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Remember the fallen ...

A Historical Reference of Attacks Against the United States
and Modern Western Culture

The state of mankind is that of war. Our history, our future, our very dominance of this planet is directly attributable to our competitive and survivalist natures. Just as we are genetically programmed with family instincts, we are also programmed to be suspicious, jealous, even agressive toward those outside our families, tribes, communities, races, nations, and cultures. This behavior is partly ingrained, partly genetic but just beneath the surface of our daily lives. At each level this behavior manifests itself slightly differently. It is the cultural level which concerns this article.

When one culture engages another in a skermish of territorial competition it is the dominion of nations and international politics and law to determine the stage and the victors. Even wars may be fought beneath the vail of societal law as combatants may be held accountable for their transgressions decades after the last shot is fired. Even history can rewrite the ultimate victor.

However when one culture is overwhelmingly outmatched against its opponant it will not seek to engage on the same fitting.

"Terrorism is an unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."¹

I've done some research and hope to expand this time line and chronical below to include all terrorist actions against the United States by unlawful combatiants.

04/18/83	Beirut, Lebanon
	Description: Sixty-three people, including the CIA's Middle East director, were killed, and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck-bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in beirut, lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
	Casualties: 17 American's Dead 46 Lebanon Nationals Dead 120 Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source: Terrorism Victims - Beirut Embassy Bombing

10/23/83	Beirut, Lebanon
	Description: In the early morning hours, a truck loaded with 12,000 lbs of explosives crashed through the security perimeter of the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks. This attach was coordinated with another 400 lb truck-bomb attack on the French compound killing 58 French troops. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
	Casualties: 241 Dead 80 Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source: Terrorism Victims - Beirut Embassy Bombing

09/20/84	Beirut, Lebanon
	Description: A bombing at the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon.
	Casualties: 16 Dead The ambassador was wounded
	Resolution:
	Source:

06/14/85	Beirut, Lebanon
	Description: Shi'ite Muslim gunmen hijack a TWA jet carrying 153 passangers and crew, mostly Americans. Shortly after takeoff from Atehns, Greece. A U.S. serviceman, Robert Dean Stethem, 23, was killed and his body was thrown on the tarmac at the airport in Beirut, Lebanon. Thirty nine others were held hostage for 17 days before being released.
	Casualties: 1 Dead
	Resolution:
	Source:

09/05/86	Karachi Airport
	Description: Hijackers take over a Pan Am jet. Twenty passangers are killed when security forces storm the plane.
	Casualties: 20 Dead
	Resolution:
	Source:

12/21/88	Lockerbie, Scotland
	Description: Pan Am Flight 103 is destroyed in mid flight killing 270 people, mostly americans
	Casualties: 270 Dead
	Resolution:
	Source:

1992	Aden, Yemen
	Description: Hotel bombing where 100 US Servicemen were staying. There were no casualties. Osama Bin Laden claimed responsibility
	Casualties: 0 Dead 0 Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source: http://www.patriotresource.com/

02/26/93	World Trade Center - New York, New York
	Description: A truck bomb was exploded in the underground parking garage below the North tower (Tower 1). The explosion opened a 200' - 5 story deep hole in the base of the structure. Six people lost their lives and over 1,000 were injured. The terrorists hoped to damage the tower sufficiently to make it topple into the other tower and bring bother structures down. They failed and the tower stood fast.
	Casualties: 6 Dead 1,000+ Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source:

11/13/95	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
	Description: A bomb was exploded at an Army training headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
	Casualties: 5 Dead 31 Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source:

06/XX/96	Khobar Towers - Dhahrn, Saudi Arabia
	Description: A truck bomb was detonated outside the Khobar Towers Apartments at the US military barracks in Dhahrn, Saudi Arabia.
	Casualties: 19 Dead 372 Wounded
	Resolution:
	Source:

08/07/98	US Embassies Kenya and Tanzania
	Description: Truck bombs were used to attack the US Embassies in the African nations of Kenya and Tanzania.
	Casualties: 12 American's Dead 212 Kenyan and Tanzanian Dead Thousands wounded
	Resolution: These attacks resulted in Tomohawk missile strikes at terrorist bases in Afghanistan and an African nation.
	Source:

10/12/00	USS Cole - Aden, Yemen
	Description: I small water craft laden with explosives was detonated beside the USS Cole while she was anchored in the port of Aden, Yemen
	Casualties: 17 Dead 39 Wounded
	Resolutions:
	Source:

9/11/01	WTC New York, Pentagon, Somerset PA
	Description: WTC Pentagon American Airlines Flight 77 departed from IAD and at 0940 is flown into the side of the Pentagon at an estimated 350mph. The aircraft struck a largely unused area of the building that was just finished renovations. It penatrated the three outer rings of the building and the resulting fireball from the jet fuel left a gaping hole that exposed the inner court yard. Somerset PA At 1037, United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into a field near Somerset Pennsylvania. After takeoff the plane flew West near Cleveland, Ohio. The flight then turned back and started fliying toward Washington, D.C or possibly Camp David, Maryland. Family members received cellular phone calls that the plane had been hijacked and were asked for information concerning the other airplanes that had been hijacked. After witnessing the murder of one flight attendant and an attack on another, several men onboard the flight decided to fight back. They were aware of the fate of the two planes that had crashed into the World Trade Center and refused to be party to another such attack. It is believed that the aircraft was brought down during the struggle between the terrorists and the passangers.
	Casualties: WTC Pentagon 190 Dead (including Flight 77) Somerset PA 45 Dead
	Resolutions:
	Source: http://www.patriotresource.com/

6/XX/02	Strait of Gibraltar - FOILED Morocco
	Description: Morocco officials identified and arrested 3 Saudi men and their Moroccan wives on suspicion of planning to attack U.S. and British ships in the Strait of Gibraltar.
	Casualties: Terrorist plot foiled by arrest
	Resolutions:
	Source: MSNBC

6/18/02	Shooting at US fighters as They Take Off - FOILED Saudi Arabia
	Description: (MSNBC - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 18) Saudi Arabia announced its first al-Qaida related arrests since Sept 11 and said Tuesday that it was holding 11 Saudis, an Iraq, and a Sudanese man who told authorities he had fired a surface-to-air missile (SA-7) at a US military plane taking off from a Saudi air base. Other attacks in the Saudi kingdom were planned but details are sketchy. A weapons cache including an SA-7 launcher and two missiles were discovered.
	Casualties: Terrorist plot foiled by arrest
	Resolutions: The Saudi government is holding the terrorists at this time
	Source: MSNBC

^1.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Company