When terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade
Center Towers and the Pentagon on September 11,
2001, Americans realized they were no longer safe.
No longer was terrorism confined to foreign countries like
Israel, Pakistan, and Lebanon or confined to Airplanes hijacked
by the PLO. It was now on Our Own Front Lawn.
There hasn’t been an attack in the U.S. since
the 9/11 attacks, but that is not because Islamic terrorists
haven’t tried. According to a report by the Heritage Foundation,
19 attacks against America have been thwarted. Those
include shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attempted to blow
up an airliner with explosives planted in his shoes, seven
men charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in
Chicago, and four men plotting to blow up a jet fuel artery
running through residential neighborhoods at JFK Airport
in New York City.
Consider the Terrorist Attacks through history by
in which Americans were killed:
_ November 4, 1979, Tehran, Iran—Iranian radicals,
including current Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, seized the U.S. embassy, taking 66
hostages. Fourteen were later released, but the
remaining 52 were not freed until President Ronald
Reagan’s inauguration after 444 days of captivity.
_ 1982–1991, Lebanon—Thirty U.S. and other Western
hostages kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some
were killed, some died in captivity, and some were
eventually released. Terry Anderson was held for
2,454 days.
_ April 18, 1983, Beirut, Lebanon—U.S. embassy
destroyed in suicide car-bomb attack; 17 Americans
among the 63 dead. The terrorist organization Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility.
_ October 23, 1983, Beirut, Lebanon—Shiite suicide
bombers exploded a truck near U.S. military barracks
at Beirut airport, killing 241 marines. Minutes later a
second bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their
barracks in West Beirut.
_ December 12, 1983, Kuwait City, Kuwait—Shiite
truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other
targets, killing five and injuring 80.
_ September 20, 1984, East Beirut, Lebanon—A truck
bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy annex, killing
24, including two members of the U.S. military.
_ December 3, 1984, Beirut, Lebanon—Kuwait
Airways Flight 221, from Kuwait to Pakistan, hijacked
and diverted to Tehran. Two Americans killed.
_ April 12, 1985, Madrid, Spain—Restaurant
frequented by U.S. soldiers bombed, killing 18
Spaniards and injuring 82.
_ June 14, 1985, Beirut, Lebanon—TWA Flight 847
en route from Athens to Rome hijacked to Beirut by
Hezbollah terrorists and held for 17 days. A U.S.
Navy diver executed.
_ October 7, 1985, Mediterranean Sea—Gunmen
attack Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. One U.S.
tourist killed. Hijacking linked to Libya.
_ December 18, 1985, Rome, Italy, and Vienna,
Austria—Airports in Rome and Vienna bombed,
killing five Americans and 15 others. Bombing
linked to Libya.
_ April 2, 1986, Athens, Greece—A bomb exploded
aboard TWA flight 840 en route from Rome to
Athens, killing four Americans and injuring nine.
_ April 5, 1986, West Berlin, Germany—Libyans
bombed a disco frequented by U.S. servicemen,
killing two and injuring hundreds.
_ December 21, 1988, Lockerbie, Scotland—A New
York-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight and
crashed into a Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard
and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse
University students and many U.S. military personnel.
Libya formally admitted responsibility 15 years later
(Aug. 2003) and offered $2.7 billion compensation to
the victims’ families.
_ February 26, 1993, New York City—A bomb
exploded in the basement garage of the World Trade
Center, killing six and injuring at least 1,040 others.
In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman
and nine others were convicted of conspiracy charges,
and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the
mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaida
involvement is suspected.
_ April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City—Truck bomb
exploded outside the Murray Federal office building,
collapsing wall and floors, killing 168 people, including
19 children. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols
later convicted and McVeigh was executed for the
antigovernment plot to avenge the Branch Davidian
standoff in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.
Some investigative journalists have claimed to have
uncovered an Islamist (possibly Iraqi) connection to
the incident, which some experts say can’t have
occurred as the federal government explains it, but
had to involve more explosives than has been disclosed.
Despite evidence of a co-conspirator, including
an artist’s rendering of a man said to have accompanied
McVeigh during the purchase of explosives and rental
of the truck used in the bombing, governmental authorities
have discounted a possible foreign connection.
_ November 13, 1995, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—A
car bomb exploded at the U.S. military headquarters,
killing five U.S. military servicemen.
_ June 25, 1996, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia—Truck bomb
exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex,
killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds
of others. Thirteen Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged
members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were
indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.
_ August 7, 1998, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania—Truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously
near two U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in
Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500.
Four men connected with al-Qaida, two of whom had
received training at al-Qaida camps inside Afghanistan,
were convicted of the killings in May, 2001 and later
sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had
indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained
at large.
_ October 12, 2000, Aden, Yemen—U.S. Navy
destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small
boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it,
killing 17 sailors. Incident linked to Osama bin
Laden, or members of al-Qaida terrorist network.
_ September 11, 2001, New York City, Arlington,
Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania—In an
elaborate operation, hijackers crashed two commercial
jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center;
two more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon
and a field in rural Pennsylvania. Total dead and
missing numbered 2,992. Islamic al-Qaida terrorist
group blamed.
_ June 14, 2002, Karachi, Pakistan—A bomb
exploded outside American consulate in Karachi,
Pakistan, killing 12. Linked to al-Qaida.
_ May 12, 2003, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—Suicide
12 How to Survive the Collapse of Civilization
bombers kill 34, including eight Americans, at housing
compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaida suspected.
_ May 29–31, 2004, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—Terrorists
attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar,
Saudi Arabia, take foreign oil workers hostage in a
nearby residential compound, leaving 22 people
dead, including one American.
_ June 11–19, 2004, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—Terrorists
kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Two other Americans and BBC
cameraman killed by gun attacks.
_ December 6, 2004, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—Terrorists
storm the U.S. consulate, killing five consulate employees.
Four terrorists were killed by Saudi security.
_ November 9, 2005, Amman, Jordan—Suicide
bombers hit three American hotels: Radisson, Grand
Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57.
Al-Qaida claimed responsibility.
_ September 13, 2006, Damascus, Syria—Attack by
four gunman on the American embassy is foiled.
_ January 12, 2007, Athens, Greece—The U.S.
embassy is fired on by an anti-tank missile causing
damage but no injuries.
_ December 11, 2007, Algeria—More than 60 people
are killed, including 11 United Nations staff members,
when al-Qaida terrorists detonate two car bombs near
Algeria’s Constitutional Council and the United
Nations offices.
_ September 16, 2008, Yemen—A car bomb and a
rocket strike on the U.S. embassy in Yemen as staff
arrived to work, killing 16 people, including four
civilians. At least 25 suspected al-Qaida militants
are arrested for the attack.
_ November 26, 2008, India—In a series of attacks
on several of Mumbai’s landmarks and commercial
hubs that are popular with Americans and other foreign
tourists, (including at least two five-star hotels) a hospital,
train station, and a cinema. About 300 people are
wounded and nearly 190 people die, including at least
five Americans. Muslims from Pakistan are the culprits.
