Explaining the United States' Decision to Strike Back at Terrorists

Author: M. Malvesti

Source: Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2001 , pp. 85-106(22)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

When an anti-US international terrorism incident occurs, the preferred US counter-terrorism response is law enforcement action. Sometimes, however, US decision-makers supplement or supplant this approach with a 'power' approach via overt military action. Among the more than 2,400 anti-US incidents over a 16-year period, the US has applied military force in response to only three: the 1986 Libyan bombing of a West German discotheque; the 1993 Iraqi attempt to assassinate former President Bush in Kuwait; and the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in East Africa by bin Laden operatives. What differentiates these incidents from other anti-US attacks? Although the presidents who ordered the strikes offered justifications common to each, this article uncovers five other factors that may have greater explanatory power.

Keywords: counter-terrorism; military action; anti-US terrorism; Osama bin Laden; retaliatory strikes; decision-making

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.0000/09629359990685

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