September 11th, Global Terrorism and War on Terrorism

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September 11th, Global Terrorism and War on
Terrorism

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Major Key Concepts

• Political terrorism The deliberate use or threat
  of violence against non-combatants, calculated to
  instill fear, alarm, and ultimately a feeling of
  helplessness in an audience beyond the immediate
  victims.
• The use of violence includes hostage-taking,
  hijacking, bombing, and other indiscriminate
  attacks, usually targeting civilians
• Causes ideological, ethnic, and religious
  exclusion

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• Assymetric warfare Armed conflict between
  terrorist networks and conventional military
  forces.

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Major Key Concepts

• Information warfare Attacks on an adversarys
  telecommunications and computer networks to
  degrade the technological systems vital to its
  defense and economic well-being. This is also
  known as cyber-terrorism.
• Bush Doctrine It is a set of foreign policy
  guidelines including an emphasis on military
  pre-emption, military superiority, unilateral
  action against any perceived security threat
  (such as Iraq), and a commitment to "extending
  democracy, liberty, and security to all regions".
  It is a departure from the policies of deterrence
  and containment.

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Terrorism as a Security Threat

• Since the beginning of the modern state system
  about three and a half centuries ago
  (Westphalia-1648), nations have prepared
  themselves for wars against other countries.
• During all that period, war has been considered
  as a large-scale organized violence between the
  regular armies of sovereign states.

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Terrorism as a Security Threat

• Although national leaders still keep their
  countries prepared for such clashes and
  conflicts, increasingly they are faced with the
  prospect of asymmetric warfare which refers to
  an armed conflict between terrorist networks and
  conventional military forces.
• However, globalization enabled terrorism to grow
  from a regional into a global one
• Technologies associated with globalization have
  enabled terrorist groups to conduct operations
  that are deadlier
• Therefore, technologies associated with
  globalization have improved terrorist capabilities

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• Birth of transnational terrorism
• The expansion of air travel (travel freely
  between countries), the wider availability of
  televised new coverage (awareness), and broad
  common political and ideological interests
• These changes allowed terrorism to grow from
  local and regional phenomenon into an
  international threat

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Various Objectives of Terrorism

• Although terrorist activities may be similar with
  their nature, they may have different objectives
  and aims.
• Agitational objectives of terrorism include
  promoting the dissident group, advertising its
  agenda, and discrediting its rivals.
• e.g. Nineteenth century anarchists believed
  that one shocking act would draw more attention
  than a thousand leaflets

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• Various Objectives of Terrorism
• Coercive objectives of terrorism include
  disorienting a target population, inflating the
  perceived power of the dissident group, wringing
  concessions from authorities, and provoking a
  heavy-handed overreaction from the police and
  military.
• e.g. Attacks at markets, cafes and other
  quiet locations to paralyze daily life and
  disseminate fear among the public.

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Various Objectives of Terrorism

• 3) Organizational objectives of terrorism include
  acquiring resources, forging group cohesion, and
  maintaining an underground network of supporters.
  
• e.g. Robbing banks, demanding ransom for
  hostages, and collecting protection money from
  businesses.

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September 11th 2001 The Turn of a New Era?

• The terrorist attacks against the United States
  on September 11th 2001 (shortly known as 9/11)
  clearly marked a new era in the security
  perceptions of the countries and led to a global
  war against terrorism.
• After 9/11, the American foreign policy was
  re-defined and to fight against terrorism at the
  global scale, the concept of Bush Doctrine
  emerged which was mainly dominated by the
  neo-conservative perspective in the US
  administration.
• Especially Afghanistan and Iraq have been the two
  main battle grounds of the United States
  global war against terrorism.
• So far, the death toll has been very high in
  these countries and they both seem to be
  unfinished stories.

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• Al Qaeda, founder Osama Bin Laden
• Restoration of the former greatness of Islam
• Defense of oppressed Muslims and defeat of the
  theological enemies of Islam
• Absolute religious devotion
• Global economic conspiracy theory that links to
  international poverty and suffering
• Rejection of secular materialism

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• Current wave of terrorist violence uses religious
  justification to legitimize the killings on
  non-combatants
• Global jihad a reaction to the perceived
  oppression of Muslims worldwide and spiritual
  bankruptcy of the West.
• Religion powerful element of terrorism but
  ultimate purpose is the seizing the control of
  state!!!

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Discussion Questions

• Can the war against global terrorism be won?
• Can terrorism be completely eliminated? If yes,
  how? If no, why not?
• Can terrorism ever be justified?
• What are the political, socio-economic and
  cultural reasons feeding global terrorism?