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16 April 2002 TERRORIST GROUP: AUM SHINRI KYO On 20 March 1995, Aum members simultaneously released the chemical substance nerve agent sarin on several capital of Japan subway trains, killing 12 people and injuring up to 6,000 to a greater extent. like a shots law enforce custodyt is constantly dealing with smaller and smaller terrorist classifys. Throughout history, large armies have fought battles, alone today individuals constrict battles. With modern technology and an open market for weapons of mass destruction, act of act of terrorism has reached a level obtain adequate to(p) by so far off the smallest groups. The Nipponese Aum taught the domain a lesson on how easily an physical composition outhouse threaten a nation with chemical and biologic terrorism.

The Aum Shinrikyo (meaning the Aum controlling Truth) was built on the belief of one man be the christ. Chizuo Matsumoto was born blind in one eye and part sighted in the other to an extremely poor craftsman of straw mats. As a young boy, Chizuo attended local schools, imaginet of world a leader, and even boasted to peers of one day being the Prime Minister of Japan. Chizuo went out to find wealth with his disadvantages and came up with a plan that start uped a fury, the Aum Shinrikyo. Under this new cultus Chizuo was named Shoko Asahara, due mostly in part to a messiah needing a more flashy name (Kaplan, 12). This new successful messiah has proved that anyone with a little charisma send away cultivate people to do extraordinary acts that would normally non be considered. Unlike other leaders of terrorist organizations, for manikin salt away Laden, Asahara did non have a lot of money to start a new organization. This is only one example of how slow it was for one charismatic person to get an organization get for an attack with chemical and biological weapons.

        Asaharas charisma was and still is the key factor in the success of the Aum Supreme Truth. It is confusing how a man of poor education, humble origins, and half-crazy can influence others of superior intelligence (Laqueur, 95). Many of Asaharas following were men and women with a strong educated background. Among the group were doctors, lawyers, and business owners that were looking at for a higher purpose that was found in this launch of higher learning. In order for Asahara to chance upon the followers of such sophisticated people, he had to demonstrate supreme self-confidence, ambition, and a sense of total control. The leader of such an intelligent group cannot be allowed to make oversights or false-prophecies and the guru of the Aum Supreme Truth was not about to let his apocalyptic prophecies credibility fall short. Asaharas prophecies centered around the end of the world, and his followers were instructed to pay taut attention and prepare for the inevitable.

The Aum Supreme Truth organization was set up in 1985 with Asahara as the modern-day messiah. Very quickly, Aum collected a large chase through various message, including, but not limited to, leafleting and street deferral proselytizing (Susumu, 387). Aums classes on yoga, herbal healing and meditation also played a part. Additionally, Aum own a number of computer stores, bookstores and noodle shops through which it was able to gain recruits. Using these methods for enrollment, the Aum was able to gather a following for the new messiah to lead them to peace and tranquility. These acts of street corner recruitment and storefront displays showed that there is no place unhazardous from a terrorist organizations reach to influence the globe mind.                  Shoko Asaharas Aum Supreme Truth is the most recent example of a cult that teaches to prepare for the end of the world and really tried to deceive a nation into believing the same. The guru told his followers that the end of the world was unavoidable, and to seek shelter in extreme hideouts to be spared as the saved rement bound for heaven, the rest of the world was doomed to hell (Laqueur, 241). At first glance, this doesnt fit like a harmless morality, but the events that unfolded in the 1990s proved what a sect based on ghostlike extremism is capable of.

1989 marked the first major turning identify for Aum when it obtained formal sacred corporation status. This status came as a result of the Aums vigorous lobbying feed and scandalous efforts to blackjack the certifying agency and local politicians. Apparently, after demonstrations, protest letters, a lawsuit, and having its decreeds hounded, judicature activity officials caved in and registered the cult (Kaplan, p. 24). Aums recognition as an official religion was important for a variety of reasons. In increment to providing Aum with massive tax breaks, it also presented the organization with immunity from official oversight and prosecution. By law, Aums new found phantasmal recognition would tend to inhibit any investigation with compliments to its principle or practices, including seemingly for profit activities. even up fell activities would now be difficult, if not impossible to investigate because of the administrations reluctance to investigate religions. A religious organization is often mistaken as a peaceful entity, but the Aum proved that even these types of organizations could opt to use acts of violence to achieve validity.

In the larger context, the new religions doctrine was influenced by many another(prenominal) themes, some deeply rooted in Japans religious history.



These themes include, (1) a taste for religious syncretism; (2) a concern with miracles; (3) a stress on recruitment, donations, and appendage; (4) a fascination with esoteric Buddhism and its attendant beliefs (such as in holy men, living Buddha capable of the direct physical transference of power); (5) a taste for Buddhist doctrines and meditation practices that see truthfulness as an illusion and approve of a calm and placid detachment; and (6) an interest in occultism and psychological techniques as means to effect physical and spiritual transformation (an interest far-flung in mass culture since the 1970s) (Susumu, 41011). Basically, Asahara took a mixture from many different religions and made a mostly Buddhist, Heinz 57 variety, religion and named it the Aum Supreme Truth. Within months of Aums receiving official religious status, the cult felt so confident that they were immune from government flutter that they decided to silence Sakamoto, a distinguished lawyer who had represented many anti-Aum groups. After murdering Sakamoto, his wife and his one-year-old son, the lack of any government response apparently emboldened the cult to commit even more horrible and blatant attacks upon their perceived enemies in Japan. Even with a background steeped in Buddhism, which promotes peace and tranquility, the Japanese Aum showed that terrorism could be displayed by a religious organization irrespective of the doctrine they preached.

The second major turning point in Aums development occurred in 1990. Asahara revisited his once youthful dream of becoming Prime Minister of Japan, and so he campaigned, along with other followers, to be elected to the Japanese parliament. However, despite Asaharas predictions, The election proved a disaster. All twenty-five Aum candidates went cut back to miserable defeats, including Asahara (Kaplan, p. 47). The political failure affected the developing consultation of the organization. As Aums election fortunes turned sour, Asaharas views towards the rising turned increasingly more pessimistic. His preaching dwelled more and more on the disasters awaiting humanity. He had taken the defeats personally and swore revenge on those who dared to stand in Aums way. With a politician purportedly by all accounts having the general publics natural rubber in mind, the Japanese Aum had taught the world that a would be genteel servant can turn to a terror campaign and hurt the people that they were supposed to serve.

Even though Asaharas cult of the Aum Supreme Truth started out as a peaceful organization, no group can be lose when forecasting the terrorist threat within a nation. With the technology of todays world and the availability of information, a chemical and biological weapon can be easily built even by a small group. The Japanese Aum taught the world a lesson on how easily an organization can threaten a nation with chemical and biological terrorism.

WORKS CITED Kaplan, David. The Cult at the End of the World. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1996 Laqueur, Walter. The New Terrorism: passion and the Arms Of Mass Destruction. New York: Oxford University, 1999.

Susumu, Shimazono. In the Wake of Aum: The ecesis and Transformation of a Universe of Belief, Japanese Journal Of spiritual Studies, 1995 22/34.

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