1. November 4, 1979. Iran, United States Embassy. Iranian radical students seized the embassy taking 66
hostages. 14 hostages were released, with the remaining 52 releashed on the Day of President Ronald
Regan's inauguration 444 days later.
2. April 18, 1983. Beirut, Lebanon, the United States Embassy was destroyed in 1983 by a suicide car bomb
attack. 63 people were killed, including 17 Americans. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the
Islamic Jihad.
3. October 23, 1983. Beirut Lebanon, Marine Barracks, Shiite suicide bombers exploded a truck near
the United States military barracks at the Beirut airport. 241 United States Marines were killed. Almost
minutes later, a second momb killed 58 French paratroopers in thier barracks in West Beirut. December
12, 1983. Shiite truck bombers attacked the United States embassy and other targets, killing 5 and injuring
80.
4. December 21, 1988. A New York bound Pam-Am flight crashed into a Scottish Village, Lockerbie,
Scotland, killing all 259 passengers on board, and 11 civilians on the ground. Fifteen years later, Libya
admitted responsibilty and offered $2.7 billion compensation to the victim's families. The dead included 35
Syracuse University students and United States military personal returning to the United States.
5. Febuary 26, 1993. A bomb exponed in the basement garage of the World Trade Center, New York, New
York, killing 7 and injuring as many as 1,040. In 1995, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a militant Islamist, and
9 other invididuals were convicted of conspiracy changes. Al Qaeda is subpected as being involved.
6. June 25, 1996. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, a truck bomb went off outside the Khobar Towers military
complex killing 19 American military personnel and injuring hudnreds. The Islamic militant group
Hezbollan was held responsible, and 13 Saudies and a Lebanesse were indicted on charges..
7. August 7, 1998. Two United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dares Salaam, Tanzania were hit by
truck bombs killing 213 in Kenya, 11 in Tanzania, and injuring approximately 4,500. Al Qaeda operatives
were connected to the bombings, including Osama bin Laden.
8. October 12, 2000. Aden, Yemen, the U.S. Navy Destoyer, USS Cole was severely damaged when a small
boat full of explousive blew up along side killing 17 sailors. The bombing is linked to Osama bin Laden or
members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
10. September 11, 2001. Two commericial jets high-jacked and intentionally crashed into the New York
World Trade Center killing (or missing) 2,992 invididuals. Another crashed into the U. S. Pentagon the
same day, killing 184. Another plane with 40 passengers on board crashed into a field in Pennslyvannia
killing 40. 19 hijackers were killed in the three crashes; Al-qaeda terroist were blamed.
From 1982 through 1991, thirty United States and western hostages were kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some were killed, others died in captivity, and some were released. The well known hostage Terry Anerson was held fo 2,454 days. Other attacks continue thorugh 2005, with an attackon June 14, 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan killing 12 and linked to al-Qaeda. On May 12, 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sucide bombers killed
24, including 8 Americans. Al-Qaeda blamed. May 29-31, 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, terrorist attack the offices of a Saudi ouil company in Khobar, taking foreign oil workers hostage, leaving 22 people dead, including one American. November 9, 2004, in Amman, Jordan, sucide bombers hit 3 American hotels, killing 57. Al-Qaeda again is responsible. (Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html).
Most of these attacks were directed mainly towards the United States. However, looking at the bigger picture, between 1980 and 2001 there were at least 7,581 random individual terrorist attacks worldwide, and only a few were linked to be a direct attack against the United States. War and related terrorism strikes have been around for a long time.
