Terrorism's murky origins

At present, little is known of the circumstances which give birth to terrorists. The periodic reports issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (National Commission), for instance, are bereft of clues for diminishing terrorist recruits. Until this dearth of knowledge is overcome, the best way to handcuff terrorism is by killing, capturing and punishing terrorists period, with no commas, semicolons or question marks. To paraphrase Churchill on democracy, it is a poor counterterrorism policy, except for all others that have been imagined or attempted.

The most fundamental reason that terrorism works is that the terrorists know we will not respond in the same manner.

Historically this was not true and that is why terrorism is really only around one hundred years old. Traditionally the response to terrorism would be to kill a larger number of the terrorists or their people in response.

So, for example, if the US had the ethos of say ancient Rome, the response to 9/11 would have been a nuclear attack on Mecca and Medina. And further attacks would be met by more nuclear destruction.

Even as a conservative I blanch at such thoughts...though had Bush not been so successful in stopping further terror attacks it may have been necessary. But, it is hard to argue that a less humanitarian and more hard nose policy would have gotten better results and faster too.

The most fundamental reason that terrorism works is that the terrorists know we will not respond in the same manner.

"Terrorists" are enemy soldiers who fight with an unconventional set of tactics.

Their generals and political leaders have discovered that, by using these tactics, they gain the benefits of war (demoralization and eventually defeat of enemy populations) without the burdens (demoralization and eventually defeat of their own population).

It is a secondary benefit that each "terrorist" offensive operation actually increases the will to fight and to prevail in their own population, as that population realizes that the enemy's heartland can be savaged by their soldiers without risk to their women and children.

It's a very intelligent and very successful set of tactics.

Two responses show some promise.

First, kill the leaders. Despite the recruiting-poster embrace of martyrdom, "terrorist" generals and political leaders are not looking to die. Blowing up just a few Hamasians has worked wonders for the Israelis - and this will continue to work, assuming they can find the correct Hamasians to blow up.

Second, fight fire with fire. It is not even sixty years since the civilian populations of Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki perished in firestorms. These acts of war did more than anything else to capture the attention, and shortly afterwards the hearts and minds, of enemy civilian populations.

If today's antiwar propagandists were right about the way the world works, we would still be fighting Germans and Japanese who were outraged by these vicious attacks on their women and children.

But that's not how the world works.

We await leaders who will take the terror war to the enemy, who will make their civilian populations fear death the way they have done to the West-and then the tide will turn.

Terrorism got its start by the Soviet Union funding and promoting terrorists in the Middle East as a way of destabilizing the area and having a reason to move into the area and sieze the oil. The Commies, for all their inability to manage an economy or have a society worth living in, definitely knew how to destroy other societies.

Giving birth to the terrorist movement was a foolish mistake, though, which has backfired on them (witness Chechnya).

If I may beg to differ on your view point and add that this commission is short sighted.If as Bruce Fein claims that they are bereft of clues then all they need to do is review terrorism since 1972.

The most fundemental reason terrorism works is not lack of response but media coverage. Terrorists play the media, they orchestrate events and attacks and fully utilise the 24 hr news cycle.

The most obvious method of reducing terrorism is to co-opt
the media.This would be best achieved by a major conference
with say Colin Powell and the heads of the news services.They must be made aware that they are the point of the spear against the taking of innocent life and that they are making money from human misery and suffering.

The rhetoric of News services should be reviewed,for example
Headlines such as "Al Qaeda take another hostage" should
be expressed as "Cowardly masked criminals kidnap innocent worker"

The media should be encouraged to use scorn and ridule when
possible and to minimise staged events.Their role is vital to winning the war and they must be made aware of this.

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