International Terrorism
Terrorism is an element of modern society
that cannot be escaped. Acts of
terrorism occur during times of war and times
of peace. Some are to prove a
point, others to show defiance. Terrorism can
never be completely eliminated
because the human race will always find a
reason for there to be violence. No
culture is perfect. However, we can take
steps to prevent such seemingly
senseless attacks. Governments and their
citizens must be better equipped to
fight terrorism. Terrorism to most is
thought of as a matter for the police to
handle. This is the mentality that
terrorists thrive on. Governments must be on
top of terrorists and know the
plans before they are put into action. Successful
terrorists always find a
way to stay one step ahead of the authorities. This has
to stop. If a certain
group claims responsibility for an act of terrorism, no
matter what the
motive may be, that group must be attacked with all possible
resources.
People must be willing to work together and unite. Most of the
time,
terrorism is the end result of people not getting along. Terrorism is
an act of
violence used to bring about change. Change can be made in other
ways. Lives do
not have to be lost. Terrorism depends heavily on three
things: publicity (to
get their ideas out to a mass audience, attract
attention, and scare the
public), discreteness (secrecy), and loyalty (the
leader in command has full
authority over those who work below he/she). Out
of the three, publicity is most
likely a terrorists best friend. Without an
audience, there is no one to hear a
terrorist. There is no reaction. The
media just plays into this with 24 hour
coverage of hostage situations like
the one in late 1997 when a group of
terrorists held members of the Peruvian
government hostage form an extended
period of time. Everyone from Australia
to Hawaii knew about that incident.
After the media stopped covering the
story as it began to get old, it was almost
like the incident never happened.
Eventually the hostages were released. As far
as discreteness goes,
terrorists make all of their plans in complete secrecy.
Usually in a
terrorist group, members who are lower on the group totem pole can
only
identify one or two members on the inner circle. If governments were to
go
after these "little fish", though it would be a slow and
tedious
process, it could lead to bigger things. Going right to the heart of
the problem
isn’t always the best way to get something done. Lastly, groups
rely heavily
on loyalty. That is why authorities must make a firm stand in
saying that they
will not negotiate with terrorists as the United States has.
When a group is
hold-up for a long time and their demands are not being met,
peoples loyalty is
tested. They begin to blame each other and eventually they
breakdown. One of the
leading causes of terrorism is a government repressing
and persecuting its
people and their beliefs. No where is this more true than
in Turkey. The
epicenter of violence in Turkey is the PKK. The Kurdistan
Workers Party, known
ass the PKK, is one of the best organized most violent
group of terrorists in
the world. They are an extremely tight-knit collection
of thieves, murderers,
fugitives and other hardened criminals. They began
their attacks between the
late 70’s and early 80’s. In order to understand
the PKK’s motives, you
must first understand the history of the Kurdish
people. It all started in 1928.
For centuries, the Kurds had found a home
in a section of the Middle East that
is located for the most part in
south-eastern Turkey. Because the Kurds could
not establish an autonomous
nation, they were persecuted by their host states
who did not like having the
Kurds in their territories (though their dwelling
place was located primarily
in Turkey, it also stretched into parts of Iran,
Iraq, and Syria). Being
that the majority of the Kurds were in Turkey, there was
a social revolution
and many languages and alphabets used by various ethnic
groups were banned.
The Kurds were one of these minorities and they became
subject to a "campaign
of repression" . This resulted in an uprise of
radical groups. This is where
the PKK organization came from. Between December
of 1995 and the fall of
1996, there was a group cease-fire, however there were a
few notable PKK
attacks including a suicide bombing on a Turkish military
parade. 9 were
killed and 35 seriously injured. Once the cease-fire ended the
PKK was
back with a vengeance. The PKK attacks mainly military target, however
they
have recently been attacking more and more civilian targets in efforts
to
drive away tourists. They have also been using suicide bombers as their
weapon
of choice as of late. The PKK has been known to go after targets that
the
government has deemed secure when in fact they are not. The tourism
industry has
become the main focus of the PKK in the last couple of years.
Turkish tourism is
said to bring in an estimated 8 billion dollars each year
so it isn’t hard to
see why it would be a target. The PKK figures that if one
of the countries
leading money makers is shut down and people are driven away
from Turkey, then
they will be heard. The most casualties that the PKK has
accounted for come from
bombings of tourist sites and kidnapping of tourists.
The PKK is ruthless. In
the last ten years, they can account for over 10,000
deaths of citizens,
military personnel and government officials. The reason
they are so deadly is
because of their following. The PKK isn’t just the PKK.
Its the entire body of
soldiers. This body of soldiers includes political,
militant, and metropolitan
wings. Under each wing is a subdivision. In all
the Kurdistan Workers Party has
a 4,000 man count which rises every day. For
the most part, these are Armenians
who came from an underground network of
militant trainee’s that is run by
Armenian priests. They are trained by
the ARGK, a division of the PKK. In order
to go after the base organization
of the PKK, these smaller divisions, for
example the ARGK, must be taken down
first. Even a small dent in the system can
cause internal problems and, as it
has in many cases, cause the downfall of a
group. Once they realize they have
been penetrated, they begin to accuse each
other, and so called "brothers"
begin to turn on each other. Because
the PKK is such a well organized
operation, they will be hard to take down, but
the longer we wait, the
stronger the PKK will get. Though the PKK are the most
active terrorists in
Turkey, they are not the only terrorists in Turkey. There
are many groups and
rebels who wish to bring down the Turkish government and
will go to any
extreme to do so. The source of 99% of Turkey’s problems come
from the
governments repression of minorities. The Turkish government and their
people
must come to an agreement. Though the Turkish are hosts to these
foreigners,
they do not have the right to persecute them. This persecution will
only lead
to more violence. Terrorist Acts in Turkey are in a way, civil
rights
movements like that of African Americans in our country. Only after
riots and
killings did America realize it was time for a change. It is time
for Turkey to
realize this too. Israel and the occupied territories are one
of the main
targets for terrorist acts in the Middle East. Many of the
attacks in this
region are anti Israeli attacks by extremists and a couple of
groups. Early in
1996, on four different occasions, Palestinian
extremists opposed to peace used
suicide bombs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to
kill 65 civilians. HAMAS is by far
the most deadly group in Israel and its
surrounding area. The group was founded
in 1987 in the Gaza Strip and by 1988
was already being compared to its now
rival, the PLO . The groups beliefs lye
heavily on Islamic Nationalism. They are
a very physical group which is what
makes them so dangerous. They prefer an all
out assault rather than a
negotiation. They recruit young men from the slums and
the poorest
neighborhoods who because of their living circumstances have grown
hateful
towards the government. HAMAS provides a harborage for them. When
HAMAS
stages a terrorist attack, it is usually a very deadly one. On March
4th , a
suicide bomber blew himself up outside of the largest shopping mall
in Tel Aviv.
Twenty were killed and 75 were wounded. HAMAS claimed
responsibility for the
deadly blast. On February 25th, another HAMAS suicide
bombing killed 25 and
injured 80. All of HAMAS’s attacks are rejections of
the Israeli peace process
(as most acts of terror in the region are). Other
Palestinian groups like the
PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine) and Abu Musa’s
Fatah-Intifada are beginning to make names for
themselves. All of their attacks
have been directly linked back to the
Israeli-PLO peace process. The common link
between all of the terrorist acts
in Israel and its surrounding regions is that
the persons or groups involved
show no effort to negotiate. In this situation,
force may be the only answer.
Many people have dismissed force in response to
terrorism saying that it will
only cause more violence. However, people,
innocent civilians are dying NOW.
There may not be any other choice. Force
should not be the immediate response
to a terrorist attack, but it should always
be considered. The U.S. has used
force successfully in response to terrorism on
more than one occasion. In
1986, the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin was
bombed and two American
service men were killed. President Ronald Regan took
swift action and ordered
an air-strike on a number of terrorist targets
including the training
facilities where the bombers of the La Belle discotheque
were trained. After
the air-strikes (which took place in Libya), Libya
noticeably reduced its
participation in international terrorist attacks. In June
of 1993, it was
verified that an assassination plot against President Bush was
in the works.
Upon hearing this information, President Clinton ordered a
Tomahawk
missile strike on the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service
which
was believed to be where the plans originated. After the missile strike,
the
I.I.S backed down. These are just two examples of a country "fighting
fire
with fire". Perhaps if the Israeli government did the same, the
terrorists
would be driven out. Another country in the Middle East which has
had
continuing problems with terrorist activity is Algeria. The problem in
Algeria
is security. Though security in Algeria is improving, it still is not
enough.
Between 1992 and 1996, at least 60,000 individuals were killed by
terrorists.
These deaths can mostly be accounted for by a number of
insurgent groups in the
region, like the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). Their
focus is civilian targets,
namely women, children and journalists. This is
what makes them so ruthless.
They have no regard for human life. It takes
a monster to kill a defenseless
child. The GIA is an entire organization full
of monsters. In early 1996, they
kidnapped and beheaded 7 French monks. This
is what happens when people don’t
listen to the GIA. Security must be stepped
up in Algeria. The main terrorist
target in Algeria is foreigners. Therefore,
steps must be taken to better
protect tourists and visiting diplomats and
officials. This may mean having
routine police patrols of tourist sites or 24
hour security at tourist sites if
necessary. Force may also be a weapon
against them because the GIA does not like
lengthy negotiations. However, the
GIA has no remorse so this may lead to more
violence. The situation in
Algeria is a very fragile one. Algeria needs to set
down some standards in
fighting terrorism. Their current policy towards
terrorism is very shaky and
is not written in stone. They need to make a
definite plan and they need to
do it quickly. Terrorism in the future is leaning
more towards "high-tech"
than military assault. Because the world
becomes more and more diverse with
every passing minute, there will be more
ethnic and religious conflict which
means more violence. The ability of
explosives and the availability of
weapons increases every day. Then there’s
always the ever present threat of
nuclear terrorism. In the days in which we
live, the smuggling of components
for use in chemical and biological warfare is
a high priced market that is
open to anyone with half a brain. Also, moving to
the fore-front slowly, is
the threat of information warfare. Some terrorist
groups have recruited
top-quality "hackers" to break into government
systems and steal vital
information. Once inside a governments system, one has
the ability to access
secret files on weapon storage and blueprints and is also
able to shut down a
system, disabling it and providing a window of opportunity
for the terrorists
to put a plan into action. The future holds a dangerous and
somewhat
predictable fate. Terrorism can only increase with the coming of the
21st
century unless something is done now. In conclusion, terrorism can
decrease
if the proper measures are taken. Ignorance may very well be the
key. If we
don’t give them the attention they crave and we don’t meet their
demands,
terrorists will move on. If all else fails, there is force.
Governments and
citizens as a whole must launch a concentrated effort against
terrorism, on a
domestic and international scale. If all of this is done,
then by the middle of
the 21st century, we may not have to worry about
getting on a bus in a foreign
land or boarding a plane. That will be a thing
of the past.