The tactics of terrorism
What is terrorism? We have seen the results splashed across the media. We have been swamped with announcements, articles and bulletins all urging us to be careful and vigilant. But what should we fear? Should it be the plane trip, or the bus ride or simply going down to the grocery store. To know that we need to understand the motivation of a terrorist.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks a lot of people have said that terrorists "hate us because of our freedom". But why should they? Why is it predominantly the United States that is targeted? The answer to this lies in the 1993 World Trade Center car bombing. The terrorists plan was to destroy the support structure at the base of the North tower so that it would fall into the South tower killing thousands of people. Although the bomb went off the tower did not collapse and only six people died. The motive for this? The captured terrorists have said that the United States involvement in the internal affairs of the Middle East and their continued support of Israel is what fueled this attack. It had nothing to do with freedom but rather with foreign politics. They saw a foreign nation interfering with the running of their country and their neighborhood. From their point of view the only way to strike back at a vastly superior military was to use guerilla warfare or terrorism.
Guerilla warfare employs the use of ambushes and hit and run tactics rather than direct confrontation with the enemy. It is typically used when the opposing army is significantly stronger than your own. Numerous examples of this occurred during World War II in Nazi occupied territory. Resistance groups were formed and guerilla style tactics were used to great effect against the Nazi war machine.
On the face of it guerilla warfare and terrorism share many similar tactics. So what are the differences between them? The main difference is that terrorism is used to promote terror while guerilla warfare has an end goal in mind (freeing an occupied land for example). Based on this analysis you could say that the attacks on the World Trade Center were terrorist based while a roadside bomb used in Iraq against Western troops would be guerilla warfare.
Will we be forced to carry around gas masks in the future?
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Unfortunately when dealing with terrorism we tend to be more reactive than proactive. After the September 11, 2001 attacks airport security was increased, procedures changed and stronger doors were fitted to aircraft cockpits. Then there was the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot which involved the use of liquid explosives hidden inside drink bottles. As a result liquids were banned from all flights. Each time a terror plot is exposed we spend millions if not billions of dollars trying to mitigate the risk. Unfortunately we all know in the back of our minds that we will never be truly safe as we can never fully predict how a terrorist will strike. The moment we fix one security hole another weak point will be exploited.
So how can we fight terrorism? It is not just foreign powers with conflicting views that we need to be wary of. The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 showed us that domestic terrorism is a very real threat. We need to not only look at our foreign polices but also domestic issues that can lead to such tragedies. In the end there is no way to completely protect ourselves. As long as we have some freedom there will always be someone willing to exploit it.
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