Terrorism 101: The Spectacular

Terrorism is a common tactic in, though not exclusive to asymmetric warfare. It is warfare on the cheap. It is a tactic as old as warfare itself. The Ancient Romans had specialised teams of shock troops whose job it was inflict mass casualties on helpless civilians, in effect acts of terrorism. Groups like the Irgun in Palestine and Nelson Mandela’s ANC have used acts which could be described as terrorism against what they would consider an unjust or incorrect political situation. Terrorism is in effect, like warfare, politics by other mostly violent means.

While Al Qaeda’s resources and resourcefulness are considerable, its’ means of delivering its’ warfare is limited by the vastly greater resources of their main enemy, the United States. It therefore has to maximize the effectiveness of whatever resources it brings to play. ”The Spectacular” is a type of terrorist attack devised by al-Qaeda which involves a highly visible mass casualty operation almost always on soft targets which captures the imagination of both its’ followers and its’ victims. For the victims it creates a sense of vulnerability and insecurity. For the followers these attacks are meant to inspire and create a sense of progress in the struggle as well as a sense of staying in the fight. It may also serve toinspiring some to immitate and also seek "martyrdom in jihad".

5 years ago today, on the 11^th of September 2001 the attack on the North East of the United States of America proved to be a near perfect example of the Spectacular, successfully executed to devastating effect. On that morning four planes were hijacked. The world had never experienced a suicidal high jacking of an airliner and so at first reacted in a typically sluggish manner. One plane is flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Only one camera just happens to capture the impact. The stage is set. The impact is significant enough to attract the interest of the news media, more and more of whom had begun running live feeds as the significance of the event becomes clearer. Several video cameras are now trained onto the towers. Suddenly as if from out of nowhere, a second passenger plane descends at full throttle towards Lower Manhattan. The plane crashes, passengers and all, into the South Tower in a huge ball of smoke and fire with the whole world watching live! For anyone who has ever been in plane or in a tall building the prospect was bone chilling. Yet it was achieved by 19 operatives on suicide missions armed with box cutters. They manage to execute the ultimate sucker punch. As a secondary benefit, the attack managed to provoke a massive over reaction by America which has in turn provided a further propaganda coup for al-Qaeda and a vastly more receptive pool of potential recruits.

As a tactic, this particular attack cannot be replicated. Never again will passengers sit idly by during any further hijacking of airliners. If the passengers are not able to subdue the attackers they will probably be sacrificed as a last resort to prevent further casualties on the ground. As a tactic the Spectacular proved its’ worth that day and has been adapted for attacks in Bali, Madrid, London, Beslan, Mumbai and several times in Iraq.

I fear this genie is out of the bottle. My only hope is that the powers that be are up to the strategic challenge of this formidable and dangerous enemy, al-Qaeda.