Chapter 3: Global Jihad and the Great Satan

Although the US has never experienced a domestic campaign of violence on the scale of Northern Ireland, it is no stranger to terrorism. Since 1970, there have been over 1,200 terrorism-related incidents in America perpetrated by more than 120 different groups and assorted individuals of varying ideological persuasions. Among them have been white racists, black nationalists, left- and right-wing revolutionaries, Puerto Rican separatists, anti-Castro Cubans, antiabortionists, animal rights extremists, environmentalists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people fighting for just about every other cause imaginable. Whilst the rate of attacks declined from nearly 70 per year during the 1970s to 14 per year during the 2000s, and while the threat remains diverse, global jihadists have been responsible for 90% of fatalities, most of which were inflicted in the devastating, coordinated attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then they have understandably dominated perceptions about terrorism. However, the roots of jihad in the US run much deeper than this. Before 9/11 there was of course the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, but this too was simply a milestone, a symptom of activities and events that had been gradually building for more than a decade.