Author:
Publication: Upi.com
Date: March. 2, 2010
URL: www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/03/02/Jihadists-turning-to-economic-terrorism/UPI-97581267548984/
Terrorists are increasingly looking to inflict
economic damage on Western economies, a study says.
"Islamic terrorism's future devices will
focus on targets that will yield the most economic damage," said the
study's author, Gabriel Weimann, a professor at the University of Haifa in
Israel.
"For the jihadists, the present economic
crisis signifies an ideal opportunity and platform to leverage an economic
terrorist campaign," said Weimann, who scrutinized 7,000 radical Islamic
Web sites and forums over 11 years.
The research reveals Islamist terrorist organizations
have grown more interested in operations that will cause the most economic
damage such as attacks on Western multinational corporations, Muslim boycotts
of their projects and assassinations of Western economic leaders, Weimann
said.
He traced the focus on economic terrorism
to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden, the professor noted, has said on videotapes the attack
cost $500,000 and inflicted $500 billion in U.S economic damage.
Terrorist leaders realize Western power lies
in economic strength and have concluded jihad should focus on eroding it,
the study said.
That helps explain why jihadist Web forums
reveal growing interest in following Western finance-related media publications,
expert economic analysis, unemployment and stock market fluctuations, Weimann
said.
