Terrorist Types

In the world of terrorism there are many different types to speak of. There is bio-

terrorism, cyber-terrorism, chemical-terrorism and much more. However, there are five terrorist

typologies theses include: Solo Terrorist, State Terrorist, National Terrorist, Coalition Terrorist

and Religious Terrorist. These five typologies are what I am going to define and explain for you.

Let’s start with the Solo Terrorist. The Solo Terrorist is also known as the lone wolf

terrorist. These terrorist work alone hence the word Solo meaning one. “A lone wolf is a person

who acts on his or her own without orders from — or even connections to — an organization.”

(Burton and Stewart) What this is actually saying is pretty straight forward you have one person

who works and acts alone with no one else telling them what to do, when or how to do it. The

best example for this is a Ted Kaczynski also known as the Unabomber. It was in 1978 that the

Unabomber first struck. His first target was a professor of a polytechnic school. The whole

basis behind Kaczynski’s attacks was to rid the world f new technology. Kaczynski viewed the

“Industrial Revolution, as “a disaster for the human race,” as was, the use of technology.”

(Ottley) Kaczynski’s reign of terror lasted for eighteen years.

The next group on our list is the State Sponsored Terrorist. These State Sponsored

terrorist are also “known as "state supported" terrorism, when governments provide supplies,

training, and other forms of support to non-state terrorist organizations. One of the most valuable

types of this support is the provision of safe haven or physical basing for the terrorists'

organization. Another crucial service a state sponsor can provide is false documentation, not only
for personal identification (passports, internal identification documents), but also for financial

transactions and weapons purchases. Other means of support are access to training facilities and

expertise not readily available to groups without extensive resources. Finally, the extension of

diplomatic protections and services, such as immunity from extradition, diplomatic passports,

use of embassies and other protected grounds, and diplomatic pouches to transport weapons or

explosives have been significant to some groups.” (International Terrorist) The best example for

this group would be Fidel Castro as he sponsors Cuban terrorism. Castro would help with the

funding and the training of terrorist groups he had even gone as far to say “Iran and Cuba, in

cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The U.S. regime is very weak, and

we are witnessing this weakness from close up.” (Castro)

Next up is National Terrorists. “Nationalistic terrorism is an outgrowth of an unwavering

devotion and loyalty to a specific group that believes they have been suppressed, treated unfairly,

or persecuted by the ruling majority of the country in which they live. Groups are defined by

ethnicity (racial or cultural background), language, religion, or customs. Nationalist terrorism

calls attention to the plight of the group.” (Nationalistic) The example here is the IRA the Irish

Republican Army.

Now we have the Coalition Terrorist. These terrorist are defined as “terrorists of any

kind who gather together around one cause or issue, whatever that may be. Be it antiabortion,

antinuclear, antigovernment, or antimilitary, ect.” (Navarro) Some of the best examples of this

group is the Earth Liberation Front also known as the ELF. The ELF group is responsible for the

burning down of unfinished buildings, offices, homes and condos. The Earth Liberation Front

has been cited for over 600 crimes and is a spin of the group Earth First. The Earth First group

and the Earth Liberation Front take the any means approach to saving the mother earth. They
don’t take lightly to the new buildings going up and the cutting down of precious trees to make

room for the expansion of human living.

Last on the list is the Religious Terrorists. The Religious Terrorists is ones who commit

violent attacks on to others in the name of their religion. The best example of this type is Al

Qaeda. This group struck fear into the minds, hearts and souls of many nations including of

course the U.S. This group has made many attacks on innocent people who don’t believe in their

view of Islam so Al Qaeda claims them to be infidels making them killable in the name of Allah.

Al Qaeda is the modern day Catholics who persecuted the Protestants’ during the days of the

Catholic crusades claiming that they were warranted in their merciless violence in the name of

God.

So as you can see terrorism is nothing new to the world in which we live. We have been

dealing with terrorist groups since the beginning of time and it all boils down to the fact you

cannot force someone else to believe in the same things as you no matter how right you think

you may be. You can try to persuade people to conform to your beliefs by using terror but at that

point all your doing is terrorizing people into believing and once something has been pushed on

to them they will only rebel later on.

Works Cited Page

Fidel Castro, Cuba State Sponsored Terrorism. May 10, 2001 Agence France Press, 11 March
2008 < http://cuban-exile.com/menu1/!terror.html>

Ted Ottley, Ted Kaczynski: The Unabomber. TM & © 2007 Courtroom Television Network,
LLC. 11 March 2008 http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/kaczynski/1.html

Fred Burton and Scott Stewart, The ‘Lone Wolf’ Disconnect. January 30, 2008 Intelligence
Brief, 11 March 2008
<http://ipncomm.net/World_News_Commentary/Stratfor/Briefs_2008/Intel_Brief_01302008.ht
ml>

Terrorism Reaserch 11 March 2008, < http://www.terrorism-research.com/state/>

Terrorism- Nationalistic Terrorism, 11 March 2008,

<http://law.jrank.org/pages/11972/Terrorism-Nationalistic-terrorism.html>

Earth First!, Earth First Journal, 11 March 2008,

http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/271

Navarro, J. (2005). Hunting Terrorists: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror. Illinois:

Charles C. Thomas