Week 4: Distinctiveness of 911 Attack Lecture 9: Asymmetrical Warfare

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Week 4 Distinctiveness of 911 Attack Lecture
9 Asymmetrical Warfare

• 24th February 2003 (Monday)

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Structure of Lecture 9

• Introduction to the Distinctiveness of the 911
  Attack
• Asymmetry Type A
• Military Vs Civility
• Asymmetry Type B
• Low-tech Vs High-tech
• Osama Bin Ladens Perspective on Asymmetry
• Conclusion Was it so asymmetrical?

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PART IIntroduction to the Distinctiveness of the
911 Attack
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Language 101 and 911s Uniqueness

• George W Bush A Threat with No Precedent
• Actor
• Event
• Venue
• Tool
• Timing
• Different Perspectives on its Uniqueness owing
  to Different Personal Backgrounds

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Actor the Planner

• Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden
• The Shadow Leader
• Desperately seeking for enemies
• A Non-governmental Organization instead of a
  Country
• From 2-dimensional World to 3-dimensional world
• more on week 10

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Actor the Target

• USA as the World Hegemon
• American Exceptionalism
• Casualty 3,044 lives
• Financial Loss 33-36 billion US dollars
• Dramatic Analogy in everyday life
• Romanticism of Osama Bin Laden

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Venue (I)

• Attack on American Homeland
• 1776-1783 War of Independence
• 1812-1815 Anglo-American War
• 1814 Fall of Washington, D.C.
• Burning of White House and the Capitol

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Venue (II)

• 1916 Mexican guerrilla war
• Pancho Villa
• Raid on Columbus (New Mexico)
• 1941-1945 Second World War
• 1941 Pearl Harbor Incident
• 1942 Japanese Incendiary Bombs in Pacific
  Northwest
• A Safe Haven during Cold War

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Tools (I)

• Donald Rumsfeld
• Asymmetrical Warfare
• Asymmetry
• lack of mathematical balance and symmetry
• Political Concept
• of Give and Take

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Tools (II)

• Asymmetry Type A
• Military Warfare Vs Common People
• Asymmetry Type B
• Low-tech Primitive Weapons Vs High-tech
  Modernized Weapons

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Timing

• Accidentalism Vs Incrementalism
• Dramatic Setting (September 11)
• Media Coverages Impacts on Modern Warfare
• End of the World, WWIII, Ghost Stories
• more on Wednesday

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PART IIAsymmetry Type AMilitary Vs Civilian
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Identities of 911 Attackers and Victims

• Hijackers Murderers/ Military Soldiers
• Planners Military Commanders
• Pentagon Victims Military officers
• World Trade Center Victims
• Common people (non-militant)
• Internationalized (multi-national corporations)
• The Editing Strategy of Politically Incorrectness
  
• Emphasis on WTC (Asymmetrical)
• Tune down on Pentagon (Symmetrical)
• The Article 23 Analogy

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War Codes and Charters

• Ancient War Codes Just Wars/ Chevaliers
• Ancient China Confucius Vs Legalists
• Ancient West Christianity Vs Machiavellian
• United Nations Charters
• Geneva Convention
• International Court of Justice (the Hague)
• Protection of Common People at Wars
• Against Exploitation of Women and Children
• Against Exploitation of War Prisoners

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PART III Asymmetry Type BLow-tech Vs
High-tech
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Low-tech Primitive Strategies

• Hi! Jack
• Everyday life weapon pocket knifes, folks,
  box-cutters
• Commercial Plane Vs F19
• The Shoe Bomber
• Psychological Attack
• Martyrdom

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High-tech Modernized Strategies

• Star War (Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI)
• President Ronald Reagan (1983)
• Aim to destroy Soviet nuclear weapons IN SPACE
• Hollywood movies Star War I, II, III
• Purpose to keep American cities save
• Effect collapse of USSR?

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Star War II

• Ronald Reagan and the Bush Family
• National Missile Defense System (NMDs)
• George W Bush (2000)
• Target Russia, China, North Korea
• Launching the New Cold War before 911?
• Sino-American Spy Plane Crushing Incident (May
  2001)
• The 911 Irony
• The Two-front war of Bush after 911
• NMD continued against High-tech enemies
• Office of Homeland Security against Low-tech
  enemies

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The 911 Balance Sheet

• Lives 3,044
• World Trade Center 2,650
• Pentagon 125
• Planes 269
• Hijackers 19
• Turnover 160 times
• Financial Cost
• USA US33,000,000,000
• Al-Qaeda US1,000,000
• Turnover 33,000 times

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Assigned Readings

• Main Text Lawrence Freedman A New Type of War
  (BD P.37-47)
• Supplementary Text Christopher Harmon. Terrorism
  Today. Chapter 2 Strategies (P.44-75).

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PART IV Asymmetry in the Views of Osama Bin
Laden
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Common People are Innocent?

• The Concept of Democracy
• Eligible voters choose the ones in power to
  represent their interests
• Full Democracy
• Universal Suffrage Open Election
• The Concept of Civic Responsibility
• Responsible for governments actions?

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Ladens Perspective on Democracy o

• Americans are guilty because
• They voted for the bad government who is evil
  towards Muslim brothers
• They supported the bad governments every action
• They did not overthrow the bad government
• Common people are part of the US bureaucrats
  Attack not asymmetrical

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Gross Imbalance of World Power

• Unipolarity Unprecedented since the Roman Empire
  (27BC-476AD)
• US Dominance
• Political/ International
• Economic
• Science and Technology/Military
• Culture/ Ideology
• Osama Bin Laden What can I do in terms of the
  American Asymmetry?

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Guantanamo Bay Scandal

• War against Taliban (2001)
• Mistreatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay (US
  base in Cuba)
• Lack of Legal Justice
• Refusal to Apply Geneva Convention
• Torture and other Abuses
• Criticism of Human Rights Activists

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Past Asymmetry of American Attack

• Vietnam War (1965-1975)
• Greatest Disaster of the American Foreign Policy
  since WWII
• Anti-war Movement
• Chemical Weapons Vs Biological Opponents
• Gulf War (1989-1990) Post-Gulf War
• Sanction Vs The Poor Iraqi
• Estimated number of dead millions

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PART V Conclusion Rethinking about Symmetry
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Asymmetry Political Correctness

• Political Correctness
• Unbiased, value-free, factually-descriptive
• e.g. value-adding, voluntary departure
• Asymmetrical Warfare a Politically Correct term
  in the United State?
• Subjective definition of Asymmetry
• Bushs definition Vs Ladins definition

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Rationale of Asymmetrical Warfare

• Asymmetry as a Tactic to Redress the Existing
  Asymmetry
• Taoist Philosophy again
• North Koreas Mad Diplomacy
• President Kim Jong Il
• Re-activation of Nuclear Testing
• Withdrawal from Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
• Open Conflict with USA
• What else can they do?

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A Classroom Analogy

• Classroom analogy how to get good grades by
  students with no backgrounds?
• Method A Work Hard
• Method B Give Up
• Method C Asymmetrical measures

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The End
Thank you for attending