Soft target

A "soft target" is "a person or thing that is relatively unprotected or vulnerable, especially to military or terrorist attack."[1]

The terms "soft target" and "hard target" are flexible in nature and the distinction between the two is not always clear.[2] However, typical "soft targets" are civilian sites where people congregate in large numbers; examples include national monuments, hospitals, schools, sporting arenas, hotels, cultural centers, movie theaters, cafés and restaurants, places of worship, nightclubs, shopping centers, transportation sites (such as railway stations, buses, rail systems, and ferries), and farmers' cooperatives.[3] Soft targets are contrasted with hard targets, which typically restrict access to the public and are well-protected[4] Examples of hard targets include airports, government buildings, military installations, foreign embassies, and nuclear power plants.[5]

Terrorist groups almost exclusively choose to strike soft targets.[6] Of terrorist attacks worldwide from 1968 to 2005, 72% (8,111) struck soft targets and 27% (4,248) struck hard targets.[7] The intent of attacks on soft targets is to instil fear as well as inflict casualties.[8] Clark Kent Ervin notes that attacks on soft targets inflict psychological damage.[9] In 2011, while preparations were being made for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the deputy commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service noted that "If you secure the venues so the opposition [terrorist] can't get in, they will look for a soft target like parallel events linked to the Olympics but with less security."[10]

Military and paramilitary groups may adopt a strategy of attacking soft targets in order to avoid direct confrontation with a stronger opponent. For example, "Gen. John Galvin, leader of the US southern command, told a House subcommittee yesterday that the contra rebels fighting to overthrow the Nicaraguan government have a better chance of winning than they did just a few months ago and attributed his growing optimism to the contras' new strategy of attacking civilian targets instead of soldiers. ... 'They're going after soft targets. They're not trying to duke it out with the Sandinistas directly.'"[11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Soft target, Oxford Dictionaries Online.
  2. ↑ Forest, p. 38.
  3. ↑ Forest, p. 37; McGovern, p. 371; Bennett p. 62; Preston.
  4. ↑ Bennett p. 62.
  5. ↑ Forest, p. 37; McGovern, p. 371; Bennett p. 62.
  6. ↑ McGovern, p. 371; Forest, p. 40.
  7. ↑ Forest, pp. 39-40.
  8. ↑ Bennett p. 62.
  9. ↑ Ervin, p. 158.
  10. ↑ Ervin, p. 103.
  11. ↑ Kaplan

References

See also

Look up soft target in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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