Author: Dr. Babu Suseelan
Publication:
Date:
Terrorism has existed for centuries. The world
has witnessed colonialism, slavery, crusades, inquisition, holocaust, witch
burning, destruction of ancient cultures by invading Islamic warriors and
missionaries, communism, world wars, chemical warfare, guerilla war, and the
cold war. Millions of people perished and several ancient civilizations vanished.
Communists, Nazis, and Fascists resorted to
terrorism. They differed from Islamic terrorism in that they were motivated
by political agenda.
The fall of the Berlin Wall signaled the end
of the cold war and a sign of relief. But today, terrorist groups with the
ideology of hate exist in different countries with different hue and color.
They are engaged in murder, looting, kidnapping, beheading, hijacking, suicide
murder, bombing and other criminal acts for personal, political and religious
gains. India lost over 73,000 lives due to Jihadi terrorism over the last
decade. Israel, the only democratic country in the Middle East lost several
hundreds of innocent children, women and men due to terrorism perpetuated
by Islamic Hizballah, Hamas, Al-jihad, and Al-Qa'ida terrorists. Islamic terrorist
groups have slaughtered thousands of innocent people in Algeria (Armed Islamic
group, Harakat Ul-Mujahindian) Kashmir, India (Lashkar e-Trayiba, Jaise-Mohamed),
Uzbeckistan (Imu-Islamic group), the Philippines (Abu Sayyaf group), Aden
(Islamic Army of Aden), Egypt (Muslim Brotherhood), and Afghanistan (Taliban).
Several Islamic terrorist groups are actively engaged in kidnapping, beheading,
murder and bombing in Pakistan , Bangladesh , Indonesia , Malaysia , Chechnya
, Sudan and Nigeria . Since 1990, several Islamic terrorist incidents were
reported from Aden, Yemen (1992, 2000), New York City (1993), Mogadishu, Somalia
(1993), Manila, Philippines (1995), Paris, France (1994, 2005), Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia (1995, 1996), Dar-ea-Salaam, Tanzania, Nairobi, Kenya (1998), Port
Angeles, Washington (1999), Amman, Jordan (1999, 2005), London (2005), Strasbourg,
France (2000), New York City, Washington, D.C, Pennsylvania (2001), Paris
and Brussels (2001), Madrid (2002), Kabul, Bali (2005), Godhra, Gujarat, India
(2002) Ayodhya, India (2005) and New Delhi, India (2005). In India , Israel
, and Iraq kidnapping, beheading, suicide murder, and bombing by Muslim terrorists
are a daily occurrence. Jihad terrorist attacks are not limited to military
targets. They use violence against innocent children, women and men. Jihad
terrorism and its variety, including bombing, suicide murder, beheading, hijacking,
kidnapping and assassination can now be seen all over the world. These violent
extremists subvert democracy, civil government, secularism, and social progress
and tear apart economic stability. In each case of terrorism, the fundamentalists
with hard-core, rigid, dogmatic Islamic ideology were involved. Their origins,
ideology, development, tactics and agendas are religiously legitimated based
on Islamic worldview. These Islamic terrorist's devilish acts of unimaginable
hatred are designed to send tremors of alarm, fear and a warning throughout
the civilized world.
World wide terrorism-related casualties increased
to 805 in 2005 from 233 in 1999. The terrorist groups often differ in their
motivations, objectives, ideologies and level of criminal activity. Several
narco terrorists and politically motivated terrorist groups exist in different
parts of the world. Western nations were successful in eradicating several
terrorist criminal gangs like Black Panther, Symphonies Liberation Army, FLNA
in the US, Shining Path Maoist guerrilla Group in Peru, Marxist Guerrillas
in Columbia, Tapa Marus in Argentina, Bader-Meinhof in Germany and Red-Brigade
in Italy with brute police and military action.
The destruction of the World Trade Center
by Al-Qa'ida terrorists on September 11, 2001 signaled the start of a new
response to global terrorism. Western nations have taken significant civil
and judicial steps including intelligence gathering, prosecution of terrorists,
disruption of funding flow for terrorists, and several counter terrorism activities.
These bureaucratic counter terrorism measures are complicated, responsibilities
are poorly defined, and targets are ambiguously selected. Most of these actions
are disconnected and have no impact in deterring Islamic terrorism that is
being waged in different parts of the world. We need more. The policy of hit
and run and selective identification and counter measures are ineffective.
We need a coordinated, well planned and effective global war on Islamic terrorism.
PHONY ROOT CAUSE THEORIES
Islamic terrorism is a complex subject. The
terrorism field is loaded with international and national experts, each claiming
special knowledge of the subject that have roused so much controversy while
continuing to be misunderstood by so many. There are phony liberals marketing
mindless root causes of Islamic terrorism including Western, Israeli interference
in the Middle East, rapid social change, poverty, economic deprivation, poor
toilet training, low self-esteem, need for affiliation, dysfunctional family,
lack of education and so forth. And of course, these are psychological excuses.
The misguided leftists and armchair speculators miss the point. Where do they
fit in? This phony, liberal root cause theorists are like an old farmer who
for the first in his life sees a big blue whale on the seashore and says,
"I see it, but I don't believe it". The pseudo liberal social scientists
are being imbued with ethereal, pre-fabricated, utopian ideas, which are too
far divorced from reality. While the excuse industry promote faulty root cause
theories, Jihad terrorists are engaged in kidnapping, gratuitous beheading,
looting, killing, bombing, airline hijacking, suicide murder, car bombing,
and gruesome murder of innocent infidels all over the world. These pseudo
liberals, communists, and Islamist have no clue on the true nature of Jihad
terrorism. The butchery of Jihad terrorism is explained to social causes and
"understandable" Islamic grievances. It fails to distinguish between
the legitimate use of social protests and terrorism. It seems phony liberals
have a buoyant love affair with irrational Islamist defense mechanisms. They
usually shed crocodile tears for the innocent victims. It is clear that what
Jihad terrorists are doing in the name of Islam is destructive, counter productive,
we think so, why aren't leftists liberals and Islamists able to realize the
dangers of Jihad terrorism?
In a civilized world, we cannot function if
we believe in phony explanations for Jihad terrorism. Widespread irrationalism
and uncritical acceptance of unjustified root cause theories peddled by Communists
and liberals will have serious consequences for everyone. Such flimsy explanations
and mental misdirection would paralyze us. Civilized, peace-loving people
would be wise to check out Jihad mindset and criminal behavior in proper perspective.
PATHOLOGY OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM
Jihad terrorism is not over the policies of
US, Israel, and India, or due to globalization, social change, poverty, economic
deprivation or lack of self-esteem, but rather the ideology, the cognitive-behavior
processes of Jihad Muslims. Terrorism, bombing, beheading and suicide murder
are symptoms of a deep-rooted pathology stemming from their "addictive
thinking" on Islam. The Islamic "addictive thinking" convinces
jihad terrorists that attack on infidel would restore Islamic pride and prove
to the infidel world that Jihad warriors are full of confidence and Islamic
pride. The root cause of jihad terrorism is to be found in the defective,
dangerous dogma that binds Jihad Muslims around the world together. The Jihad
Muslim's thinking process and behaviors are sanctioned in Islam. What is less
understandable is how and why mindless liberals fall prey to so much distorted
thought.
CRIMINAL THINKING OF JIHADI TERRORISTS
Jihadis often seek to identify infidels as
targets because of their ideological beliefs. They justify terrorism by rationalization
and show no remorse, fear, guilt or shame on murdering infidels. For jihad
terrorist all infidels are legitimate target for terrorist attacks.
Jihad terrorists have unique needs, and the
emotional pressure to gratify these needs can greatly affect the way they
think and feel. Their "addictive thinking" on Islam operates in
every fundamentalist Jihad terrorists. The more we understand how jihad terrorists
think and function, the less likely we are to be paralyzed by the shock of
their criminal acts, and less likely we are to be taken in by their ingenious
cunning and manipulation. A young adolescent boy or girl who is carrying explosives
to commit suicide murder could not understand how he or she could be oblivious
to the disastrous effects to see his or her criminal act. They are unable
to see their own thinking or the magnitude of the destruction because they
are influenced by the addictive thinking and by the Islamic indoctrination.
Thinking patterns of Jihad terrorists are
different from the law-abiding population. Jihadis perpetually maneuvers to
prop up an ever-precarious image of them as unique and powerful. In their
ongoing attempts for self-promotion, they care not whom they hurt. To them,
the world and its people are to be controlled like paws on their own chessboard.
They use their dogmatic, criminal ideology as a way to shield their image
by pushing the responsibility for their own terrorist behavior on to anyone
and anything available to themselves.
ANATOMY OF JIHAD TERRORISM
Jihad Terrorists are followers of Islam, which
is a control system, a closed dogma and it is designed to exclude dialogue,
outside input, and forbid freethinking. Whatever Muslims do, wherever they
go, Muslims are mandated to maintain status quo and the closed paradigm. Muslims
are forced to neutralize new ideas by the power and control system of the
clergy. Islamic states use force and other control mechanisms to maintain
equilibrium and the closed Islamic thought system. Islamic states and Islamic
religious leaders never tolerate dialogue, rational thinking, pluralism, secularism
and religious tolerance. They behave like an evil empire and maintain absolute
control and authority to crackdown free inquiry and secular ideas for the
maintenance of the Islamic toxic order. For Muslims, maintaining the closed-system
is more important than social progress, democracy, and free spirited discussion.
As a result, Muslims get "chewed up" by the dogmatic system and
are willing to sacrifice their life through suicide murder, terrorism and
violence.
Their goal is to make the world as Daral-Islam
(the house of Islam)-where Islam rules-and the non-Muslim world as Daral-Harb
(the house of war) that has to be conquered. The non-Muslim world should be
terrorized, intimidated, oppressed and conquered for Muslims.
In spite of rapid changes in science, technology
and information system, They spend their energy to reinforce their closed-system
and make their society into "islands of no-change" where individual
freedom and creativity are crushed. Islamic societies maintain their equilibrium
through control, force, punishment and power. For Muslims living under closed
system, don't worry about modern education, women's freedom, art, literature,
philosophy and spirituality and ignore transcendental needs. They shut the
door on science, technology and information if it is not deemed "relevant"
to maintaining closed Islamic dogma.
BREAKING THROUGH THE ISLAMIC CLOSED SYSTEM
Communist societies used control mechanisms
to maintain closed systems. But it collapsed under tremendous covert and overt
pressure from democratic nations. They were forced to accept social evolution,
democracy and individual freedom and the closed Communist system lost its
equilibrium. But Islam, an imperialist dogma masked in religious phraseology
is a hard nut to crack.
Nations affected by Jihad terrorism have different
agendas for countering terrorism. There is no coordinated program for information
collection, sharing of intelligence, and understanding of program options
and their application. If counter strategy is to maximize its effect there
is a need to understand terrorist mindset, their ideology and their cognitive-behavior
processes.
Although most of the information from intelligence
sources suggests that there are a variety of judicial and military approaches
working to apprehend and contain terrorists. There is a fair amount of debate
as to the effectiveness of these counter terrorism strategies. The challenge
it seems is to look for the mindset and ideology that motivate, control and
direct Jihad terrorists.
Civilized world would pay a heavy price for
not breaking through the defensive wall of denial, resistance, and defenses
created by Islam to maintain its closed system. It is easy to believe in phony
social cause theories or to provide religious status for dysfunctional, fundamentalist
Islamic dogma that produce a steady stream of terrorists. We need to penetrate
Islamic groups and utilize all means available including psychological warfare
to introduce paradigm filters to open the closed system. Paradigm filters
can be introduced through corporations, schools, universities, labor unions,
and non-profit organizations. We need to introduce programs for Thinking For
A Change and split terrorist gangs and cliques. Devise psychological techniques
and emotional programs to induce fear, guilt, remorse and shame. And eventually
we have to give the ultimate ultimatum "you have to change or you will
forced to be free". Coercive or negative reinforcement techniques and
effective paradigm breaking programming shall have positive effect on modifying
cognitive and behavior processes.
The cognitive programming, which disrupts
criminal thinking, thinking errors, and dogmatic systems must by steadily
reinforced through education, media and propaganda. The goal is to send a
liberating message, mind altering ideas, not through appeasement, negotiation
or discussion, but through overt and covert dialogue to strongly pursue an
agenda to break through the closed, dogmatic mindset of jihad Muslims.
Long-term strategies shall include restructuring
or destroying the closed ideology of fundamentalist Islam, anti-social attitudes,
values, and beliefs. We need an integrated approach to break pro-terrorist
association, target criminogenic risk, crimnogenic logic using reward and
punishment. Jihad Muslims shall be changed and re-socialized with a forceful,
balanced approach utilizing psychological warfare, social learning techniques
and propaganda. The value of psycho, social, cognitive strategies extend well
beyond the military methods and it can be applied successfully in several
settings.
Effective counter terrorism strategies based
on reliable information is not an impossible dream, but it will take strong
leadership, commitment, courage and hard work. The civilized world community
and democratic nations should avoid and supporting state-initiated Islamization
programs or activities of organizations that pose a direct threat to civilized
nations.
The challenge before us is to translate all
available means, legal, military, economic, political, social and psychological
strategies to eliminate terrorism once for all.
(Dr. Babu Suseelan, Professor in Clinical
Psychology & Director of Addiction Research Institute, Pennsylvania.)
