DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: COUNTERING THE TERRORIST MENTALITY

New State Department Journal Explores Terrorist Psychology
Leading experts examine motives and mindset of modern terrorism
By Howard Cincotta
USINFO Special Correspondent

Washington – The psychological worlds of modern terrorist groups like al-Qaida are complex, and members rarely operate out of a single political motive. Most often, such terrorist organizations seek to instill far-reaching fear and intimidation throughout a society, according to the terrorism experts and analysts whose articles appear in the latest edition of eJournal USA, an online publication series of the State Department.

"It is only by understanding the terrorist mentality that civil societies can hope to counter terrorist tactics effectively," the editors of Countering the Terrorist Mentality conclude.

In an opening interview, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a journalist and documentary film producer, describes the devastating impact of terrorism on Afghan children.

"When a generation grows up under this kind of violence and fear," Obaid-Chinoy observes, "it is deprived of an education and knowledge of its true culture."

In "A Form of Psychological Warfare," terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman points out that all terrorists -- left-wing or right-wing, secular or religious in background -- seek to inculcate fear and destroy normal daily life by threatening personal safety and unraveling the social fabric of trust on which society relies.

Psychiatrist and author Jerrold Post analyzes the importance of group or collective identity in developing a cult of martyrdom in terrorist organizations.

Mia Bloom, professor of international relations at the University of Georgia, examines the complex, changing role of women as victims of terrorism as well as perpetrators of terrorist acts.

In a brief history of terrorism, noted scholar Walter Laquer points out that terrorism is as old as recorded human history. Acts of targeted political terrorism proliferated in Europe in the 19th century, Laquer writes, but experts date the modern era of indiscriminate terrorism from the 1970s and the advent of extreme left-wing groups like the Red Brigades in Italy.

There is no consistent profile with which to identify potential terrorist recruits, warns John Horgan of St. Andrews University in Scotland, whose book, Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements, will be published in 2008.

Although terrorist acts can have large-scale consequences, according to Horgan, terrorism remains essentially a "low-level, low-volume activity" largely perpetrated by individuals.

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Read the report, a 56 page PDF file...

Personally, I haven't read the report, I just found it this evening...I am interested to learn if any of these experts mention the words ISLAM & TERROR in the same sentence...


Pertinent Links:

1) Countering the Terrorist Mentality (PDF file)

2) New State Department Journal Explores Terrorist Psychology