Sir - The poorest nations of the world are those of sub-Saharan Africa. The occupied nation most heavily oppressed is Tibet. So why don't we see African and Tibetan terrorists?
The root cause of terrorism is not poverty or oppression but hatred. The reason global terrorism is rising is not iraq or Israel but terrorist success (aided by the media and Leftists) in scapegoating the victim for the attacks of the killer.Human rights law prohibits deliberate primary targeting of civilians as a tactic under all circumstances.
Every time people argue that terrorism is merely "asymmetric warfare by oppressed nations" another terrorist is born.
Judith Rona, Bondi, New South Wales
1 comment:
By way of contrast to your intitial post:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1529769,00.html
Talking with the jihadists
Terrorism can only be defeated by political compromise and negotiation
David Reiff
Saturday July 16, 2005
"This problem cannot be blamed on the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, despite what some leftist activists in the UK have suggested. The chronology is wrong, for one thing. The 9/11 attacks took place at a time when the Bush administration was quite unprepared to launch a war in Iraq, even if some senior figures thought it was the right policy to pursue. But more importantly, describing jihadist terrorism as purely reactive actually misdescribes its political character. Islamism is a real ideology, best comprehended in its own right, and it is fatuous and counterproductive to claim otherwise. And the biographies of the July 7 bombers suggest that it can be as attractive to disenchanted young people in Leeds as to disenchanted young people in Saudi Arabia.
But Iraq has exacerbated the problem. The US military campaign is many things, and its outcome is at present very much in doubt. But it is clear that many jihadists who volunteered to fight there are already bringing the lessons they have learned on the battlefield, in terms of experience and technical expertise, back home to Europe, where many of them live. Thanks to numerous "informal" mosques across Europe and the myriad Islamist websites on the internet, these fighters are able to transmit their knowledge to the disenchanted youth of the Muslim diaspora in Europe and Canada, and perhaps in the US as well.
If prison for many of these European jihadists has become an ideological school, as demonstrated by the careers of such terrorists as Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker of 9/11, and the shoe bomber Richard Reid, the battlefields of Iraq have been their military academy - as Afghanistan was for their elder brothers and for many of their leaders (including, of course, Osama bin Laden) a generation ago.
No amount of indignation in Washington, or calls for Churchillian resolve, can change these facts - as Tony Blair came close to suggesting in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 attacks when he insisted, to the chagrin of both the Bush administration and the Sharon government in Jerusalem, that the root causes that gave rise to terrorism, including the Israel-Palestine dispute, had to be addressed seriously if there was ever to be an end to it.
[...] the effectiveness of this "propaganda by deed" (the phrase is Joseph Conrad's) has been undeniable, and only in Washington does the political establishment still seem incapable of admitting as much and still seem to believe that terrorism can be extirpated by military interventions, special operations by the intelligence services, and police work.
The historical record teaches a different lesson. Terrorism can often be contained and even blunted by effective military and intelligence activities, but it can only be defeated by political compromise and negotiation. For when terrorists represent a considerable constituency of opinion - as the IRA did, and the jihadists most definitely do - their ability to continue fighting is almost infinite. Sooner or later, such negotiations will have to start, as it is widely reported that they have already begun between the US and Iraqi authorities and the Ba'athist insurgents in Iraq. The alternative is treating the Islamic immigrant populations of Europe like a vast fifth column, and that choice would be a disaster for Europe and for the Islamic world. It is true that negotiating with mass murderers is the opposite of justice. But what adult ever thought history was just?"
· David Reiff covered the war in Iraq and is writing a book about Islam in Europe
comment@guardian.co.uk
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