United States and state terrorism

For other uses, see American terrorism (disambiguation).

The following incidents have been described in notable sources as acts of State terrorism by the United States of America.

Definition

The United States Department of State maintains a list of states it considers to be supporters of terrorism. However, critics, rightly or wrongly, have long accused the US itself of also supporting activities which could be defined as terrorism. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a terrorist act as,

The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

As Dr. Daniele Ganser of the ETH Zürich notes, the operations directive which set up the CIA falls under this definition. NSC 10/2 states the CIA shall,

Plan and conduct covert operations which are conducted or sponsored by this government against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and conducted that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorised persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them. Covert action shall include any covert activities related to: propaganda; economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition, and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance movements, gurrillas and refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world.

Dr. Ganser's research has also uncovered a Pentagon document, "Field Manual FM 30-31B",,, details the methodology for launching terrorist attacks in nations that "do not react with sufficient effectiveness" against "communist subversion." The manual states that the most dangerous moment comes when leftist groups "renounce the use of force" and embrace the democratic process. It is then that "U.S. army intelligence must have the means of launching special operations which will convince Host Country Governments and public opinion of the reality of the insurgent danger." These "special operations must remain strictly secret," the document warns.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines terrorism as,

the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

Cuba

According to 'Centro de Estudios Sobre America. "Crisis de Octubre: Cronologia." Informe Especial', a CIA agent named Carlos Antonio Rodriguez Cabo committed various acts of terrorism.

The United States government has conspired with organized crime figures to assassinate the Cuban head of state. In August 1960, Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security, proposed the assassination of Fidel Castro by mafia assassins. Between August 1960, and April 1961, the CIA with the help of the Mafia pursued a series of plots to poison or shoot Castro .

The United States has refused to put on trial or to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, Guillermo Novo Sampol, Pedro Remon, and Gaspar Jimenezand to Cuba or Venezuela, although they are accused of having perpetrated terrorist acts. .

Middle East

According to former U.S. intelligence officials, the CIA orchestrated a bomb and sabotage campaign against Baghdad that included civilian and government targets between 1992 and 1995. The civilian targets included at least one school bus, killing schoolchildren, and a movie theater, killing many people.

Respected Independent journalist Robert Fisk reported on May 8th 2006 that the US is widely believed to be behind some of the recent wave of 'insurgent' carbombings in Baghdad along with numberous mass killings, of which the Haditha killings was just the best reported.

One young Iraqi man told us that he was trained by the Americans as a policeman in Baghdad and he spent 70 per cent of his time learning to drive and 30 per cent in weapons training. They said to him: 'Come back in a week.' When he went back, they gave him a mobile phone and told him to drive into a crowded area near a mosque and phone them. He waited in the car but couldn't get the right mobile signal. So he got out of the car to where he received a better signal. Then his car blew up.

Iran has long been a target of CIA operations. In 1953 agent Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. oversaw Operation Ajax, which involved organised riots and the training of right-wing terrorist groups in successful effort to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, and reverse the nationalisation of Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later renamed BP). Following the coup, Iran became a US client state until the Iranian Revolution of 1979, when it again became a target. In 1988 Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by the USS Vincennes while enroute from Bandar Abbas to Dubai killing all 290 civilian passangers. The US claimed the act it to be an error. However, following the incident, the men of the Vincennes were all awarded combat-action ribbons and the air-warfare co-ordinator won the navy's Commendation Medal for "heroic achievement" noting his "ability to maintain his poise and confidence under fire" that enabled him to "quickly and precisely complete the firing procedure." In 1989 Iran took the US to the International Court of Justice over the incident. The US chose to settle out of court, paying Iran $63m componsation.

Western Europe

On October 24, 1990 it was acknowledged by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Parliament that NATO had long held a secret policy of support and training for right wing terrorist organisations in member states. The policy, which is codenamed Operation Gladio, and related terrorist groups are thought to have carried out the Bologna massacre (1980) the Paris massacre (1961), political assassinations in Belgium, military coups in Greece (1967) and Turkey (1980) and an attempted coup in France (1961). It should be noted that coup attempts are not typically considered terrorist acts, as they are directed at members of the government rather than the general population.

The supposed aim of this group was to prevent Communist movements in Western Europe gaining power. However, many researchers have commented that the true aim was often to increase the power and control of the United States over Europe. Officially, NATO refuses to comment on the issue, or confirm or deny the existence of Operation Gladio.

On 22 November 1990, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning Gladio and requesting full investigations. In 2000, an Italian Parliament Commission report from the "Gruppo Democratici di Sinistra l'Ulivo" concluded that the strategy of tension had been supported by the United States to "stop the PCI (Communist Party), and to a certain degree also the PSI, from reaching executive power in the country". A 2000 Italian Senate report, stated that "Those massacres, those bombs, those military actions had been organised or promoted or supported by men inside Italian state institutions and, as has been discovered more recently, by men linked to the structures of United States intelligence."

Nicaragua vs. US

Main article: Nicaragua vs. United States

The Republic of Nicaragua vs. The United States of America was a case heard in 1986 by the International Court of Justice which found that the United States had violated international law by supporting Contra guerrillas in their war against the Nicaraguan government and by mining Nicaragua's harbors. The Court ruled in Nicaragua's favor, but the United States refused to abide by the Court's decision, on the basis that the court erred in finding that it had jurisdiction to hear the case. The court stated that the United States had been involved in the "unlawful use of force". Author Naom Chomsky argues that:

{{cquote|The World Court considered their case, accepted it, and presented a long judgment, several hundred pages of careful legal and factual analysis that condemned the United States for what it called “unlawful use of force”--which is the judicial way of saying “international terrorism”--ordered the United States to terminate the crime and to pay substantial reparations, many billions of dollars, to the victim.

See also

• List of acts labelled as state terrorism sorted by state
• Allegations of war crimes against U.S. officials