Abstract
Terrorist attacks have become a major problem to states as terrorist insurgents have taken advantage of government weaknesses to cause destruction and take the lives of many innocent people. This is not to say that they are invincible. They too, have vulnerabilities within their organizations which, if exploited, can help destroy terrorists for good. Through research and aid of various resources, I have studied and compiled six of these vulnerabilities that can be exploited by the counterterrorism units.
INTRODUCTION
Even the super powers have suffered the impact of terrorist attacks on their territories. This is the use of violent force or intimidation in order to achieve a purpose which in most cases is political. Anarchists, conservatives, communists, religious and other kinds of terror groups all over the world have employed a variety of means in carrying out their activities. Most of the attacks have been in form of aircraft hijackings, car bombing, bioterrorism, cyber terrorism, hostage taking, insurgencies, nuclear and suicide attacks resulting in mass killings. Top five terror groups include; Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Hezbollah, Taliban, Hamas and Al-Qaeda (Charter of the United Nations, 2001).
Their main intentions are to cause widespread fear, become recognized internationally and thus shame the governments which have failed to contain them. Their activities involve stealing of money, extortion and destruction of facilities. For several years they have influenced government decisions in many states, freed prisoners and discouraged tourism and foreign investment in a bid to cripple the economies of their target nations.
Their activities have been hindered by a number of vulnerabilities the groups and their leaders have. These have made them unable to defend themselves from attacks by counterterrorism organizations. A detailed analysis has been done on six of the main vulnerabilities of terror groups.
Operational requirements expose terrorists to scrutiny
In a bid to increase popularity and acquire more followers, most terror groups have turned to the use of the internet in their search and recruitment activities. This makes it easy for them to access and influence many through social media, blog spots and other online applications. Through this they have made their operations worldwide easier, it has made them exposed to counterterrorism officials. Through monitoring of online activities, anti-terrorist organizations can be able to identify red flags and possible terrorist activities and thus stop them before they become fatal (Forest, 2012).
For instance, Abdullah al-Faisal is one of the online imams who got deported from Britain in 2007 after his online messages were declared to be a cause racial hatred and segregation. Recruitment of possible bombers and suicide bombers is done discretely. The terrorist groups identify their followers based on particular characteristics and ability to be controlled and brainwashed into doing the group’s needs. This is a vulnerable spot and if anti-terrorist groups understand the psychology of possible recruits, they will be able to identify and stop them before they cause harm (Chatagnier et al. 2012).
In order to effectively carry out their operations, terrorists need a stable supply of weapons, ammunitions, food, medicine and other equipment. Movement of these resources from their sources to the hidden locations is a hard task and in some cases, may be noticed by counterterrorism organizations thus exposing the terrorists’ hideouts. Most of them use public service systems and government officials to ensure their supplies do not raise suspicions. If these movements are exploited, their supplies can be cut off thus crippling their operations (Combating Terrorism Center, 2006).
Terror groups have leaders who may be captured or killed
Leaders of terrorist organizations are their main important parts. They control the distribution of propaganda and false convictions worldwide trying to gain supporters and recruits. There are the likes of Anwar al-Awlaki relying on the use of online lectures to promote hatred. If such leaders are arrested and charged for their crimes, it would send a message to the other leaders and followers on the dangers of engaging in terrorist activities (Forest, 2012).
According to Al-Qaisi (2012), 33 terrorist leaders were captured between January 23rd and April 6th in Iraq in relation to attacks. This move was a fatal blow considering most of the detainees were top leaders holding posts of “wali”, “qaed”, “emir” and “wazir”. This was facilitated by the increasing competence of the Iraqi forces and support of the public who are tired of the ills of the terrorists.
Coercive intervention is a process of dealing with this through the capture and killing of leaders of these groups. This is called Terrorist Leadership Decapitation and is done with the belief that it will disrupt and weaken the organizations through disruption and temporary confusion thus making them easy to take down. This is effective in some cases but in most cases, it does not work effectively. It was successful in the arrest of leaders of Kurdastan People’s Party and Shining Path which automatically led to the downfall of the groups. These strategies have however been attributed to the worsening of terrorist attacks as the groups re-group and seek revenge for the capture and murder of their leaders.
Power struggles are natural and common in terror groups
Terrorist leaders have been noted to have a habit of constantly criticizing each other’s activities. According to Forest (2012), Al-Qaeda looks down upon activities of groups like Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood and views them as stupid Islamist extremists with no influence. These differences make the groups weaker and turn against each other. Anti-terrorists should exploit this to eradicate terrorist activities.
Having been led by Osama Bin Laden for so long, the death of Osama brought with it a struggle on who was to succeed him in leadership of Al-Qaeda. Oswald (2011) says that Saif al-Adel a senior militant was named his successor contrary to expectations that Osama’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri would be taking over.
Through careful study of the leaders’ activities, decision making and challenges, anti-terrorist units are able to identify the existence of leadership issues early and thus exploit the opportunity (Chatagner et al., 2012). In Hizballar for instance, Hassan Nasrallah the leader has constantly faced inter-group rivalries and has a fear of other leaders in control of Lebanon. Osama too constantly worried about possible challenges from within and outside the organization that would interfere with the organization.
Counterterrorism should employ clear tactics in creating and increasing inter-group tension among ‘jihadis’ (Garner, 2011) in order to deal with them. Through the use of psychological operations, rifts in leadership, poor strategic planning and tribal differences can be exploited and used. The use of divisive propaganda will create rift between cooperating terrorist groups thus making them weaker and turning them against each other, for instance, some members of the Al-Qaeda governing council criticized Osama’s leadership and claimed he had underestimated the US response to the 9/11 attack.
Power struggles may occur as a result of competition from other criminal organizations such as the Mafia (Hutchinson et al., 2007); this is a vulnerability that shouldn’t be ignored. Due to the struggle for the control of limited resources, criminal markets, territories and recruits, some of their activities such as violent confrontations and financial transactions may be exposed to anti-terrorist organizations.
Terror organizations are human and terrorists can be forced to the point of exhaustion
In order to carry out their activities, terrorist groups need a stable supply of resources such as weapons, food, medical equipment and information. These are very vital items that if interrupted, may adversely affect their operations. Anti-terrorists can come up with ways to control or stall the supply of these resources in order to mount pressure on the groups to surrender. Gaining control of these resources will require the help of local people who have information but may withhold it due to fear of the groups. The groups may be adamant but when they start feeling the effects they will give in (Hutchinson et al., 2007).
Pressure can be mounted on the groups through coercive intervention; this involves violence or threat of violence by the counterterrorist group to pressure the groups into surrender. This may not be advisable because in some cases it may trigger further violent acts by the terrorists when they feel threatened. An instance where this was effective was in the 80s when the FBI and the US government pressure led to the downfall of the Las Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional and Les Macheteros. Effective use of military force facilitates the disintegration of several terrorist groups thus peace is restored (Hutchinson et al., 2007).
Preemptive neutralization attacks such as the capture and killing of suspected terrorists serves to mount pressure on the groups. The leaders are subjected to interrogation to obtain information about the location of bases, targets and identity of those in control. If this is not effective, methods such as speed deprivation and drugs may be used to weaken them. The terrorists will be in a situation where they will be forced to surrender or cease operations when their cover is blown.
Terrorist groups can be influenced through the use of economic sanctions imposed on supporting states according to Hufbauer et al. (2001). This is a strategy just as important as the use of military effort to pressure terrorists; they will dissuade terrorist groups through preventing other states from aiding them in their activities in fear of economic sanctions. This disrupts their financial stability when they can no longer acquire resources. It can be done through; restriction on export licenses, a ban on the sale of materials on the US Munitions Control List and goods from terrorist occupied territories.
Terrorism is morally and legally indefensible
Terrorist organizations are characterized by constant attempts to assure themselves and their followers that their activities are acts of God’s will even when they involve the killing of innocent people (Forest, 2012).
They brainwash multitudes into believing that their works are holy. The Al-Qaeda justifies its killings as acts of holy war ‘jihad’ and often selects sections of the Koran to defend it evil actions. This is morally and religiously wrong because life is precious and should not be wasted. Anti-terrorist organizations should start campaigns sensitizing people on the importance of peaceful co-existence. They should work together with states in making citizens aware that there is no honor in taking innocent lives.
Constitutions of states worldwide have sections that deal with human rights. Every individual has the freedom of choosing a religion that suits him or her as long as it does not cause harm to others. Most terrorist groups base their attacks on religious grounds. This is not right, states should promote peaceful co-existence of Christian, Hindu, Muslim and other religious groups. Relief organizations have displayed exploitation of the Taliban’s lack of moral values to get access to the people in the affected states and help them.
Norwegian Refugee Council is an NGO which works in Taliban occupied areas to help the people, their influence on the local people in Afghanistan has increased through their reliance on humanitarian principles that cater for human needs. They try to convince the local leaders that their aim is to provide aid to all regardless of political ideological or other objectives thus gain favor of locals. This faith they have established in the people can be exploited to reduce Taliban activities and ensure peace.
Al-Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist groups have constantly disregarded human rights through killings and tortures. The women especially are not regarded with respect as they claim and there have been several cases off human trafficking and sex slavery. Most of the women captured were taken from their homes and were Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and other ethnic groups. They are sold off as slaves whereas some are used in the camps by the insurgents. This increases the people’s hatred towards the merciless terrorists who oppress them and molest their women. There are cases where they interfere with relief provisions brought by the UN to aid the locals leading to starvation and death of many.
States still sponsor terrorists and military power is still required to check such behavior
Most terrorist groups cannot exist independently and this has resulted in the dependence on various state institutions (Hutchinson et al., 2007). They have skillfully taken over control of political and economic transactions of various states that sponsor them; some of the states include; Cuba, Sudan, Iran and Syria. Terrorist affiliations to these states have made them vulnerable to the attempts to eradicate terrorism. The US has imposed a series of sanction on countries on the list which include; ban on export and sale of arms, control over exports of dual-use materials, ban on economic assistance and other miscellaneous financial restrictions on the country aimed at weakening the terrorist groups.
Terrorists’ dependence on these states for military power and safe operations puts them at risk of infiltration by anti-terrorist agents who may force the government into providing the location of their operation bases and other crucial information. Most of these states are not developed enough to provide sufficient protection and provisions needed to operate their activities. This puts them in a vulnerable position and in fear of attack from US troops and other anti-terrorism organizations. They do not have enough firepower to fight off attacks from outside.
Conclusion
Through their recruitment processes, operations and organization, terror groups have tried every means possible to remain invisible to counterterrorism organizations. However, they have weaknesses that can be identified and used against them. In order to rid the world of fear and uncertainty, anti-terrorists need to be on the look-out for these loopholes and take advantage of them.
References
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