Editing Terrorism (section)

== Perpetrators ==
[[File:Al-Qaida au Maghreb Islamique combattants.png|thumb|right|Al-Qaeda in Maghreb members pose with weapons.]]
The perpetrators of acts of terrorism can be individuals, groups, or states. According to some definitions, clandestine or semi-clandestine state actors may carry out terrorist acts outside the framework of a state of war. The most common image of terrorism is that it is carried out by small and secretive [[Covert cell|cells]], highly motivated to serve a particular cause and many of the most deadly operations in recent times, such as the [[September 11 attacks]], the [[7 July 2005 London bombings|London underground bombing]], [[2008 Mumbai attacks]] and the [[2002 Bali bombings]] were planned and carried out by a close clique, composed of close friends, family members and other strong social networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of information and efficient [[telecommunications]] to succeed where others had failed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sageman |first=Mark |title=Understanding Terror Networks |journal=International Journal of Emergency Mental Health |publisher=U. of Pennsylvania Press |year=2004 |volume=7 |issue=1 |location=Philadelphia |pages=[https://archive.org/details/understandingter00sage/page/166 166–167] |pmid=15869076 |isbn=978-0-8122-3808-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/understandingter00sage/page/166 }}</ref>

Over the years, much research has been conducted to distill a terrorist profile to explain these individuals' actions through their psychology and socio-economic circumstances.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://icct.nl/publication/personal-characteristics-of-lone-actor-terrorists/ |title=Personal Characteristics of Lone-Actor Terrorists |date=February 29, 2016 |author1=Edwin Bakker |author2=Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn |access-date=September 6, 2016 |archive-date=September 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915205907/https://icct.nl/publication/personal-characteristics-of-lone-actor-terrorists/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some specialists highlight the lack of evidence supporting the idea that terrorists are typically psychologically disturbed. The careful planning and detailed execution seen in many terrorist acts are not characteristics generally associated with mentally unstable individuals.<ref>{{cite book|title=Thinking Like a Terrorist|url=|first=Mike|last=German| date=2007|publisher=Potomac Books| isbn=978-1597970259|pages=49}}</ref> Others, like Roderick Hindery, have sought to discern profiles in the propaganda tactics used by terrorists. Some security organizations designate these groups as ''violent non-state actors''.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} A 2007 study by economist [[Alan B. Krueger]] found that terrorists were less likely to come from an impoverished background (28 percent versus 33 percent) and more likely to have at least a high-school education (47 percent versus 38 percent). Another analysis found only 16 percent of terrorists came from impoverished families, versus 30 percent of male Palestinians, and over 60 percent had gone beyond high school, versus 15 percent of the populace.<ref name="Arie W 2006 pp. 45-48" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Superfreakonomics: global cooling, patriotic prostitutes, and why suicide bombers should buy life insurance |first1=Steven D. |last1=Levitt |first2=Stephen J. |last2=Dubner |publisher=William Morrow |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-088957-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/superfreakonomic00levi/page/62 62, 231] |url=https://archive.org/details/superfreakonomic00levi/page/62 }} citing Alan B. Krueger, ''What Makes a Terrorist'' (Princeton University Press 2007); Claude Berrebi, "Evidence About the Link Between Education, Poverty, and Terrorism among Palestinians", Princeton University Industrial Relations Section Working paper, 2003 and Krueger and Jita Maleckova, "Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?" ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'' 17 no. 4 Fall 2003 / 63.</ref>

To avoid detection, a terrorist will look, dress, and behave normally until executing the assigned mission. Some claim that attempts to profile terrorists based on personality, physical, or sociological traits are not useful.<ref name="tws11janhfgf">{{cite news |first=Sean |last=Coughlan |title=Fear of the unknown |quote=A passenger on the flight, Heath Schofield, explained the suspicions: "It was a return holiday flight, full of people in flip-flops and shorts. There were just two people in the whole crowd who looked like they didn't belong there." |work=BBC News |date=August 21, 2006 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5270500.stm |access-date=January 11, 2010 |archive-date=January 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112164415/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5270500.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The physical and behavioral description of the terrorist could describe almost any normal person.<ref name="Library of Congress">[https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Soc_Psych_of_Terrorism.pdf Library of Congress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208042551/http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/Soc_Psych_of_Terrorism.pdf |date=December 8, 2017 }} – Federal Research Division ''The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism''.</ref> The majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by military age men, aged 16 to 40.<ref name="Library of Congress" />

=== Non-state groups ===
[[File:Daschle letter FBI.png|thumb|alt=Picture of the front of an addressed envelope to Senator Daschle.|There is speculation that the [[2001 anthrax attacks]] were the work of a ''lone wolf''.]]
{{Main|List of designated terrorist groups|Lone wolf (terrorism)|Violent non-state actor}}

Groups not part of the state apparatus of in opposition to the state are most commonly referred to as a "terrorist" in the media.

According to the Global Terrorism Database, the most active terrorist group in the period 1970 to 2010 was [[Shining Path]] (with 4,517 attacks), followed by [[Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front]] (FMLN), [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA), [[Basque Fatherland and Freedom]] (ETA), [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC), [[Taliban]], [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]], [[New People's Army]], [[National Liberation Army of Colombia]] (ELN), and [[Kurdistan Workers Party]] (PKK).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.start.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/publications/br/ETACeasefires.pdf |title=Background Report: ETA Ceasefires by the Numbers |publisher=The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) |access-date=November 12, 2021 |archive-date=November 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104025002/https://www.start.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/publications/br/ETACeasefires.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Israel]] has had problems with [[Jewish religious terrorism|religious terrorism]] even before independence in 1948. During [[Mandate for Palestine|British mandate over Palestine]], the secular [[Irgun]] were among the Zionist groups labelled as terrorist organisations by the British authorities and [[United Nations]],<ref>Martin Gilbert. Churchill and the Jew Quotings. p. 270.</ref> for violent terror attacks against Britons and Arabs.<ref>Pope Brewer, Sam. [https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/30/archives/irgun-bomb-kills-11-arabs-2-britons-missile-thrown-from-a-taxi-in.html?sq=terrorist+Irgun&scp=2&st=p Irgun Bomb Kills 11 Arabs, 2 Britons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124132040/https://www.nytimes.com/1947/12/30/archives/irgun-bomb-kills-11-arabs-2-britons-missile-thrown-from-a-taxi-in.html?sq=terrorist+Irgun&scp=2&st=p|date=November 24, 2018}}. ''New York Times''. December 30, 1947.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Parker |first1=Ned |last2=Farrell |first2=Stephen |date=July 20, 2006 |title=British anger at terror celebration |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article690085.ece |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805100845/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article690085.ece |archive-date=August 5, 2010 |access-date=May 5, 2010 |work=The Times |location=London}}</ref> Another extremist group, the [[Lehi (militant group)|Lehi]], openly declared its members as "terrorists".<ref>{{cite journal |author=Calder Walton |year=2008 |title=British Intelligence and the Mandate of Palestine: Threats to British national security immediately after the Second World War |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=435–462 |doi=10.1080/02684520802293049 |s2cid=154775965 | issn = 0268-4527}}</ref><ref>Heller, J. (1995). ''The Stern Gang''. Frank Cass. {{ISBN|0-7146-4558-3}}</ref> Historian William Cleveland stated many Jews justified any action, even terrorism, taken in the cause of the creation of a Jewish state.<ref>Cleveland, William L. ''A History of the Modern Middle East''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2004. Print. p. 243</ref> In 1995, [[Yigal Amir]] assassinated Israeli Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]]. For Amir, killing Rabin was an exemplary act that symbolized the fight against an illegitimate government that was prepared to cede Jewish Holy Land to the Palestinians.{{sfn|Spaaij|2012|page=68}} Members of [[Kach (political party)|Kach]], a Jewish ultranationalist party, employed terrorist tactics in pursuit of what they viewed as religious imperatives. Israel and a few other countries have designated the party as a terrorist group.<ref>Shah, S. A. A. (2005). Religious terrorism in other faiths. ''Strategic Studies'', ''25''(2), 126-141.</ref>
=== Funding ===
{{Main|Terrorist financing}}

[[State-sponsored terrorism|State sponsors]] have constituted a major form of funding; for example, [[Palestine Liberation Organization]], [[Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] and other groups sometimes considered to be terrorist organizations, were funded by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="ncua" /><ref name="tws11jan4r67">{{cite magazine |first=Jeremy |last=Lott |title=Tripped Up |quote=and before the Soviet Union fell, terrorist organizations were funding themselves through subsidies from Communist governments |magazine=Reason Magazine |date=October 6, 2004 |url=http://reason.com/archives/2004/10/06/tripped-up |access-date=January 11, 2010 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133003/https://reason.com/2004/10/06/tripped-up/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Iran]] has provided funds, training, and weapons to organizations such as Lebanese Shi’ite group [[Hezbollah]], the Yemenite [[Houthi movement]], and [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian factions]] such as [[Hamas]] and [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad|Islamic Jihad]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite news |date=October 20, 2023 |title=What to know about Iran's role in the Israel–Hamas war |work=Axios |url=https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/iran-hezbollah-middle-east-war-israel-hamas |access-date=December 19, 2023 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329133009/https://www.axios.com/2023/10/20/iran-hezbollah-middle-east-war-israel-hamas |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 17, 2023 |title=Explainer: What you need to know about Hezbollah, the group backing Hamas against Israel |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-is-hezbollah-lebanese-group-backing-hamas-its-war-with-israel-2023-10-16/ |access-date=December 19, 2023 |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203125214/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-is-hezbollah-lebanese-group-backing-hamas-its-war-with-israel-2023-10-16/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Iranian support for Hamas|Iranian funding for Hamas]] is estimated to reach several hundred million dollars annually.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Hamas? |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hamas |access-date=December 19, 2023 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en |archive-date=October 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012162713/https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hamas |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Warrick |first1=Joby |last2=Nakashima |first2=Ellen |last3=Harris |first3=Shane |last4=Mekhennet |first4=Souad |date=October 10, 2023 |title=Hamas received weapons and training from Iran, officials say |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/10/09/iran-support-hamas-training-weapons-israel/ |access-date=December 19, 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012234730/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/10/09/iran-support-hamas-training-weapons-israel/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These groups and others have played significant roles in [[Foreign relations of Iran|Iran's foreign policy]] and served as proxies in conflicts.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |title=Iran's proxies in the Middle East remain a powerful force |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/05/18/irans-proxies-in-the-middle-east-remain-a-powerful-force |access-date=December 19, 2023 |issn=0013-0613 |archive-date=December 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219101039/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/05/18/irans-proxies-in-the-middle-east-remain-a-powerful-force |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Stern Gang]] received funding from [[Italian Fascism|Italian Fascist]] officers in Beirut to undermine the [[Mandatory Palestine|British authorities in Palestine]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Aims and activities of the Stern Group in Palestine |journal=Research and Analysis Branch |volume=2717 |issue=R & N |date=December 1, 1944}}</ref>

"[[Revolutionary tax]]" is another major form of funding, and essentially a euphemism for "[[protection money]]".<ref name="ncua">[http://www.ncua.gov/letters/2002/02-CU-14.pdf Detection of Terrorist Financing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090814082429/http://ncua.gov/letters/2002/02-CU-14.pdf |date=August 14, 2009 }}, U.S. National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), 2002.</ref> Revolutionary taxes "play a secondary role as one other means of intimidating the target population".<ref name="ncua" />

Other major sources of funding include [[kidnapping]] for ransoms, [[smuggling]] (including [[wildlife smuggling]]),<ref>[http://site.d66.nl/gerbrandy/document/eu_action_plan_against_wildlife/f=/vj7iilz6wlmw.pdf Gerben Jan Gerbrandy claiming that terrorist networks hunt wildlife for funding themselves] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222022640/http://site.d66.nl/gerbrandy/document/eu_action_plan_against_wildlife/f%3D/vj7iilz6wlmw.pdf |date=February 22, 2014}}</ref> fraud, and robbery.<ref name="ncua" /> The [[Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant]] has reportedly received funding "via private donations from the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Gulf states]]".<ref>"[http://www.france24.com/static/infographies/2013/syrie-groupes-terroristes-carte/en/index.html Syria's top Islamist and jihadist groups] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527003950/http://www.france24.com/static/infographies/2013/syrie-groupes-terroristes-carte/en/index.html |date=May 27, 2014}}". [[France 24]].</ref> [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republican]] militants, primarily the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] and the [[Irish National Liberation Army]], and [[Ulster loyalism|Loyalist]] paramilitaries, primarily the [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] and [[Ulster Defence Association]], received far more financing from criminal and legitimate activities within the [[British Isles]] than overseas donations, including [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi]] and [[NORAID]] (see [[Paramilitary finances in the Troubles]] for more information).<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1187&context=mjil#page=8|title=Anti-Terrorist Finance in the United Kingdom and United States|author=Laura K. Donohue|pages=8|date=2006 |journal=Michigan Journal of International Law |volume=27|issue=2|publisher=Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation|access-date=July 10, 2023|archive-date=May 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505230746/https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1187&context=mjil#page=8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BHT">{{cite report|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmniaf/978/97806.htm|title=Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs - Part One: The continuing threat from paramilitary organisations|date=June 26, 2002|website=UK Parliament|access-date=July 10, 2023|archive-date=September 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927172741/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmniaf/978/97806.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/republic-ireland-played-integral-role-supporting-ira-says-historian-988519|title=Republic of Ireland played integral role in supporting IRA, says historian|date=April 5, 2019|publisher=[[News Letter]]|access-date=July 10, 2023|archive-date=March 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306054425/https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/republic-ireland-played-integral-role-supporting-ira-says-historian-988519|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Support in Republic during Troubles 'key for IRA', book claims|url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/04/06/news/headline-1591367/|author=John Manley|date=April 6, 2019|publisher=[[The Irish News]]|access-date=July 10, 2023|archive-date=August 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811012525/https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/04/06/news/headline-1591367/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Financial Action Task Force]] is an inter-governmental body whose mandate, since October 2001, has included combating [[terrorist financing]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/0,3417,en_32250379_32236947_1_1_1_1_1,00.html |title=Terrorist Financing |publisher=The Financial Action Task Force |access-date=January 7, 2011 |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630182256/http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/0,3417,en_32250379_32236947_1_1_1_1_1,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>