An Essay on Terrorism

I had to write this for my terrorism class and am pleased with how it turned out. The clip I reference can be found at the above link.

After viewing the assigned clips I came away with a sense of how dedicated the Islamic extremists continue to be six years after 9/11. There is no shortage of ambitious young men leaving their homes to join the jihad. They are well financed and extremely ambitious, almost blinded by their piety. The only obligation they are bound to is what they perceive as Allah’s will and poverty, war, nor can death pursue them from fulfilling their perceived destiny.

To possible recruits, religiosity and pleasing Allah is the key selling point providing them a purpose for their lives. Either all recruits are extremely religious or these are simply young people looking for direction in a mis-guided world. My guess is the motivating factor behind these terrorists is narcissism. In their minds, the world has left them behind now that western culture is so pervasive and western nations are the great military and economic powers. In the past several decades, Islamic terrorism has proven an effective tool for getting the attention of the world and getting their message out.

It seems that young ambition has blended with religious extremism into a violent, vile strain of Islam that preaches hate of the “infidels” and violence against perceived enemies. They’re not motivated by money, proven by the man in tape #947 testifying to leaving their lives of comfort for the Afghan training camps. They’re not motivated by conquest as one man dismissed entering Saudi Arabia as a conquering king. Instead, for most recruits it’s about being apart of a global network with worldwide infamy. As a security planner, it would be nearly impossible to identify a jihadist prior to him subscribing to the cause in a visible way.

I believe a security planner focuses on discounting propaganda, deterring recruitment, and preventing attacks. The first man in video #947 stated that he had to travel to Afghanistan from an Arab country in order to attend training camp. He was probably recruited in his home country and was pre-disposed to extremism. Understanding the motivation of terror extremists is helpful in identifying and stopping the recruitment of those most susceptible to Islamic extremism. Knowing that terrorists are typically motivated not by conventional piety but instead by selfish glory is key.

Once the notoriety is gone and the shock and ire of the world is focused on another villain, the extremists will lose their most valuable recruiting tool. From the West’s perspective, this war should be fought entirely “below the radar” without the use of large military maneuvers or bombing runs. This only serves to elevate the extremist role and importance on the world stage. In the end, the security planner can only help to discount propaganda and prevent attacks; he is virtually impotent when it comes to slowing the pace of recruitment. This can only be done through a sustained policy of limiting terrorist’s successes and resuming normal live.