1234 Ch. 30 • Global ChallengesItalian politicians put aside their usual differences long enough to back a
vigorous campaign that led to the arrest of militants. In the German Fed
eral Republic, small groups of left-wing terrorists lashed out with bombings,
bank robberies, kidnappings, assassinations, and even a plane hijacking.
The most notorious of these groups, the Baader-Meinhof gang, had links to
terrorist groups in France and other Western countries.
Indeed, terrorism has posed an increasing threat in Western Europe, as
extremist political groups and Islamic fundamentalist groups launched
attacks. Notorious attacks included the massacre of Israelis by Palestinian
militants at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and the seizure of a cruise
ship in 1985. A terrorist bomb in 1989, probably planned in Libya, blew up
a U.S. passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people aboard.
In 1995, an Algerian Islamic fundamentalist group claimed responsibility
for placing deadly bombs on subways and underground trains in Paris.
On a day of horror, September 11, 2001, hijackers commandeered four
U.S. jetliners shortly after they took off from several airports early that morn
ing. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan in
New York City and a third into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. The
fourth airliner plunged to earth in eastern Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 peo
ple were killed, the vast majority perishing in the World Trade Center, both
towers of which collapsed in a heap of rubble. A massive manhunt began
for the Saudi Arabian-born Osama bin Laden (1957— ), leader of the Al
Qaeda (“The Base”) movement, which claimed responsibility for the
attacks. Many of its members had trained in Afghanistan, which was ruled
by an Islamic fundamentalist militia called the Taliban. Late that fall, the
United States launched massive air strikes against Taliban installations in
Afghanistan, and troops on the ground searched the rugged mountains near
the border with Pakistan. An interim government took power in Afghani
stan, backed by U.S. forces, facing the chronic problems of tribalism and
poverty. The Al Qaeda organization had spread almost worldwide, with cells
in Germany, Italy, France, and Britain, as well as in Malaysia and the
Philippines. European states supported and assisted the U.S. campaign to
uproot the structure of the Al Qaeda network in their countries. Interna
tional police cooperation led to the arrests of Al Qaeda members in Ger
many, France, Spain, Britain, and Italy, but the search for others continued.
Islamic fundamentalist groups based in the Middle East have been
actively recruiting adherents in European states that have large concentra
tions of Muslims. In March 2004, terrorist bombs detonated on several
commuter trains in Madrid, killing almost 200 people and injuring 1,800
others. In July 2005, suicide bombers who had grown up in Britain deto
nated explosives in subway cars and on a bus in London, killing 50 people
and wounding many more.
One of the consequences of globalization has been the increased vulner
ability of Europe, as well as the United States, to political struggles and