Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

288 CHAPTER EigHT ■ War and Strife

groups have also made increasingly effective use of the Internet and social media as a
recruitment tool.
The groups practicing terrorism have become wider ranging, from nationalists and
neo- Nazis to religious, left- wing and right- wing militants. (See Table  8.2.) State-
sponsored terrorism, the support of terrorist groups by states, remains common. The
United States and many of its allies (for example, Britain, Germany, and France) have
repeatedly accused North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, and Cuba of having
lent support to terrorist groups. Yet, while strong evidence of state complicity exists in
each case, the accusing states are apt to overlook their own sponsorship of groups
others might call “terrorists.” In the U.S. case, U.S. support of contras— groups oppos-
ing communist rule in Nicaragua in the 1980s— could easily count as state- sponsored
terrorism because the contras did not limit their targets to Nicaraguan police and sol-
diers, but also attacked civilians. Terrorists are increasingly launching attacks in
developing countries. Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia, India, Kenya, and Pakistan are all
examples.

t able 8.2 Selected terroriSt organ izationS

group Location characteristics and attacks

a l Qaeda

Formerly in

Af ghan i stan;

now dispersed

throughout Af ghan­

i stan, Pakistan, iran,

indonesia, and

Yemen

Formed by Osama bin Laden in

the late 1980s among Arabs who

fought the Soviets in Af ghan i stan;

responsible for bombings in Africa

(1998), Yemen (2000), United States

(2001), Spain (2004), great Britain

(2005), india (2006), Pakistan

(2008, 2009), Algeria (2010)

Hamas (islamic

re sis tance

Movement)

israel, West Bank,

gaza Strip

its leader signed bin Laden’s

1998 fatwa calling for attacks on

U.S. interests; elected in 2006 as

governing authority in gaza

Hez bollah

(Party of god) Lebanon

Also known as islamic Jihad; often

directed by iran and suspected in

the bombing of the U.S. embassy

and marine barracks in Beirut in

1983; dominates Lebanon po liti cally;

fights against israel