State-supported international terrorism

State-sponsored terrorism
State terrorism
Government incitement to terrorism

Nature

Terrorists receive refuge and both indirect and direct support from their own or a sponsoring government. Assistance may include international transportation, false identity papers, training, weapons, money and other support within a host country, or abroad through its embassies or agents.

Incidence

Terrorists who attempted to assassinate the Pope had links to Bulgaria. In Poland governmental employees murdered a priest. In the Middle East and North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya export terrorists. Cuba has been providing mercenaries to fight overseas and also been linked to the terrorist network. Until Israel's invasion of Lebanon, that country was serving as a major training and organizational centre for a spectrum of international terrorist groups. The KGB and former Communist governments in Hungary and Czechoslovakia sheltered terrorists attacking western targets. Former East Germany sheltered members of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof gang). 1,000 tons of Semtex explosive provided by the former Czechoslovakian government to Libyan leader, Colonel Gadhafi, was passed on to the Irish Republican Army and to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The intelligence agencies of the superpowers have also been linked to terrorist, covert actions. The CIA admits it has recruited terrorists.

Claim

The missile attack on Baghdad by the USA government falls within any definition of international terrorism. Many Americans both outraged, and disillusioned that this has yet again managed to be finessed behind an interpretation of the UN Charter. Does it matter how many times the USA violates international law in the name of international law? The USA is probably the most lawless country in the world, and dwarfs most of the familiar contenders for that title (Iraq, Libya etc.) on indices of international terrorism and aggression.

Libya has been a persistent source of unease because of its support for terrorism, including the 1988 bombing of a Pan American World Airways jet over Scotland.