Trillo, Spanish Defense Minister+
             I have narrowed the focus to include only state-sponsored terrorism. Those terrorist organizations with no affiliation make up only a small portion of the whole and will not be discussed at this time. Those terrorist organizations with no state support could be and would be identified and eliminated by the military side of the international counter-terrorism organization at some time in the future. State-sponsored organizations are those terrorist groups with which there is documented proof of some association with or support from one or more nations.
             Boaz Ganor of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism writes,
             For many years, terrorism was perceived as a contest between two sides: on the one hand, a group of people or an organization, and on the other, a sovereign state. However, during the course of the second half of the twentieth century, various countries began to use, and indeed have expanded their use of terrorist organizations to promote state interests in the international domain. Instead of the "weapon of the weak" - minority groups, liberation movements, and revolutionary organizations - terrorism has become a tool of states and even of superpowers. In some cases, states established "puppet" terrorist organizations, whose purpose was to act on behalf of the sponsoring state, to further the interests of the state, and to represent its positions in domestic or regional fronts. In other cases, states sponsored or supported existing organizations, thereby creating mutually profitable connections.
             The patron state provided its beneficiary terrorist organization with political support, financial assistance, and the sponsorship necessary to maintain and expand the struggle until the attainment of its objectives had been achieved. The patron used the beneficiary to perpetrate acts of terrorism as a means of spreading the former's ideology th...