United States and state terrorism 1

United States and state terrorism

Terrorism
• Definitions
• History
• Incidents

Several scholars have accused the United States of conducting state terrorism. They have written about the liberal
democracies and their use of state terrorism, particularly in relation to the Cold War. According to them, state
terrorism was used to protect the interest of capitalist elites, and the U.S. organized a neo-colonial system of client
states, co-operating with local elites to rule through terror. However, little of this work has been recognized by other
scholars of terrorism or even of state terrorism.[1]
Notable works include Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman's The political economy of human rights (1979),
Herman's The real terror network (1985), Alexander L. George' Western state terrorism (1991), Frederick Gareau's
State terrorism and the United States (2004) and Doug Stokes' America's other war (2005). Of these, Chomsky and
Herman are considered the foremost writers on the United States and state terrorism.[2]
The 1985 bombing of the MOVE Organization, Ruby Ridge, and the Waco siege are sometimes labeled as evidence
of United States state terrorism.

Notable works
Beginning in the late 1970s, Chomsky and Herman wrote a series of books on the United States and state terrorism.
Their writings coincided with reports by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations of a new global
"epidemic" of state torture and murder. Chomsky and Herman observed that terror was concentrated in the U.S.
sphere of influence in the Third World, and documented terror carried out by U.S. client states in Latin America.
They observed that of ten Latin American countries that had death squads, all were U.S. client states. Worldwide
they claimed that 74% of countries that used torture on an administrative basis were U.S. client states, receiving
military and other support to retain power. They concluded that the global rise in state terror was a result of U.S.
foreign policy.[3]
In 1991, a book edited by Alexander L. George also argued that other Western powers sponsored terror in Third
World countries. It concluded that the U.S. and its allies were the main supporters of terrorism throughout the
world.[4] Gareau states that the number of deaths caused by non-state terrorism (3668 deaths between 1968 and
1980, as estimated by the CIA) is "dwarfed" by those resulting from state terrorism in U.S.-backed regimes such as
Guatemala (150,000 killed, 50,000 missing in Guatemala - 93% of whom Gareau classifies as "victims of state
terrorism").[5]
Chomsky concluded that all powers backed state terrorism in client states. At the top were the U.S. and other powers,
notably the United Kingdom and France, that provided financial, military and diplomatic support to Third World
regimes kept in power through violence. These governments acted together with multinational corporations,
particularly in the arms and security industries. In addition, other Third World countries outside the Western sphere
of influence carried out state terror supported by rival powers.[6]
The involvement of major powers in state terrorism in Third World countries has led scholars to study it as a global
phenomenon, rather than study individual countries in isolation.[7]
United States and state terrorism 2

Definition
The United States legal definition of terrorism excludes acts done by recognized states.[8][9] According to U.S. law
(22 U.S.C. 2656f(d)(2))[10] terrorism is defined as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against
noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an
audience".[11][12][13] There is no international consensus on a legal or academic definition of terrorism.[] United
Nations conventions have failed to reach consensus on a definition of terrorism and state terrorism.[14]
According to professor Mark Selden, "American politicians and most social scientists definitionally exclude actions
and policies of the United States and its allies" as terrorism.[15] Historian Henry Commager wrote that "Even when
definitions of terrorism allow for state terrorism, state actions in this area tend to be seen through the prism of war or
national self-defense, not terror.”[16] According to Dr Myra Williamson "The meaning of “terrorism” has undergone a
transformation. During the reign of terror a regime or system of terrorism was used as an instrument of governance,
wielded by a recently established revolutionary state against the enemies of the people. Now the term “terrorism" is
commonly used to describe terrorist acts committed by non-state or subnational entities against a state.[17]
In State terrorism and the United States Frederick F. Gareau writes that the intent of terrorism is to intimidate or
coerce both targeted groups and larger sectors of society that share or could be led to share the values of targeted
groups by causing them "intense fear, anxiety, apprehension, panic, dread and/or horror".[18] The objective of
terrorism against the state is to force governments to change their policies, to overthrow governments or even to
destroy the state. The objective of terrorism by the state, or "state terrorism", is to eliminate people who are
considered to be actual or potential enemies, and to discourage those actual or potential enemies who are not
eliminated.[19]

General critiques
Professor William Odom, formerly President Reagan's NSA Director wrote:
As many critics have pointed, out, terrorism is not an enemy. It is a tactic. Because the United States
itself has a long record of supporting terrorists and using terrorist tactics, the slogans of today's war on
terrorism merely makes the United States look hypocritical to the rest of the world.[20]
Professor Richard Falk holds that the U.S. and other first-world states, as well as mainstream mass media
institutions, have obfuscated the true character and scope of terrorism, promulgating a one-sided view from the
standpoint of first-world privilege. He has said that
if 'terrorism' as a term of moral and legal opprobrium is to be used at all, then it should apply to violence
deliberately targeting civilians, whether committed by state actors or their non-state enemies.[][21]
Falk has argued that the repudiation of authentic non-state terrorism is insufficient as a strategy for mitigating it.[]
Falk also argued that people who committed "terrorist" acts against the United States could use the Nuremberg
Defense.
Daniel Schorr, reviewing Falk's Revolutionaries and Functionaries, stated that Falk's definition of terrorism hinges
on some unstated definition of "permissible"; this, says Schorr, makes the judgment of what is terrorism inherently
"subjective", and furthermore, he claims, leads Falk to label some acts he considers impermissible as "terrorism", but
others he considers permissible as merely "terroristic".[22]
In a review of Chomsky and Herman's The Political Economy of Human Rights, Yale political science professor
James S. Fishkin holds that the authors' case for accusing the United States of state terrorism is "shockingly
overstated". Fishkin writes of Chomsky and Herman:
They infer an extent of American control and coordination comparable to the Soviet role in Eastern
Europe. ... Yet even if all [the authors'] evidence were accepted... it would add up to no more than
systematic support, not control. Hence the comparison to Eastern Europe appears grossly overstated.
United States and state terrorism 3

And from the fact that we give assistance to countries that practice terror it is too much to conclude that
"Washington has become the torture and political murder capital of the world." Chomsky's and
Herman's indictment of US foreign policy is thus the mirror image of the Pax Americana rhetoric they
criticize: it rests on the illusion of American omnipotence throughout the world. And because they
refuse to attribute any substantial independence to countries that are, in some sense, within America's
sphere of influence, the entire burden for all the political crimes of the non-communist world can be
brought home to Washington.[]
Fishkin praises Chomsky and Herman for documenting human rights violations, but argues that this is evidence "for
a far lesser moral charge", namely, that the United States could have used its influence to prevent certain
governments from committing acts of torture or murder but chose not to do so.[]
Commenting on Chomsky's 9-11, former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett said: "Chomsky says in the
book that the United States is a leading terrorist state. That's a preposterous and ridiculous claim. ... What we have
done is liberated Kuwait, helped in Bosnia and the Balkans. We have provided sanctuary for people of all faiths,
including Islam, in the United States. We tried to help in Somalia. ... Do we have faults and imperfections? Of
course. The notion that we're a leading terrorist state is preposterous."[23]Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
Stephen Morris also criticized Chomsky's thesis:
There is only one regime which has received arms and aid from the United States, and which has a
record of brutality that is even a noticeable fraction of the brutality of Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Mao, or the
Hanoi Politburo. That is the Suharto government in Indonesia. But....the United States was not the
principal foreign supplier of Indonesia when the generals seized power (nor is there any credible
evidence of American involvement in the coup). Within the period of American assistance to Indonesia,
and in particular during the period of the Carter administration, the number of political prisoners has
declined. Finally, the current brutality of the Suharto regime is being directed against the people of East
Timor, a former colony of Portugal that Indonesia is attempting to take over by force....not as part of its
normal process of domestic rule.[24]

Notes
[1] Blakeley, pp. 20-21
[2] Blakely, pp. 20-21
[3] Sluka, p. 8
[4] Sluka, pp. 8-9
[6] Sluka, p. 9
[7] Sluka, p. 9
[11] Gupta, p. 8
[15] Selden p. 4 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=D0icvm2EQLIC& pg=PA4)
[17] Williamson p. 43 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ZuJIPP9HfRsC& pg=PA43#v=onepage& q& f=false)
[19] Wright, p. 11
[20] . Online copy available here (http:/ / www. middlebury. edu/ media/ view/ 214721/ original/ OdomPaper. pdf)
[24] Morris, Stephen, Chomsky on U.S. foreign policy, Harvard International Review, December-January 1981, pg. 26.
United States and state terrorism 4

References
• Blakeley, Ruth. State terrorism and neoliberalism: the North in the South, Taylor & Francis, 2009
• Donahue, Laura K. "Terrorism and counter-terrorist discourse". In Hor, Michael Yew Meng, Ramraj, Victor
Vridar and Roach, Kent (Eds.), Global anti-terrorism law and policy. United Kingdom: Cambridge University
Press, 2005 ISBN 0-521-85125-4
• Sluka,, Jeffrey A., editor (1999). Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror. University of Pennsylvania
Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1711-7.
• Taylor, Antony James William. Justice as a basic human need. Nova Science Publishers, 2006. ISBN
1-59454-915-X
• Wright,, Thomas C. (February 28, 2007). State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International
Human Rights. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-3721-7.

Further reading
• Alexander, George (December 1991). Western State Terrorism. Polity Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-7456-0931-7.
• Blum, William (1995). Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage
Press. p. 457. ISBN 1-56751-052-3.
• Campbell, Bruce B., and Brenner,Arthur D.,eds. 2000. Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with
Deniability. New York: St. Martin's Press
• Chomsky, Noam (January 1988). The Culture of Terrorism. South End Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-89608-334-9.
• Churchill, Ward (2003). On The Justice of Roosting Chickens. AK Press. p. 309. ISBN 1-902593-79-0.
• Jackson, Richard; Smyth, Marie; and Gunning, Jeroen, ed. (2009). Critical terrorism studies: a new research
agenda (http://books.google.com/books?id=tMXaeS3azK8C). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-45507-7.
• Menjívar, Cecilia and Rodríguez,Néstor, editors, When States Kill:Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of
Terror, University of Texas Press 2005,isbn=978-0-292-70647-7
• Perdue, William D. (August 7, 1989). Terrorism and the State: A Critique of Domination Through Fear. New
York: Praeger Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-275-93140-7.
• Selden,, Mark, editor (November 28, 2003). War and State Terrorism: The United States, Japan, and the
Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7425-2391-3.
Article Sources and Contributors 5

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