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Humanitarian Action and the Global War on Terror: A Review of Trends and Issues

(Gloabl Development Network) By Macrae, J. (ed.); Harmer, A. (ed.) Produced by: Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), ODI, 2003. This report reviews key trends in humanitarian policy, focusing on the implications for humanitarian action of the global 'war on terrorism'. In addition to potential or actual conflicts, the war on terrorism constitutes a framework within which international and national policy, including humanitarian aid policy, is defined and implemented. The paper argues that humanitarian organisations face difficulties positioning themselves within the new geopolitical framework, particularly in identifying the humanitarian agenda and positioning it as a distinct sphere of international behaviour.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900SID/LGEL-5Q7D55/$FILE/hpg-terrorism-jul03.pdf?OpenElement

(Added: Thu Sep 09 2004   Modified: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 233)

Hyper-Terrorism VS. Hyper-Power: Coming To Terms With Asymmetry

The unexpectedly easy access to Kabul by the Northern Alliance and the coalition against terrorism has confirmed the first principle of the 21st century warfare: that it is as good as impossible to vanquish America when it is using its entire arsenal of power. No state is in a position to challenge this 'hyper-power'. Instead, adversaries attempt to counter this imbalance of power by the use of asymmetric methods. By Maria Sultan, The Analyst, Wednesday/December 5, 2001.

http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=70

(Added: Wed Dec 12 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 131)

Inclusive Security: A Statement on the Terrorist Attacks

by Swanee Hunt. Women Waging Peace Terrorist attacks on major US targets have been anticipated for years. Still, no forewarning could brace Americans for scenes of New Yorkers running for their lives as the World Trade Center towers came crashing down, and of the Pentagon burning from early morning until well past sundown, bringing our nation's capitol to a sudden halt. As the initial reports came in, I was, ironically, sitting at my desk, writing captions for a book on Bosnia--putting words on pictures of demolished buildings, illustrating an account of 26 women who are reconstructing their country across the conflict lines.

http://www.womenwagingpeace.net/content/articles/0110a.html

(Added: Mon Sep 24 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 126)

Iraq, Sanctions And The War Against Terrorism

CAFOD Briefing Paper, 2002. UN sanctions against Iraq have been in operation since the end of the Gulf War and have exacted - and continue to exact - a terrible toll on the lives of the Iraqi people. However, the appalling humanitarian impact of the most draconian sanctions regime ever imposed by the UN on a country in its history is currently overshadowed by the gathering storm clouds of war. The prospect of a pre-emptive strike/military invasion of Iraq by the United States looms ever closer. The appalling terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 on targets in the United States was a rare defining moment in contemporary political history. Since that date, political debate has been dominated by the global fight against terrorism and foreign policy is viewed through this distorting lens. Arguments are being advanced that pre-emptive military action is necessary in the interests of the global fight against terrorism.

http://www.cafod.org.uk/archive/policy/iraq_sanctions20020809.shtml

(Added: Mon Sep 02 2002   Modified: Tue Sep 12 2006   Hits: 144)

Is US using enemy to fight a proxy war?

In Somalia, where rising turmoil has killed 150 in the past month, the interim government claims that the US is backing the kind of warlords who were its old enemy, and who make the country ungovernable, to keep al-Qaeda, its worse enemy, at bay. This week two senior spokesmen from the Bush Administration refused to answer direct questions about US backing, but acknowledged fears that al-Qaeda would profit from the chaos. (Bronwen Maddox, The Times, 19 May 2006)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2187524,00.html

(Added: Mon May 22 2006   Hits: 42)

Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan

Escalating attacks by the Taliban and other armed groups on teachers, students and schools in Afghanistan are shutting down schools and depriving another generation of an education. Schools for girls have been hit particularly hard, threatening to undo advances in education since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. This 142-page report documents 204 incidents of attacks on teachers, students and schools since January 2005. Afghanistan has received a fraction of the funding and peacekeeping support given to other recent post-conflict situations. Violence is escalating, especially in the southern region of Helmand. (Human Rights Watch, July 2006)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/afghanistan0706/index.htm

(Added: Tue Jul 11 2006   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 176)

Military Assistance to the Afghan Opposition

Human Rights Watch Backgrounder October 2001. Support for the Afghan Opposition. What Is the United Front/Northern Alliance? The United Front's Human Rights Record. Accountability and the Cycle of Impunity. Leahy Law. Human Rights Watch's Recommendations.

http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/afghan-bck1005.htm

(Added: Mon Oct 08 2001   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 106)

No Military Solution To Terrorism

The US is winding down its hunt for Bin Laden and his virtual state. From Richard Norton-Taylor, Thursday January 10, 2002. The Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,630222,00.html

(Added: Fri Jan 11 2002   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 122)

On the Brink: Weak States and US National Security (pdf)

Center for Global Development, 2004. On the Brink is the culmination of nine months of work by a bi-partisan panel of thirty former government officials, senior business leaders, academics, and NGO representatives, with wide-ranging expertise on the issues at the intersection of development and security. On the Brink recognizes that weak and failed states matter to US national security, American values and the prospects for global economic growth; and that a successful response to addressing the challenges of weak states combines security and development policies. Weak states are the "sleeping giant" threat to national security, receiving extremely limited attention within the highest levels of government. On the Brink outlines a framework for action - one that seeks to mobilize key actors and instruments in US foreign policy to the task of meeting the threat.

http://www.cgdev.org/Research/?Page=Commission%20on%20Weak%20States%20and%20US%20National%20Security

(Added: Thu Jun 17 2004   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 161)

Our Failure in Somalia

Since the beginning of the year, pitched battles between U.S.-backed warlords and Islamist militias in Mogadishu have claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of families. All this in the name of a counterterrorism strategy that is clearly not working. The United States would do better to engage more deeply and directly in state reconstruction efforts in Somalia. (John Prendergast, Washington Post, 7 June 2006)

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4164&l=1

(Added: Wed Jun 21 2006   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 64)

Oxford Research Group (ORG)

Oxford Research Group (ORG) is an independent non-governmental organisation established in 1982 which seeks to develop effective methods whereby people can bring about positive change on issues of national and international security by non-violent means. ORG combines rigorous research with an understanding of the people who make policy decisions. Our areas of research include: constructive approaches to dealing with international terrorism and the 'war on terror'; effective non-violent approaches to conflict prevention and resolution; preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons; and security risks associated with nuclear energy. Countries of current focus are Iraq, Iran, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, and China (and policies of Britain and the USA towards them). Their work involves promoting accountability and transparency, providing information on current decisions so that public debate can take place, and fostering dialogue between policy-makers and their critics.

http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/

(Added: Wed Feb 15 2006   Hits: 99)

Patterns of Global Terrorism

US Department of State. This webpage contains "Patterns of Global Terrorism" reports going back to 2000, including the recently released 2003 report. "Patterns of Global Terrorism: 2003," documents acts of terrorism that occurred during the year and details the steps the United States and 92 other nations took in combatting terroism. In releasing the report, Ambassador Cofer Black described as follows: "(2003) saw the lowest number of international terrorist attacks since 1969, and that's a 34-year low. There were 190 acts of international terrorism in 2003. That's a slight decrease from 198 attacks that occurred the previous year, and a drop of 45 percent from the 2001 level of 346 attacks. There were also fewer casualties caused by terrorists last year. A total of 307 persons were killed in last year's attack[s], far fewer than the 725 killed during 2002. A total of 1,593 persons were wounded in the attacks that occurred in 2003, down from 2,013 persons wounded the year before. There were 82 anti-U.S. attacks last year, which is up slightly from the 77 attacks the previous year... Most of the attacks that have occurred during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom do not meet the longstanding U.S. definition of international terrorism because they were directed at (combatants)."

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/

(Added: Mon May 03 2004   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 107)

Peace Movement, Aotearoa: 11 Sept and the 'war on terrorism'

We are stunned and appalled at the enormity of the tragedy which has occurred in New York and Washington. Our thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones, we are deeply saddened by their grief and suffering. We totally condemn all violence and oppression, however and wherever it occurs.

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/intresp.htm

(Added: Wed Sep 26 2001   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 144)

Perpetual War

President Bush has temporarily softened his initial definition of the terrorist attack as "a call to war." The feelings of doom are subsiding. Intelligence agencies, rather than military action, are quickly locating the persons and links of the world's most dreadful terrorist organization. From Alternative Insight, October 1, 2001.

http://www.alternativeinsight.com/Perpetual_War.html

(Added: Tue Nov 20 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 189)

Politics of the Moment, A Strategy of Opportunity?

In the practice of diplomacy, nations do not usually make forcible demands upon one another. An initial diplomatic request requires comfortable words that do not provoke. Unequivocally demanding something from a nation is a definite path to a refusal. If the country complies with the demand, then the ante is usually raised. It's a trap. From Alternative Insight, October 16, 2001.

http://www.alternativeinsight.com/Political_Moment.html

(Added: Tue Nov 20 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 105)

Post-9/11 Security Laws Hampering U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program

The application of laws put in place to protect the United States from terrorist activity is preventing refugees from being resettled here. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the REAL ID Act of 2005 expanded the definition of terrorist activity and the categories of terrorist organizations, with the result that staff of the Department of Homeland Security are screening out refugees who provided incidental support under extreme duress to armed groups on the grounds that they provided "material support" to terrorists. This interpretation of U.S. law is resulting in a perverse outcome: victims of terrorism are being designated terrorist supporters and blocked from receiving sanctuary and a chance to start a new life in the United States. (Regugees International, August 2, 2006)

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/7938

(Added: Wed Sep 13 2006   Hits: 96)

Prime Suspect. Osama bin Laden

Panorama documentary: For three years, Panorama has been investigating Osama Bin Laden. He's on the FBI's most wanted list with a $5m price on his head. Jane Corbin reports on the Saudi-born dissident turned terror mastermind.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/panorama/newsid_1547000/1547125.stm

(Added: Mon Sep 17 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 159)

Robert Fisk: The cult of the suicide bomber

Few players in the 'war on terror' are more chilling, or misunderstood, than suicide bombers. Five years after the invasion of Iraq, Robert Fisk details the extent of the most widespread campaign of self-liquidation in human history. (The Independent, 14 march 2008)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-cult-of-the-suicide-bomber-795649.html

(Added: Mon Mar 17 2008   Hits: 26)

September 11 - Bearing Witness to History

September 11, 2001, will be remembered as one of the most shocking days in American history. Armed terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and used them as weapons against the United States. The attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and killed more than three thousand people. Soon after September 11, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History began collecting objects to document the attacks and their aftermath. View the website of this collection and exhitbition.

http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/september11/

(Added: Wed Sep 03 2003   Modified: Wed Dec 07 2005   Hits: 121)

Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay [PDF]

This joint report is submitted by five holders of mandates of special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights who have been jointly following the situation of detainees held at the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay since June, 2004. United Nations Economic and Social Council, 15 February 2006.

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/chr/docs/62chr/E.CN.4.2006.120_.pdf

(Added: Mon Feb 20 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 130)

Terror attacks 'will worsen' poverty

Monday, 19 November, 2001, 02:28 GMT. The attacks on America on 11 September are likely to worsen poverty in many developing countries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1663000/1663809.stm

(Added: Tue Nov 20 2001   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 104)

Terrorism? Or, Terror, therefore ISM?

The Muslim population in Mindanao suffer increasing human rights abuses and political persecution as a consequence of the War on Terror. (Josephine O'Connor, Just Change, July 2006)

http://www.dev-zone.org/downloads/jc6oconnor.pdf

(Added: Mon Aug 07 2006   Hits: 38)

The Role of the Military in a Terrorist attack

By Aisake Casimira. A panel discussion paper presented at the Fiji Human Rights Commission and Citizens Constitutional Forum organised public forum on Human Rights and Terrorism, 17th July 2004, Suva. Casimara questions the doctrine of pre-empting future terrorist attacks, discusses the definition of terrorism, and raises concerns about the effect of anti-terrorism legislation on human rights and civil liberties.

http://www.ecrea.org.fj/publications_files/Papers/41.doc

(Added: Fri Jul 23 2004   Modified: Thu Feb 01 2007   Hits: 179)

Uniting Against Terrorism: Recommendations for a global counter-terrorism strategy

The report includes sections on dissuading groups from resorting to terrorism or supporting it, denying terrorists the means to carry out an attack, deterring States from supporting terrorist groups, developing State capacity to prevent terrorism, and defending human rights in the context of terrorism and counter-terrorism. The Report finds that biological agents are the "most important, under-addressed threat relating to terrorism" and addressing them requires the involvement of government public health, industrial, science and civil society. (Kofi Annan, United Nations, 2 May 2006)

http://www.un.org/unitingagainstterrorism/contents.htm

(Added: Wed May 03 2006   Hits: 41)

Unrestrained powers: Torture by Algeria's Military Security

Based on a series of case studies collected between 2002 and 2006, this report shows how the "war on terror" is serving as an excuse to perpetuate torture and ill-treatment by Algeria's "Military Security" intelligence agency, officially known as the Department for Information and Security (DRS). Torture methods such as beatings, electric shocks and the forced ingestion of dirty water, urine and or chemicals aer used by Algeria's security forces with systematic impunity in secret detention centres without access to lawyers, independent doctors, family, or any civilian oversight. The report makes recommendations to the Algerian government on respecting human rights, and to other governments on halting the forcible return of individuals to Algeria. (Amnesty International, July 2006)

http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaeYEMabrUItckuuzKb/

(Added: Mon Jul 17 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 51)

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