Hm. I’m far from an expert, and it could well be that there are ten times as many anonymous attacks, but off the top of my head I think of WTC ’93, the Millenium plot, 9/11, London trains, Madrid trains, Israel suicide bombings, Munich massacre, Iraq beheadings, USS Cole, bombings of US embassies.
Not off the top of my head: Golden Mosque bombing, Tamil Tigers numerous bombings, IRA-related terrorism, etc. Scanning through this I find many more terrorist attacks that were done with a clear political or propaganda purpose.
...it could well be that there are ten times as many anonymous attacks...
No, it’s not quite that bad! It’s more like twice as many:
“Since the emergence of modern terrorism in 1968, 64% of worldwide terrorist attacks have been carried out by unknown perpetrators. Anonymous terrorism has been rising, with 3 out of 4 attacks going unclaimed since September 11, 2001. Anonymous terrorism is particularly prevalent in Iraq, where the US military has struggled to determine whether the violence was perpetrated by Shiite or Sunni groups with vastly different political platforms.”
Abrahms references his analysis of a RAND dataset, and also Bruce Hoffman’s “Why Terrorists Don’t Claim Credit” (in Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol 9 #1 1997). I haven’t read the latter, but his analysis seems enough for me.
I think there’s definitely something of a mental bias here—it’s vastly easier to remember the rare dramatic attack (which sooner or later someone will claim credit for) than the many anonymous ones.
Funny thing about your comment is that just yesterday I was reading about a large anonymous terrorist attacks that authorities were trying to figure out who was responsible for.
I’d tell you more, but I’ve forgotten how many people died and where it was.
Hm. I’m far from an expert, and it could well be that there are ten times as many anonymous attacks, but off the top of my head I think of WTC ’93, the Millenium plot, 9/11, London trains, Madrid trains, Israel suicide bombings, Munich massacre, Iraq beheadings, USS Cole, bombings of US embassies.
Not off the top of my head: Golden Mosque bombing, Tamil Tigers numerous bombings, IRA-related terrorism, etc. Scanning through this I find many more terrorist attacks that were done with a clear political or propaganda purpose.
No, it’s not quite that bad! It’s more like twice as many:
Abrahms references his analysis of a RAND dataset, and also Bruce Hoffman’s “Why Terrorists Don’t Claim Credit” (in Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol 9 #1 1997). I haven’t read the latter, but his analysis seems enough for me.
I think there’s definitely something of a mental bias here—it’s vastly easier to remember the rare dramatic attack (which sooner or later someone will claim credit for) than the many anonymous ones.
A good heuristic I use when I’m tempted to write comments such as these: “The plural of anecdote is not data!”
Note also that attacks for a reason may well be more memorable than anonymous attacks.
Funny thing about your comment is that just yesterday I was reading about a large anonymous terrorist attacks that authorities were trying to figure out who was responsible for.
I’d tell you more, but I’ve forgotten how many people died and where it was.