LinkedIn tracking pixel
IWP eagle icon
Articles

The Timing of Terrorism: The Obsessions with Dates

This month is the black anniversary of September 11, 2001.  It has many meanings for us, but was that date in particular selected by Al Qaeda?  A few suggest there is a link to the last day of battle in 1683 at the gates of Vienna, a titanic Moslem-Christian struggle for western Europe.  Americans might also wonder whether 9/ll—numbers that cry “emergency” to this country—were a clever choice by the terrorists as psychological warfare.

Terrorism is very much about symbols and events—usually political, historical, cultural. Virtually every group has a date, or certain dates, which are sacrosanct.  Among the most common: the birth or death date of some hero or martyr; the opening day of an insurrection; the formal founding date of a movement or political party; etc.  Some terrorist groups name themselves after an awful date, a tragedy.

Read more at IACSP
(The International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals)