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Counter-terrorism
revisited
By B Raman
To mark the first anniversary
of the spectacular terrorist strikes in Madrid
by jihadi terrorists with definite sympathy
for al-Qaeda, even if not satisfactorily proven links to
it, the city is hosting what has been projected
as an international summit on democracy,
terrorism and security from this Tuesday to Thursday to discuss, inter
alia, the causes and the underlying factors of
terrorism, methods of confronting it and the
democratic responses available for confronting it.
It is widely accepted that the
participation of Spanish troops in the US-led
coalition, which invaded and occupied Iraq in
2003, triggered the terrorist strikes in Madrid
last year. So long as the widespread anger in the
Arab world over the continued US-led occupation of
Iraq continues, the world is unlikely to see any
respite from jihadi terrorism of the kind inspired
by the likes of Osama bin Laden, his No 2 Ayman
al-Zawahiri, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of
al-Qaeda in Iraq, which calls itself the al-Qaeda
in Mesopotamia.
In its "war against
terrorism", the US is following a three-pronged
operational strategy based on strengthened
physical security to deny major successes to the
terrorists, whether in the US itself or elsewhere;
a high level of military pressure with no holds
barred on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq in
order to bring about a non-reversible decimation
of the rank and file of the terrorists; and
third, to keep up its hunt for bin Laden and
al-Zarqawi.
An apparent premise underlying
the US strategy, which may or may not be proved
correct, is that the capture or physical
elimination of these two leaders would accelerate
the achievement of the other two objectives. Many,
including this writer, do not subscribe to this
view. They hold that the elimination from
leadership of these two may cause a temporary
setback to the terrorists, but not an irreversible
one. Arab anger over the US-led occupation of Iraq
would continue to fuel jihadi terrorism,
definitely in the Arab world and, most probably,
in the rest of the world too, even in the absence
of these leaders.
Conventional wisdom that
progress toward finding a solution to the
Palestine problem and the introduction of
democracy in the Muslim world would set in motion
the withering away of jihadi terrorism is unlikely
to be proved right. Possibly, if a solution had
been found to the Palestine problem before the
US-led invasion of Iraq, that might have had a
decisive impact on the "war against terrorism".
For the new breed of jihadi terrorists
volunteering for suicide missions in Iraq in
increasing numbers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Jordan, Syria, Yemen and other Muslim countries,
the objective is no longer freedom for the
Palestinian people, but to avenge the humiliation
inflicted on a proud Arab people and the
desecration of their culture by the US-led
coalition.
If democracy combined with
military pressure can turn the tide against jihadi
terrorism, how can one explain the increasing
number of Kuwaitis volunteering for suicide
missions in Iraq? Everybody admits that of all the
countries in this region, Kuwait has registered
the greatest progress on the road to democracy and
modernization. And yet its perceived democratic
progress has not been able to prevent the
emergence of a growing number of pro-al-Qaeda
cells in its territory and their success in
recruiting volunteers for suicide missions in
Iraq.
The root cause of the continuing
jihadi terrorism is no longer just any territorial
issue, such as an independent Palestine, but it is
the widely perceived humiliation of the Muslims in
general and the Arabs in particular by the US-led
coalition in the name of the "war against
terrorism". The counter-terrorism techniques
followed by the US, with its heavy reliance on the
air force and heavy armor, which have been killing
more civilians than terrorists, have become the
real root cause of terrorism, relegating Palestine
and other issues to the background.
India
and other countries that have been fighting jihadi
terrorism for many years even before September
11, 2001, always keep in mind the fact that
many of the terrorists are their own nationals.
When one is fighting against one's own nationals
in one's own territory, one observes considerable
restraint in the techniques and arms used. Even
though thousands of Indians have been killed by
jihadi terrorists since 1989, when terrorism broke
out in Jammu and Kashmir, India has never used its
air force and heavy armor against the terrorists,
choosing to fight them mainly with small arms and
ammunition, even at the risk of its security
forces incurring heavy casualties in the process.
As against this, the US is fighting
its "war against terrorism" in foreign territories
and against foreign nationals - mainly Muslims,
and Arabs in particular. The kind of restraint
one would normally follow in one's own territory
and against one's own people is not followed in
foreign territories against foreign people of a
different culture.
Unfortunately, there is
no realization either in the policymaking circles
or in the circle of non-governmental
counter-terrorism experts in the US that what
fuels jihadi terrorism more and more is no longer
any of the traditional issues, such as Palestine,
but the widespread anger caused by the US.
There has been a plethora of analyses
since September 11 on various aspects of
terrorism, but there has been very little
introspection on the counter-terrorism techniques
followed by the US since September 11. What one
needs is a little less beaten-track analysis and a
little more introspection. If the Madrid summit
paves the way for such introspection, it will
contribute greatly to the campaign against
terrorism.
B Raman is additional
secretary (retired), cabinet secretariat,
government of India, and currently director,
Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, and
distinguished fellow and convener, Observer
Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter. E-mail:
itschen36@gmail.com.
(Copyright B Raman, 2005) |
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