The War on Terror
“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Fear is a four-letter word that could either imply anticipation of pain or an impending loss. Either ways it corroborates the fact that something important belong to each one of that makes us vulnerable, yet keeps us going. For this reason, fear has found persistent use in coercion since time immemorial. Terrorism also takes root from this vulnerability of man and uses it as a tool to achieve its objectives. It is now time to organize ourselves in a similar manner and use the same tool against it, to nip terrorism in the bud.
To counter anything is to completely understand its skeleton, trace its roots and figure out its temperament. The word terrorism found its first use in the 1700’s around the French Revolution, when Roberspierre instigated a ‘Reign of terror’. His beliefs lay the foundation for an ideology that violence could foster a new system. Asian history however has been acquainted with something similar, given its long relationship with dynasties and warfare. However, what stops from aligning this kind of terrorism with what we have today is the presence of organized war disciple and the objective of bringing eventual political and administrative stability that such activities operated with. The use of fear to achieve vested interests is also not a new concept and takes root in oppression and dictatorship in the world war years. Even in the colonial phase, ‘revolutionary terrorism’ was associated with a call for independence and freedom. Historically thus, terrorism has either remained a tool for maintain status quo or an
agent of change.
The new phase of terrorism however, can be said to have begun in the 1990’s when an odd mixture of religious extremism, contempt for existing Arab regimes and hostility towards US dominance took shape as an organized institution of recruitment, training and terror. Groups like Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah flourished and brought in a new phase of terrorism that inspired widespread militant extremism. This kind of terrorism made us of fear as a tool of coercion in a more lethal manner, given its complex structure. It amalgamated itself into an institution setup that is difficult to define, depends on attacking civilians, runs on naïve beliefs and most importantly, has a tendency to become endemic to any region.
Terrorism today has spread so wide and has been ingrained so deep into the system that it has been used to endanger national sovereignty time and again to maintain global political and economic supremacies. It is characterized by rise in transnational actors with no ostentatious state sponsors, increased sectarianism, asymmetric war disciple directed at civilians and most importantly, widespread diffusion of psychological warfare. Also, the rise of ISIS as a call for Muslim identity, its dubious sources of funding, and its strong recruitment channels reflect upon the rise in involvement of non-state actors. Similarly, the fact that Lashkar-e- Toba, Taliban, Boko Haram,Tehreik-i- Taliban,Hezbollah,Al-shabaab,Hamas and other such organizations continue to exist and recruit despite difference in states ideologies implies the presence of strong parallel international institutions that depend on and thrive on such organizations for their sustenance.
The case for an early war on terror becomes strong taking into account the business of terrorism that has taken root into the system. The reason why terrorism refuses to die and makes surgical strikes imperative is because it supports a trillion dollar money laundering trade, a billion dollar arms trade, a billion dollar drug trade and a billion dollar sex trade across the globe. It not only infuses psychological warfare but also gives shoulder to well-structured illegal markets that flourish under the tutelage of individuals with vested interests. Terrorism today is not merely a tool for dissent, but is also a mode of influencing policy changes across nations, realizing capitalist interest and sustaining parallel economies.
To counter terrorism, it is imperative to initiate an outright warfare on the fabric that holds it together. Removing access to resources is the first step. Striking the safe havens and training grounds, attacking the human resource chain and stopping financial aid are the basic pre-requisites towards such an effort. Military strikes, intelligence inputs, strong cyber laws and more multilateral income and tax agreements are imperative to achieve these. An international call for political stability in the Middle East and other such routes of international trade will help regulate the illegal arms trade that helms global terrorism. Finally, strengthening international bodies like the United Nations and instilling a faith of all international players in the efficacy of such bodies is important to accelerate the process.
The need of the hour thus, is to break the interlinking channels that terrorism thrives on by breaking the supply chain of human resource through provision of education and employment and making alternate institutions more lucrative, destabilizing safe havens through surgical strikes and deterring reorganization by instilling fear and making terrorism an unviable option. If yesterday was marred by the terror of war, then today must be furbished with a war on terror.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Fear is a four-letter word that could either imply anticipation of pain or an impending loss. Either ways it corroborates the fact that something important belong to each one of that makes us vulnerable, yet keeps us going. For this reason, fear has found persistent use in coercion since time immemorial. Terrorism also takes root from this vulnerability of man and uses it as a tool to achieve its objectives. It is now time to organize ourselves in a similar manner and use the same tool against it, to nip terrorism in the bud.
To counter anything is to completely understand its skeleton, trace its roots and figure out its temperament. The word terrorism found its first use in the 1700’s around the French Revolution, when Roberspierre instigated a ‘Reign of terror’. His beliefs lay the foundation for an ideology that violence could foster a new system. Asian history however has been acquainted with something similar, given its long relationship with dynasties and warfare. However, what stops from aligning this kind of terrorism with what we have today is the presence of organized war disciple and the objective of bringing eventual political and administrative stability that such activities operated with. The use of fear to achieve vested interests is also not a new concept and takes root in oppression and dictatorship in the world war years. Even in the colonial phase, ‘revolutionary terrorism’ was associated with a call for independence and freedom. Historically thus, terrorism has either remained a tool for maintain status quo or an
agent of change.
The new phase of terrorism however, can be said to have begun in the 1990’s when an odd mixture of religious extremism, contempt for existing Arab regimes and hostility towards US dominance took shape as an organized institution of recruitment, training and terror. Groups like Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah flourished and brought in a new phase of terrorism that inspired widespread militant extremism. This kind of terrorism made us of fear as a tool of coercion in a more lethal manner, given its complex structure. It amalgamated itself into an institution setup that is difficult to define, depends on attacking civilians, runs on naïve beliefs and most importantly, has a tendency to become endemic to any region.
Terrorism today has spread so wide and has been ingrained so deep into the system that it has been used to endanger national sovereignty time and again to maintain global political and economic supremacies. It is characterized by rise in transnational actors with no ostentatious state sponsors, increased sectarianism, asymmetric war disciple directed at civilians and most importantly, widespread diffusion of psychological warfare. Also, the rise of ISIS as a call for Muslim identity, its dubious sources of funding, and its strong recruitment channels reflect upon the rise in involvement of non-state actors. Similarly, the fact that Lashkar-e- Toba, Taliban, Boko Haram,Tehreik-i- Taliban,Hezbollah,Al-shabaab,Hamas and other such organizations continue to exist and recruit despite difference in states ideologies implies the presence of strong parallel international institutions that depend on and thrive on such organizations for their sustenance.
The case for an early war on terror becomes strong taking into account the business of terrorism that has taken root into the system. The reason why terrorism refuses to die and makes surgical strikes imperative is because it supports a trillion dollar money laundering trade, a billion dollar arms trade, a billion dollar drug trade and a billion dollar sex trade across the globe. It not only infuses psychological warfare but also gives shoulder to well-structured illegal markets that flourish under the tutelage of individuals with vested interests. Terrorism today is not merely a tool for dissent, but is also a mode of influencing policy changes across nations, realizing capitalist interest and sustaining parallel economies.
To counter terrorism, it is imperative to initiate an outright warfare on the fabric that holds it together. Removing access to resources is the first step. Striking the safe havens and training grounds, attacking the human resource chain and stopping financial aid are the basic pre-requisites towards such an effort. Military strikes, intelligence inputs, strong cyber laws and more multilateral income and tax agreements are imperative to achieve these. An international call for political stability in the Middle East and other such routes of international trade will help regulate the illegal arms trade that helms global terrorism. Finally, strengthening international bodies like the United Nations and instilling a faith of all international players in the efficacy of such bodies is important to accelerate the process.
The need of the hour thus, is to break the interlinking channels that terrorism thrives on by breaking the supply chain of human resource through provision of education and employment and making alternate institutions more lucrative, destabilizing safe havens through surgical strikes and deterring reorganization by instilling fear and making terrorism an unviable option. If yesterday was marred by the terror of war, then today must be furbished with a war on terror.
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