SINCE last Tuesday, nothing has been the same. The terrorist attacks on the nation have not only caused great pain and damage, but they also have alerted the country to the sophistication and scope of terrorist threats. President Bush has pledged a war against terrorism in what he calls the "first war of the 21st century." Regrettably, as many government officials have acknowledged, conducting such a war is easier said than done.
Terrorism is a secretive and mostly decentralized phenomenon. While all of the U.S.'s wars of the past have been against nations that had clearly demarcated boundaries, terrorist organizations are mostly composed of faceless and unknown cells around the world. This will require the U. S. and its allies to re-engineer their war tactics to deal with precise extractions in civilian terrain. The U. S. will have to re-address and justify certain ethical concerns if it wishes to conduct this new war successfully.
Fighting terrorism will be one of the most difficult tasks undertaken by a military force. In this new war, the main weapon will be intelligence. Intelligence is not only hard to come by, but when dealing with small mobile groups such as terrorist cells, is subject to quick change. That means that action will often have to be rapid and may seem unjustified.
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It's important to understand the way many terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda, the group suspected of the recent attacks, work. The terrorist members have unique mentalities, vastly different from most Western perspectives. They see their actions to be as good and meritorious as we see them to be evil. They are not afraid of death and consider dying in battle as a glorious act ("Bin Laden's Radical Form of Islam," The Washington Post, Sept. 18).
Many of these organizations are very well financed and small enough as to not draw attention to themselves. They operate in independent cells around the world and, as is the case with many of the hijackers involved in the recent attack, do not seem suspicious in the least.
So far the U. S. has singled out Osama bin Laden as a prime suspect and wishes to put him in custody. While he may be responsible for the attacks, eliminating him will not solve much. As Vice President Cheney said, "Osama bin Laden is just one person". Though he is a source of financing and a mastermind behind many acts of violence, there still would be several cells and terrorist architects left to carry out attacks. Even if the majority of the leaders of the organization are taken out, it's most probable that other members will spring to leadership positions in the authority vacuum. The most effective way to deal with eliminating an organization is to take out all the leaders and as many "soldiers" as possible in one swift strike. Terrorists can be like a cancer. It only takes a few cells to revitalize a tumor.
As mentioned before, the main weapon in this battle will be intelligence. However, intelligence takes a long time to gather and interpret. In all probability, this war will not seem like a war at all. As President Bush has confirmed, "there will be battles, but this is long term." Life will go on as normal, and occasionally, decisive military action will be taken to apprehend or eliminate a cell of terrorists.
Such actions may be seen as unethical in the context of normal life. Israel has been conducting a similar type of campaign against the terrorist leaders that have been discovered by its intelligence, and has come under criticism from other countries as a result. Granted, most countries in the world have condemned the acts of Sept. 11 and have pledged their support, but how will they react in a year or two when certain citizens of a country are revealed as "sleeper" terrorists and are extradited or eliminated without any type of warning?
Such scenarios may be the battles of this war against terrorism. The United States must make a point of redefining its ethics. Our country runs the risk of losing focus in the future about the fact that there is indeed a war going on, if the illusion of peace surrounds it. Terrorists are the enemy. They have proven their cunning and ferocity and if they are not eliminated, they will do their best to cripple us. Any attacks on terrorists will be offensive acts of war, even if they seem to be against innocent citizens.
Unfortunately, intelligence sources cannot divulge much information as to how they know a person is a terrorist. If they did, they could lose the effectiveness of their knowledge, and also might help terrorist organizations learn where the information leaks are coming from. The actions that the United States military takes in the coming months may seem unethical at times, but if we do not attack, we will be attacked ourselves.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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