National Strategy Of Combating Terrorism

Combating Terrorism Steve Elsey April 13, 2011 POLS 3100

Fighting terrorism has always been more than a physical confrontation; it also is a battle of ideas. Al Qaeda, for instance, has stated that “Hostility toward America is a religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. To call us Enemy No. 1 or 2 does not hurt us. Osama bin Laden is confident that the Islamic nation will carry out its duty. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so­called superpower that is America.”(Osama bin Laden: Conversation with Terror) We cannot do anything to stop terrorism all together, there will always be radicals, but we can try to minimize their effects.
We will always have to respond to terrorist attacks like we have in the past, by retaliating against the persons responsible, but there is a better long term solution for how we can combat terror.
The war on terror has always been a war on ideals, and we need to help push the ideals that contradict those terrorists operations. “Ideas can transform the embittered and disillusioned either into murderers willing to kill innocents, or into free peoples living harmoniously in a diverse society.” (National Strategy for Combating Terrorism) We can obtain a world with minimized terror by creating a global environment that is inhospitable to violent extremists and those who support them. One of the terrorist main ways on spreading terror is through the media. We would be best to counter in the media as well. "Our enemies have skillfully adapted to fighting wars in today's media age, but for the most part we, our country, our government, has not," Rumsfeld said in remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He said that while the al Qaeda
terrorist network and other "extremist" movements "have successfully . . . poisoned the Muslim public's view of the West, we in the government have barely even begun to compete in reaching their audiences." (Tyson) Terrorists need publicity. Without

the publicity, they are unable to further their plans. “From a terrorist perspective, an unedited interview with a major figure is a treasured prize, such as the May 1997 CNN interview with Saudi dissident, terrorist recruiter and financier Osama Bin Laden. For news networks, access to a terrorist is a hot story and is usually treated as such” (Perl). Rumsfeild has said that “to remedy this, he called for increased communications training for military public affairs officials by drawing on private­sector expertise, noting that public affairs jobs in the military have not been "career enhancing." He also called for creating 24­hour media operations centers and "multifaceted media campaigns" using the Internet, blogs and satellite television that "will result in much less reliance on the traditional print press."(Tyson) “Terrorist organizations seek media coverage that causes damage to their enemy. This is particularly noticeable when the perpetrators of the act and the rationale for their act remain unclear. They want the media to amplify panic, to spread fear, to facilitate economic loss (like scaring away investment and tourism), to make populations lose faith in their governments' ability to protect them, and to trigger government and popular overreaction to specific incidents and the overall threat of terrorism.”(Perl) There has been much criticism of the government for hampering such media. Rumsfeild has criticized the media for requiring perfection out of government and military spokespersons, while not requiring the same of “to the enemy or even sometimes to themselves”.(Tyson) The terrorists seem to get easier media coverage than the

governments or persons trying to thwart their movement. Governments want media coverage to counter the coverage the terrorists get. “They want coverage to advance their agenda and not that of the terrorist. From their perspective, the media should support

government courses of action when operations are under way and disseminate government provided information when requested.
This includes understanding of policy objectives, or at least a balanced presentation, e.g., why governments may seek to mediate, yet not give in to terrorist demands.”(Perl) The group that has the most influence on the media is the one that tends to have the beliefs of the people. If the terrorists are able to fill the media with their attacks and their plans, the population will begin to believe that the terrorists are everywhere and that they are in need of help that their government doesn’t provide. If the government can effectively portray their plans through the media, they can calm the terror that feeds the terrorists. The mass media is not the only way that terrorists can recruit and harm though. “Increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet and media has enabled our terrorist enemies to communicate, recruit, train, rally support, proselytize, and spread their propaganda without risking personal contact.”(National Strategy for Combating Terrorism) In Egypt, “Activists have used Facebook, Twitter and other social media to rally supporters online, co­ordinate protests and share tips on how to dodge arrest and deal with teargas”( Egypt internet users report major network disruptions) Terrorists are able to use the
same basic tactics to approach and recruit new followers. This also is the cause of one of the major problems we have with terrorist groups today. “Terrorist networks today are more dispersed and less centralized. They are more reliant on smaller cells inspired by a common ideology and less directed by a central command structure.”(National Strategy for Combating Terrorism) If the terrorists are able to push their ideologies and common purpose on others from over the web, then the government should also start to produce

such campaigns to promote their own views and ideas. If we can educate the world population about all of the things going on, we may be less prone to large terrorist attacks. One of the things that must be done to give us the ability to promote our cause the way the terrorists promote theirs is for us to help promote strong governments that are supported by the people. Many of these people join terrorist groups because they do not believe in the current government or policies. They feel alienated and like the only way to rectify the wrongs of their government are to join a group to fight it. They feel a companionship with others in their religion usually and decide to join together. “To day, however, religious belief, and especially a certain interpretation of the Muslim religion, has come to dominate the motives of suicide terrorists, even when religious aspirations do not govern the organizations that recruit them. Some Middle Eastern terrorist groups, such as Fatah, are secular, and some people join even fundamentalist terrorist organizations for non­religious reasons.” (Wilson) If we promoted governments and kept good relations with countries citizens, would that be enough to combat a good majority of terrorism? If the majority of the people that engage in terrorist acts are seeking some sort of political change, then it would appear that is the best way to help stop the terrorist ideologies from spreading. Most of the well known terrorists are not poverty­stricken, which is what several people seem to believe is the motivation for promoting such acts. “Krueger and Maleckova compared terrorist incidents in the Middle East with changes in the gross domestic product of the region and found that the number of such incidents per year increased as economic conditions improved. On the eve of the intifada that began in 2000, the unemployment rate among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was falling, and the Palestinians thought that

economic conditions were improving. The same economic conditions existed at the time of the 1988 intifada. Terror did not spread as the economy got worse but as it got better ….. Terrorism has not corresponded to high levels of repression or social injustice or high rates of ordinary crime” (Wilson) There was a terrorist, Omar Rezaq, who skyjacked an airliner and killed five passengers, two of them women, before an Egyptian rescue team captured him. The man was not one that was radical, insane, or in some other way different from a normal person. He was “instead a thoroughly calm, professional man, who, after a happy childhood devoid of poverty, had moved with his mother to a refugee camp following the 1967 Arab­Israeli war. At school he encountered a radical Palestinian teacher (and PLO member) who imbued him with a hatred of Israel and helped him join a camp where, at age 12, he began receiving military training. From there he went to a technical school sponsored by the United Nations. After being drafted into the Jordanian army, Rezaq deserted and joined Fatah, where he learned about Zionism and got more military training. He was sent on military missions against Israel, but periods of inactivity made him discontented. In time, searching for a stronger commitment, he joined Abu Nidal.” (Wilson). The terrorists do not seem to be people that are necessarily troubled individuals, but those who were taught an ideal that has grown imbedded in their own self. It seems impossible to combat terrorism without first combating this issue. So it seems the best way to combat terrorism is to win the minds of the general public. It is impossible to do while we have negative relations with their government or their people. Although it is impossible to satisfy every person, and that there will be some terrorists that still exist. The best thing to do would be to promote a solid

government and a good media campaign to portray such groups in a negative light. If they no longer have a country that they can seek refuge in, because such places would be inhospitable to such extreme behaviors, then it would make the whole operation much less effective. We need to promote governments that “honor and uphold basic human rights, including freedom of religion, conscience, speech, assembly, association, and press”.( National Strategy for Combating Terrorism) Doing this will allow us to freely communicate with the general public and hopefully minimize the effects that terrorists have on those people looking for help. “Terrorists recruit more effectively from populations whose information about the world is contaminated by falsehoods and corrupted by conspiracy theories. The distortions keep alive grievances and filter out facts that would challenge popular prejudices and self­serving propaganda.”(Nation Strategy for Combating Terrorism) We must be able to counter the media war that terrorists engage in, and to do that we must be able to promote strong governments throughout the world that are willing to listen to their people.

Sources “Egypt internet users report major network disruptions”. TVNZ. 28 January 2011. < http://tvnz.co.nz/technology­news/egypt­internet­users­report­major­network­disruptions­40 08917> “National Strategy for Combating Terrorism”. CBSNews. September 2006. <

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/NSCT0906.pdf> “Osama bin Laden: Conversation with Terror”. Time. 11 January 1999. < http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989958­1,00.html> Perl, Rafael F. “TERRORISM, THE MEDIA, AND THE GOVERNMENT: PERSPECTIVES, TRENDS, AND OPTIONS FOR POLICYMAKERS”. CRS Issue Brief. 27 October 1997. < http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/crs­terror.htm> Tyson, Ann Scott. “Rumsfeild Urges Using Media to Fight Terror”. Washington Post. 18 February 2006. <

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp­dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701980.ht ml> Wilson, James Q. “What makes a terrorist?” City Journal. Winter 2004. < http://www.city­journal.org/html/14_1_what_makes_a_terrorist.html>