Before looking
at this chapter, it is important to understand what terrorism is. In chapter one “Terrorism Defined,” the
author states that there is not one agreed upon definition for terrorism, but
many departments of the United States’ government have defined terrorism. In my opinion, the Department of Defense’s
definition is the best – “terrorism is the unlawful use or threatened use of
force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate
governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological
objectives” (7). In this chapter, the
author discusses the different models of terrorism, their organizational style,
and how they are financially supported.
Throughout
history, there have been three different models of terrorism – rural, urban, and
insurrection. Rural terrorism is
associated with guerrilla warfare and nationalistic rebellions like the Chinese
Communist Revolution, Cuban Revolution, and Nicaraguan Revolution. During these revolutions, terrorism played a
limited role; its purposes were “to strike at the government’s logistical
network […and] demoralize the government” (57).
Urban terrorism, which was popularized by Frantz Fanon and Carlos
Marighella, includes the use of guerilla warfare in an urban setting and
terrorism to “terrorize Westerners and their lackeys into submission”
(58). Insurrection is a combination of
terrorist attacks using modern technology and globalization. Insurgency has become the most popular type
of terrorism because of the availability of information online, ease to
communicate globally, and employment of less people.
One of the most
important elements of a terrorist group is secrecy. The ability to keep the organization a secret
directly affects group size. Small
groups are good because it is easier for things to remain unknown, but large
groups last longer because they have more supporters. Every person in a terrorist group is
categorized into a subgroup. There are different types of
organizational styles for terrorist groups, which include pyramid, umbrella,
virtual, chain, hub, and terrorist network.
In a pyramid organization, there are four levels – command, active
cadre, active supports, and passive supports.
An umbrella organization includes multiple pyramids under a sheltering
group, which provides money and supplies.
These organizations are not directly involved in terrorism and are
deemed legitimate organizations because they represent a political cause, which
is actually used to distract from the terrorist activities completed by the
pyramids. Out of all organizational
styles discusses in this chapter, it seems that terrorist networks are
paramount. Terrorist networks are
composed of “groups, supplies, weapons, and any structure that supports an
operation” (65). Individuals from
different groups can come together to complete an operation, and once the task
is complete, they go their separate ways.
This makes it is hard to determine who is responsible for the
action. Most importantly, terrorist
networks are best because they can be one entity, yet also separate groups;
this is imperative because it is expensive to run a group, and it becomes very
costly to run one large group. According
to reports and analyses, a terrorist operation costs much less than running a
terrorist group to plan and prepare for the operation.
Terrorist
groups raise money through legal and illegal methods. Legal activities include soliciting
contributions, running businesses, operating nongovernment organizations,
creating charities, wiring money, using banks, and using informal money
transfer systems. Informal money
transfer systems include money laundering, the Black Market Peso Exchange and
the hawala system.
Hawala System |
Illegally, groups
acquire money by engaging in drug trades, smuggling money and cigarettes,
pirating CDs and DVDs, selling counterfeit clothing and cigarettes, identity
theft, extortion, kidnapping, fraud, robbery, and other criminal
activities. When referring to the use of
drug-trade profits to finance terrorism, the term narcoterrorism is sometimes
used. While there is proof that drug
sales are used to finance terrorist groups, it is controversial to use the term
narcoterrorism. Those who disapprove of
the use of narcoterrorism believe that using the word means there is a link
between terrorism and drugs, and since not all terrorist activities and drug
sales are related to one another, it is inappropriate to use the term. Opponents also argue that linking drugs and
terrorism will give the government more power because more people will be
afraid of drug dealers and grant the government more power.
The author has
provided ample information for a person to become well informed on the
organization and finance of terrorist groups.
In this chapter, I have learned that it is hard to maintain a terrorist
group because its greatest strength and weakness is secrecy. To me, secrecy is a greater weakness than
strength because in order for a terrorist group to be long lasting, it needs to
be large. If operations are kept a
secret, isn’t there the possibility of two terrorist groups planning the same
thing? Also, if groups are to be kept
unknown, how do they solicit money from others or receive help with laundering
money? I have also learned that there is
a wide range of financial resources for terrorist groups. I was surprised to learn that some activities
that I thought were illegal are actually legal, such as creating charities,
which fund terrorism.
Overall, the
chapter was well written, but some topics could be better explained. When discussing Marighella’s four-stage model
of urban terrorism, the author should list the four stages, so that there is a
clear shift between phases. Also, when
describing Marighella’s basic structure of a terrorist group, what other groups
are needed besides firing groups?
Listing other groups would give readers a better image of what the
structure would look like. Lastly,
multiple times the author compares terrorists and organized criminals. What is the difference? I thought they were the same, so it was
difficult to understand the comparisons.
Sounds great so far! Maybe just make the title shorter.
ReplyDeleteGood use of quotes to back up what you state about terrorism. The quotes were integrated smoothly into the writing
ReplyDeleteI really like how this post talks about the different types of terrorism and the organizational style of terrorist groups. This integrates well with the other posts about terrorism. The pictures are also nice and informative!
ReplyDelete