CIAO DATE: 06/2011
May 2011
Danish Institute for International Studies
In 2002, Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan. The horrific live footage of the decapitation quickly spread on the internet, causing widespread shock and revulsion. A new and effective terrorist tactic had emerged - which did not require a lot of money, training or weapons to carry out. Added to that, the internet made it possible to disseminate the video content widely. A perfect terrorist weapon for the information age had been invented and it was to be expected that it would soon spread to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Thailand, and India. But so far it has not. Why?
Resource link: Video-recorded Decapitations: A seemingly perfect terrorist tactic that did not spread [PDF] - 267K