Views from Israeli Counter-Terrorism experts.
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Fundamental Premises for Fighting Terrorism
Boaz Ganor
ICT Executive Director
It seems more and more certain that cells of Afghan veterans, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, were behind the horrifying terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. last Tuesday. Today, many Americans are asking themselves what can and should be done in retaliation against the terrorist organizations, their supporters, and the nations that harbor them. Suggested courses of action range from the restrained—a one-time pinpoint strike—to a huge offensive attack against bin Laden’s bases and against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan which shelters him. Such an attack would entail enormous difficulties: from gathering the necessary intelligence to the planning and execution of a large-scale operation in very hostile terrain. But even if the attack succeeds—even if bin Laden is arrested or killed, and his al-Qaida organization dealt a devastating blow—even so, it is likely that nothing will really be solved.
Bin Laden’s operatives and supporters are many, and include the Afghan veterans and their colleagues from other Islamic fundamentalist organizations, from numerous Arab and Moslem states. All of these elements have joined together to form the “International Islamic Front against the Jews and the Crusaders,” an umbrella organization created by bin Laden in order to coordinate their activity. These supporters are not limited to any one country, and cannot be easily identified and neutralized; and they will probably do their outmost to take revenge against America and its allies for any attack on bin Laden. This, of course, is not to say that the United States should refrain from using military measures in order to retaliate against bin Laden and his supporters. But this military operation will not be enough.
The attack in New York and Washington is the beginning of a cultural-religious war: a war between fundamentalist Islam and the rest of the world—both liberal-democratic countries and moderate Arab and Moslem regimes. Bin Laden and his followers regard America as their main enemy because it is America that leads the Western and democratic world, and supports the moderate Arab regimes. Moreover, America is regarded in their eyes as controlling and contaminating the holy places of Islam—particularly those in Saudi-Arabia—through the presence of military personnel there and in other countries in the Persian Gulf since the Gulf war in 1991. America also is condemned by Bin laden for its support of Israel, which he regards as the “arrowhead in the heart of the Islamic world,” which must be rooted out and destroyed.
American president George W. Bush has declared war on the perpetrators of the attacks. And yet, in reality, this war was already declared years ago by Islamic fundamentalist organizations. The attacks of “Black Tuesday” were merely the latest, and most terrible, escalation in this ongoing war. And although Osama bin Laden crossed the Rubicon with these attacks, carrying them out is not, in and of itself, his true goal. Bin Laden sees himself as the leader of the Islamic fundamentalist world. As such, he sees it as his duty to expand by conquest the portion of the world ruled by Islam, until all the world will be under the rule of Sharia (Islamic Law).
The attacks in New York and Washington are therefore no more then a warning to the United States and the Western world—a warning meant to terrorize these countries so much that they will not stand in the way of fundamentalist Islamic organizations as they expand their sphere of control. This warning is very clear: it is a warning of further things to come.
Military retaliation against bin Laden and his supporters is therefore necessary, but not sufficient. Even more important is to establish fundamental premises, which will, once and for all, create the necessary tools for real and effective international cooperation against terrorism. These tools should include a basic moral principle that the deliberate targeting of civilians for the purposes of achieving political aims—in other words, terrorism—is never justified or legitimate, regardless of the goals or grievances of the perpetrators. This principle must be enshrined in international legislation and convention. Then, based on this principle, all sane states must declare and accept that counter-terrorism is the primary interest for all states, beyond any other economic, political or ideological interest.
Based on these two fundamental premises – the correct definition of terrorism and its complete denunciation, and primacy of the fight against terrorism above other international interests – the civilized world must establish international legislation and conventions to deepen international cooperation in counter-terrorism. Such legislation should make it incumbent on all nations to comply with counter-terrorism efforts against terrorist organizations and the states that support them. Essential to international cooperation against terrorist organizations is cooperation in:
Counter-terrorist intelligence – interception, warnings and offensive intelligence;
Economic counter-terrorism – blocking the financing of terrorist organizations, preventing them from raising, transferring and laundering money;
Political counter-terrorism – recognition that all terrorist organizations have concrete political or ideological aims. It must thus be made clear these organization that the use of terrorism will endanger their ultimate goals;
Offensive counter-terrorism – the creation of elite international counter-terrorism units, which will help states who find themselves under terrorist attack to defend themselves;
Technological counter-terrorism – the development of cooperative intelligence, offensive and defensive counter-terrorism technologies.
All states that initiate terrorist attacks, execute attacks by proxy, or provide ideological, economic, military or operational support to terrorist organizations, must be identified and branded as state sponsors of terrorism. This must include states that provide terrorists with safe havens and refuse to extradite them; along with states which allow terrorists and their supporters to recruit activists and collect money within their territory, or to incite others to commit terrorist acts or to support terrorist activity. Based on the above premises, the international community must declare an economic embargo on all such states and their economic interests, both private and public. A secondary boycott should be declared on states and companies that do not respect these sanctions.
The premises above must therefore to be accepted by all sane states—whether Western or Third World states—in order to prevent further terrorist atrocities and a sure deterioration in world stability. International acceptance of these premises—and the counter-terrorism measures that will be based on them—may be the only way to prevent further outrages such as those seen in New York and Washington on “Black Tuesday.”
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