Justification of Terrorism - Essay Example

TERRORISM Overview This paper talks about the different aspects of terrorism throughout the world. The first part aims to present a brief history, and the various defining factors of terrorism, while the second part is concerned with the morality issues regarding the now so popular issue. Introduction Definition Literally, terrorism is defined as the use of violence to bring bout fear and panic among the public. It may involve murder, kidnapping, bombing, hijacking, arson, and a lot of other crimes. (Jenkins, 1990). But this does not complete the definition of terrorism. The context behind these activities makes up the second part of this definition. And although terrorism has been a part of this world since the beginning of recorded history, it still does not hold a unanimously accepted definition. It has often been described as a plan and a scheme, a crime and a religious duty, and a justifiable reaction to aggression. Hence, it is clear that it mostly depends on whose point of view is being reflected by the definition. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Nowadays, terrorist activities are so widely used in the whole world, in order to solve the various conflicts that even the different law enforcement agencies of the same country hold different definitions of terrorism. For instance, in the United States, the Department of Defence, FBI, and the Department of State, all three major departments, define terrorism in their own manner. But a general definition that is widely accepted by the public is that terrorism is an act of violence that basically targets the crowd behind the instant victims. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Background The French Revolutionary Government coined the word terrorism during the French Revolution (1789-1799) by generating violence against the French population and killing thousands of people. Hence, their period of ruling came to be popularly known as the Reign of Terror. (Jenkins, 1990) Terrorist activities have been going on for many centuries. During the 1900's, the Ku Klux Klan used violent means against the African-Americans and their supporters. Later, in the 1930's, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Joseph Stalin of Russia, and Benito Mussolini of Italy used violent activities against anyone who did not support their administration. (Jenkins, 1990) During the 1960's, the Red Brigades of Italy and the Red Army Faction of West Germany rose in terror to change the economic and political systems of their homelands. Around the same time, a Jewish group used terrorism to end British rule in Palestine, and create a new country for themselves. Since the existence of a separate Jewish homeland, a number of Palestinian groups have been involved in violent activities in order to degrade and destruct the Jewish establishment and build their own country. (Jenkins, 1990) During the 1970's, the Irish Republican Army used violence to end British Rule in Ireland, while around the same period; a Puerto Rican organization widely bombed the United States to gain freedom from them. (Jenkins, 1990) Due to the frequent failure of violent activities during the past, terrorists have been constantly seeking new and better means to reach their targets. But although the number of ways to terrorize public has increased rapidly, the more alarming matter is the rising number of causes these activities are being used for. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Characteristic Features of Terrorism Terrorism has certain characteristics that differentiate it from other violent acts, and war. The four basic features held by a terrorist activity are: violation of the rules of modern warfare, aim to achieve political alteration, the victimized targets symbolizing the issue at hand, and the effort to achieve worldwide public attention. (Zalman, 2008) Some of the features that distinguish terrorism from other forms of violent conflict are described below in detail: Political Motive An act of terror is a violent action that is used to bring about a change in the political system. Some terrorist groups believe in a particular political system, while other terrorist agencies represent various racial groups or castes that strive for freedom from the existing ruling body. Terrorist acts launched from the ruling side, like for instance, the dictators, are used to generate fear and destruction towards their enemies. (Jenkins, 1990) Terrorism as War Karl von Clausewitz, a Prussian army officer and a famous military strategist and theorist, suggested in his writings that war was simply "the pursuit of diplomacy by other means". (Ingrao, 1990) Terrorists take this statement literally, just excluding the middle steps of building up armies, and taking direct violent action to achieve their goals. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Symbolism Terrorist groups having non-religious goals in mind engage in selective acts of terrorism to achieve the desired political alteration. Hence, they need to keep the death toll to a minimum in order to prevent any backfire that might destroy the agency, and maintain the agency's reputation as a legal organization. (Terrorism Research, n.d) On the other hand, groups performing terrorist acts on the basis of religion try to cause as many deaths as possible. In these cases, the higher the number of casualties, the better their aims are represented. Deaths occurring among their co-believers are of little help, as they are believed to acquire the gift of afterlife. On the other hand, killing non-believers is considered to be a religious duty, which helps them in achieving their targets. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Terrorist organizations, aiming for political or social alterations, choose targets that symbolise government buildings, banks, national airlines, and huge multinational firms that are in direct relation to the issue in question. Groups involved in economic issues are responsible for the assassination of diplomats, industrialists, and business executives. Regarding the religious groups, there is an old trend to cause massive destruction. The group members attack churches, mosques, and are responsible for killing missionaries and common men involved in religious activities. (Terrorism Research, n.d) An important form of symbolism often seen nowadays is massive chaos on certain anniversaries and memorable dates. This produces a greater effect for terrorists, especially if the groups involved are religious. (Terrorist Research, n.d) Media Exploitation The effects of terrorist activities are often not targeted towards the immediate victims of the violence. These victims are only tolls used to produce the desired impact on the mainly targeted third party. So, in order to make their terms and conditions known to the third party, the terrorist group manipulates any form of media available to convey their message. The immediate victims of their violent act are the first and foremost source to transmit the highly effective, psychological effect to the desired people. The next step would be the use of any available media to spread the news for its maximum effect. (Terrorism Research, n.d) In order to gain maximum media attention and keep the audience hooked, terrorists constantly release news concerning the state of the immediate victims. They also unmask the victims' names and other personal details in order to keep the news personal, and thus, psychologically effective. The immediate victims are not at all significant to the terrorists, but the impact created by their sacrifice is. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Long-term Preparation It has to be made clear that proper terrorist activities are not just random acts but the result of expansive, long-term scheming and large-scale financing. The media and terrorist research programs primarily focus only on the terms and conditions leaflet pulled out by the terrorist organisation, without paying any heed to the roots of this operation; and this is exactly what the terrorists want us to focus on. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Terrorist attacks occurring at a multinational scale require extensive planning and continuous hard work. These efforts include importing or manufacturing weapons for the task, continuously monitoring the desired target for a sufficient period of time before the action, and send out fully prepared professional terrorists to the area of action. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Although the time and funds spent on protecting the state from terrorist attacks may be a lot more than the terrorists spend to set up their operations, their terms and conditions are not worth to be accepted in exchange for that expenditure. (Terrorism Research, n.d) Justification of Terrorism Rise of conflict A feeling of conflict takes place in a person due to experiences of inequality and unfairness. These ideas may be based either on reality or a false impression. In a state where democracy is the basic ruling body, political differences are always a significant part of the nation's government, and they often turn out to be fruitful for the country as long as they do not cause violent activities or go against the benefits of the public. (Chowdhury, 2003) Although variations among the people of a country may result in conflicts leading to violent acts, they would be nowhere near as harmful as those activities occurring at an international level, like inter-political, inter-economic, or inter-military differences among two or more nations. (Chowdhury, 2003) Moral Issues Can terrorism ever be morally justified This question does not concern only the mind of the terrorist or the minds of the victims suffering the violent activities, but all objects and people associated with the action. An act of terrorism might be morally justified to a certain degree by fulfilling all the terms required for the violent act to be certified as justified terrorism. Meaning to say that a terrorist may use aggressive force against the deserving target but may not be careful enough to avoid any loss of innocent lives on his way to success. Or he may act only against the targeted audience, but use unnecessary extra force not deserved by the opposing party. Therefore, an act of violence may be morally justified to a particular degree depending on the extent to which it fulfils the terms needed for its moral acceptance. (Corlett, 2003) In addition to the terms mentioned above, the mental state of the terrorist is a significant factor in morally justifying a terrorist act. There is a big difference between a violent act being morally justified, and a morally justified terrorist performing a violent act. For instance, if a group of sinful people deserve to be made subject to a fatal terrorist act, then the action would always be morally justifiable no matter what reason the terrorist party have in mind to take action against them. The fact that matters is that the action was rightfully performed. This differentiation between a terrorist act being morally justified, and a terrorist being morally justified can be made by analysing the context of the violent act, and the mental state of the terrorist, giving heed to the reasons he had in mind while taking the action. A terrorist act may be justified both ways that is the terrorist and the act, only in one way, or not at all. (Corlett, 2003) Another way to look at terrorism is through the discernment made between soldiers, who are the primary casualties of nations at war, and civilians, who are the primary casualties of terrorist acts. The former are thought to be the dispensable human beings by the latter, which totally contradicts the moral values of today. If soldiers had the heart to accept such a high-risk job, it does not mean that their lives are dispensable from then on. No life is ever worth losing no matter how worthless it might seem. (Nicholson, 2003) Today, in a modern republic nation, soldiers are also considered to be civilians. It is actually the civilians who elect the ruling body, and therefore are responsible for the actions of the military forces, the negative results, and are the chief targets to be enforced to bring about a political change. (Nicholson, 2003) This brings up the question of moral justifiability of a terrorist act, and therefore again, the proper definition of terrorism. It may be defined as the assassination of civilians in order to bring about an alteration in the political system, by pressurizing a society. (Nicholson, 2003) Conclusion Today, there are a lot of terrorist groups that have no solid or reasonable political aims, but are acting completely out of hatred for their targets. A widely popular terrorist organization of this kind is Al-Qaeda, whose activities are just voicing the complete failure of the Middle Eastern communities to achieve a respectable life. The activities performed by members of Al-Qaeda are totally aimless and non-political, and their members themselves are not in their correct mental states to handle anything like a morally justified terrorist act. The only possible solution that does work, in order to keep the matter under control, is wiping them off from the face of the earth by imposing confinement, and cutting off the newly growing roots of the terrorist organization in question. (Nicholson, 2003) But previously, there have been terrorist groups having appropriate political agendas that had to use violent means in order to achieve success in their goals. It was not their choice to use terrorist activities for the achievement of their targets, but it was the only effective choice at that time. For example, during the 1950's and 1960's, the struggle against colonial governments gave rise to a large number of new countries, opening the gates to democracy. (Nicholson, 2003) Works Cited 1) Chowdhury, Satyabrata. "Conflict, Violence and Education". (15-17 Feb. 2003). International Seminar on Conflict Resolution. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.mkgandhi.org/nonviolence/Satyabrata.htm 2) Corlett, J. Angelo. "The Question of Moral Justification". Terrorism: A Philosophical Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2003. Pages: 121-122. 24 Mar. 2008. http://books.google.com.pk/booksid=sWmRpYQfZEIC&pg=PA122&dq=justify+terrorism&sig=BEYnPtF94NbXfP-9GF8MfrJtXXQ#PPA121,M1 3) "Goals & Motivations of Terrorists". (n.d). Terrorism Research. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.terrorism-research.com/goals/ 4) "History of Terrorism". International Terrorism & Security Research. (n.d). Terrorism Research. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.terrorism-research.com/history/ 5) Ingrao, Charles W. "Clausewitz, Karl von". The World Book Encyclopaedia. 1990. 6) Jenkins, Brian Michael. "Terrorism". The World Book Encyclopaedia. 1990. 7) Nicholson, Marc E. "An Essay on Terrorism". (19 Aug. 2003). American Diplomacy Publishers. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_07-09/nicholson_terr/nicholson_terr.html 8) "Terrorist Behaviour". Developing into the Psyche of Terrorists. (n.d). Terrorism research. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.terrorism-research.com/behavior/ 9) "What is Terrorism". International Terrorism & Security Research. (n.d). Terrorism Research. 24 Mar. 2008. http://www.terrorism-research.com/ 10) Zalman, Amy. "History of Terrorism: From the First to the Twenty-first Century". (2008). About, Inc. The New York Times Company. 24 Mar. 2008. http://terrorism.about.com/od/whatisterroris1/p/Terrorism.htm Read More