The Mechanics And Politics Of Terrorism: Highly Effective

By Allen J Duffis
Published: July 14, 2005

     In a nutshell, terrorism works; so don’t let any politician tell you otherwise. Forget all of the political platitudes they may spew for public consumption. All of those brave words and expressions of stalwart resolution are of limited value, except to calm the citizenry and bolster national confidence. They have very little if any connection to reality, and reality is the name of the game.

     As the July 7th terror attacks in London England proved, terrorists can strike at any time and place. In our modern world, their scattered forces, at present mainly Islamic, include a large cadre of ‘suicide human bombers’. And they are far more mobile than a military preemptive or defense capability of any nation.

     The situation is analogous to society being an elevator we can protect from any external attack, but are virtually powerless to deter an individual with a bomb strapped to their chest; especially one committed to an afterlife at the completion of his or her deadly task.

     Like cockroaches, you step on and crush one, maybe two, but in the interim others get through. And the cruel lesson history teaches us that time and the odds are on their side – always.

     There are those, of course, who will tell you that such descriptions of terrorism are, to say the least, counterproductive and may even be treasonous. They will insist that such statements amount to no less than an endorsement of the cowardly acts of the suicide bomber.

     Nothing can be farther from the truth, for anyone willing to die for his or her beliefs is not a coward. And as far as terrorism goes, we Americans tend to live in a glass house of our own choosing.

     Many of you many not like the comparison, but think about the following: outnumbered by the well-armed British army, terrorism for the most part is how we formed America.

     When we fought the British for our freedom, we blew up their arms stores, picked off their soldiers one by one, set fire to troop barracks while they slept, you name it we did it in the name of independence. We went after them en masse, only, after we’d bought George Washington enough time to build a standing army.

     The same can be said of the tactics employed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). No one can doubt that this political group was terrorist in nature. Their bloody deeds of bombing and killing, indiscriminately, speak for themselves. Now under a new political name they are part of British Parliament, as members of the 1960’s Front du Liberation de Quebec (FLQ) are now part of its government.

     Nor by any means can we forget the African Mau Mau insurrection of the mid to late 1950's to form a free Kenya. The struggle resulted in one of the most savage terrorist campaigns in the history of the African continent: thousands were slaughtered.

     The organizer and leader of these terrorist "freedom fighters", Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (once listed as a wanted terrorist by the British government), who led the group that castrated men, beheaded children and cut babies from the wombs of their mothers, in the end bacame the country's first president in December of 1964.

     All of which brings to the forefront the most well known terror campaign to archive so-called 'greater aims', namely that of the creation of the state of Israel. The Zionist organization at the core of its formation, worked in close concert with two incredibly savage paramilitary wings: The Lehi Group aka The Stern Gang and The Haganah.

     These groups slaughtered Arab women and children and castrated the males. They assassinated British soldiers, a governor of Palestine, and a Haganah contingent led by Menacham Begin blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people.

     Nevertheless they were adamant about the righteousness of their actions, no matter how bloody, as the founder of the Stern gang, Avraham Stern, made explicitly clear in several quotes:

“Neither Jewish morality nor Jewish tradition can negate the use of terror as a means of battle.”

“But primarily terror is part of our political battle under present conditions and its role is large and great.”

“It demonstrates, in clear language, to those who listen throughout the world and to our despondent brothers outside the gates of this country of our battle against the true terrorist who hides behind his piles of papers (the British governing authority) and the laws he has legislated.”

“It is not directed against people, it is directed against representatives. Therefore it is effective.”

     Indeed, their ‘terrorist’ tactics were so effective, the British pulled out of Palestine, and the Jews were able to carve out a country. Many years later, Menacham Begin, still listed as a terrorist by three countries, became its prime minister. In a “60 Minutes” interview, he proclaimed himself to be a patriot, not a terrorist.

     From all of this it should be clear, those very words of Avraham Stern, as well as the proclamation of misunderstood patriotism by Menacham Begin, could just as well been written and stated by the late Yasser Arafat in defense of his cause.

     It should also be pointed out that the Palestinian people received no political recognition by Israel, until they began to employ suicide bombers, relentlessly. Today, Israel is pulling back from the West Bank and negotiating with a people its leaders for decades declared – didn’t exist.

     Therefore, since we are, unfortunately, heavily engaged in a war that didn’t have to be, we as a nation have to ‘bite the reality bullet’ and do what is necessary to survive. To defend ourselves, we have to employ Counter Terrorism.

      Don't however be misled by cleverly dressed semantics. Counter Terrorism has little if anything to do with handing out candy and toys to the children of an occupied country, or the building of hospitals, schools, and drinking water processing plants. We’re talking nasty business here.

     Counter Terrorism as a force to be effective, has to be applied as ‘Terrorism in Reverse.’ And depending on how it is applied, sometimes this force can be equally as effective as the initial terrorism itself.

     As prime example, we can take the situation of South Koreans who worked with us during the Vietnam conflict. When captured by the Viet Cong, who regarded them as traitorous kin, they were savagely tortured to death. After a time, however, the South Koreans applied a solution of their own to these enemy inflicted atrocities.

     They began by taking the odd captured Viet Cong into the center of villages where they knew the enemy had popular support. Once there, they stripped them naked and, very slowly for all to see and hear, skinned them alive.

     Barbaric though this method may have been, it was incredibly effective. After a few such demonstrations, no captured Korean soldier was ever tortured to death again. As viewed by the professional terrorist, this is the 'New Geneva Conventions' they understand.

     An occupying force and its government has to have the stomach to do what is necessary, or be willing to accept the slow attrition of its forces via morale, combat debilitating injury and death - all 'equally' lethal. Like it or not (and it pains me to say so), the Application of the Applied Science of Reverse Terrorism has become an absolute necessity.

     We as a nation, however, prefer not to call it by its real name, or to be openly associated with what it really is; which can best be described “The Practice of Aggressive Interrogation via the Application of Extreme Physical Discomfort Over a Prolonged Period of Time”, commonly referred to as - Torture.

     Let's face it, distasteful as it may be, under the present circumstances we find ourselves in, we simply have no choice but to, judiciously, employ the hitherto 'unthinkable, to possibly prevent a repeat of the unacceptable - another 9-11'. But we must do so with a high degree of honesty within our own American community, which at the moment is severely lacking.

     There are Internet sites by Conservative columnist Ann Coulter and the Reverend Pat Robertson, supporting convicted and imprisoned abortion clinic bomber, Eric Robert Rudolf, as a Christian legend worthy of praise who should be freed. And there are others who feel the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents, justify executed Oklahoma bomber Timothy Mc Veigh being heralded as a hero.

     Part of biting the ‘reality’ bullet is the recognition that terrorist’s commit terrorist acts. And no exception can be given to so-called good Christians or Jews whose cause may be approved by some on the Right.