|
Terrorism is effectively a classification of
a type of violent act.
The National Counterterrorism Center defines
terrorism as occurring when groups or individuals acting on political
motivation deliberately or recklessly attack civilians/non-combatants or
their property and the attack does not fall into another special category of
political violence, such as crime, rioting, or tribal violence.
It is distinguished from other acts of
violence, and from war, by always having these four characteristics:
▪ Terrorists violate the rules of modern
warfare, as established in the Geneva Conventions and Hague Conventions;
they can also be “sub-state groups,” – not unlike Hamas, al Fatah, Hezbollah
and al Qaeda – who can't declare war legitimately.
▪ The goal of those who employ terrorism is
almost always, without exception, to achieve political change.
▪ The targets of those who employ terrorism
are symbolic of the political issue in question. When one recalls the
horrors of September 11th we see that al Qaeda was making a statement with
its targets: The World Trade Center symbolizing capitalism, The Pentagon
symbolizing their disdain for the American military presence in Saudi Arabia
and other lands deemed “holy” in the Islamic faith, and United Flight 93’s
intended target, The US Capitol symbolizing the American ideal and Western
influence throughout the world.
▪ And lastly that acts of terror are
designed specifically to be sensational, to get attention from the public
and especially the media. It is for this reason that terrorist organizations
target entertainment districts and tourist destinations for their suicide
and car bombings. One of the most powerful tools that terrorist
organizations have is their mastery of public relations.
Violent acts on behalf of political change
are as old as human history.
The Sicarii were a first
century Jewish group who murdered enemies and collaborators in their
campaign to oust their Roman rulers from Judea.
The Hashhashin, whose name gave us the English word "assassins," were a
secretive Islamic sect active in Iran and Syria from the 11th to the 13th
century. Their dramatically executed assassinations of Abbasid and Seljuk
political figures terrified their contemporaries.
Zealots and assassins were not, however, really terrorists in the modern
sense.
Terrorism is best thought of as a modern phenomenon. Its
characteristics flow from the international system of nation-states, and its
success depends on the existence of a mass media to create an aura of terror
among many people.
For our purposes, we
will be focusing on terrorism as it is employed by Islamofascist groups like
al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and groups that work
in close association with these groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and
radical clerics who promote the Wahhabism. |
