VOA慢速英语--恐怖分子使用低技术方法攻击、杀死

AS IT IS 2016-07-21 Terrorists Using Low-Tech Methods to Attack, Kill 恐怖分子使用低技术方法攻击、杀死

Leaders of the al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorist groups have been urging followers¹ in Western nations to carry out attacks with whatever weapon is available -- including a knife, a car or a fist.

This month, Mohammed Bouhlel showed how deadly simple attack methods can be. He killed 84 people in the French port city of Nice with a truck.

Daniel Benjamin was a counterterrorism official at the U.S. State Department. He is now the director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.

“It’s a frightening moment,” he said. “How many easy and simple ways can we identify to kill people?”

Vehicles as weapons

Terrorists have begun using vehicles as weapons for several years. So-called car-ramming assaults by Palestinian militants³ have killed many people in Israel.

Vehicles have also been used in a series of smaller attacks in France, Britain, Canada and the United States.

In 2006, Iranian-American Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove his car into a group of students at the University of North Carolina. Nine people were hurt.

The attack in Nice was unusual, however, because of the size of the vehicle and the size of the crowd.

Scott Stewart is the vice⁴ president of tactical analysis at the intelligence advisory⁵ company Stratfor. He told VOA on Skype that “what’s kind of unusual about this [Nice] attack is that such a large vehicle was used against such a large crowd; you had such a huge death toll⁶.”

Low-tech methods

It was likely easy for Mohammed Bouhlel to find information about how to carry out his attack. In 2010 al-Qaida began urging its followers to use vehicles to kill what it called “the enemies of Allah.”

And in January, 2015, IS spokesman Mohammad al-Adnani urged supporters of the group to kill Westerners with whatever means available -- “whether an explosive device, a bullet, a knife, a car, a rock or even a boot or a fist.”

His words have been effective.

In June, Larossi Abballa, a 25-year-old Frenchman and former recruiter for a terrorist group, used a knife to stab a police officer and another person near Paris. And this week, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker used an axe⁷ and a knife to attack people on a train in Germany. At least five people were injured before the teen was shot dead by police.

One reason that militants are turning to low-tech methods is because Western officials have improved their ability to stop large and complex attacks.

But American intelligence and law enforcement agencies have long feared a low-tech attack such as that which happened in Nice. They admit it is difficult to defend against such an attack.

Colin Clarke is a political scientist at the Rand Corporation, a research group. He asked: “What are you going to do? Take people’s cars away?”

Security barriers and large trucks carrying loads of sand are used to protect government buildings in the United States. Scott Stewart of the Stratfor company says officials are “going to consider using those sorts of things or large vehicles to block streets during large events in the future.”

Michael Rubin is a former official of the U.S. Department of Defense⁸. He now works at the American Enterprise Institute, a research group in Washington.

He notes that the United States has many so-called “soft targets.” He says because terrorists have begun to use simple methods, the country needs to think in different ways about how to defend against terrorist attacks. Rubin told VOA “we’re very good at preventing the last terrorist attack. We’re not forward thinking.”

In a blog post last week, he disagreed that some attackers work on their own. These attackers are often called “lone⁹ wolves.” Rubin said many of them are supported by terrorist groups online and may have been radicalized over the internet.

“Every lone wolf now has a pack behind them,” he wrote.

Words in This Story

ram² – v. to forcefully hit something

pack – n. a group of usually wild animals that hunt together

1 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

2 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。