Psychological Issues of Terrorism - Essay Example

Leaders of terrorist organizations are usually much older, and younger terrorist organizations like ETA often have former professionals among their members (Hudson, 1999). Most terrorists are alienated from the rest of society and may even consider themselves being victims of unfairness and societal injustice (Hudson, 1999). They have neither pity nor remorse (Hudson, 1999). More and more present-day terrorists are married and may even have children (Hudson, 1999). In a physical sense, most terrorists are strong and healthy and have their physical features enhanced during commando training (Hudson, 1999). Yet, even these general features are too general to be regarded as common. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to have a terrorist singled out of a crowd. The growing diversity of the global population makes the task of terrorist profiling virtually unachievable. This is probably why many emerging terrorists do not fit the accepted terrorist profile.

The profile of Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, the former head of military operations of the separatist group ETA reflects the most important features of today’s terrorists. Rubina was arrested in France in 2008; at that time, he was 35. However, he was only 20 when he entered ETA, through Basque Street fighting used by ETA to recruit new members (BBC, 2008). Unfortunately, there is no definite information about Rubina’s characteristics of family status; nor is it clear what were the motives behind his involvement with ETA. However, Rubina’s young age and his rapid growth to become one of the military leaders of ETA suggest that law enforcement organizations should be prepared to deal with young terrorists who have the physical force and wit to develop sophisticated terrorist strategies.

In this context, the figure of the Fort Hood shooter is much closer to the common terrorist profile. The relatives of Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, claim that he experienced constant peer discrimination because of his religion (Blomfield, 2009). Peers discriminated against him because he was Muslim (Blomfield, 2009). He was under a lot of pressure, and even the army tried to force him into going to serve in Afghanistan (Blomfield, 2009). Feelings of unfairness and injustice are the main features of the commonly accepted terrorist profile. Feelings of unfairness and injustice could have led the Fort Hood shooter to commit a terrorist act. Simultaneously, he did not belong to any terrorist organization and did not seem to pursue any definite goal. Most probably, his acts were nothing but an outburst of violence against those who used to discriminate against him. However, only a detailed examination of Hasan’s features can provide a valid answer to this question.