Terrorism

The word “terrorism” was first used in reference to the Reign of Terror during the French revolution. A 1988 study by the United States Army found that more than one hundred definitions of the word exist and have been used. In many countries, acts of terrorism arte legally distinguished from criminal acts done for other purposes, and “terrorism” is defined by statute. In November 2004, a United Nations Security Council report described terrorism as an act “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.”U.S. Department of Defense defined terrorism as:”The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”

Smoke billowing from the World Trade Centre after the September 11, 2001 attacks described by the United Nations Security Council as “horrifying terrorists attacks.” Official definitions determine counter – terrorism policy and are often developed to serve it. Most government definitions outline the following key criteria: target, objective, motive, perpetrator, and legitimacy or legality of the act. Terrorism is also often recognized by a following statement from the perpetrators.

Violence – According to Walter Laqueur of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, “the only general characteristic of terrorism generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence. ”However, the criterion of violence alone does not produce a useful definition, as it includes many acts not usually considered terrorism: war, riot, organized crime, or even a simple assault. Property destruction that does not endanger life is not usually considered a violent crime, but some have described property destruction by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front as violence and terrorism; see eco-terrorism.

Psychological impact and fear – The attack was carried out in such a way as to maximize the severity and length of psychological impact. Each act of terrorism is a “performance,” devised to have an impact on many large audiences. Terrorists also attack national symbols to show their power and to shake the foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This may negatively affect a government‘s legitimacy, while increasing the legitimacy of the given terrorist organization and /or ideology behind a terrorist attack.

Perpetrated for a Political Goal – Something all terrorist attacks have in common is their perpetration for a political purpose. Terrorism is a political tactic, not unlike letter writing or protesting, that is used by activists when they believe no other means will affect the kind of change they desire. The change is desired so badly that failure is seen as a worse outcome than the deaths of civilians. This is often where the interrelationship between terrorism and religion occurs. When a political struggle is integrated into the framework of a religious or “cosmic” struggle, failing in the political goal (nationalism) becomes equated with spiritual failure, which, for the highly committed, is worse than their death or the deaths of innocent civilians.

Deliberate targeting of non-combatants – It is commonly held that the distinctive nature of terrorism lies in its intentional and specific selection of civilians as direct targets. Specially, the criminal intent is shown when babies, children, mothers, and the elderly are murdered, or injured. Much of the time, the victims of terrorism are targeted not because they are threats, but because they are specific “symbols, tools, animals or corrupt beings” that tie into a specific view of the world that the terrorist possess. Their suffering accomplishes the terrorists’ goal of instilling fear, getting a message out to an audience, or otherwise accomplishing their often radical religious and political ends.

Disguise – terrorists almost invariably pretend to be non-combatants, hide among non-combatants, fight from the midst of non-combatants, and when they can, strive to mislead and provoke the government soldiers into attacking the wrong people, that the government may be blamed for it. When an enemy is identified as combatant, the world terrorism is rarely used.

Unlawfulness or illegitimacy – Some official definitions of terrorism add a criterion of illegitimacy or unlawfulness to distinguish between actions authorized by “legitimate” government and those of other actors, including individuals and small groups. Using this criterion, actions that would otherwise qualify as terrorism would not be considered terrorism if they were government sanctioned. For example, firebombing a city, which is designed to affect civilian support for a cause, would not be considered terrorism if it were authorized by a “legitimate” government. This criterion is inherently problematic and is not universally accepted, because: it denies the existence of state terrorism; the same act may or may not be classified as terrorism depending on whether its sponsorship is traced to a “legitimate” government;”legitimacy” and “lawfulness” are subjective, depending on the perspective of the government or another; and it diverges from the historically accepted meaning and origin of the term. For these reasons this criterion is not universally accepted.

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