6 responses
Respond to the following discussions from classmates (X6) Write how you would respond to their discussions) with approximately 100 words or more each. Be thoughtful and insightful and it must demonstrate critical thinking and analysis.
How has the Internet changed the time-tested traditional hierarchy of terrorist organizations to the new leaderless terrorism model? Be sure to include relevant examples to support your position.
1. In the past terror group have posed a global threat which came from men and Women who were indoctrinated and trained afar in terrorist camps and in Jihadi mosques where the radical ideologies of Imams preached jihad. Today, the real threat comes from the single individual, the “lone wolf,” who very well may be living next door.
Terrorist are being radicalized by way of the Internet and plotting strikes in the dark. Weimann, G. (2014). This Lone Wolf tactic makes it even harder for counter terrorist enforcement; because instead of focusing on one group now they have to focus on theoretically 30 individuals who have the same goal of causing harm to unsuspecting countries.
Lone wolf terrorists are not completely out of contact. They are recruited, radicalized, taught, trained, and directed by others. They connect, communicate, and share information, know-how, and guidance exclusively online, through the “Dark Web.” Weimann, G. (2014).
For example Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev the suspected in the bombings at the Boston Marathon bombings and the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan were reported to be recruited by Islamic extremist. Weimann, G. (2014). These terrorist did not go to a camp oversees; they were trained and mobilized by way of the internet in our country.
“The internet has been the meeting ground of all of the lone wolf cases of recent years, and it appears to be very effective. It provides a locus in which lone wolves can access radicalizing material, instruction manuals, and videos.” Weimann, G. (2014). Without the internet most people would have only heard about terrorist situation passing on the news or read it in the paper and it would have passed. With the internet these incidents are continually revived as everyone has an opinion or in these cases creates a movement behind it (lone wolf terrorism).
2. Prior to the invention and mass spread of the internet to the greater population of the world terrorism was a far more recognizable entity. Before the times when near every device or library had an internet connection terror groups would have to risk gathering in order to communicate, that is until the idea of leaderless resistance and the phantom cell model took off like a fire. At a 1992 at a Christian Identity meeting, Louis Beam a former KKK leader expressed his disagreement with the traditional top down pyramidal hierarchal structure of extremist groups. He expressed points such as rapidly increasing technology that the government could use to infiltrate these extremist organizations not to mention the inherent risk of physically meeting together in large groups. The leaderless resistance, phantom cell could operate autonomously without a structuralized command and control asset found in the more traditional hierarchy. But how would these small cells recruit or communicate, and how would frustrated individuals find a calling while simultaneously radicalizing themselves into a violent passion? Enter the internet. The internet has the capability of providing communication for likeminded individuals, training, recruiting, and of course a propaganda tool (Janbek, & Williams, 2014). The internet allows individuals such as Major Hasan to communicate with terrorist from groups such as al-Qaeda and be fed propaganda in order to be radicalized.
3. The Internet plays a vital role in recruiting and radicalizing lone-wolf and leaderless terrorists, it is a virtual community for like-minded individuals and is a priceless recruiting, training, and propaganda tool (Module 7 notes). Terrorist websites that serve as a virtual training grounds, they offer “tutorials on building bombs, firing surface-to-air missiles, shooting at U.S. soldiers, and sneaking into Iraq from abroad” (Kaplan, 2009, para. 3). The internet also provides the means to have a larger voice and to “communicate directly with other people scattered around the globe”, additionally, it has “undermined the traditional hierarchy of terrorist organizations, thus paving the way for leaderless jihad” (Module 7 notes, para. 9). For example, “Al-Suri provided one of the most articulate and elaborate codifications of leaderless terrorism and the first one that explicitly stressed the internet as a means of relaying advice and orientation” (Burke, 2016, para. 10). Al-Suri’s also indicated through his writings “that changes in media technology meant that terrorists could adapt in the future by foregoing much of their infrastructure and still succeed in their messaging aims” (Burke, 2016, para. 11).
Do you think that most lone-wolf terrorists are rational persons exhibiting irrational actions according to societal norms? Or, are they generally mentally-ill persons who can function rationally? Provide relevant examples to support your reasoning.
4. Having loosely examined the relevant course materials on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that lone-wolf-terrorists are generally rational persons whose actions may seem irrational to us. These are individuals whose actions are generally perceived as counterintuitive which is an often misguided perception nonetheless. This misguided perception can be largely attributed to our belief systems which make us think that these folks are unreasonable or insane for that matter. On the contrary, lone-terrorists are in most cases very intelligent and rational strategists. In most cases, attacks by lone terrorists are strategically conceived and seamlessly executed. A good example the 2015 San Bernardino attack perpetrated by Farook and Tashfeen Malik (Cole, 2016). The attack was carefully organized and perfectly executed ruling out insanity. No such meticulous organization and executions can possibly be attributed to some sort of insane or random maniac.
It seems to me that the main reason perhaps why some think of lone-wolf terrorists as insane persons acting rationally is because their motives are often mistaken. Lone-terrorists are assumed to be motivated by political reasons. However, there are other incentives that may motivate a lone-wolf terrorist to carry out acts of terror. Motivated by the internet contents, some lone-wolf terrorists are attracted by the martyr labels. On the flipside, some of the lone-wolf terrorists may be mental cases. Despite most of them generally being rational strategists, research shows that a click of them may be suffering from some psychopathological problem. A good example in this case relates to the lifestyle of Ted Kaczynski (Spaaij, 2010). In summary, most cases of lone-wolf terrorism are perpetrated by rational strategic terrorists who clearly understand the consequences of their actions. However, there are some mental cases hence counterintuitive outcomes.
5. Lone wolf terrorism remains an ambiguous and enigmatic security issue all over the world. The security experts and scholars have not been able to conclusively agree on what motivate the lone wolf terrorists to commit heinous acts (Philips, 2011). The profile of the lone attacks indicates that while some of them might have had some mental issues in the past, others have been found to be rational. According to the cross-national survey done in 15 countries, it concludes that the lone terrorists appear to be motivated by a mixture of aspects which include political, social, and religious ideologies combined with psychological frustrations (Spaaij, 2010). According to Smith et al. (2015) which sought to establish the patterns of the lone wolf terrorist, they found out that, unlike the clustered attackers, they are more learned and disconnected from the rest of the society. They also established that they tend to commit their crimes in places that are far away from their countries or residence. In addition, the study revealed that most of them plan their attacks with a lot of precisions. Thus, lone wolf terrorists cannot be easily thwarted (Smith et al., 2015). By considering the planning and sophistication of attacks being undertaken by most of the lone wolfs, it can be easily concluded that most of them are persons exhibiting irrational criminal activities.
For instance, a car ramming attack and a mass stabbing terror attack in Ohio University was conducted by a lone attacker. Consequently, the investigation by the police indicated that the attacker was motivated by the Islamic State terror group. In 2016, Ahmad Rahami was found guilty of bombing vehicles in New Jersey as a lone wolf attacker. Apparently, he identified himself with Al-Qaeda ideologies (Hamm & Spaaij, 2017).
6. Hello Readers,
This is a difficult question to take sides on because I feel the difference is fairly equal. In the case of Andrew Stack, the individual who flew a small private plane into the IRS building in Austin, TX; he was sane but just overly irrational. His wife’s father knew he was dealing with a difficult situation with the IRS and primarily just wanted to inflict damage on the company, not people (Brick, 2010). There were no signs of mental health issues, just anger at the situation. According to social norms people can get angry and even excessively. I would even say assaulting or causing damage to property is normal, not accepted but normal. Some things are just expected to happen.
If I had to side with one, it would be that most individuals are mentally-ill and can function rationally. The big key point to note is that you can be mentally ill and not diagnosed. If the attacker had no prior reports on him or her, it does not mean that they are OK. According to Randy Borum “a number of terrorists with mental illness who were capable of sophisticated attack planning” (Module 7: Module Notes: Lone Wolf and Leaderless Terrorism). I believe you have to be mentally dysfunctional to decide on murdering innocent people believing the act will make the word better.