Terrorism
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The Legacy of Terrorism:
As you read this, a terrorist, perhaps even supported by your government, is alive and well and maybe even planning his next murderous assault. Terrorism is the only form of organised crime that just about anyone can enter with relative safety – all that’s needed is a quasi-plausible ‘cause’ and a total absence of human values or scruples. …and financing.
Aside from European Languages being spoken in many far off corners of the globe, certainly the two most odious leftovers from the colonial period are international drug dealing and terrorism. Every developed nation still supports some terrorist group, either actively or passively – it’s time for that to stop if we wish to stop terrorism. However, terrorism is such an ingrained part of the fabric of international foreign policy that this dream is utopian. Drugs and terrorists provide such useful tools, far from the eyes of a prying populace, that any chief executive worth his salt is going to be loathe to cast them aside.
Poor comparisons are made to revolutions and civil wars – the act that really fomented the American Revolution, the ‘Boston Tea Party’ involved no killing; the turning point in the US Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, cost one civilian life. These comparisons miss the whole point, and dignify something that is hateful. No man’s terrorist is anyone’s freedom fighter; if there is a political agenda, the concept is to change drivers - not remove the yoke. Terrorism isn’t about politics, it’s about personal gain. The goal may be the fascistic ‘live my way or I’ll destroy you’ or the more usual ‘I want everything for me’. Those concepts make it difficult to raise money and get people to put their lives on the line; hence the smoke and mirrors.
The roots of terrorism are often firmly planted in someone’s national policy – and you don’t kill a weed by cutting off the top.
As you read this, a terrorist, perhaps even supported by your government, is alive and well and maybe even planning his next murderous assault. Terrorism is the only form of organised crime that just about anyone can enter with relative safety – all that’s needed is a quasi-plausible ‘cause’ and a total absence of human values or scruples. …and financing.
Aside from European Languages being spoken in many far off corners of the globe, certainly the two most odious leftovers from the colonial period are international drug dealing and terrorism. Every developed nation still supports some terrorist group, either actively or passively – it’s time for that to stop if we wish to stop terrorism. However, terrorism is such an ingrained part of the fabric of international foreign policy that this dream is utopian. Drugs and terrorists provide such useful tools, far from the eyes of a prying populace, that any chief executive worth his salt is going to be loathe to cast them aside.
Poor comparisons are made to revolutions and civil wars – the act that really fomented the American Revolution, the ‘Boston Tea Party’ involved no killing; the turning point in the US Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, cost one civilian life. These comparisons miss the whole point, and dignify something that is hateful. No man’s terrorist is anyone’s freedom fighter; if there is a political agenda, the concept is to change drivers - not remove the yoke. Terrorism isn’t about politics, it’s about personal gain. The goal may be the fascistic ‘live my way or I’ll destroy you’ or the more usual ‘I want everything for me’. Those concepts make it difficult to raise money and get people to put their lives on the line; hence the smoke and mirrors.
The roots of terrorism are often firmly planted in someone’s national policy – and you don’t kill a weed by cutting off the top.
