On 15 April 2013 at 2:38pm two men carrying backpacks walked down the crowded Boylston Street towards the finish line of the Boston Marathon. At 2:42pm the men split and one continued towards the marathon finish line. At 2:45pm the second man moves too in front of the Forum restaurant where he places his backpack on the ground. At 2:49pm the second man makes a call on his cell phone and an explosion erupts to the east on Boylston Street. The second man turns and walks west ten seconds later a second explosion goes off in front of the Forum restaurant. These blasts caused three deaths and 264 injuries. (Botelho, 2013) The people responsible for this attack were not Al-Qaida terrorist trained in Yemen, but instead were two refugees who had legally emigrated here from border area of Russia and Chechnya. They were attending college and were seemingly assimilating into American life. Neither of the two men had ties to any terrorist group, but instead became self-radicalized through jihadist websites and learned how to construct improvised explosive devices on the internet; this has become a disturbing trend in domestic terrorism. Extremist’s websites have allowed Americans to become domestic terrorists, without any terrorism affiliation or training, through self-radicalization; teaching them how to construct weapons of mass destruction; and how to plan and conduct terrorist attacks.
The persuasive techniques employed by extremist’s websites have been effective tools in the radicalization of Americans; the effects of these websites has been an increase of domestic terrorism plots and increase in the funding for terrorism. In the last six year ten domestic terror plots have been foiled and two have been successfully carried out. The would-be terrorists in all but one of these cases had become radicalized through viewing extremist’s websites and media reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Bhui & Ibrahim, 2013) While not all are willing to raise up in arms against the United States they are willing to obtain the financial aid that terrorist groups need. These websites have been responsible for and influenced individuals to provide funding to terrorists groups from people within the United States and terrorists groups. Since the 9-11 attacks there has been 17 cases of individuals raising funds for known terrorist groups.
The websites also provides the knowledge on how to construct weapons of mass destruction which includes homemade explosives, biological toxins / pathogens and improvised explosive devices. One of the basic weapons of mass destruction that is taught are homemade explosives which are made from easily obtained and poorly regulated ingredients. Ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosives can be made from a container filled with a mixture of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil and a detonating system consisting of an igniter and a timed or remote initiator. This is the explosive that was used in the Boston Marathon attack. The extraction of Ricin from Castor Beans and how to produce Anthrax is also explained and this has resulted in two domestic terrorism attacks using the toxins. The first was on September 18, 2001 when letters containing a form of inhalation anthrax spores was mailed to several media groups and two United States Senators. This resulted in five deaths and 17 others being infected. In 2010 the case was closed and Bruce Edwards Ivins was declared to be the sole perpetrator. More recently ricin filled envelopes were sent to President Barrack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. This resulted in no deaths and a suspect has been arrested. Improvised explosive devices are also taught on these websites. As a result Domestic Terrorists have used high yield explosives with differing degrees of success. (Sauter & Carafano, 2012) Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, killed three and injured 23 people with planted or mailed bombs between 1978 and 1995. On April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh detonated a vehicle born improvised explosive device (VBIED) destroying the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. When the bomb detonated there were 646 people inside the building; in the end 168 were killed and only a few escaped without injury. (Sauter & Carafano, 2012) The most recent domestic terrorist attack was the 2013 Boston Marathon Attack.
Several white supremacists and jihadist website will show you how to plan and conduct terrorist’s attacks. This has resulted in one successful attack with the Boston Marathon Attack and several recently foiled plot. After learning how to construct improvised explosive devices from a jihadist website a group of self-radicalized Muslims decided to conduct a jihad by placing heat sensing improvised explosive devices that utilized explosive formed projectiles, that are capable of penetrating an armor of an Abram Tank, on a highway in Los Angles during rush hour traffic.
In conclusion extremist’s website have become effective tools of extremist’s group to conduct domestic terrorism. This is accomplished by twisting the individual’s fears and beliefs to the extremist’s views to promote self-radicalization. Once radicalized the websites encourage and teach how to conduct terrorism operations and how to construct the weapons needed for the attack. Works Cited References instead
Bhui, K., & Ibrahim, Y. (2013). Marketing the “radical”: Symbolic communication and persuasive technologies in jihadist websites. Transcultural Psychiatry, 216-234.
Botelho, G. (2013, May 2). CNN Justice. Retrieved from Timeline: The Boston Marathon bombing, manhunt and investigation: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/01/justice/boston-marathon-timeline/index.html
Sauter, M. A., & Carafano, J. J. (2012). Homeland Security - A Complete Guide. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.