WJEC Set Task: Since 1945 there have been an increasing number of conflicts which have required attempts at reconciliation and co-existence. Exemplar: Terrorist Groups

Hannah Mackenzie

Candidate number: 5276

Castlebrook High School

Centre number: 32225

 “The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes” (Dictionary.com) Terrorism is not a new concern, in fact it has been a worldwide dilemma for a long time, although it has become much more prevalent, sophisticated and dangerous since the 1940s due to the use of modern technology and media coverage; when terrorists plan their attacks, they ensure to obtain the greatest publicity whilst selecting targets that symbolize what they oppose. The effectiveness of the terrorist attack is not generally in the act itself, but is in the public’s or government’s reaction to the incident. For example, in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, the Black September Organization killed 11 Israelis. The Israelis were the immediate victims, but the main target was the 1 billion people watching media coverage of the disaster.

Section i: Description of the methods used by terrorist groups

            Terrorists can cause anxiety and fright using many different methods of attack. They use methods that have been tried and tested, but they also have the ability to innovate, as Al Qaeda demonstrated with the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

            The use of explosive devices to cause terror is, by far, the most common form of attack. Explosive devices can be used in many different ways. From planting bombs in automobiles or aeroplanes to strapping them to the body of an individual for a suicide attack, terrorists use all of these methods to disrupt daily life for innocent civilians across the globe. The most prevalent means of attack is currently the use of explosive devices in automobiles. Unlike the Provisional IRA, who also used this method, Al Qaeda often seek to ensure their target is hit by employing a suicide operative to detonate the device at the required moment from within the vehicle.

            Suicide bombers are also used to carry an explosive device into the surrounding area of a specific individual or location. They are used as the suicide vest is fairly compact, thus the wearer can access areas and individuals that a vehicle cannot. Occasionally, as demonstrated by the Madrid commuter train attacks, the terrorists decide to detonate their devices using a remote control so they can go on to carry out further attacks in the future.

            Suicide operatives were also hired for the hijackings of planes during the 9/11 attacks, when four commercial aeroplanes were hijacked and crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the south-western side of the Pentagon building and a field in Pennsylvania after terrorists crashed the plane due to a revolt by passengers, though this plane was believed to have been heading for the White House. Both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed; in total 2,996 people including the 19 hijackers were killed and over 6,000 people were injured. It caused great terror and lowered worldwide morale significantly. 9/11 is by far the most famous terrorist attack of the 21^st century.

            Another common method of terrorism is shootings and assassinations. Although it is not considered a very common method of terrorism, shootings and assassinations are amongst the most devastating and are carried out quite regularly. Recently, in Norway, an unknown man dressed as a police officer arrived at a youth camp organised by the ruling Norwegian labour party and shot at a large amount of teenagers who had gathered after hearing the noise of an explosion in the centre of Oslo. The Norwegian Prime Minister described the attack as “especially brutal – an attack of cowardice.”

            Those are the most prevalent means of terrorist attack, though many more have been carried out in recent years, for example: kidnappings, surface to air missiles and the use of chemical, biological and radiological devices, which have not yet taken place in the UK. As well as all the methods mentioned, many other methods of terrorist attack have taken place across the world.

Section ii: Explanation of why terrorist groups have emerged

            Every terrorist group is unique and has different aims and reasons for their attacks. However, there are some motivations that have been identified as having contributed to the emergence of several different terrorist groups.

            One common rationale for terrorism is oppression. This is when one group of people feel that they are being treated unfairly and are subject to discrimination. It can be physical, but also economic, social and political. The Provisional IRA and several Palestinian groups such as PLO, PELP Fatah and Hamas have emerged due to oppression. The ANC, whose acts of terrorism were considered as justified overcoming a greater evil, also formed because of oppression.  The ANC was formed by Nelson Mandela and they led the oppression to apartheid in South Africa. Under the apartheid system, the country was led by the white minority. Non-whites and blacks were denied basic civil rights, given second class facilities and were segregated. When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for leading this terrorist group, there was great shock from the rest of the world. A song entitled ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ was released!

Another common reason for terrorist attacks is Nationalism, the desire to unite a particular ethnic group spread across more than one boundary or to build a nation within recognised boundaries. They often want to create an independent state and sometimes they want to take control of a certain country. Occasionally the groups even want to overthrow the government or abolish a particular law, rule or system. This is the motivation of the ETA in Spain, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, several Palestinian groups and the IRA. The aim of the IRA was to free Northern Ireland from British rule and to force the British out of Northern Ireland. They wanted Ireland to be an independent state with a Catholic majority.

            Many terrorist groups claim that their actions are due to religious differences. They often interpret Holy Scriptures in a very narrow or selective way. This was the motivation for the Ku Klux Klan and The Army of God, both in USA, and the NLFT in India. This also is the incentive for Al Qaeda, whose aim is to spread Islam worldwide through Holy War (Jihad). They consider the USA as the enemies of Islam due to their influence in Muslim countries. Al Qaeda also wants the destruction of Israel and the end of Western influence on the Muslim world.

             Political ideology, someone’s views about government policy, is another reason for the emergence of terrorist groups. Communist and socialist political ideology was a common form of terrorism in the 1970s, with a number of revolutionary groups who wanted to overthrow the capitalist system in their own countries using violence to announce their demands. The best known examples of right-wing political ideology are the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, planted by Timothy McVeigh in 1995 and the Bologna Railway Station bombing which killed 84 people and was carried out by the small neo-fascist group, NAR. Right-wing terrorism often focuses on immigration and is generally carried out by small groups or individuals on their own.

Section iii: Analysis of the impact of terrorism on a society or community

            Terrorism impacts societies and communities severely and often leads to the total breakdown of a society. When a terrorist incident has occurred, an atmosphere of suspicion, fear and panic is formed all around, especially when innocent civilians are killed or injured during the attack.

            During the troubles in Ireland, Catholics and Protestants were separated and nobody knew who was an IRA member or when the IRA were going to attack. Julie Troy, who was born in Belfast during the height of the troubles but moved to the North of Northern Ireland, said that “life in Ireland wasn’t too bad during the troubles. In fact, growing up we were much safer than children are today as soldiers and police officers were constantly patrolling the streets, keeping law and order.” Julie was never a direct victim of an IRA bombing and since the troubles has moved to England where she is often asked about her childhood.

            After serious terrorist attacks have taken place, communities may spend years repairing the buildings, reassuring civilians and getting back to normal everyday life. There are often large money losses after a terrorist attack too, for example the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center caused an estimated property loss of $21.8 billion. Although these attacks cause great distress, they often have many positive benefits, for example when Manchester city centre was bombed by the IRA, much nicer facilities were built and Manchester was, on the whole, re-built much better than it previously was.

            Through media coverage of terrorist attacks, not only the direct victims and their families are affected, but it can affect people all around the world. These people may then become frightened about these terrible things happening to them, for example if they use a commercial airline to travel abroad they may be worried that their plane could be bombed or hijacked. This fear could then develop into a phobia after they have seen more and more terrorist incidents covered by the media. Media coverage of terrorist attacks shows mainly Al Qaeda attacks at present. Is this media amplification invoking moral panic or is the coverage justified? It is because they are generally more serious and interesting than other terrorist attacks, though some people may assume that Al Qaeda are the only terrorist group, which could lead to stereotyping of Muslims. These people who are stereotyping all Muslims to be terrorists could then be very discriminatory towards them. This would affect the lives of Muslims significantly as they may start to feel excluded from society and not welcome in the country they live in.

Section iv: evaluate the success of counter-terrorism

            As terrorism has become much more common in recent years, actions need to be taken to prevent acts of terror and to recover society after terrorist attacks. This is known as counter-terrorism. Counter-terrorism includes the strategies, techniques, practices and tactics used by military, governments and the police to recognize and counteract threats of terrorism.

            These techniques include security measures such as high profile policing and the use of military when the police force cannot control situations. Random spot checks and road blocks were used in Ireland during the troubles to try and prevent terrorists from transporting explosives. These are still used in some countries where the rate of terrorism is high but not as often. In Ireland, these spot checks were quite successful as they stopped a high number of people from transporting explosives, thus preventing possible terrorist attacks. To stop terrorists from reaching important areas, for example the Houses of Parliament, barriers, bollards and small walls have been constructed. These help to prevent vehicles carrying explosives from entering the grounds. Also body scanners in airports and the searching of individuals or cars are used. These have proven to be very successful at detecting explosive devices and have prevented many possible acts of terror. Moreover, the doors on cockpits of aeroplanes are locked and cannot easily be broken. This successfully prevents most plane hijacks.

            Intelligence is important when trying to counteract terrorism. Reconnaissance, where suspicious citizens are watched to look out for unusual movements, are used to gather information about possible terrorist attacks. Agents are hired to join terrorist groups as moles to feed back information to the government. Informers, people who are already in a terrorist group, can give the government information in exchange for things like money and immunity from prison. They are used very often, though these are not always successful as some people become informers but give the government the wrong information. Hacking of phones and electronic mail messages and the interception of phone calls are used very often nowadays as this is generally how terrorists communicate with each other when planning an attack, though some people plan their attacks in person to ensure this doesn’t happen. To prevent this, people are hired to follow suspects. This has proved to be a very effective way of counteracting terrorism. Suspects are also questioned and interrogated, or bribed with immunity from prison or shortened sentences in exchange for information, though this is not always successful as suspects often do not want to share their information or will give the wrong information when interrogated.

            Propaganda is another practice used by the government to help prevent terrorism. This is when the media is used to stop people from believing what terrorists have said. Posters, leaflets and newspaper articles would contain targeted messages about terrorists. This is not very successful at all in counteracting terrorism.

            On the whole, efforts at counteracting terrorism have been successful in recent years, though some areas, for example the use of propaganda, desperately need to be improved to ensure terrorist groups do not gain as many followers and members. Intelligence is a very strong form of preventing terrorism but actions need to be taken to guarantee suspects are not lying and are giving the correct information. Other actions desperately need to be taken by the government to ensure that the rate of terrorism decreases now and in the future. Furthermore, the internet is theoretically making the world much smaller nowadays. Through connections around the world, terrorists can plan their attacks and have no need to transport explosive devices through airports to arrive at their destinations. This makes me wonder, can we really end terrorism all together? I would argue that we cannot.

Bibliography

dictionary.com/

www.mi5.gov.uk/

news.bbc.co.uk/

www.telegraph.co.uk/

www.library.thinkquest.co.uk/

www.preservearticles.com/

www.l20.org/

wiki.answers.com/

upsportal.com/

wikipedia.org/

International Terrorism, Richard Edwards, Wayland Publishers LTD.

Personal evidence: Julie Troy, who grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles.

 Personal evidence: Mr A. Roberts, a retired British Soldier who helped with counter terrorism in Ireland during the troubles. (Queen’s own highland regiment, 1979)

TAUGHT NOTES