Case Studies in Terrorism, Research Paper Example

Abstract

The aim of the current analysis is to evaluate the extent, to which modern terrorists are devoid of human emotions of pity and remorse. The Irish Republican Army, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and Dev Sol are used as the three examples of terrorism. The concepts of nationalistic, religious, and ideological terrorism are discussed. The causes of terrorism are evaluated. The paper shows the absence of emotions as the basic prerequisite for terrorist success.

Introduction

When terrorism and terrorist attacks turned into one of the major threats to the humanity, the study of personal traits of terrorists has become one of the most interesting and most challenging aspects of criminology. Preventing terrorist attacks is impossible without trying to understand who terrorists are, what moves them, and what goals they want to achieve through violence. Ideology, religion, and nationalism are just three out of many possible justifications of terrorism. Hundreds of terrorist groups have already understood that public support cannot suffice to make their ideological/ religious/ nationalist needs satisfied; and violence often appears a more effective tool of protecting and promoting their position. A successful terrorist is expected to be naturally devoid of human emotions, to have no pity and no remorse. This paper will use the three examples of The Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/ Front (or Dev Sol) to prove or refute this assumption. This paper will assume that a successful terrorist is not completely devoid of emotions of pity and remorse; rather, he uniquely combines a sense of pity and sympathy toward the goals and objectives of his organization and activity, and the lack of compassion and remorse about those, who are unwilling to comply with the requirements and to follow the beliefs of the terrorist minority.

The IRA, the LRA, and Dev Sol

Nationalistic terrorism is defined as “an outgrowth of an unwavering devotion and loyalty to a specific group that believes they have been suppressed, treated unfairly, or persecuted by the ruling majority of the country in which they live” (Pruthi 2002, p. 104). In the context of contemporary history, the Irish Republican Army is often considered as the brightest representative of nationalistic terrorism. The IRA was formed in 1969 as a political wing of Sinn Fein movement, and later grew into a militarized movement for the unification of Ireland. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the IRA has been involved in numerous acts of terrorist violence, the most characteristic of which included assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, and robberies (Pike, 2005). Northern Ireland and Great Britain were the most frequent targets of the IRA, and external aid was a reliable source of finances, arms, and other related materials (Pike, 2005). The Brighton Hotel Bombing became one of the brightest and the most dangerous acts of IRA violence – the bomb planted in the hotel on 12 October 1984 had to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Pike, 2005). The bomb detonated in Thatcher’s hotel room while she was working on her conference speech; although she and her husband were lucky to escape injuries, the room itself was heavily damaged. Moreover, the bombing caused five casualties, including Conservative MP and the wife of the Parliamentary Treasury Secretary (BBC, 1984; Campbell, 2003). Several individuals were left permanently disabled, while thirty four people were injured and later fully recovered (Campbell, 2003).

The list of forces that drive terrorists is not limited to nationalism. Religion has already turned into a convenient justification of terrorist activity. The multiplicity of religions and a complex network of religious organizations make it difficult to resolve all religious conflicts, but there is a number of organizations which have spent years trying to establish themselves in the criminal world. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) operates in the northern part of Sudan and is well-known for numerous abuses, atrocities, civilian murders, rapes, and maiming (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Large numbers of civilians were caught and trained as guerrillas, including children. The end of 2009 was marked with the increasing activity in the LRA: “dozens of people were killed in a remote corner of Central African Republic when Ugandan rebels attacked villagers but were then ambushed by Ugandan soldiers” (Ngoupana, 2009). More than 40 armed LRA terrorists attacked the village from three directions, followed by carnage and mass violence (Ngoupana, 2009). These are the most common forms of violence used by the LRA throughout its history, but the distinctive feature of the LRA’s activity is in attacking and capturing children, who are trained and turned into guerrillas against their will.

Terrorism and violence go hand in hand. Ideological terrorism is just another form of violence and implies that small groups use terrorism for the purpose of imposing their political ideas and beliefs on others (Pruthi, 2002). Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/ Front (or Dev Sol) was established in 1978 and is currently regarded as one of the most formidable regional ideological terrorist groups in Turkey. Dev Sol targets American citizens and American interests on the Turkish territory. It is a leftist organization that opposes to the American imperialism, the proliferation of NATO, and the U.S. War on Terrorism; its attacks are focused on the national security and military objects in Turkey (Katagiri, 2002). Although the majority of the organization’s leaders now reside in Europe, the organization is still increasingly active – in 2001 alone, Dev Sol detonated a bomb in Istanbul, injuring ten people; conducted suicide bombing at Sisli District Security Directorate, killing two and injuring one person; attacked a police car killing two people; and conducted another suicide bombing near German Consulate in Istanbul killing four people (Katagiri, 2002). Military officials are the most frequent targets of Dev Sol, although civilians often become the innocent victims of leftist terrorism in Turkey. Unfortunately, terrorism is often the ultimate and the most visible form of self-expression, and the true causes of terrorist violence remain beyond the limits of public understanding.

The IRA, the LRA, and Dev Sol – Insensitivity and the Real Causes of Terrorism

Political, ideological, and religious conflicts are the most frequent causes of terrorism, and understanding the reasons of terrorist insensibility is impossible without trying to evaluate the drivers and forces that stand behind terrorist violence. The history of the IRA’s terrorist intentions dates back to the beginning of the 20^th century, when Ireland was under the military and political pressure of Great Britain, and when its autonomy was threatened (Campbell, 2003). The attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher was just one out of many challenging acts that had to make IRA’s convictions and beliefs known to the public. In response to that violent act, the IRA said: “Mrs. Thatcher will now realize that Britain cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always” (Campbell, 2003). Such response obviously signifies the lack of pity or remorse toward the victims of the failed assassination – what makes the IRA terrorists concerned is the fact that Thatcher was not even injured during the incident. Sometimes, however, the reasons and the causes of terrorist violence are difficult to comprehend; and it is even more difficult to justify numerous casualties caused by a terrorist organization’s desire to prove the relevance of its religious/ ideological/ nationalist views.

This is exactly the case of the Lord’s Resistance Army, the history of which goes back to the times when the traditions of the Ancholi people came into the conflict with the interests of the deeply ethnic groups of southern Uganda (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Under British colonialism, imperial authorities used to hire residents from southern Uganda, thus creating an even greater social and economic cleavage between Ugandan south and north; ethnic violence further complicated the economic disparity between the two parts of the country (Human Rights Watch, 1997). In search for political and religious dominance and trying to prove their religious superiority, the Lord’s Resistance Army regularly attacks villages and people. The recent incident in Uganda was only one in a row of violent attacks in Gulu and Kitgum – the two most active and most dangerous battle zones (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Unable to combat well-equipped and armed government forces, the LRA targets civilians, burning their schools, destroying their fields, and displacing thousands of innocent people. However, the more tragic is the attitude, which the LRA holds toward children. The latter are the most frequent victims of the LRA: instead of murdering them, the army captures them and turns them into guerrillas, and only a few were lucky to escape the imprisonment (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Obviously, the LRA does realize the potential, which well-trained children have for becoming excellent warriors, even if such training is imposed on them against their will. More often than not, the LRA attacks villages in small bands and children are tied up and must carry looted goods (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Many of them, because of long marshes, develop swollen feet and are heavily beaten for little or no reason (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Children are constantly hungry; those who cannot catch up with the group are killed, and the rest are made to participate in beating and murdering other captives (Human Rights Watch, 1997). To those who survive and actively participate in murdering and beating, the LRA turns into the second home.

Everything is different with Dev Sol. The organization was created to target non-Turkish security establishments and units on the Turkish territory as a matter of expressing its leftist anti-imperialist views. Throughout its history, “Dev Sol has carried out predominantly assassinations and bombings of unprotected targets. It has focused its attacks on members of the security forces, especially those who are involved in anti-terrorist operations” (Alexander & Pluchinsky 1992, p. 232). That Turkey always sought to support the U.S. in its security and anti-terrorist operations all over the world became one of the determining factors in the creation of such organization. Such support for Dev Sol looks like an imminent threat to Turkish democratization, and terrorist acts were probably considered as the best means to minimize and prevent this threat. Surprisingly or not, but Dev Sol rarely considered its activity as terrorist; rather, Devrimci Sol leaders viewed themselves as revolutionaries, which could not and did not have to accept the existing system of political views in Turkey (Alexander & Pluchinsky, 1992). The terrorist acts of 2001 that were described in this paper were a natural extension of this revolutionary fight against American imperialism in Turkey. In 1988, Dursan Karatas, leading member of Dev Sol, expressed the view that the public considered Dev Sol as terrorist only because of the lack of appropriate information in media: “if terrorism means gaining power through armed struggle in a country like ours, then we are terrorists. If terrorism means resisting armed struggle the Hitlerian fascists who attack all parts of the working population, protecting the masses, freeing their living space of fascist occupation, then we are terrorists” (Alexander & Pluchinsky 1992, p. 244). Does that mean that for all these organizations to be a success, terrorists and their leaders should have no human feelings, no pity, and no remorse about their actions?

A Successful Terrorist: No Human Feelings, No Pity, and No Remorse

A modern terrorist is believed to have no human feelings. The success of terrorist attacks is believed to depend on how well a terrorist is able to control and zero his emotions: according to Edgar O’Ballance (1979), a modern terrorist is well-educated, possesses a fairly high level of intelligence, and is devoid of human emotions of pity and remorse. Pruthi (2002) goes further, writing that “a modern terrorist learns to be, steal, betray, kill, dissemble and cynically manipulate others for furtherance of his political violence movement. […] They do no listen to reason and will show no pity and no remorse” (p. 110). However, although the lack of human feelings of pity and remorse can be useful and even critical for the success of terrorist activity, not always are terrorists as inhumane and as indifferent as the criminal justice studies may seek to describe them. In reality, the level of morality and remorse among different terrorist groups differs.

The lack of pity and remorse in terrorism is the necessary precondition for the success of the major terrorist attacks – the lack of human feelings and emotions makes is easier for terrorists to identify the most vulnerable targets, to identify and use security gaps, to learn the actions and habits of the potential victims, and to target them as a part of their broader ideological, nationalistic, or religious strategies. Terrorists never act in a hurry but wait for the most convenient victim to appear (Pruthi, 2002). Patrick Magee as the one who had to carry out the terrorist explosion and to assassinate Margaret Thatcher, stayed in Brighton Hotel under a false name twenty-four days before the terrorist attack with the purpose to plant the bomb in room 629 (Campbell, 2003). Obviously, he needed much inhuman coldness and reason to carry out his mission successfully, and even after being sentenced to eight life sentences and at being released after fourteen years, Magee did not change his opinions and stood by what he had done in 1984 (Campbell, 2003). The coldness and inhuman nature of terrorists goes even further, taking into account the immorality and the absence of guilt in the violent actions of the LRA and the emphasis made on capturing and training children for its religious purposes.

In case of the LRA, the lack of pity and remorse goes beyond the reasonable boundaries and reaches the extent, which turns children into the major targets of terrorists. The LRA was able to identify and to use the most vulnerable target – children, using them as their servants, their captives, and later, as their guerrillas (Human Rights Watch, 1997). Achieving these goals and objectives for LRA would have been impossible, if not for the absence of emotions of pity and remorse in their actions, and it is very probable that those, who were bound to carry out the mission of capturing and beating children required a greater level of reason, consciousness, and coldness compared to their leaders, who are unlikely to become the direct participants of the LRA’s attacks (Human Rights Watch, 1997).

However, the lack of pity and remorse can be rather selective. Sometimes, terrorists choose the targets that are both convenient and vulnerable, but which also help avoid injuring civilian masses. The example of Dev Sol confirms reason and strategic thinking as the two basic components of their success, and shows that terrorism is possible without causing mass violence and thousands of civilian injuries. That, however, does not secure terrorists from causing mass casualties: the failure of Margaret Thatcher’s assassination by the IRA and numerous terrorist acts by Dev Sol although sought to target officials and security professionals but were often accompanied by numerous injuries and deaths. In these cases, the lack of pity and remorse pursue the two different objectives: first of all, the lack of emotions is critical for the success of choosing and evaluating the most vulnerable targets. Second, the absence of remorse and pity is needed for the terrorist organizations to pursue their terrorist path without thinking too much of possible injuries and deaths, which their actions might have caused among civilians. Although the extent of such insensibility across different terrorist groups differs, and leaders and terrorists still display sympathy and understanding toward their goals and objectives, it is clear that the absence of pity and remorse is the critical component of success in terrorist activity.

The Inhumane Nature of Terrorists and Criminal Justice Studies

The extent, to which terrorists are insensible and are devoid of human emotions, remains the topic of hot debate. A successful terrorist is believed to have absolutely no human feelings, no emotions of either pity remorse, and obviously, such analysis is extremely useful in criminal justice studies. Such analysis is critical in the process of creating a common portrait of a terrorist – well-educated, intelligent, reasonable, and devoid of any human emotions. This analysis shows terrorists as those, who position their ideological and religious objectives over their human feelings. This analysis also shows terrorism as the activity, which zeroes pity and remorse toward those, who are unwilling to conform to the requirements and norms of terrorist organizations.

Conclusion

Ideology, nationalism, and religion are the three most frequent causes of terrorism in the world. The IRA, the LRA, and Dev Sol represent the three different, although not the most radical, forms of terrorism in present day environments. The causes of terrorism are numerous, from the need to promote autonomy and independence up to fighting against American imperialism. A successful terrorist is believed to be devoid of human emotions of pity and remorse. However, the extent of such insensibility differs across organizations – sometimes, terrorists choose to target the most vulnerable victims in ways that avoid causing mass civilian injuries and deaths. Nevertheless, the lack of human emotions is the necessary precondition for the success of the terrorist attacks, because it helps terrorists reasonably evaluate their targets and develop the most effective strategies of violence.

References

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Campbell, J. (2003). Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady. Jonathan Cape.

Human Rights Watch (1997). The scars of death: Children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Human Rights Watch.

Katagiri, N. (2002). In the spotlight: Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/ Front (RPLP/F). Terrorism Project. Retrieved from http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/rplp.cfm

Ngoupana, P.M. (2009). Dozens killed in Ugandan rebel attacks in CAR. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSGEE5AO1UR._CH_.2400

O’Ballance, E. (1979). Language of violence. California: Presidio Press.

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Pruthi, R.K. (2002). An encyclopedic survey of global terrorism in 21^st century. Anmol Publications PVT.