November
Egypt
Al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya (IG) gunmen shot and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians and wounded 26 others at the Hatshepsut Temple in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Thirty-four Swiss, eight Japanese, five Germans, four Britons, one French, one Colombian, a dual-national Bulgarian/Briton, and four unidentified persons were among the dead. Twelve Swiss, two Japanese, two Germans, one French, and nine Egyptians were among the wounded. The IG militants left a leaflet at the scene calling for the release of Umar Abd al-Rahman, the IG spiritual leader imprisoned in the United States.
23 December
Pakistan
Unidentified assailants fired shots at the teachers’ residential compound of the Karachi American School, wounding one Frontier Constabulary guard. The compound is home to nine US citizen and six Canadian teachers and is one block from the school compound in a neighborhood with seven other consulate residences. The guard post has been in place since the 12 November murders of four Union Texas Petroleum employees.
15 April
Somalia
Multiple media sources reported that militiamen abducted nine Red Cross and Red Crescent workers at an airstrip north of Mogadishu. The hostages included a US citizen, a German, a Belgian, a French, a Norwegian, two Swiss, and one Somali. The gunmen are members of a subclan loyal to Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who controls the northern section of the capital. On 24 April the hostages were released unharmed, and no ransom was paid.
Other actions can be found:
Do you think that those who instigate or participate in such activities won power over Afghanistan, Iraq, etc… that they would become benign rules? Do you not think such men by their own example would use the same tactics against anyone who dare disagree with them?
