NCJ Number
56209
Date Published
1979
Length
19 pages
Annotation
SEVERAL WIDELY ACCEPTED MYTHS REGARDING THE SOURCE, AIM, AND PROVINCE OF POLITICAL TERRORISM ARE EXAMINED, ALONG WITH THE PERSISTENT REALITIES OF THE PURPOSES AND PROCESSES OF TERRORISM IN ITS CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION.
Abstract
CHIEF AMONG THE COMMUNITY HELD BELIEFS ABOUT TERRORISM ARE THAT IT IS THE EXCLUSIVE TACTIC OF ANTIGOVERNMENTAL FORCES, THAT GOVERNMENTS ALWAYS OPPOSE NONGOVERNMENTAL TERRORISM, AND THAT TERRORISM IS EXCLUSIVELY A PROBLEM RELATING TO INTERNAL POLITICAL CONDITIONS. DATING FROM THE JACOBIN AND THERMIDORIAN REGIMES OF FRANCE, GOVERNMENTS HAVE RESORTED TO THE SYSTEMATIC USE OF VIOLENCE AND TERROR TO CONTROL A SELECTED POPULATION, AND EVEN WHEN A GOVERNMENT ITSELF CHOOSES TO REFRAIN FROM ACTUAL PARTICIPATION IN A TERRORISTIC INITIATIVE, IT CAN TACITLY SUPPORT TERROR BY NOT CONTRAVENING THE ACTIONS OF GROUPS OPERATING WITHIN ITS BORDERS--THE DEATH SQUADS IN BOTH BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA, FOR EXAMPLE. TERROR TACTICS ARE NOT ALWAYS AN INTERNAL RESPONSE TO AN INTERNAL SITUATION: LIBYA HAS VARIOUSLY SUPPORTED THE IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY, THE BAADER-MEINHOF GANG, AND FACTIONS OF THE PALESTINIAN LIBERATION ORGANIZATION, JUST AS THE ISRAELIS HAVE ARRANGED ASSASSINATIONS ABROAD THROUGH MOSSAD, AND THE AMERICANS HAVE PURSUED 'COERCIVE DIPLOMACY' THROUGH THE ACTIONS OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY AND THE INTENSIVE BOMBINGS OF CIVIL CENTERS IN NORTH VIETNAM AND JAPAN. OTHER MYTHS ARE THAT THE AIM OF TERRORISM IS SOCIAL CHAOS, THAT IT IS THE PROVINCE OF MADMEN, AND THAT IT IS ALWAYS CRIMINAL IN NATURE. HISTORY HAS SHOWN THAT TERROR HAS MOST OFTEN BEEN USED BY GOVERNMENTS, NOT TO CREATE DISORDER, BUT RATHER TO IMPOSE STRICT CONTROL. SOME GOVERNMENT AND NONGOVERNMENT TERRORISTS WERE AND ARE MADMEN, ALTHOUGH MOST REMAIN MOTIVATED BY RELATIVELY LOGICAL, THOUGH MISGUIDED, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL GOALS. THUS DISMISSING ALL TERRORISTS AS ORDINARY CRIMINALS IS NARROW-MINDED AND MAY HAMPER EFFORTS TO COMBAT TERRORISM. OTHER COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERN INSURGENT VIOLENCE IN POLITICAL TERRORISM AND THE VIEW THAT TERRORISM, AS A STRATEGY, IS FUTILE. THE INSURGENT REVOLUTIONS OF CASTRO IN CUBA AND OF THE VIET CONG IN VIETNAM WERE, LIKE SIMILAR MOVEMENTS ELSEWHERE, NONTERRORISTIC IN ORIENTATION IN THAT THEY TENDED NOT TO TERRORIZE THEIR OWN POPULATIONS. RECENT HISTORY ALSO SHOWS THAT TERROR TACTICS HAVE THEIR REWARDS, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE MEDIA ATTENTION SPECIFIC ACTS RECEIVE FOR THE CAUSES CHAMPIONED BY TERROR GROUPS. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (KBL)