Terrorism

Terrorism is again back in the global headlines. In Europe, three people were killed in a French church after a single terrorist killed victims in Paris. Another attack by a terrorist was reported in Vienna, Austria. There are again scenes of violence in Kabul, Afghanistan and in the United States, far right extremist groups espousing white supremacy are suspected of plotting terrorist plots.

Each year traffic accidents kill about 80,000 Europeans, 40,000 Americans, 270,000 Chinese and an estimated 1.25 million people world wide. Diabetes and high sugar levels kill up to 1.5 million annually while environmentalists and public health experts claim that air pollution kills 7 million people each year.

The highest casualties of terrorism are in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. The death of around half a dozen in France prompted President Macron to condemn what he calls “radical” Islamist ideology. This has caused global reaction against him and France, especially in the Islamic communities.

The noted writer Yuval Noah Harari said: “Terrorists are masters of mind control. They kill very few people, nevertheless manage to terrify billions and rattle huge political structures such as the European Union or the United States.” This is the reason that populations all over the world fear terrorism more than high sugar levels or a polluted environment. Hunger is the cause of more deaths than terrorism and yet stories of even dying children do not cause the same anger as  a terrorist killing.

Terrorists calculate that their acts will cause the state enough anger to use their massive power against them and produce more violent military and political storm than the terrorists themselves could ever create. During this storm the state is expected to make mistakes, commit atrocities and inflict so called “collateral damage.” The state and government armed forces are expected to look for the terrorists and punish them. In the process many innocent bystanders will be accused as collaborating with the enemy. At the beginning of an anti-terrorist campaign, the public will sympathize with the government. However, as the retaliation takes on more violent reprisals, it will begin to affect the general public and public opinion will begin to waver and even change.

The 9/11 attacks in the United States killed almost three thousand people. The United States retaliated with an invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The violence spread throughout the Middle East and ended with thousands of American lives lost and millions of civilians killed or forced to flee as refugees. Here is a story by Harari that best describes what happened:

“...terrorists resemble a fly that tries to destroy a china shop. The fly is so weak that it cannot move even a single tea cup. So how does a fly destroy a china shop? It finds a bull. Gets inside its ear and starts buzzing. The bull goes wild with fear and anger and destroys the china shop. This is what happened after 9/11, as Islamic fundamentalists incited the American bull to destroy the Middle Eastern china shop. Now they flourish in the wreckage. And there is no shortage of short tempered bulls in the world.”

Terrorists have actually very little choice in their tactics and strategy. They are so weak, they are not strong enough even to wage a minor war. They cannot match the government’s military capability. Their only option is to produce a theatrical spectacle that they hope will provoke the enemy and cause it to overreact. And most of the time they succeed.

Governments cannot seem to stop themselves from overreacting. For example, a basic principle in guerrilla warfare is that the “movement” must have the support of the people. They must look for legitimate grievances – injustice, corruption, poverty – and present themselves as the group that will solve these critical issues. If the government reacts with counter violence instead of addressing these legitimate causes, then the terrorists have again succeeded.

One of the basic goals in the fight against terrorism then is to remove the root causes for the support of the population. For example, radical Islamists conduct terrorist attacks in the hope that government will overreact against the whole Muslim population. This is unfortunately happening in France where Macron is publicly speaking against what he calls the “radicalization” of Islam. Instead of being an isolated group, this will simply attract more sympathy and support from the Islamic community and even risk losing the support of the general population.

The fight against terrorism cannot be seen as a military struggle. This will be the worst mistake and will satisfy only the terrorists. The United States lost the wars in Vietnam and the Middle East because they placed the command of the struggle in the hands of the military.

For example, today Vietnam is a strong ally of the United States. Then one wonders, what did all those thousands of soldiers and civilians die for? In the Middle East, Assad is still in power and Iran remains a strong nation. If we examine the “terrorists” in France, they are mostly from Algeria.

Today many countries are making the same mistake of fighting terrorism with military means. Fighting terrorism is not about conquering territories. It is about a struggle for the minds and hearts of the people.

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