Why Has the War on Terror
Failed in its Tracks?
Dilrook Kannangara
At the moment there are many war fronts and the number is likely
to increase with many more nations and terror groups resorting to
violence as a means of achieving their objectives. There is Afghanistan
and Somalia that are plagued by Al-Queda and there is Iraq which is
a blend of a myriad number of terror groups. Then there are countries
like North Korea, Iran and around 30 more seriously considering becoming
nuclear powers. At the back stage the fear is looming of a nuclear
jihad.
In this backdrop the successes of the coalition forces have been,
to say the least, belittled. The spirit of “Global War on Terror”
of 2001 has slowly fizzled out to battles in few isolated places.
Most of the countries that were coalition partners then have backtracked
owing to either terror attacks/threats in their own countries (Spain)
or realisation of the fact that their campaign was not going anywhere.
It is apparent that all terror groups are linked to one another not
only in their resemblance of the thirst for blood (different fancy
objectives are stated by them but aren’t justified in their conduct
and the socio-political context) but also in the types of ancillary
activates that feeds into their ultimate objectives.
Almost all terror groups (and North Korea as a nation) are involved
in
-
drug trafficking (e.g. LTTE, Taliban, North Korea)
-
money laundering (e.g. Al-Queda, Hizbullah, LTTE)
-
cross boarder terrorism (e.g. Al-Queda, LTTE, Jamah
Islamia), and,
- other connected criminal deeds (e.g. child labour/conscription,
robbery, insurrection, ethnic cleansing, genocide, civil disturbances,
targeted killings)
Enough evidence is available on technology transfer and sharing among
terrorists.
Suicide bombings of military and civilian targets was introduced by
the LTTE and now practiced in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, India and
many other countries.
Surface to air missiles were first used effectively by Taliban/Mujahideen
and now are a vital part in the terror outfit.
High-jacking passenger aircraft and bombing passenger transport systems
were the first terror endeavours now attempted by all terror groups.
Intermittent civilian support bases and terror establishments was first
used strategically by Hizbollah/Jihad/Hamas and now copied by many groups
across the world Sustaining a fully fledged terror sea battalions was
practiced by the LTTE and will soon be copied by the others although
few groups in Indonesia and Yemen already use make shift attack crafts.
LTTE has successfully developed an air wing on numerous occasions only
to be destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces. It is very likely that other
terror groups also pursue this ambition.
Each other co-operates in arms smuggling, sharing latest terror technology,
logistics, sharing intelligence, coordinated efforts towards intimidating
anti-terror campaigns and providing refuge to fellow members.
I have gathered all the above from credible civilian information sources
and the intelligence community and Interpol should have much more striking
evidence on inter-relationships all the terror groups maintain.
The next question is why not bring back the spirit of the “Global
War on Terror” and make co-ordinated efforts in exterminating terrorists.
Isolated battles raged in Iraq, Afghanistan, USA, UK, Sri Lanka, India
and in many other locations are not going to do much as the terrorists
operate in unison across the world. At least the coalition partners
should share technology, equipment, intelligence and facilities with
other nations fighting terror. For instance usage of US heavy bombers
on LTTE bases would take out a lot of toil and deaths from the Sri Lankan
security forces. Effective clamp down on fund raising can stop fuelling
terrorism. Help maintaining maritime peace would stop arms smuggling
and drug trafficking.
It would be much productive if the vain efforts put to constitution
changes and ‘peace’ talks are channelled towards international
collaboration in fighting terrorism.
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