Theodore Kaczynski Terrorism

The 9/11 terror attacks is one of the historical and fatal events that changed the United States of America forever, especially in relation to terrorists and terrorism. While these concepts were on the minds of very few people in America's population before the attacks, the 9/11 incident made terrorism to become one of the major concerns for the whole nation. This is despite of the fact that they were carried out in New York City, Washington, and parts of Pennsylvania. Since it was a major concern, the terror attacks dominated all kinds of media and contributed to increased security measures for average Americans. Moreover, terrorism currently provides a major threat to global security that any time in American and global history (Dyson, 2001, p.3). As a result, it has become a fundamental aspect for law enforcement agencies and their initiatives, particularly with the rapid technological advancements.

Domestic terrorism has played a major part in shaping the societies of the United States. The ideologies of individuals can become radicalized. This can lead to a movement. This movement involves the infliction of fear upon the communities, in attempt to make it a better world. It is critical to examine the events created by one man’s extreme ideologies in effort to better understand.

When most people think of Domestic terrorism one name comes to mind. Timothy McVeigh, who is a well known name and most people, can identify him as the Oklahoma City bomber. He is the man behind the second biggest terrorist attack on American soil to date. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. History.com Staff. (2009). Which at the time was the biggest terrorist attack before September 11th 2001. Timothy McVeigh lived a rather normal childhood, where he acted just like other kids in his rural town of

The Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 is known to be the “worst act of homegrown [domestic] terrorism in the nation’s history” (FBI, 2010). On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, parked a rented box truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. No one knew that, “inside the vehicle was a powerful bomb made out of a deadly cocktail of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals” (FBI, 2010). Before he exited the vehicle and headed towards his getaway car, he ignited two timed fuses – at exactly 9:02AM, the bomb exploded. The explosion killed 168 people, 19 of those being children, and injured nearly 650 (Scott, 2013).

In Michael S. Kimmel’s essay, “Gender, Class, and Terrorism”, he compares the similarities between two masterminds of terrorist attacks in the united states, as he searches for the purpose of these radical events. Kimmel researches the life of Timothy McVeigh, a citizen of America who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City and Mohammed Atta, the said to be mastermind of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks. Through his research, Kimmel finds parallels between McVeigh and Atta in; age and

Continuing his acts little by little, major terrorist acts that Kaczynski acted on was on November 15th, 1979, a bomb disguised as a paracel. Instead of the bomb exploding, it instead caught fire and for the 12 people on the flight, no one was injured besides an emergency landing in Dulles airport in Washington calling for a treatment for smoke inhalation. Though each act

Theodore John Kaczynski, Ted Kaczynski, was a man who kept to himself in his home in a cabin in the wilderness. Kaczynski became anti-government and anti-technology while living in his cabin. Kaczynski’s first attack was in 1978 and was directed towards a Professor at University of Chicago using the return address from Northwestern University, but the mail bomb was opened by a campus security officer, who was mildly injured. The next year, 1979, Ted Kaczynski had started to target American Airlines as well. Ted Kaczynski hasn’t killed anybody up until December 1985, a computer shop owner was killed from a bomb outside of his shop. On every mail bomb, Kaczynski signed as FC. Over the course of seventeen years, Kaczynski has injured twenty-three

In 2003 a man by the name of Iyman Faris who was a naturalized citizen of the U.S. made a plan with Al Qaeda (the terrorist group responsible for 9/11) to use blowtorches to take down the Brooklyn Bridge. Due to police surveillance and tips from the public, the police department was able to intercept this attack and he is now facing 20 years in prison for terrorism (Zuckerman, Bucci & Carafano, 2015).

The terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001 centered on New York City was a devastation that affected the United States as Al-Qaeda wanted to instill fear in the mass public, and also send a message simultaneously to their counterparts that they were not to be taken lightly. Since then, it has never been forgotten and was one of the worst tragedies to occur in recent history. In an otherwise positive note, Osama Bin Laden has since been killed and his death has directly caused a morale decrease in the terrorist faction. Terrorism was always in play when it came to the United States, but it only came into the limelight with the 9/11 attacks. The attacks brought numerous repercussions, such as future health issues, problems with economics,

The task force obtained a search warrant and "[o]n April 3, 1996, arrested Kaczynski and... [his] reign of terror was over. His new home, following his guilty plea in January 1998: an isolated cell in a “Supermax” prison in Colorado." 5 Although there is no threat from Kaczynski himself, there is always a threat to others and the U.S, if any copycats take up his

It is nearly impossible to go an entire day in the United States without hearing of some act of terrorism. Whether it be a shooting in a public place or threats against a group of people, this violent form of conflict is prevalent in every American’s life. These ruthless acts of cold-blooded murder demonstrate evil in its purest form, and leave death and mourning in their wake. The article “Homegrown Terrorism: Is There an Islamic Wave?” gives an overview of the rise of domestic terrorism since the tragedy of 9/11. Though it was written in 2011, the core message is the same today: terrorism in the United States still continues to grow at a sickening pace, with each new attack seeming more barbaric than the last.

When you think of the word terrorist, what comes to mind? For most, the first thought they have is mass destruction, chaos, and numerous fatalities, all brought on by foreign members of an elite group of people with twisted beliefs. Although, this may be the case in some scenarios, it is not what defines a terrorist. The definition is broad in terms, covers a wide spectrum of violent acts, and no one gender, race or ethnicity is singled out. On April 3, 1996 the nation’s longest man hunt came to an end, when Theodore Kaczynski, was finally caught for the many acts of domestic terrorism he perpetrated amongst so many innocent people. With hopes to coarse society into putting an end to technological growth, and join him in the simplicity of life

On April 15, 2013, two pressure cookers exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The fatalities were low but the symbolism was high: more than a decade after 9/11, the United States is still not safe from militant jihadist terrorist attacks. The bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had planned on killing and dying in the name of global “jihad”. The two brothers were self-radicalized homegrown terrorists. Existing evidence points to the fact that, while inspired by militant jihadism and in loose contact with terrorists in Dagestan, they operated alone. This is a case study of the radicalization process that led Tamerlan Tsarnaev to adopt violent “jihad”, kill three people and injure 250 others.

Living the United State when one thinks of a terrorist attacks often their mind will first go to a larger scale attack such as the events of September 11th 2001. “September 11, 2001 changed the United States forever, the terrorist attack that day marked a dramatic escalation in a trend toward more destructive terrorist attacks which began in the 1980s. It also reflected a trend toward more indiscriminate targeting among international terrorists. The vast majority of the more than 3,000 victims of the attack were civilians. In addition, the attack represented the first known case of suicide attacks carried out by international terrorists in the United States.” (Waston, 2002) However as the years have gone by we have come to learn that terrorist attacks are not always on a large scale and that even one person who is inspired by the ideologies of a terrorist group without being directly connected to them can carry out attacks. Those that engage in this type of terrorism are referred to as lone wolf terrorist. A recent example of such an even was the mass shooting at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center in December of 2015.

We must define lone wolf terrorism to explore who fits this definition. Hamm and Spaaj (2015) define lone wolf terrorism as “political violence perpetrated by individuals who act alone; do not belong to an organized terrorist group; act without the direct influence of a leader or hierarchy; and whose tactics and methods are conceived and directed by the individual” (p. 3). Eric Rudolph was the man that was convicted of the Olympic games bombing in 1996. The original person that was suspected of this crime was Richard Jewell. When it was realized that Richard Jewell was not the bomber the FBI started looking for another suspect. Eric Rudolph was not the focus of the investigation until after four bombings in Georgia between 1996 and 1998 (FBI, 2005). Eric Rudolph is a perfect fit for a “lone wolf terrorist” first he was a loner and did not trust anybody. Moreover, this translated into him hiding in western North Carolina from 1998 until 2003 (FBI, 2005). Second, he admitted to going after the agents who were pursuing him by toying with the idea to booby-trap the National Guard post (FBI, 2005). Lastly, he was anti-government, abortion, gay along with being against many other ideologies and had no direct influence on any other leader or organization. Apparently, Eric Rudolph is a lone wolf terrorist this paper is going to briefly identify Omar Mateen, Theodore Kaczynski, Paul Ciancia as lone wolf terrorist and their crimes.