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Terrorism 101
Sep 14,2001

We send our most sincere condolences to those, of whatever nationality and religious conviction, died in the latest terrorist attack carried out in the United States. We ourselves recently lost a loved one, my father-in-law (a most admirable man about whom I shall write later) passed away recently, and, though his was a peaceful passage in his hospital bed, still there is no denying the pain of separation of a loved one.

The attack in the United States is book terrorism and the world, courtesy (if that word can be used properly in the present context) of the perpetrators and masterminds, got a thorough instruction on the basics of terrorism.

The classic characteristic of a terrorist operation is a clear message. It need not be for something. In many cases, it is sufficient that it is against something. Thus, the favorite targets are the symbols of what the terrorists are fighting against. The recent action was clearly a statement against American’s money and might. Thus, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The message must be nonverbal. Optimally, there should be no definite author or mastermind that will use words, those uniquely human instruments too much to ask the inhuman to use. Instead, the message is writ in blood and shattered glass, powdered concrete, melted steel, billowing smoke and deafening noise.

The message must reach the intended audience. Thus, mass media that feast on the tragic, bizarre, scandalous, and extraordinary, must be given an event. No use to try to send a message if the person for whom it is intended does not hear it. Thus, the message must be effectively delivered.

That medium of delivery comes in the form of an event that distracts, disrupts, detracts, and most of all destructs. It must be elicit from the media, with its penchant for the hyperbole, such words as "horrific", "unprecedented", "unthinkable" and such comparisons with previous tragedies and predictions into the future as "never since Pearl Harbor" or "not since the Great Depression". The event must lend itself to the prophetic, "never again will life here be the same".

The message must attract attention in a big way. People must forget momentarily at least but the longer the better, their daily concerns and focus on the on-going event. To achieve this, lives, lots of them, must be lost. Everyone must be concerned with some family, friend, associate, or, simply, acquaintance that might be involved.

The impact must be disruptive. The daily routine of the world must be interrupted. Those that the world has taken for granted, such as the transportation flowing constantly, money continually flowing from users to the banks and back, food and water available when needed - must be seriously affected. There must therefore be a fall-out in as wide an area of human life as possible.

The event must detract from the reputation of the target. It needs also to expose the vulnerability of structures and institutions previously thought to be invulnerable. Governments, particularly, must be shown for that they really are, a collection of people working on various personal agendas, bound together by the most fragile tie of working for the same employer and in its various work centers. They are thus helpless, at least for a moment, in the face of a cataclysmic occurrence.

Destruction, of course, is a must. Debris must be scattered all around. The damage must be permanent or at least extremely expensive and difficult to clean up and repair. The longer the period of repair and cleaning up the better since the unfinished job becomes a daily reminder of the great event.

With what we have learned from the last few days, it would be most useful if we are to engage in some sort of exercise. Put together a group and divide it into two, one to plan a terrorist attack on our cities and urban centers, and the other to plan to prevent, and if the attack is successful, to control the damage. We can do this on the national level or local level, on the government level as well as in our commercial enterprises, in our workplaces as well as in our homes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we find this a welcome respite from senate and house of investigations in aid of public exhibitions of inutility.

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