The Mechanics of Terrorism

The merchants of terror live in a twilight world of stealth and violence. Who are these shadowy figures who haunt our dreams and inflict such grievous harm? What kind of person becomes enmeshed in terrorist idealogy?

For the most part, these men and women are part of a disenfranchised alienated society. Using acronyms designed to draw attention to their political/religious positions, they band together in tightly controlled groups, usually dominated by a charismatic leader. Mostly culled from student groups at universities and slums, they are in some part, the fringe denizens of normal society. Feeling powerless and hopeless, trapped in an endless cycle of poverty and despair, they are attracted to anything that gives them value. Many possess enough education to feel the rhetoric they use is highly intellectual and well reasoned. They are profoundly anti- authoritarian. A likely response to repressive regimes many live under.

Further many families are rewarded financially if one of their members becomes a "martyr". This is often reinforced by DVD's and CD's that glorify the "cause", and promise rich rewards once they die and reach Paradise.

Religious zeal offers them a raison d-etre for their current lives. And makes them feel empowered, validated by God, to carry out His missions. A jihad or Holy War gives them implicit permission to carry out any manner of atrocity. It is important to note, that in the case of Islam, terrorists do NOT represent the whole. While the normal knee jerk reaction is to lump the entire Nation of Islam together with these animals, this is both unfair and incorrect. Mainstream Muslims do not endorse these kinds of atrocity, and in fact practice a very peaceful and loving religion.

The average terrorist lives life hiding. Meeting in dark corners, often terrorised themselves by the people they plot with, it is a life of compulsion and control. If you compare it on a basic level with a gang, you begin to understand that the same mechanics operate in both. A strong individual, through constant exhortation and dialogue, reels the weak in with promises of brotherhood, glory and the common good. Once in, it is impossible to retreat without losing ones life. Combining brute punishment and deprivation, with the contrasting: "you are our brother, we care about you," sets up a programmed response to orders. As in Iran and Afghanistan for instance, very small 10-20 "students" are literaly brainwashed into submission by total immersion in the dark world of fanatacism. Individual identity is lost. The group or cause is all. So, it becomes understandable, when we witness in helpless appalled horror, the deliberate calculated taking of lives, including their own.

In light of the horrific actions carried out against Americans, on American and foreign soil, we must begin to try and rectify the economic balance in the world. We have to sow the seeds of cultural and religious understanding. I know how difficult this will before many of us. But as a nation, we have to try. Already I have heard of tremendous unkindness in chat rooms and forums across the internet, in particular towards people from the Middle East. This is grossly unfair and only further isolates us from each other. We don't like being judged as ugly Americans, it hurts. Imagine how decent people from the Middle East feel. Please, don't further more tragedy. We are one world, one people.