TERRORISM SINCE 9/11

The American Cases

Edited by John Mueller

Mershon Center

Ohio State University

1501 Neil Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43201 USA
bbbb@osu.edu

August 2, 2011

This book includes a detailed discussion, each organized in a similar manner, of the 33 cases that have come to light of Islamic extremist terrorism since 9/11, whether based in the United States or abroad, in which the United States itself has been, or apparently has been, targeted. It springs from set of papers generated in an honors seminar I conducted in the autumn quarter of 2010 at Ohio State University. After the course was over, many of the students voluntarily revised their papers, and then all were edited by me. I have added an introduction as well as a headnote for each case. Since we plan to update, revise, and correct, and then to re-post from time to time, each case study and each headnote is dated and carries its own individual pagination.                         John Mueller

The full 501-page book can be accessed in pdf (5.8 MB) by clicking here.

The introduction and the case studies can be accessed individually in pdf by clicking on the title in the listing below.

The book is also available as a high-quality bound paperback from The Educational Publisher for $29.95. This is a print-on-demand book, and its text will be updated whenever the web version is updated or revised. information

Case types

1. An Islamic extremist conspiracy or connection that, in the view of the authorities, might eventually develop into a plot to commit violence in the United States

2. An Islamic extremist terrorist plot to commit violence in the United States, no matter how embryonic, that is disrupted

3. An Islamic extremist plot to commit violence in the United States that was essentially created or facilitated in a major way by the authorities and then rolled up by arrest when enough evidence is accumulated

4. An Islamic extremist terrorist or terrorist group that commits, or tries to commit, violence in the United States

5. An Islamic extremist conspiracy to go abroad to fight American troops

               The cases with arrest date, case type, case description, and author

	Introduction				John Mueller
1	The shoe bomber	Dec 22, 2001	4	British man tries to blow up a US-bound airliner with explosives in his shoes but is subdued by passengers and crew	Jolie Yang
2	Padilla	May 8, 2002	2	American connected to al-Qaeda who had discussed a dirty bomb attack returns to the US and is arrested	Allison Barbo
3	Lackawanna	Sep 13, 2002	1	Seven Americans in Lackawanna, NY, are induced to travel to an al-Qaeda training camp, but six return disillusioned, all before 9/11	Blaise Katter
4	Columbus and the Brooklyn Bridge	Mar 1, 2003 Nov 28, 2003	2 2	American connected to al-Qaeda discusses shooting up a shopping mall in Columbus, OH, with two friends, then scouts out taking down the Brooklyn Bridge (by driving over it once) for al-Qaeda, but  decides it’s too difficult	Drew Herrick
5	Barot and the financial buildings	Aug 3, 2004	2	Group  in London tied to al-Qaeda scouts out  financial buildings in US with an eye to bombing them but never gets to the issue of explosives	Tessa Reinhard
6	Albany	Aug 4, 2004	3	Two men in Albany, NY, effectively help fund an informant’s terror plot	Michael Spinosi
7	Herald Square	Aug 27, 2004	3	Loud-mouthed jihadist in New York and friend attract informant who helps them lay plans to bomb Herald Square subway station	Surili Sheth
8	Lodi	Jun 5, 2005	1	American in Lodi, California, who may have attended a training camp in Pakistan but with no apparent plan to commit violence is arrested with the aid of an informant	Andrew Ashbrook
9	JIS	Aug 31, 2005	2	American in jail masterminds a plot by three others to shoot up military recruitment centers, synagogues, and a non-existent military base in the Los Angeles area but, although close to their first attack, the plot is disrupted when they leave a cell phone behind at a funds-raising robbery	Demetrius Daniels-Hill
10	Pipelines and the terrorism hunter	Dec 5, 2005	2	American offers on the internet to  blow up pipelines in Canada as an aid to al-Qaeda, attracts attention of informant	Shannon Buckner
11	Toledo	Feb 19, 2006	5	Three men in Toledo, OH, seek to join the fight against the US in the middle east but fail to get in while attracting the attention of an informant who trains them	Meagan Woodall
12	Sears Tower	Jun 23, 2006	3	Seven men in Miami plot with informant, who the claim they were trying to con, to topple the Sears Tower in Chicago, then focus on closer buildings	Lauren Brady
13	Transatlantic airliner bombings	Aug 9, 2006	2	Small group in London, under intense police surveillance from the beginning, plots to explode liquid bombs on US-bound airliners	Tyler Puhl

14	Rockford mall	Dec 6, 2006	3	Loud mouthed jihadist attracts the attention of an informant and together they plot exploding grenades at a shopping mall in Rockford, IL	David Bernstein
15	Fort Dix	May 8, 2007	3	Small group target practices, buys guns, and plots to attack Ft. Dix, NJ, with the aid of informant who joins the case when the FBI is told they took a jihadist video into a shop to be duplicated	Jovan Galevski
16	JFK airport	Jun 2, 2007	2	Small group, with informant, plots to blow up fuel lines serving JFK airport in New York	Bryan Straub
17	Vinas	Oct 11, 2008	2	New York man travels to Pakistan and is accepted in al-Qaeda and considers plans to attack the US, but he is being watched and talks after being arrested	David Dawson
18	Bronx synagogues	May 20, 2009	3	Four men, with crucial aid from an informant, plan to bomb synagogues in Bronx, NY,  and shoot down a plane at a military base	David Bernstein
19	Little Rock	Jun 1, 2009	4	American man travels to Middle East to get training, but fails, and on return, working as a lone wolf, eventually shoots and kills one soldier at a military recruitment center in Little Rock, AK	Michael Coleman
20	Boyd and Quantico	Jul 27, 2009	2	Complicated conspiracy in North Carolina, including an informant, gathers weapons and may have targeted Quantico Marine Base	Kelly Stritzinger
21	Zazi	Sep 19, 2009	2	Afghan-American and two friends travel to Pakistan to join the Taliban, but are recruited by al-Qaeda to plant bombs on NY subways instead, and are under surveillance throughout	Justin Heilmann
22	Springfield	Sep 23, 2009	3	Loud mouthed jihadist plots, with informants, to set off a bomb in Springfield, IL	Ronald Lieberman
23	Dallas skyscraper	Sep 24, 2009	3	Jordanian on a student visa rouses interest from the FBI in internet postings and, together with three agents, tries to detonate a fake bomb in the basement of a Dallas skyscraper	Lauren Brady
24	Mehanna	Oct 21, 2009	2	Well-educated Muslim jihadist may have plotted briefly to shoot up a shopping center in the Boston area and tried to join insurgency in the Middle East, but is arrested for spreading jihadist propaganda	Malgorzata Mrozek
25	Killings at Fort Hood	Nov 5, 2009	4	Military psychiatrist, acting as a lone wolf,  shoots up military deployment  center in Ft. Hood, TX,  killing 12 soldiers and one civilian, shortly before he is supposed to be deployed to the war in Afghanistan	Taylor Schmaltz
26	The underwear bomber	Dec 25, 2009	4	Nigerian man tries to blow up a US-bound airliner with explosives in his underwear but is subdued by passengers and crew	Matthew Spade
27	Times Square	May 1, 2010	4	Pakistani-American gets training in Pakistan and on his own and tries, but fails, to set off an ill-designed car bomb at Times Square in New York	David Tan

28	DC Metro: the bomb plot	Oct 27, 2010	3	Pakistani-American aids FBI operatives posing as al-Qaeda operatives in plot to bomb the DC Metro
29	Oregon	Nov 26, 2010	3	Teenaged Somali-American jihadist, unable to go abroad to fight, works with FBI operatives apparently alerted by his father, to set off a van bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR	David Bernstein
30	DC Metro: Facebook	Dec 6, 2010	2	Virginia man brags without substance to a female Facebook correspondent that he will bomb the Washington Metro soon, and is quickly arrested for making interstate threats, receiving a light sentence	Lauren Brady
31	Baltimore	Dec 8, 2010	3	Baltimore man seeks allies on Facebook for violent jihad, and the FBI supplies him with an informant and with a fake SUV bomb with which he tries to blow up a military recruitment center	Lauren Brady
32	Texas	Feb 23, 2011	2	Saudi student in Texas, flunking out and displaying intense new discontent on his blog and Facebook profile, is arrested after buying bomb-making materials and considering potential targets including crowded streets in distant New York and a local residence of former President George W. Bush	David Bernstein
33	Seattle	Jun 22, 2011	3	Two financially-destitute men, exercised over US foreign policy, are arrested in Seattle after they purchase an FBI-supplied machine gun that they plan to use to attack a military recruiting center after they save up enough money to purchase bullets and other material.