Extras din „Psihologia terorii si teroarea psihologică în situaţii de criză”, Gabriel Dulea, Editura Universităţii Naţionale de Apărarare „Carol I”, Bucureşti, 2006 ISBN(10) 973-663-339-x
Circumscribed to a larger thematic area-the international and trans-national terrorism-this book, as well as many other articles, studies and books published in Romania and in other countries, draws the reader’s attention (I wonder for how many times?) towards the threat represented by terrorism and its fatal effect on our contemporary world.
For the less informed readers, the book begins with a short history of terrorism, which has been around as a major nuisance to governments as long as recorded history. It dates back to antiquity. It may seem paradoxical, but, in the past, assassinations were politically motivated (Burebista, Caesar), in the same way as they are nowadays.
However, those who began terrorism were the Mongolians, a migratory people who settled on a vast territory from Central and Northern Asia (septentrional) in the 3rd century. They were famous for their memorable cruelty manifested in the devastated lands and for burning the library from Bagdad. But let’s not forget that the same Mongolians were tolerant of Nestorian Christians from Orient and of the peoples who obeyed them .Moreover, they managed to root out the assassin sect of Almut which had terrorized with their political assassinates the Near East and Central Asia for almost two centuries.
Thus, the method of getting political influence by means of assassinates is not at all new. As a matter of fact, the word” assassin” entered Latin first and then it entered the European languages of Near East. The word was taken over from Syria where the sect of the assassins Marco Polo tells us about, was known as „hassassins” which in Arabian meant „those who use hashish”.
In the period between the 11th and the 13th centuries ,the sect of Moslems ,the Shiites, fortified in the mountains from the North of Persia ,terrorized the region of present Syria, Iran and Irak on political grounds: the reconstruction of the Fatima caliphate from Egypt and the connections were also religious: to impose the Ishmaelite sect. The instruments were absolutely the same: assassinates.
As far as contemporary terrorism concerns, it is more and more spoken about a conflict of civilisations, sustained by the controversed book „The Clash of Civilisation”of the American writer Samuel P. Hungtington, according to whom „As long as Islam will continue to exist (which will surely happen) and as long as the Occident will continue to exist (which is less sure),this fundamental conflict between two big civilisations and between two life styles, will continue to define their relations in future too. And this is due to the fact that the Islamic would be convinced of the superiority of their culture and obsessed by the inferiority of their power”
Today terrorism has evolved and has continuously improved, adapting itself to the new conditions of our contemporary epoch. We can even speak about different types of terrorism, by identifying the suicide and criminal activities of terrorist groups from all over the world, groups who achieve their targets on behalf of a cause or of an unfulfilled wish.
Various attempts have been made to distinguish among types of terrorist activities. It is vital to bear in mind, however, that there are many kinds of terrorist movements, and no single theory can cover them all. Not only are the aims, members, beliefs, and resources of groups engaged in terrorism extremely diverse, but also so are the political contexts of their campaigns.
Experts have identified at least nine types of terrorism: Nationalist-Separatist Terrorism, the fundamental Islamic terrorism(the most dangerous one), Establishment terrorism, often called state or state-sponsored terrorism (it is employed by governments-or more often by factions within governments-against that government’s citizens, against factions within the government, or against foreign governments or groups), Left-Wing Terrorism, cyberterrorism, narcoterrorism, bioterrorism, ad-terrorism and air-terrorism.
In one of the chapters, we have analyzed the relation between terrorism and politics, with its consequences on economy, because, after all, politics is a concentrated expression of economy. The most relevant example of the influence of terrorism upon politics is the success achieved by the most ferocious terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, which, by its attentat from Madrid, March 11, 2004, has decisively influenced the results of the elections, which followed in Spain.
In order to satisfy the curiosity of all those who ask themselves;” What makes terrorists act, which are the reasons for which they willingly accept to put an end to their life?”, the psychology of the self killing terrorist is deeply analyzed.
A special place is also dedicated to the psychological terror, by briefly talking about the historical types of psychological torture, starting with „The Soviet model” used by the ex-Soviet Union in their communist prisons. This model was to become an outstanding model for what was going to happen in other parts of the world, Romania included, and nowadays in the USA (in the maximum-security prisons from Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq).
In our country, for example, the Security investigators undertook the pattern of torture methods. In secret archives of the ex-Central Committee of The Romanian Communist Party there has been identified a „top secret „document, from November 1st 1967, which points out that the methods used by security in the communist prisons were ,among other methods, beating , malnutrition and torture, moral pressures in order to force the investigated to declare what they were imposed on to ,elaboration of some declarations(statements not witnessed by investigators and recording unreal answers, which they were physically constrained to give ; moral torture which included threatening to arrest and torture their families, investigation and beating the naked skin; exposure to excessive cold while being bare footed and just in shirts, keeping them locked -up for a long time.
In one of the chapters we have analyzed the relation between terrorism and politics, with its consequences on economy, because, after all, politics is a concentrated expression of economy. The most relevant example of the influence of terrorism upon politics is the success achieved by the most ferocious terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, which, by its attendant from Madrid, March 11th, 2004, has decisively influenced the results of the elections which followed in Spain.
In order to satisfy the curiosity of all those who ask themselves;” What makes terrorists act?”, ”Which are the reasons for which they willingly accept to put an end to their life?”, the psychology of the self- killing terrorist is deeply analyzed.
A special place is also dedicated to the psychological terror, by briefly talking about the historical types of psychological torture, starting with „The Soviet model” used by the ex-Soviet Union in their communist prisons. This model was to become an outstanding model for what was going to happen in other parts of the world, Romania included, and nowadays in the USA (in the maximum-security prisons from Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq).
In our country, for example, the Security investigators undertook the pattern of torture methods. In the secret archives of the ex-Central Committee of The Romanian Communist Party, there has been identified a „top secret „document, from November 1st 1967, which points out that the methods used by security in the communist prisons were ,among other methods, beating , malnutrition and torture, moral pressures in order to force the investigated to declare what they were imposed on to, elaboration of some declarations(statements not witnessed by investigators and recording unreal answers, which they were physically constrained to give); moral torture which included threatening to arrest and torture their families, investigation and beating the naked skin; exposure to excessive cold while being bare footed and just in shirts, keeping them locked -up for a long time.
The methods used by the communist Security horrified even some of the most important communist leaders who were conscious of the consequences of the committed acts, qualified as being criminal acts. In a secret report read by Nikita Hrushciov on the occasion of the XXth Congress of S.U.C.P.in February,24th, 1956,it was stated:” What will we do with all those who have been killed?(…)Now we know that the victims of the repressions were innocent (…). It would be impossible to cover everything. Sooner or later those who are in prisons, in camps, will be set free and will go home. How could we pretend that we don’t know what has happened? They will tell their relatives, their friends about their sufferings. This is why we are obliged to confess everything. In the life of those who committed a crime, there comes a moment when confessing means indulgence or even forgiveness”.
Such abominable methods continue, unfortunately, to be used nowadays by the American army in the maximum-security prisons from Iraq and Aphganistan.This is the theme of the chapter entitled”U.S.Army and psychological torture”.
The book could not come to its end before making some references to the forms and methods of preventing terrorism at the national and international level. Specialists in the domain agree that the main objective of these methods is to educate and to make those promoting terrorism and organized crime become aware of all the risks which their actions imply.
This is why The Association of Terrorism Studies and Researches recommend well founded projects for preventing and fighting against terrorism .The activities of this association are justified by the fact that preventing terrorism by means of education and instruction has a major importance both for the civil society and for those fighting against terrorism.
„It’s time to say „NO” to terror!!” said Tony Blair in his speech, in June 7th, 2005, when the attentate from London took place. The result of the four bombs activated almost simultaneously was catastrophic: 49 dead and hundreds injured .The time has come when governments must make an urgent coalition for preventing and fighting against terrorism! It is necessary to have a lot of courage and perseverance for preventing this phenomenon. Offering financial funds is the surest weapon for eradicating any terrorist group which threatens people’s security and world’s peace”.
Contents
- Forward
- Terrorism: myth or reality?
- Profiles of terrorist groups. Types of terrorism
- Invisible terrorism
- Terrorism and politics
- Psychology of self-killing recruit
- Psychological terror. A short history
- U.S. Army and psychological torture
- Preventing and fighting against terrorism
- Dictionary of words used in the study of terrorism
- Selective bibliography
Extras din „Psihologia terorii si teroarea psihologică în situaţii de criză”, Gabriel Dulea, Editura Universităţii Naţionale de Apărarare „Carol I”, Bucureşti, 2006 ISBN(10) 973-663-339-x
