Policing Terrorism

Christopher Blake, Barrie Sheldon, Rachael Strzelecki, Peter Williams

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780857255181, 9780857258342
• eBook ISBN: 9780857255198
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

This is an accessible and up to date text for students on police-related degree courses covering a highly topical area of policing. Terrorism has become a major issue for policing during the 21st century, exacerbated by world events, the emerging new terrorism with its global implications, and a growing need to develop effective counter-terrorism strategies. The book provides students with a historical perspective, introduces a number of well established theories relating to terrorism, and considers how the UK has responded by developing a counter terrorism strategy. In a fast-moving area, it captures the latest changes in legislation and government strategy.

1	Introduction to concepts of terrorism Barrie Sheldon

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• understand some of the historical perspectives of terrorism;
• provide some definitions relating to extremism and terrorism;
• analyse some of the sources and causes of terrorism;
• understand terrorist ideology and motivation;
• appreciate some of the implications of the move from the old to the new terrorism.

About this book

Each chapter provides a number of tasks that help to develop your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and also give you ideas to develop themes for academic assignments. Access to the internet will be required for completion of tasks and a number of case studies are provided to link theory with practice.

This book provides you with a basic overview of terrorism and counter-terrorism measures with a focus on the United Kingdom (UK) and is an excellent resource for any student undertaking introductory terrorism modules at academic levels 4, 5 and 6. The internet provides a wide range of quality terrorism resources for students and it is recommended that some time is spent getting to know what is available.

PRACTICAL TASK

Go to the ‘Useful websites’ section at the end of this chapter, where you will find a list of some of the terrorism websites that are available. Access the websites and find out what is available to you, looking particularly for links that provide access to reports and academic publications.

Many of the websites are based within the United States of America (USA) but will be very relevant to terrorism studies. The audacious attack by al-Qaeda on the twin towers of New York on 11 September 2001, which resulted in over 3,000 people losing their lives, saw the USA take the lead role in the current global war against terrorism.

We will direct every resource at our command – every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network.

(George W Bush, 2001)

Historical perspective

The problem of terrorism is not a new phenomenon and has been witnessed on a global basis throughout history, from antiquity, through the middle ages and onwards to the twenty-first century. Historical accounts of terrorism can be found in most countries and, when these are examined, there is evidence of many different causes of terrorism; issues that motivate terrorists have existed over the entire span of human history. Many of today’s terrorists are still inspired by historical events and it is the connection between past and present that makes the study of the history of terrorism important in understanding modern-day terrorism (Mahan and Griset, 2008).

Early origins of terrorism

Examples of terrorist activity can be traced back well before the first century; however, we will start by examining three early renowned terrorist organisations: the Zealots, the Assassins and the Thuggees.

Zealots

The Zealots of Judea, also known as the ‘Sicarii’ or ‘dagger men’, were opposed to the Roman occupation and took part in a revolt that lasted nearly 100 years from the time Herod became king in 37 BC. They were members of an organisation operating underground who had strong religious convictions and believed that they could not remain faithful to the true nature of Judaism while living as Roman subjects. The group carried out assassination attacks targeting Roman occupation forces and Jews who supported and collaborated with the Romans. As the Zealot revolt became more open they were finally trapped and members of the group committed mass suicide in Masada, Judea, in 74 AD.

Assassins

The Assassins of Persia (Iran) and Syria (1090–1275) were a breakaway group of Shi’ites called the ‘Nizari Isma’ili’ who used the tactic of assassination to target enemy leaders. They were one of the first groups to make systematic use of murder as a political weapon. Their ambition was to overthrow the existing Sunni order in Islam and to replace it with their own, to purify Islam. Because they had limited numbers, restricting the viability of open combat, they resorted to sending lone assassins to kill opposition leaders and then waited with their victim to be killed or captured (an act of martyrdom). This action caused considerable fear within the enemy population.

Thuggees

The Thuggees were an Indian secret society believed to have been responsible for killing tens of thousands of people over a number of centuries. It is not known exactly when they first appeared, but there is evidence they existed in the seventh century and were known to be very active in the thirteenth century. The Thuggees had deeply entrenched religious convictions and carried out their killings as a sacrifice to the goddess ‘Kali’, the Hindu goddess of creation, preservation and destruction. In this particular case the main audience for the terrorists was the goddess rather than the general public. Their activities and methods of killing were deemed to be acts of terrorism by going beyond the accepted norms that regulate violence.

Their deceit, unusual weapon (a noose), and practice of dismembering corpses (thereby preventing cremation or proper burial) made Thug violence outrageous by Hindu standards or by those of any other culture.

(Mahan and Griset, 2008, p49)

REFLECTIVE TASK

Find out more about the Zealots and consider why this group were considered to be a terrorist organisation. The link www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/12854 will take you to an article written by Professor Fernando of the University of Columbo titled ‘The Menace of Terrorism and Its Early Origins’. Read the article and then consider how the reasoning for defining the Zealots as terrorists could be applied to both the Assassins and Thuggees (further research may be required to find out more about the two groups).

Seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

Throughout this period there were many examples of global terrorist activity and the following case studies highlight some key historical events that assist with the understanding of terrorism:

• Guy Fawkes, 1605;
• the French Revolution, 1793;
• the People’s Will (Narodnaya Volya), 1879.

Guy Fawkes

During the reign of Henry VIII (King of England 1509–47), the King asked the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon after she had failed to provide him with a male child. His intention was to marry Anne Boleyn, but the Pope refused his request, so Henry declared himself head of the Church of England and separated from the Catholic Church. This was followed by a period of action directed against the Catholic Church, including the dissolution of monasteries, destruction of churches and seizure of lands. Catholics who failed to recognise the king as supreme head of the Church were repressed and persecuted. The persecution continued when Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558, and when she was succeeded by James 1 in 1603 it was hoped that he would be more tolerant as his mother was a Catholic; however, he continued to persecute the Catholics.

A small group of Catholic men led by Robert Catesby decided that the use of violence was the only answer and they planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament when the King and other officials would be present during its opening on 5 November 1605. They managed to smuggle explosives into the building but, following a tip-off, Guy Fawkes was captured while guarding the explosives. The rest of the group were soon captured and put to death for treason. Today these conspirators would be considered as extremists or terrorists.

The French Revolution

This period of revolution within France was considered as a prelude to modern terrorism and was referred to by the British statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–97) as the régime de la terreur, translated as the ‘Reign of Terror’ (Martin, 2009).

The revolution came about following a period of recession, a deteriorating economy and imposition of taxation. France was a feudal state with an absolutist monarch (King Louis XVI) and there was much disquiet about the inequalities of social life. Most people lived in poor conditions, had to work hard and suffered deprivation, while a minority enjoyed excessive riches and a life of luxury. On 14 July 1789 the Bastille prison in Paris was stormed by rioters supported by a group of radical revolutionaries who murdered the guards and later took control of government. The King was later tried and executed in January 1793, following which a revolutionary tribunal led by Maximilien de Robespierre began the reign of terror. Thousands of people opposed to the new dictatorship were arrested, sometimes on the flimsiest of evidence, tried by the tribunal and beheaded by guillotine.

This is a good example of state terrorism, which is explored further in the next chapter. The revolutionaries who had taken control of a mainly Jacobin-dominated government adopted tactics of terror to achieve the goals of their revolutionary ideology. The ideology was related to justice, freedom and equality; however, there was a smaller group of Jacobin socialites who supported complete state control and believed that equality should be enforced by the state (O’Carroll, 1994).

The People’s Will: Narodnaya Volya

This group was founded in 1879 as a protest against the tsarist regime in Russia. In 1861 Ts...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Introduction to concepts of terrorism
• 2 Who are the terrorists?
• 3 Terrorist tactics and targets
• 4 Irish terrorism – the UK experience
• 5 Countering the terrorist threat
• 6 9/11 and the UK response
• 7 Legislative development
• 8 Developments in intelligence
• 9 Violent extremism
• 10 Protecting the UK and preparing for an attack
• 11 Future perspectives
• Appendix A: Answers to tasks in Chapters 4 and 9
• Appendix B: Glossary of Islamic terms
• Index