Why Terror?

No matter which theory of creation one believes, it is evident that with the birth of man, terror was also born, but as man’s invisible attribute. Sure, it can be concluded that with man came beauty in the form of medicine, education, theology, and love. But, man was born with desires as well: desires for territory, desires for followers, and desires for power. This is where terrorism was able to grow, similarly to how bacteria expands in a petri-dish. Man needed to find ways to reign victorious, and terrorism became a justifiable solution.

Possibly the most frightening characteristic of terrorism is the fact that every man passionately devoted to a cause is utterly convinced of the rightness of his actions. According to Arnaud Blin and Gerard Chaliand, the renowned authors of The History of Terrorism, “There is no judge higher than the cause for which the terrorist has sacrificed himself.” Whether it be in the name of God, in the name of the State, or for a matter of vengeance, terrorism is justified by terrorists. Children who are killed in a car-bombing while running on a dusty road in Iraq will be seen as collateral damage. Men who rape and torture Shia women will be forgiven because of the overall cause for which they fight. And, thousands of innocent and unsuspecting people who board a plane and go to work one morning will be defined as a necessary sacrifice to convey a point. But, this may all seem too gory or too extreme. How could one person commit an entire existence to the terror of another’s?

Just like every person alive to this day, terrorists have a story. In his article, “I.S. = Invasive Species,” Thomas L. Friedman, a famous Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, provides an anecdote to illustrate how an ISIS extremist came to be. “Think about the life of a 50-year-old Iraqi Sunni male from Mosul. He first got drafted to fight in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that ended in 1988. Then he had to fight in the Persian Gulf War I after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Then he lived under a decade of U.N. sanctions that broke Iraq’s middle class. Then he had to endure the years of chaos that followed the U.S. invasion, which ended with a corrupt, brutal, pro-Iranian Shiite regime in Baghdad led by Nuri Kamal al-Maliki that did all it could to keep Sunnis poor and powerless.” If this anecdote does indeed portray the life of the average Iraqi Sunni, terrorism almost seems just. Many Sunnis have spent their entire lives wallowing in the poverty and oppression that they were dealt at birth. After reading the story of the man from Mosul, is it wrong to feel sympathy? To feel regret for being born in the United States, the hegemonic state that was so crucial in his oppression? Is it wrong to applaud this man for fighting against his oppressors?

To use another quote by Arnaud Blind and Gerard Chaliand, “Terrorism beats out guerrilla warfare as the preferred and practically exclusive weapon of the weak against the strong.” For those who are not familiar with guerilla warfare, it can be described as small groups of rebels who utilize their small numbers and mobility to combat a larger enemy. However, terrorism is more successful because terrorists are able to use extremist tactics to appear bigger than they actually are. Terrorism is fully psychological, and although terrorists may seem evil to the core, their “primary target is the mind” (Blin and Chaliand). Terrorism can thus be defined as a type of psychological warfare. In fact, the most common psychological tactic used in terrorism is called “Propaganda of the Deed.” In short, Propaganda of the Deed is a means that terrorists utilize to make their forces seem larger. Terrorist organizations are always opposing a body that is either more populous or more powerful than they are, and they must use Propaganda of the Deed to incite a greater shock value. For example, the terrorist attack of 9/11 was an instance when al-Qaeda utilized Propaganda of the Deed. They had to exploit mass casualties to establish themselves as a threat and as an opposing body that could not be dealt with privately.

ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Assassins, the Zealots, and the PKK are all terrorist organizations. Some are old and some new, but they all have one recurring and common goal. They want their leaders, their oppressors, their opposers, and their enemies to understand that they are a force who will not be extinguished nor concealed without a fight. According to Arnaud Blund and Gerard Chaliand, “The use of terror to govern began at the very birth of organized society as a means of dissuasion or punishment.” These people are simply people, born with the desires that every man is born with. Many may view their intentions and goals as radical, but they certainly do not. Every person that they kill is just one more body critical in their rise to dominance. Every life taken is justified. They have a history, they have a family, and they have rights. Terrorists resort to terror when their livelihood is impeded on again and again. Many will see what they are doing as evil, but if you were oppressed your entire life, how would you fight back?  

~Lura

Works Cited

Chaliand, Gérard, Arnaud Blin, Edward D. Schneider, Kathryn Pulver, and Jesse Browner. The       History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to Al Qaeda. Berkeley: U of California, 2007. Print.

Friedman, Thomas L. "I.S. = Invasive Species." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.