The Dynamic History and Causes of Terrorism
The big blow-out in Oklahoma, the bombing of the World Trade Center and the nerve gas attack in Tokyo bring an acute awareness to a phenomenon known to man for centuriesunemotional analysis of the problem, its dynamic history, causes and solutions to abet it.
Terrorism is the sustained, clandestine use of violence, including murder, kidnapping, hijacking, and bombings, to achieve a political purpose
However, not all political violence is terrorism. Assassinations of Tsar Alexander II and other prominent figures in imperial Russia were acts of terrorism but the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Gen. Ziaul Haq, while undoubtedly political in motive, were not part of a sustained program and hence cannot properly be called terrorism. The term is inappropriate as applied to the suicide attacks of religious fanatics on military personnel in a war zone, as in the case of the bombings of US Marine and French Foreign Legion bunkers in Lebanon in 1983, although not to the bombings of the US Embassy (1983-84).
The deliberate killing of civilians to intimidate the civilian population or government as we see happening in the streets of Pakistan is one of the worst features of contemporary terrorism and can clearly be distinguished from the type of clandestine warfare waged by resistance groups or insurgency movements against official and military targets. By their actions, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Provisional Wing of the Irish Republic Army (IRA) have long been classified as terrorist organizations. But one would not use the term to describe the Polish and French underground resistance movements of World War II. When governments engage in illegal and clandestine kidnapping and murder to intimidate their people
Peace time state terrorism has recently taken a new turn to "economic terrorism" that is a mainstay of warring governments. A recent issue of the Readers Digest magazine presented its own findings of a unique investigation on the counterfeiting of US currency. They concluded that there are only three printing machines in the world that can make the $100 bills because it requires forced impregnation of ink. One machine is with the German government, other with the US and the third machine is owned by Iran. They tracked down how millions of dollars are illegally printed daily in Tehran and routed through banks to support international terrorist activities. The report suggests the possibility of Clinton government engaging in "surgical" air strikes on Teheran to stop this massive "economic terrorism" just like what Reagan resorted to against Libya when Americans were killed there.
An important characteristic of modern terrorism is its quest for spectacular horror effects to attract media coverage. Terrorist atrocities like the PLO's midair destruction of civilian airliners and murder of helpless athletes at the 1972 Olympics and school children were perpetrated to publicize a cause. Most of the victims of the Italian Red Brigades and the German Baader-Meinhof gang were selected for symbolic reasons. The Oklahoma disaster pictures are quite prolific in making an indelible statement.The same is true of the killings in the mosques of Karachi.
Another characteristic of modern terrorism is its international dimension
Prevention of domestic terrorism runs into obstacles raised by traditional concepts of national sovereignty. Perpetrators of crimes in one country can be extradited but most foreign governments give it a low priority. The government of Pakistan has in a remarkably bold move extradited many terrorists. This sends broad signals to would-be terrorists that Pakistan not a heaven for them.
In recent years, international efforts to counter terrorism have led to the Tokyo and Montreal Conventions (1963 and 1971) on hijacking and sabotage of civilian aircraft; the Hague Convention of 1979 on hostage-taking; and the 1973 convention on crimes against diplomats. These conventions establish categories of international crimes that are punishable by any state regardless of the nationality of criminal or victim or locality of the offense. The seven Western industrial democracies that have pledged themselves to take joint action against terrorism include the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, France, and Japan.
A curious driving force in terrorist activities is the hope terrorists have in achieving their goal and coming out as martyrs exonerated of their acts. The PLO, once the most hated terrorist organization, is now an elected government with diplomatic ties; many a leaders of the current Israeli government were once die hard gorillas; today they are the well-respected reformers.
In democracies, the need to protect civil liberties, the difficulty of proving conspiracy, and the devastating nature of terrorist actions have shifted the emphasis from deterrence to prevention. Today, by general consensus the most effective means of frustrating terrorist activity is through detailed intelligence obtained primarily by penetration of terrorist networks. But that also does not offer a long term solution to the problem. In the short-term it compromises our civil liberties.
The only historically proven solution to terrorism is to understand why terrorist resort to their action terminus. The society needs to educate and cultivate an environment of equal representation of rights, feeling of belonging and above all fairness in government. Considering this, it should not surprise anyone to understand why we are facing continual terrorism in this part of the world. And why it would go on.