Terrorism

Human society, from origin until now, has always been at war within and between groups and has led to two World Wars. Presently, terrorism and low intensity warfare are affecting many parts if the world. As the current global population of 6 billion increases to 8 billion by 2025, national and international conflicts will continue to be a source of concern for humanity. When evil minds combine, good minds have to work together and combat. A look at the very elementary picture of terrorism reveals certain things: 1. A handful of immensely wealthy, influential and powerful people provide the leadership. In many instances they lead a justifiable movement. In an equal number of instances they have a personal axe to grind in the garb of mass movement. Some of them are prepared to come out and discuss their grievances. Others prefer to remain away from the public eye. 2. The foot soldiers are almost invariably youth of impressionable minds. It is also commonly seen that they come from ordinary or poor families. The governments of different countries faced with the problem of terrorism has to do some serious and honest soul searching. The discussion below, tries to combine the aforesaid two aspects in an effort to find a solution to terrorism. The question of origin of the terrorist movement has to be addressed first. Why did a terrorist movement arise? Was it because a certain section of the population justifiably demanded something, but was denied the same? In that case, how does the fulfillment of their demands fit into the overall national interest? If conceding to their justified demand does not affect national interests adversely, there is no harm in agreeing to them. But if those are contrary to the overall national interests then there is no question of conceding. But the issue should be considered objectively and impartially. This seems to be particularly pertinent in the Kashmir problem. Here we see not only Kashmiris demanding their own independent homeland, but also a neighbouring country abetting the terrorist movement against India. Here Pakistan clearly has an axe to grind and in all probabilities ultimately want to annexe Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan and all Pakistan sponsored Kashmiri leaders should be firmly ignored in solving the problem. The Government of India should address the people of Kashmir directly, especially the Kashmiri youth. The message should ring loud and clear: we want our Kashmiri brothers and

sisters to be with us now and forever. India doesn't want to bribe Kashmiris with special concessions to be a part of this country. India wants every Kashmiri to be equal partners in the country's progress to prosperity. Every effort should be made to initiate progress in J&K

through setting up of institutes of excellence and modern industries. The mind of the Kasmiri youth should be weaned away from the narrow confines of terrorism and divisiveness and exposed to modern liberal thinking through these institutes. When he or she is adequately trained, there should be adequate modern industries where he or she can put his hand on modern machines and applications. Hopefully, the Kashmiri youth will thereafter forsake the gun and terrorism and separatism as his or her aspirations in life, which are no different from any other normal youth, marches towards the path of fulfilment. Terrorism and its associated perils will be an unviable option compared to the peace and tranquility of a normal human life.

The same approach needs to be implemented in North East India as well. Development should be the dominant ingredient in the government's efforts to tame terrorism. Development for the masses, especially the youth and harsh repressive measures for the handful of masterminds can adequately tame terrorism.

Your Excellency, as you have rightly pointed out, the human population is growing and scarce natural resources are under pressure. If a system of equitable distribution could be worked out, it would leave greater number of people satisfied. But sadly this doesn't happen practically with the result that a lot of us feel deprived and aggrieved. This is particularly relevant to India and its exploding population. If the pressure of population on resources decreased, attrition would lessen consequently and quality of life of the average Indian improve considerably. That would also mean a drastic reduction in terrorist activities and chances thereof. Population control in India should not only be a slogan but a visible and effective national movement.

Adding to our woes, powerful nations want to corner a major share of the scarce natural resources. Terrorism originating from the Middle East has its roots in Western countries trying to control and corner the oil reserves located there. Kuwait was attacked by Iraq for its oil. The US started the Gulf War against Iraq to free Kuwait. And now Iraq is the latest hotbed of terrorism.

On September 11, 2001, American history was forever changed when nineteen Middle Eastern hijackers commandeered four commercial airplanes. Two of the planes were flown directly into New York Citys World Trade Center, causing the Twin Towers to collapse and creating massive casualties; a third plane was flown into the Pentagon, leading to significant structural damage and additional injuries and fatalities; the final jet crashed into a Pennsylvania field following a struggle between the passengers and hijackers. All told, more than three thousand people died in a seemingly unimaginable act of terrorism. The attacks were soon linked to terrorist plotter Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

At first the events of September 11 seemed to be something that no one could have predicted; not once in the previous history of hijacking had assailants flown planes into buildings. Gradually, however, Americans learned that U.S. intelligence agencies had known prior to September 2001 that such a terrorist attack was possible; unfortunately, the FBIs and CIAs information was incomplete, and neither agency took action that might have helped prevent the tragedy. The discovery that the attacks might have been prevented sparked widespread discussion as to why Americas intelligence agencies failed so tragically.

The first problem faced by intelligence agencies was their inability to gather critical information on known terrorists. In December 2002 the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued the results of a joint inquiry into the events of September 11. In their report the committees concluded that the intelligence community knew by the summer of 2001 that bin Laden and al-Qaeda were plotting an imminent attack against U.S. interests. However, the committees as15 serted, Prior to September 11, 2001, the Intelligence Community did not effectively develop and use human sources to penetrate the al-Qaida inner circle. This lack of reliable and knowledgeable human sources significantly limited the Communitys ability to acquire intelligence that could be acted upon before the September 11 attacks.

Of the factors that have been identified to explain the failure of American intelligence agencies to successfully infiltrate al-Qaeda, one that has received particular attention is the

lack of agents who could speak or write Arabic. Prior to September 2001, only twenty-one FBI agents knew Arabic, according to the congressional report. The consequences of this limited knowledge of Arabic are serious, as former CIA inspector general Frederick A. Hitz explains. He writes, As difficult as it may be to recruit an informant in a terrorist cell of individuals willing to expend their lives in suicide missions, its impossible if you dont speak or read the language and understand the culture from which they come.

A greater problem, however, is that not only did the CIA and FBI lack the ability to infiltrate terrorist cells, but when agents uncovered information about potential terrorists, their findings were often ignored. In two separate cases that occurred during the summer of 2001, FBI agents learned about men who were suspected of being Islamic terrorists enrolling in flight schools. When Bill Kurtz, a supervisor at the FBIs Phoenix office, and his team of agents in particular counterterrorism agent Kenneth Williamsmade such a discovery in July 2001, they sent a memo to FBI headquarters urging the monitoring of flight schools throughout the country. The memo was ignored. In August 2001 the FBI office in Minneapolis found that Zacarias Moussaoui, a foreign-born student at the Pan Am Flight Academy in Eagan, Minnesota, was learning to fly a Boeing 747. The employee from the flight academy who contacted the FBI was particularly concerned because Moussaoui was interested only in flying the plane once it was in the air, not in learning how to take off or land. Suspecting that Moussaoui was a potential hijacker, FBI investigators attempted to get a warrant to search his computer but were refused because there was no probable cause that the man had committed a crime. Moussaoui was later discovered to have ties to al-Qaeda and the September 11 plot.

Another reason why key intelligence information was not always acted upon was the Wall, the name given to guidelines issued in 1995 that governed contacts between FBI agents working on different terrorism cases. As explained by Heather MacDonald, a contributing editor to City Journal, the Wall made it nearly impossible for agents to share information that could have strengthened each others investigations because any exchange of information first had to be approved by FBI headquarters. The problem, as MacDonald explains, is that the Washington office would not have the ground-level knowledge necessary to understand the potential significance to each investigator of [the information].

In light of these intelligence failures, intelligence agencies have developed more effective ways to discover and prevent future acts of terrorism. The FBI has nearly doubled the number of counterterrorism agents since September 2001, from thirteen hundred to twenty-five hundred, and hired more than one hundred Arabic-speaking linguists. The CIA has also hired more agents and has had its budget increased by several billion dollars. The FBI and CIA have also coordinated their efforts through daily meetings between their directors and have created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, a partnership between the FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other related agencies that will improve communication within the intelligence community.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, proved that not even the worlds lone superpower can protect itself against all enemies. However, changes in the FBI and CIA may help prevent some acts of terrorism; in fact, since September 2001, more than one hundred potential acts have been thwarted. In Opposing Viewpoints: Terrorism, the authors debate some of the issues surrounding terrorism in the following chapters: Is Terrorism a Serious Threat? What Are the Causes of Terrorism? How Should Americas Domestic War on Terrorism Be Conducted? How Should the International Community Respond to Terrorism? While terrorism may never be completely eradicated, the United States must not allow the intelligence failures of the past to permit a repeat of September 11.