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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Islamist Assassinations In The West Islamist Assassinations In The WestMarch 20, 2013 by Daniel Pipes sans-serif">http://www.danielpipes.org/12583/islamist-assassinations Terrorism broadly takes two forms: against random individuals who happen to be at a market place or on a bus at the wrong time; or against specific individuals because of who they are. The latter in turn divides into two: against broad categories of people (the military, Jews, people who wear eyeglasses) and against specific public figures, either individuals or institutions. In effect, these last are assassinations (defined by Merriam-Webster as "to murder (a usually prominent person) by sudden or secret attack often for political reasons"). Horrific as the first two genres are, assassinations are the most terrifying and effective. Whereas the first two can happen to anyone and have the effect of creating a universal but vague dread, the third focuses on a small pool of targets and sends a specific signal to others not to follow in their footsteps. In general, therefore, assassinations inspire the most consequential fear, intimidate the most, and have the greatest consequences. Specific Western victims of actual Islamist violence, actual or foiled, include (this list to be updated as needed):
Notes: (1) * indicates a fatality. (2) I consider Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi, head of the Libyan government, to have been an Islamist in 1980. (3) Victims of Muslim but non-Islamist assassinations, such as Malcolm X in 1965, are not listed here; for the record, a Palestinian Christian killed Robert Kennedy in 1968. (4) I list two publications above but not the American military, despite the two assassinations (in Little Rock) of soldiers, on the grounds that Jyllands-Posten and Charlie Hebdo are tiny in comparison with the U.S. armed forces, making the former much more intimidating than the latter. Statistical comments:
And a personal note by way of conclusion: the Feb. 5 attack on Hedegaard – a friend and colleague at the Middle East Forum – inspired me to compile this listing in the hopes that aggregating these loathsome crimes will help wake more Westerners to the danger within.
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