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State-sponsored terrorism is a term loosely used to describe terrorism sponsored by nation-states. As with terrorism, the precise definition, and the identification of particular examples, are subjects of heated political dispute. In general state-sponsored terrorism is associated with para-militaries. It is also frequently used in conjunction with state terrorism, which is terrorism committed by nation-states.

By country

Iran

The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Yemen have accused the Ahmadinejad administration of sponsoring terrorism either in their, or against their, respective countries. United States President George W. Bush has called Iran the "world's primary state sponsor of terror." Iran sponsors Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the al-Mahdi army, groups that Iran doesn't view as terrorist.

Libya

After the military overthrow of King Idris in 1969 the Libyan Arab Republic (later the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) to the bewilderment of some supported with weapon supplies, training camps located within Libya and monetary finances an array of armed paramilitary groups both left wing and right wing. Leftist and socialist groups included the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty, the Umkhonto We Sizwe, the Polisario Front, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine while others were on the Far Right such as the Moro National Liberation Front, the government of Libya even had brief contacts with the Neo Nazi British National Front which attempted to enlist financial aid from Libya during the 1980s. These contacts were ended after the fascist nature of the NF was discovered during Nick Griffin's visit to Libya in 1986.

In 2006 Libya was removed from the United States list of terrorist supporting nations after it had ended all of its support for armed groups and the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Out of the armed groups Libya used to support the Provisional IRA, Umkhonto we Sizwe and the Moro National Liberation Front have completely abandoned terrorist tactics or political violence.

Pakistan

Pakistan has been accused by India, Afghanistan, and other nations (including the United States, the United Kingdom and China) of its involvement in the Terrorism in Kashmir, Afghanistan, and China. Numerous other countries, like Poland, have pointed out the alleged role of Pakistani officials in recent terror events. Satellite imagery from the FBI which shows the existence of terror camps and data produced by India's Research and Analysis Wing clearly suggest the existence of many terrorist camps in Pakistan with at least one militant admitting the help given by Pakistan in training them. Another terrorist outfit, the JKLF has openly admitted that more than 3,000 militants from various nationalities were still being trained. Other nonpartisan resources also concur stating that Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) both include personnel who sympathize with and help Islamic terrorists adding that "ISI has provided covert but well-documented support to terrorist groups active in Kashmir, including the al-Qaeda affiliate Jaish-e-Mohammed" Pakistan has denied any involvement in the terrorist activities in Kashmir, arguing that it only provides political and moral support to the secessionist groups. Many Kashmir terrorist groups also maintain their headquarters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which is cited as further proof by the Indian Government. Many of the terrorist organisations are banned by the UN, but continue to operate under different names. Even the normally reticent UNO has also publicly increased pressure on Pakistan on its inability to control its Afghanistan border and not restricting the activities of Taliban leaders who have been declared by the UN as terrorists. Both the Federal and State governments in India continue to accuse Pakistan of helping several banned terrorist organizations like ULFA in Assam. Experts believe that the ISI has also been involved in training and supplying Chechnyan militants.

Until Pakistan became a key ally in the War on Terrorism, the US Secretary of State included Pakistan on the 1993 list of countries which repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism. The recent 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot is also blamed by various sections in the media as being a handiwork of elements in the Pakistani administration. (See Pakistan's role in the plot) Press editorials from around the world have consistently and strongly condemned Pakistan's "terror exports" In fact, many consider that Pakistan has been playing both sides in the fight against terror, on the one hand helping to curtail it while secretly stoking terrorism. Even the noted Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Rashid has accused Pakistan's ISI of providing help to the Taliban, a statement echoed by many, including author Ted Galen Carpenter, who states that Pakistan has "assisted rebel forces in Kashmir even though those groups have committed terrorist acts against civilians" Author Gordon Thomas states that whilst aiding in the capture of Al Qaeda members, Pakistan "still sponsored terrorist groups in the disputed state of Kashmir, funding, training and arming them in their war on attrition against India." Journalist Stephen Schwartz notes that several terrorist and criminal groups are "backed by senior officers in the Pakistani army, the country's ISI intelligence establishment and other armed bodies of the state." According to one author, Daniel Byman, "Pakistan is probably today's most active sponsor of terrorism."

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, has often been accused of playing a role in major terrorist attacks across the world including the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, terrorism in Kashmir, Mumbai Train Bombings, London Bombings, Indian Parliament Attack, Varnasi bombings, Hyderabad bombings and Mumbai terror attacks.The ISI is also accused of supporting Taliban forces and recruiting and training mujahideen to fight in Afganistan and Kashmir. Based on communication intercepts US intelligence agencies concluded Pakistan's ISI was behind the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008, a charge that the governments of India and Afghanistan had laid previously. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has constantly reiterated allegations that militants operating training camps in Pakistan have used it as a launch platform to attack targets in Afghanistan urged western military allies to target extremist hideouts in neighbouring Pakistan. In response to the growing extremism from Pakistani border, the US has started bombing selected terrorist hideouts within Pakistan, as well as raiding villages in Pakistan to capture and kill suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban members hiding in Pakistan.

Pakistan is also said to be a haven for terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Omar, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Sipah-e-Sahaba. Pakistan is accused of sheltering and training the Taliban in operations "which include soliciting funding for the Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and on several occasions apparently directly providing combat support," as quoted by the Human Rights Watch. In fact, the US has stated that the next attack on US could originate in Pakistan.

Soviet Union

After the 1953 death of Stalin and subsequent destalinization, according to defector Ion Mihai Pacepa, the KGB continued its policy of supporting a number of terrorist organizations. KGB General Aleksandr Sakharovsky said that "In today’s world, when nuclear arms have made military force obsolete, terrorism should become our main weapon." He also claimed that "Airplane hijacking is my own invention". In 1969 alone 82 planes were hijacked worldwide by the KGB-financed PLO.

Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa also described operation "SIG" (“Zionist Governments”) that was devised in 1972, to turn the whole Islamic world against Israel and the United States. According to him, KGB chairman Yury Andropov explained him that "a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States." Andropov also told him that "the Islamic world was a waiting petri dish in which we could nurture a virulent strain of America-hatred, grown from the bacterium of Marxist-Leninist thought."

According to Pacepa, the following organizations were assisted, at one period or another, by the KGB: PLO, National Liberation Army of Bolivia (created in 1964 with help from Ernesto Che Guevara); the National Liberation Army of Colombia (created in 1965 with help from Fidel Castro), Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1969, and the Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia in 1975.

The PFLP was also claimed to have received support from the Soviet Union.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) has been accused of supporting Loyalist terrorist groups, both within the UK and also in cross-border operations into the Republic of Ireland, namely the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA). These groups support the territory of Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK. The UK is accused of providing intelligence material, training, firearms, explosives and lists of people that the security forces wanted to have killed. The UK security services have been accused of involvement in the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings by the UVF on 17 May,1974 which killed 33 and wounded nearly 300 civilians.

On the 17 April 2003, Sir John Stevens published his third inquiry into collusion between the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) with Loyalist paramilitaries. It stated that there had been collusion in the murder of Pat Finucane by Loyalists.

A former RUC officer, John Weir, has admitted to colluding with Loyalist terrorists in the 1970s in activities that led to the death of ten Catholics and that his superiors had knowledge of 76 more killings carried out by the UVF in the same time period. He also alleges that members of the SAS killed Loyalists who may have planned to expose the collusion.

The UK has also been accused by Iran of supporting Arab separatist terrorism in the southern city of Ahwaz in 2006.

United States

The United States has been accused of being more than twenty-five years ago a state sponsor of terrorism by Cuba, and Nicaragua . U.S. governments covertly sponsored anti-Soviet Afghan Mujahideen during the 1980s, supported the Contras in Nicaragua,and intervened in most Central American and Caribbean conflicts,either overtly,or covertly,with scant regard to the Rule of Law.

See also

• State terrorism
• Asymmetric warfare
• False flag
• U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism

References

1. Blair: Iran sponsors terrorism CNN
2. Sharon calls Syria and Iran sponsors of terrorism Pravda
3. Fighting breaks out in Yemen with Shi'ite group tied to Iran World Tribune
4. "Rescission of Libya's Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism". 2008-07-17. U.S. Department of State. 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
5. ^ International Terrorism: Threats and Responses: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary By United States Congress House Committee on the Judiciary, ISBN 0-16-052230-7, 1996, pp482
6. Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism April 30, 2001 U.S. State Department
7. Daily Times Story
8. China turns table on Pakistan, accuses it of training terrorists The Times of India, 19 Apr, 2007
9. Pakistan's link to Afghan terrorism
10. Uzbek leader blames Pakistan for terrorist outburst
11. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iFEN4iCXAzdJD6q9utu6C9uKcJjQD968NA280
12. FBI identifies terror camp in Pakistan through satellite pictures
13. 'Pak feared exposure of militant camps' - Rediff October 16, 2005
14. Terrorism Havens: Pakistan - Council on Foreign Relations
15. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/09/news/afghan.php Pakistan should crack down on Taliban, UN official says]
16. BBC Story
17. Assam accuses Pakistan High Commission of helping ULFA
18. Who Is Osama Bin Laden? by Michel Chossudovsky Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa hosted on Centre for Research on Globalisation
19. Editorial: Terror exports made in Pakistan- The Australian
20. Pakistan said to play both sides on terror war October 02, 2006, Christian Science Monitor
21. Dangerous game of state-sponsored terror that threatens nuclear conflict May 25, 2002, Guardian Unlimited
22. Die Zeit - Kosmoblog » Mustread: Rashid über Afghanistan
23. Terrorist Sponsors: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China by Ted Galen Carpenter November 16, 2001 Cato Institute
24. Thomas, Gordon (2007). Gideon's Spies. Macmillan. p. 536. ISBN 0312361521. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
25. Stephen Schwartz (19 August 2006). "A threat to the world". The Spectator. Retrieved 2007-09-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
26. Deadly Connections: States That Sponsor Terrorism By Daniel Byman, ISBN 0-521-83973-4, 2005, Cambridge University Press, pp 155
27. Michael Meacher: The Pakistan connection | World news | The Guardian
28. Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG)
29. BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Pakistan spy service 'aiding Bin Laden'
30. Terrorism Havens: Pakistan - Council on Foreign Relations
31. Indian minister ties ISI to Kashmir
32. Kashmir Militant Extremists - Council on Foreign Relations
33. BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan 'role in Mumbai attacks'
34. The Pakistani Connection: The London Bombers and "Al Qaeda's Webmaster"
35. Terrorist Attack on the Parliament of India - December 13, 2001
36. ISI now outsources terror to Bangladesh
37. Hyderabad blasts: The ISI hand
38. ISI may be behind Hyderabad blasts: Jana Reddy
39. U.S. official: Indian attack has Pakistani ties
40. Rice tells Pakistan to act ‘or US will’
41. ^ BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan's shadowy secret service
42. Nato's top brass accuse Pakistan over Taliban aid - Telegraph
43. At Border, Signs of Pakistani Role in Taliban Surge - New York Times
44. ^ A NATION CHALLENGED: THE SUSPECTS; Death of Reporter Puts Focus On Pakistan Intelligence Unit - New York Times
45. Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials say
46. Karzai wants action by allied forces in Pakistan August 11, 2008 Dawn, Pakistan
47. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/12/asia/pakistan.php
48. Zee News - Pakistan has al-Qaeda training camp: US officials
49. Crisis of Impunity - Pakistan's Support Of The Taliban
50. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C12%5Cstory_12-9-2008_pg7_51
51. ^ Russian Footprints - by Ion Mihai Pacepa, National Review Online, August 24, 2006
52. From Russia With Terror, FrontPageMagazine.com, interview with Ion Mihai Pacepa, March 1, 2004
53. Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7. Chapter 18
54. ^ Text of Sir John Steven's Inquiry into collusion between the UK and Loyalist Terrorists
55. "Stevens Inquiry: At a Glance". BBC News Online. 2003-04-17. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
56. Dublin and Monaghan Bombings-Relatives for Justice
57. ^ Connolly, Frank. "I'm lucky to be above the ground". Village: Ireland's Current Affairs Weekly. Retrieved 2006-11-16. {{cite news}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
58. "Iran accuses UK of bombing link". BBC News. BBC News. 2006-01-25. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
59. CAstro, Chavez decry inequalities, condemn IMF
60. AROUND THE WORLD; Nicaragua Accuses U.S. Of Role in Air Attacks - New York Times

Further reading

xDreyfus, Robert. The Devil's Game: How the United States unleashed Fundamentalist Islam. Pluto Press, 2005.

• Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth & K. Lee Lerner, eds. Terrorism: Essential primary sources. Thomson Gale, 2006. ISBN 9781414406213 Library of Congress. Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading Rms LC Control Number: 2005024002.
• Tarpley, Webster G. 9/11 Synthetic Terror, Made in USA -Progressive Press. ISBN 0-93085-231-1
• Chomsky, Noam. The Culture of Terrorism ISBN 0-89608-334-9
• Chomsky, Noam. 9/11 ISBN 1-58322-489-0
• George, Alexander. Western State Terrorism, Polity Press. ISBN 0-7456-0931-7
• Hindu Terrorism By Badri Raina

External links

• Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism - Released by US Department of State
• State Sponsors of Terrorism, US Department of State, accessed 10-2006.
• Is there a "Dirty Secret" Behind India's Irrational Policy towards the Sri Lankan Crisis?, accessed 08-2008.

• Terrorism