What Terrorists Want (eBook)

Louise Richardson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2006 | 1. Auflage
336 Seiten
Random House Publishing Group (Verlag)
978-1-58836-554-5 (ISBN)

Infos

'This is at the top of my list for best books on terrorism.'
--Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill

How can the most powerful country in the world feel so threatened by an enemy infinitely weaker than we are? How can loving parents and otherwise responsible citizens join terrorist movements? How can anyone possibly believe that the cause of Islam can be advanced by murdering passengers on a bus or an airplane? In this important new book, groundbreaking scholar Louise Richardson answers these questions and more, providing an indispensable guide to the greatest challenge of our age.

After defining--once and for all--what terrorism is, Richardson explores its origins, its goals, what's to come, and what is to be done about it. Having grown up in rural Ireland and watched her friends join the Irish Republican Army, Richardson knows from firsthand experience how terrorism can both unite and destroy a community. As a professor at Harvard, she has devoted her career to explaining terrorist movements throughout history and around the globe. From the biblical Zealots to the medieval Islamic Assassins to the anarchists who infiltrated the cities of Europe and North America at the turn of the last century, terrorists have struck at enemies far more powerful than themselves with targeted acts of violence. Yet Richardson understands that terrorists are neither insane nor immoral. Rather, they are rational political actors who often deploy carefully calibrated tactics in a measured and reasoned way. What is more, they invariably go to great lengths to justify their actions to themselves, their followers, and, often, the world.

Richardson shows that the nature of terrorism did not change after the attacks of September 11, 2001, what changed was our response. She argues that the Bush administration's 'global war on terror' was doomed to fail because of an ignorance of history, a refusal to learn from the experience of other governments, and a fundamental misconception about how and why terrorists act. As an alternative, Richardson offers a feasible strategy for containing the terrorist threat and cutting off its grassroots support.

The most comprehensive and intellectually rigorous account of terrorism yet, What Terrorists Want is a daring intellectual tour de force that allows us, at last, to reckon fully with this major threat to today's global order.

KIRKUS- starred review
'The short answer? Fame and payback, perhaps even a thrill. The long answer? Read this essential, important primer.

Terrorist groups have many motives and ideologies, notes Richardson (Executive Dean/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study), but they tend to similar paths: They are founded by mature, well-educated men but staffed by less learned and certainly more pliable youths, they are fueled by a sense of injustice and the conviction that only they are morally equipped to combat it, they see themselves as defenders and not aggressors, they often define the terms of battle. And, of course, this commonality: 'Terrorists have elevated practices that are normally seen as the excesses of warfare to routine practice, striking noncombatants not as an unintended side effect but as a deliberate strategy.' Thus massacres, suicide bombings and assassinations are all in a day's work. Richardson argues against Karl Rove, who after 9/11 mocked those who tried to understand the enemy, by noting that only when authorities make efforts to get inside the minds of their terrorist enemies do they succeed in defeating them, as with the leadership of the Shining Path movement in Peru. Still, as Rove knows, if terrorists share a...

Textauszug

What is Terrorism? Terror is nothing else than justice, prompt, secure and inflexible.1 --Robespierre, 1794 Today our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. --George W. Bush, September 11, 2001 The best that one can say of these people is that they are morally depraved. They champion falsehood, support the butcher against the victim, the oppressor against the innocent child. --Osama bin Laden, October 7, 2001 Like pornography, we know terrorism when we see it. Or do we? We know we don't like it. In fact, the only universally accepted attribute of the term 'terrorism' is that it is pejorative. Terrorism is something the bad guys do. The term itself has been bandied about so much that it has practically lost all meaning. A casual glance at newspapers reveals currency speculation being labeled 'economic terrorism,' domestic violence as 'domestic terrorism', crank telephone calls have even been labeled 'telephone terrorism.' If you can pin the label 'terrorist' on your opponent, you have gone a long way toward winning the public relations aspect of any conflict. Even terrorists don't like the label. An al-Qaeda statement put it this way: 'When the victim tries to seek justice, he is described as a terrorist.'2 Many prefer to redefine the term first. In Osama bin Laden's words, 'If killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.'3 On another occasion, when asked to respond to media claims that he was a terrorist, he replied, 'There is an Arabic proverb that says, she accused me of having her malady and then snuck away.'4 Other terrorist leaders have taken a similar perspective. Abimael Guzmn, the Peruvian academic turned leader of the Maoist Shining Path, declared, 'They claim we're terrorists. I would like to give the following answer so that everyone can think about it: has it or has it not been Yankee imperialism and particularly Reagan who has branded all revolutionary movements as terrorists, yes or no? This is how they attempt to discredit and isolate us in order to crush us.'5 Shamil Basayev, the Chechen leader responsible for the Beslan school siege, among other exploits, declared, 'Okay. So, I'm a terrorist. But what would you call them? If they are keepers of constitutional order, if they are anti-terrorists, then I spit on all these agreements and nice words.'6 Terrorism simply means deliberately and violently targeting civilians for political purposes. It has seven crucial characteristics. First, a terrorist act is politically inspired. If not, then it is simply a crime. After the May 13, 2003, Riyadh bombings, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared, 'We should not try to cloak their . . . criminal activity, their murderous activity, in any trappings of political purpose. They are terrorists.'7 In point of fact, it is precisely because they did have a political purpose that they were, indeed, terrorists. Second, if an act does not involve violence or the threat of violence, it is not terrorism. The term 'cyberterrorism' is not a useful one. The English lexicon is broad enough to provide a term for the sabotage of our IT facilities without reverting to such language. Third, the point of terrorism is not to defeat the enemy but to send a message. Writing of the September 11 attacks, an al-Qaeda spokesman declared, 'It rang the bells of restoring Arab and Islamic glory.'8 Fourth, the act and the victim usually have symbolic significance. Bin Laden referred to the Twin Towers as 'icons' of America's 'military and economic power.'9 The...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.9.2006
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Europäische / Internationale Politik
• ISBN-10: 1-58836-554-9 / 1588365549
• ISBN-13: 978-1-58836-554-5 / 9781588365545