Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, often violent, especially as a means of coercion, although it has no legally-binding definition. Various forms of terrorism exist, including State-sponsored terrorism, State-terrorism, and domestic terrorism.

Terrorist actions
In 1964, rogue GRU Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin fired a nuke at

In 1970, the FOX Unit led by Gene hijacked a prototype weapons system, the ICBMG, and intended to launch it at a pre-determined target via the San Hieronymo Soviet missile base. It was originally believed to be Russia, thanks to the Pentagon's influence, but Gene decided instead to fire it at Virginia to wipe out both factions of the American Philosophers, and by proxy, the Russian Philosophers.

Big Boss was largely considered a terrorist by the world in the mid-to-late 1990s as a result of his actions at Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land.

On September 11, 2001, the Middle Eastern terrorist cell al Qaida hijacked several planes and flew them into both the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, resulting in their total destruction and severe damage, respectively.

In 2005, Liquid Snake, the Next Generation Special Forces Unit, and the FOXHOUND unit went renegade, formed the Sons of Big Boss, and intended to launch a nuclear warhead via REX unless they get Big Boss's remains and, later, $1,000,000,000 and a FOXDIE vaccine. Liquid intended to make China the target for REX's nuke as a way to force America into revealing their secrets, and thus allow himself to sell the secrets of both REX and the Next Generation Special Forces to the highest bidder.

The Gurlukovich Mercenaries participated in actions that were largely seen as terrorist actions, including the Tanker Incident. Solid Snake and the anti-NGO group Philanthropy were later framed by the Patriots for the same incident, although Snake admitted in 2009 that some of Philanthropy's actions were comparable to terrorism.

After the arrest and death of Colonel Jackson, the Dead Cell unit ended up going renegade, and ended up committing terrorist actions, although Vamp implied that they were actually framed by the Patriots. In addition, Solidus, with his Sons of Liberty group formed of both the surviving members of Dead Cell and the Gurlukovich Mercenaries, committed a terrorist takeover of the Big Shell. The Patriots themselves were also hinted to have abetted terrorist actions on American soil, including the Big Shell and the Tanker Incidents, as well as Dead Cell's supposed terrorist actions.

A Middle Eastern country in 2014 also was rife with terrorism, which led to them hiring the British PMC Praying Mantis and paying them instead of using their money to feed their people.

Behind the scenes
Because of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 's release months after September 11, several scenes and dialogue were either cut or redone due to the events of the attack. One of these was the crash of Arsenal Gear. Similarly, a storyboard idea with Solid Snake investigating Metal Gear in the Middle East and reencountering Liquid on an Aircraft carrier during the game's development was also cut because of rising tensions in the Middle East at the time.

Although the September 11 attacks were not actually featured in the games themselves, they were canonically included in the timeline for the Metal Gear Saga DVD, as well as given a brief mention in the Metal Gear Solid novelization by Raymond Benson.