The Threat Of Islamic Terrorism Essay, Research Paper

With the collapse of the Soviet Union

in the early 1990’s and the cold war over, the international community

seemed to be on the threshold of an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity.

Instead, a new series of problems was created, like ethnic conflicts, weapons

proliferation, environmental problems, population growth, drug trafficking,

and terrorism. Terrorism, as defined by Title 22 of the United States

code, section 2656f(d), is the “pre-meditated, politically motivated violence

perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine

agents, usually intended to influence and audience.” Islamic terrorism

is a serious problem for the United States because of the threat to national

security, the safety of innocent civilians, and the foundations of democratic

societies throughout the world.

Most of the Islamic world view the West,

especially the United States, as the foremost corrupting influence on the

Islamic world today. The Hizballah have taken this further by labeling

the Unites States as “the Great Satan.”(22) This growing animosity

the Islamic nations feel toward the Western world has been continually

demonstrated by the increase in international terrorism. However,

Muslims do not view their actions as acts of terrorism, but self defense

and their religious duty. The Islamic radical movements main success

or failure has been their ability to gain legitimacy from the general public

or from the greater part of it in each Muslim country.(14)

During the past two decades, they have had enormous success with their

ability to present themselves to the Arab and Muslim world as the true

bearers of Islam. They appeal to the lower class due to the

shared resentment of wealthy westerners while the middle class and intellectuals

are drawn toward these radical groups in order to expel imported ideologies

and forms of government(*). Radical Islamic organizations have declared

a holly war , Jihad, in order to bring the Arab world together and take

their place as a world power. In order to accomplish these goals,

these Islamic radicals have mainly used terrorism as their main instrument

of persuasion.

The biggest and most active terrorist

organizations are those which are state funded. These organizations

act as both an overt and covert way of spreading the sponsor countries

ideologies. The U.S. Secretary of State has designated seven governments

as state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan,

and Syria.(13) These governments support international terrorism either

by engaging in terrorist activity themselves or by providing arms, training,

safe haven, diplomatic facilities, financial backing, logistic and/or support

to terrorists.(13)

Iran is one of the most active

state sponsors of terrorism, involving themselves in the planning and execution

of terrorist acts by its own agents and by surrogates such as the Hizballah.

Tehran conducted 13 assassinations in 1997, the majority of which were

carried out in northern Iraq against the regime’s main opposition groups.

An example occurred in January 1997, when Iranian agents tried to attack

the Baghdad headquarters of Mujahedin-e Khalq using a supermortar.

Despite sanctions and foreign political pressure, Iran continues to provide

support in the form of training, money, and weapons to a variety of terrorist

groups, such as Hizballah, HAMAS, and the PIJ.(13)

Sudan is another large supporter of terrorist

organizations. The Sudanese Government supports terrorists by providing

paramilitary training, indoctrinization, money, travel documents, safe

passage, and refuge. They also condone many of the objectionable

activities of Iran, such as funneling assistance to terrorist and radical

Islamic groups operating in and transiting through Sudan.(13) Since Sudan

was placed on the United States’ list of state sponsors of terrorism in

1993, the Sudanese Government still harbors members of the most violent

international terrorists and radical Islamic groups.(13)

The countries of the middle east have

found terrorism beneficial for many reasons. First, terrorism is

an inexpensive alternative to fighting a war, while still spreading their

ideology and advancing their political agenda. However, defending

against terrorism is very expensive; the United States spends approximately

five billion dollars annually to guard against terrorism.(11) Random terrorist

acts cause a great amount of psychological damage to the target area. Even

though terrorism kills relatively few people, the random nature by which

innocent civilian are killed evokes a deep fear and insecurity upon the

population. This form of terrorism was successfully used to target tourism

and the economy of Egypt in 1997. Publicity is another benefit

of terrorism. By involving acts which are designed to attract maximum

publicity, terrorism can bring the smallest group to the forefront of attention.(22)

All this is done while exposing the terrorist to minimal risk when compared

to war.

By secretly funding terrorist organization,

the patron state avoids the possibility of defeat and does not appear to

be the aggressor. Modern technology has now made terrorism an efficient,

convenient, and general discrete weapon for attacking state interests in

the international realm. Furthermore, terrorism causes fear, unrest

and hysteria among civilians of target countries which is the ideal setting

to launch propaganda. Through propaganda patron states are able to organize

revolts, coups, and even civil war.

Throughout history terrorism has only

been successful in prolonging conflicts, as in Ireland. However,

technology is constantly changing the nature of life-threatening hostilities

by delivering more sophisticated devices that cause greater damage.

No longer are terrorists restrained to simple car bombs and explosives;

now nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are becoming more readily

available. The terrorist attack in Tokyo that injured 5,000 people

is an example of this kind of terrorism. The latest threat is the

cyber terrorist, who can corrupt a governments computer system, steal money,

and/or classified information while never leaving his house. Changing

methods and techniques that terrorists employ today make threat of attack

worse than ever. First, terrorists operate at an international level, no

longer concentrating on a particular region or a country. The dawn of the

modern age of terrorism dates back to September 5, 1972, when the Palestinian

terrorists attacked the Israeli Olympic team in Munich(*). Following this,

there has been a period of hijacking of commercial airlines, which culminated

in the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Another new aspect of terrorism is the

growing possibility of terrorists making use of weapons of mass destruction?nuclear,

biological and chemical. Also, the governments have to think seriously

about the threat of chemical weapons and biological toxins. Both these

types of weapons are easy to manufacture but have horrifying after-effects

on the civilian population. The Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway in

1995 by Aum Shinrikyo, the apocalyptic Japanese sect, showed that the threat

of chemical terrorism is now a reality(*).

For many years, it had been thought that

weapons of mass destruction did not serve the purpose of terrorists, and

it was not mass murder they wanted. But in the modern age of terrorism,

one sees a wider use of powerful explosives that attack mostly the civilian

population, and availability is the only thing that prevents the use of

larger weapons. This trend towards larger attacks is represented by a 25-year

low in international terrorism in 1996, with reported incidents down from

a peak of 665 in 1987 to 296 in 1996, there was a drastic rise in the number

of casualties (311 people killed and 2,652 wounded)(16).

The third aspect of terrorism that is

new is cyber terror. It has become very easy to penetrate the telecommunications

and computer systems of nations and also private organizations, and enter

new computer codes that cause the system to shutdown or which make it accessible

only to the intruder. Terrorists use computers, cellular phones, and encryption

software to evade detection and they also have sophisticated means of forging

passports and valuable documents. Similarly, they could even introduce

“morphed” images and messages into a country’s radio and television network,

and spread lies that could incite violence. Technology advancement has

made it possible to carry powerful explosive devices in a purse and explode

these at the right place, at the right time.

Another recent trend in terrorism is suicide

bombing. Suicide bombings have emerged as a tactic used particularly

by radical Islamic terrorists. Even though Islam prohibits suicide,

these suicide bombers believe that death in a holy struggle assures them

a faithful place in heaven; thus, by committing this act of war,

they feel they are guaranteed to go to heaven. This method of terrorism

is almost impossible to defend against, that is why the terrorists must

be prevented, not deterred.

Many radical Islamic terrorist organizations

have developed in recent years, but the biggest organizations are the Islamic

Jihad, Hamas, Al-Gama’a ai-Islamiyyah, and the Hizballah. These organizations

all seek the elimination of western and Jewish influence, and will not

hesitate to do anything to prevent this.

The Islamic Jihad Group , in Egypt, has

been active since the late 70’s, and currently includes two factions.

The goal of these factions is to overthrow the Egyptian government and

replace it with an Islamic state. To accomplish this, the Jihad operates

in small underground cells and attacks high level government officials.

Their most notorious acts of terrorism have been the 1981 assassination

of President Anwar Sadat, the 1993 attempted assassination of Prime Minister

Atef Sedky and the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center(19).

Al-Gama’a ai-Islamiyyah (The Islamic Group,

IG) evolved from a phenomenon of Islamic prisoners in Egypt. After

being released from prison in 1971, they began forming militant groups

that operated separately but were loosely organized. These groups

target police officers, liberal intellectuals, Coptic Christians, and tourism

in order to hurt the economy and rid Egypt of Western influence.

The IG’s most recent attack was November 17, 1997, when 58 tourists were

killed; this severely impacted Egyptian tourism for several months.(4)

Hamas is the Arab acronym for, “The Islamic

Resistance Movement,” and means courage and bravery(3). This organization

has evolved from the Muslim Brotherhood and was active in the early stages

of Intifada, operating in the Gaza strip and the West bank. The main

objective of the Hamas is a “Holly War” for the liberation of Palestine

and the establishment of an Islamic Palestine. A variety of non-governmental

charitable organizations in the Gulf States, four central charity funds

throughout the world, and Iran have enabled Hamas to become the second

most powerful terrorist organization(3). During Intifada, Hamas claimed

responsibility for 43 attacks that killed 46 Palestinians, and is believed

to be responsible for another 40 deaths.(3)

Hizballah (Party of God) is an extremist

political-religious movement based in Lebanon. The movement was created

and sponsored by Iran in July 1982, initially as a form of resistance to

the Israeli presence in Southern Lebanon. Hizballah followers are

radical Shi’ite which adhere to Khomeinistic ideology.(5) The principle

goals established by Khomeinism are the equality of all Lebanon’s citizens,

complete American and French withdrawal from Lebanon, the complete destruction

of Israel, and the establishment of Islamic rule over Jerusalem(5).

The Hizballah has tried to accomplish these goals through the use of terrorism,

of which 704 attacks were committed from 1991 – 1995.(5) The scope and

nature of Hizballah’s terrorist campaign reflect its close dependency on

Iranian support for both the ideological and financial levers. Iran

donates fast amounts of money to Hizballah, which among other things funds

the movement’s health and education services(22). The funds received from

Iran in the 1980’s totaled $60-$80 million a year.

Because of the recent terrorist

attacks at the World Trade Center and foreign embassies in Africa, the

United States is aware of the danger that terrorism presents. Being

a politically correct country, no United States official has specifically

named the radical Islamic groups as our primary enemy. However, the

Islamic groups are the only terrorists that specifically target Americans.

The United States now has an official three part counter terrorism policy

that has so far proven to be effective.

First, the US will make no concession

to terrorists and strike no deals. If the US were to give in to

terrorists’ demands, it would inspire every other terrorist to commit violent

crimes. An example of this plan is the hostage situation in Peru, where

72 hostages were taken and four months later a successful rescue took place.

The second US policy is that all terrorist will be held accountable for

their crimes in a court of law. In recent years many international

terrorists have been convicted and sent to prison. The third, and

most important policy is to isolate and apply pressure on states that sponsor

and support terrorism and force them to change their behavior. UN

sanctions and the use of military force are now actively used to force

host countries to change their views on terrorism.

Radical Islamic terrorist organizations

have the ability and desire to threaten the United states. Sanctions

and diplomatic bargaining will not solve the problem of Islamic terrorism,

yet military force will only make the problem worse. There will be

no resolution to this problem in the near future, meanwhile the gap between

the Western world and the Arab nations will continue to grow. Without

constant monitoring a careful planning, this could soon turn into WW III.

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