Elimination of International Terrorism: set a thief to catch a thief

South Asia Analysis Group

Paper no. 326

23. 09. 2001

Elimination of International Terrorism: Set a thief to catch a thief

by S. Gopal

America is an angry nation today � any nation would be, after being a victim of the horrendous and unimaginable crime against the innocents perpetrated at New York on Sep 11. No ideology , no freedom struggle and least of all not the so called jihad can justify this beastly action. There could be no doubt that the perpetrators and their �suthradars� have to be brought to justice. But who are they? Would it be advisable to rush to a conclusion and kill an individual or bomb a nation (hopefully not out of existence) and expect the problem not to recur. The answer is a firm No. What we are fighting here is not another country at war with the U.S., not even a demented individual but an ideology and a band of fanatic killers for whom life � either theirs or others mean nothing. We are fighting an ideology which tries to find justification in non existent sanctions, in the name of God.

Taking the fight into Afghanistan to get at one individual is neither practical nor advisable. Such a course of action could perhaps succeed but at enormous cost to human lives and further rancor against the U.S. among Islamic populace of many nations. These are not people who are sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden and perhaps would not mind seeing him hang from the nearest lamp post. He has done enormous disservice to them and to their essentially humanistic religion by creating an impression that its followers are killers in the name of religion.

What is called for is patience. The U.S., as it is doing now, should get as many nations behind them as possible to plan and eliminate this fundamentalist and mass murdering ideology from the face of this earth. Diplomatic and propaganda activities need to be stepped against this scourge. Create a special group of dedicated combatants , if possible from various nations to seek out each and every follower of this ideology and eliminate them. Collection of intelligence and operational planning to get at them is a must. If it is not possible to bring them to justice for various legal or political reasons, use their own justice in dealing with them. If any nation supports such people, a lesson or two on what it is to be a victim of blood thirsty terrorism, would be in order.

A war based on missiles and bombs will not help in this case. Especially considering the terrain and the fact that you would be waging a war against someone who has nothing to lose. You would be only punishing a hapless populace which is under the tyrannical rule of an obscurantist rip van winkle and his gang. On the contrary it may bog down the U.S. in a protracted war with no solution in sight and allowing the ideology and its fanatic followers to continue their murderous activities in the name of defending a country or Islam.

Commandos and secret operations with patience, perseverance and excellent intelligence net work would be the answer to fight this evil. Not raining down missiles and bombs on a lunar landscape that is Afghanistan today.

Similia Similibus Curantor !

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