Terrorism and the blind men's elephant

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 8, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 12-28

  Silke, Andrew ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK   (Ireland)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0030361687     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546559608427361     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Walter Laqueur, The Age of Terrorism (London: Little, Brown 1987) p.72.
2. James Poland, Understanding Terrorism: Groups, Strategies, and Responses (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall 1988).
3. Shafritz, E.F.Jr., Gibbons and G.E. Scott, Almanac of Modern Terrorism (Oxford: Facts on File 1991) p.ix.
4. Robert Taber, The War of the Flea (London: Paladin 1969) pp.90-1.
5. Richard Clutterbuck, Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare (London: Routledge 1990).
6. Robert Moss, Urban Guerrillas (London: Temple Smith 1972).
7. Paul Wilkinson, Terrorism and the Liberal State, 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan 1986).
8. Paul Wilkinson, 'Terrorism: An international research agenda?' in Paul Wilkinson and Alasdair Stewart (eds.). Contemporary Research on Terrorism (Aberdeen: AUP 1987).
9. As can be seen in comments such as '[T]here can be no doubt that terrorism, despite its savage inhumanity to civilians, is a lesser evil than modern war.' Taken from Paul Wilkinson, 'Pathways out of terrorism for democratic societies', in Wilkinson and Stewart (note 8), p.457.
10. Ruth Linn, 'Terrorism, morality and soldiers' motivation to fight - An example from the Israeli experience in Lebanon', Terrorism 11/2 (Summer 1988) pp.13-49.
11. Reid and M. Croucher, The Way of the Warrior: The Paradox of the Martial Arts (London: Leopard 1983).
12. Robert Asprey, War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History (NY: Morrow 1994) p.110.
13. Ibid.
14. The catastrophic losses endured by the Viet Cong during the 1968 Tet Offensive is a good example of what happens to a terrorist organisation which engages in conventional warfare. While an important media victory for the Communists, Tet saw the destruction of the Viet Cong as a fighting force. For the remainder of the Vietnam conflict, the war was sustained almost totally by North Vietnamese Regular Army troops, who infiltrated South Vietnam.
15. Everett L. Wheeler, 'Terrorism and military theory: an historical perspective'. Terrorism and Political Violence 3/1 (Spring 1991) pp.6-33.
16. Alex P. Schmid, 'The response problem as a definition problem', in A.P. Schmid and R.D. Crelinsten (eds.). Western Responses to Terrorism (London: Frank Cass 1993).
17. Wheeler (note 15) p.23.
18. Linn (note 10)p.141.
19. A good illustration of this point is the recent controversial nuclear testing carried out by France in the South Pacific. The tests, highly controversial and very damaging to France on the international stage, were carried out purely because the current French nuclear arsenal, if used even on distant foreign soil, is still so insidious, that France itself could be severely affected by the fallout. The tests, quite simply, are an attempt to make the weapons 'cleaner'.
20. A sobering thought when one considers that the UN has officially described Chemobyl as 'the greatest environmental disaster in history'.
21. George Quester, 'The psychological effects of bombing on civilian populations: wars of the past', in B. Glad (ed.), Psychological Dimensions of War (London: Sage 1990).
22. Conor Gearty, Terror (London: Faber and Faber 1991).
23. P.W. Johnson and T.B. Feldman, 'Personality types and terrorism: self-psychology perspectives', Forensic Reports 5/4 (1992) pp.293-303.
24. Alex Schmid and Albert Jongman, Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories and Literature (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing 1988).
25. Cited in Ronald Crelinsten, 'Terrorism as political communication: the relationship between the controller and the controlled', in Wilkinson and Stewart (note 8) p.19.
26. Wilkinson (note 9) p.455.
27. O'Brien and Brendan, The Long War (Dublin: O'Brien Press 1993).
28. G.R. Newman and M.J. Lynch, 'From feuding to terrorism: the ideology of vengeance', Contemporary Crises 11/3 (1987) pp. 223-42.
29. Schmid (note 15), pp.12-13.
30. This is not necessarily saying much. For example, it was recently reported that during the Falklands War, British soldiers killed unarmed Argentineans who had surrendered to them and were defenceless. Such acts are not uncommon in wars. Consider the SS mass killing of some 100 captured American soldiers in 1944, who were machine-gunned to death after they had been disarmed and taken prisoner; or another case from World War 1, where the crew of a German U-boat, left floating in the water after their vessel was destroyed, were machine-gunned to death by a British warship. A few Germans had boarded a nearby merchantship, and marines were sent aboard to kill all of these survivors. Shocked Americans among the crew of the merchantship brought this incident to light (see Howard Levie, Terrorism in War: The Law of War Crimes (Oceana 1993)). It is not surprising that acts such as these occur. Ultimately, the entire notion of treating prisoners-of-war well is a strange one. This person has attempted to kill you and has failed. Yet now, not only are you expected not to attempt to kill them in return, on the contrary, you are expected to safeguard them, feed them, tend their injuries, supply shelter for them and in all respects generally treat them well!
31. Schmid (note 24) p. 14.
32. A pertinent example is provided by the recurring research focus on the psychology of the terrorist. For twenty years, researchers have tried to explain terrorists in terms of psychopathologies, traits and personality characteristics distinguishable from 'normal' individuals. By and large such attempts have failed, and the variables looked at have become increasingly more subtle and mild. If anything, most research has indicated that psychologically, terrorists are no different from the police officers and soldiers attempting to combat them. This, in itself, lends indirect support to the contention that terrorism is warfare!