Editorial

What is the Solution to the Problem of Terrorism?

One of the main ideological tactics of the architects and supporters of the America's new crusade against terrorism is to accuse anyone who suggests that we look into the causes of terrorism of being soft on terrorism and anti-American. Of course, anyone serious about solving a problem realizes that the first step is to identify the cause. So those who so vehemently oppose looking for the causes of terrorism are not serious about eliminating terrorism. Alternately, perhaps they realize that any serious examination of the causes of terrorism will lead directly to the United States itself.

There are two kinds of terrorism - state terrorism and terrorist acts by individuals and small groups. State terrorism comes in many forms, from political assassinations and coups d'etat to the bombing of civilian populations and economic embargoes designed to starve civilian populations into submission. It also includes such things as threats of nuclear annihilation or George W. Bush's current threat that those who oppose the U.S. are, by definition, on the side of terrorism and will receive the same treatment.

It would be wrong to suggest that the United States is the only state responsible for acts of state terrorism. Many such acts have also been perpetrated by states with regimes installed and supported by the U.S. military and the CIA. Still others have been committed by allies of the U.S., such as Israel, Britain, France, Germany and even Canada. Russia, currently on the list of U.S. allies, has also committed its share of state terrorism, especially against the people of Afghanistan and Chechnya.

However, it would be accurate to suggest that, since the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers, the United States has been the main perpetrator of state terrorism and is directly or indirectly responsible for the vast majority of terrorist activities over the past five decades. The list of just those acts for which the U.S. state has officially taken credit is extremely long and compelling.

The solution to state terrorism is obvious, although not necessarily easily accomplished. The dismantling of the U.S. state and its instruments of terror, such as the CIA, would be a positive first step. In other words, the solution to the problem of state terrorism requires the further development of the anti-capitalist movement.

However, the terrorism committed by individuals and small groups is a more complex problem. The frustration and hopelessness arising out of growing up in the inhuman conditions of refugee camps is certainly a factor, as is the humiliation of belonging to a nation and culture subjugated by imperialism. But the problem is further complicated by the fact that most of the current groups committed to the tactics of terror were actually created by the United States and its allies in their Cold War crusade against communism. In some cases they are still being financed directly or indirectly by the CIA. In addition, seemingly individual acts of terrorism are often discovered to be the work of the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Israel, Britain and others in order to justify the use of extraordinary measures of repression. For example, during the 1970s and 1980s, British anti-terrorism units in Ireland were implicated in numerous assassinations and bombings designed to stir up sectarian violence and justify continuing British occupation. In other words, it is often difficult to determine where state terrorism ends and acts of individual terrorism begin.

Furthermore, the conditions for the rise of individual terrorism have their roots in the policies of state terrorism pursued primarily by the United States and its allies. One of the main features of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War was the systematic elimination of democratically elected governments in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Any government which was not totally subservient to the United States was labelled "pro-communist" and targetted for removal. Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Chile, Congo and Nicaragua are just a few examples. The military dictatorships installed and armed by the United States in those countries outlawed political dissent and crushed any opposition movements, often even the liberal democratic trends.

However, banning political dissent did not eliminate the conditions which gave rise to opposition to U.S. neo-colonialism - poverty, corruption, violence and violations of human rights. In the Middle East, the political vacuum created partly by the suppression of the secular movements of the Left was filled by the religious fundamentalists who used the shield of religion and anti-communism to protect themselves from some of the worst forms of state oppression.

In many cases, the CIA, blinded by its single-minded crusade against communism, encouraged and armed these religious fundamentalist groups. The Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al Quaida are examples of this. It is also well-known that the Palestinian organization Hamas was organized by the CIA and Israeli Mossad to undermine the secular national liberation struggle led by the PLO.

In other areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America the rise of terrorist tactics can also be traced to the U.S. policy of suppression of the communist parties and other movements of the Left. Even within the United States, the rise of right-wing terrorist militias corresponds to the period during which the FBI and CIA used terror and assassination to disrupt and destroy revolutionary oppositional movements of the Left.

So, an examination of the causes of terrorism indicates that the main source of both state-sponsored and individual acts of terrorism is actually the imperialist policies of the U.S. state. And in both cases, the solution to terrorism is precisely "anti-Americanism", or more accurately opposition to U.S. imperialism.