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The mind of TERROR part 1

November 28th, 2015 | Tags: Dickson Igwe terrorism ISIS Boko Haram Islam
Dickson Igwe. Photo: VINO/File
By Dickson Igwe

The quote, “vigilance is the price of liberty,” is attributed to the Pioneer American Statesman Thomas Jefferson. Today, as the west fights a determined and elusive monster, called terrorism, that quote is as relevant as ever.

One caveat: terror in the west, despite the alarm from the terrible tragedy in Paris is still extremely rare. One is more likely to die from strike by lightning bolt, than from a terror attack.

Then, victims of terror this 21st Century are in the main Muslim, and inhabitants of countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria. Nigeria’s Boko Haram has been described as the deadliest terrorist group on earth killing thousands of Nigerians since its conception.

Modern Islamic Extremism meets western culture and the result is a CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS. In Europe and the west, secular humanism, is governed by the god of reason, who cherishes the cosmopolitan culture, inquiry and experimentation, compassion, tolerance, pleasure, and freedom. In fact, Christianity in the west, the more fundamental aspect of the religion, has been in a type of wilderness in recent years. The pursuit of religion and church going are becoming less and less a way of life for westerners, especially the young.

Islam, on the other hand, is proscribed. It forbids a number of activities. A number of practices in western culture are frowned upon by Moslem clerics. Islam is governed by rule and norm. And its adherents remain very much involved and focused on its teachings.

From the moment the fervent Moslem wakes up in the morning till he goes to bed at night, his religion guides and directs him to a greater extent than what Christianity does for the Christian. In that way, the Muslim is like the orthodox Jew.

Consequently, it is easier for a western Moslem, born and bred in the west, to scrap a culture based on freedom, for a life prescribed by the tenets of Islam. This conflict between Islamic extremism and western secular humanism is at the heart of the violent predicament Western nation’s face.

One must not blame the religion of Islam for the present violence. Islam is linked with Judaism and Christianity, and is one of the three great religions. One can blame those who have perverted Islam, and taken parts of the Koran out of context to massacre and commit genocide. All religions can be perverted by extremists.

And the terror attacks in Paris have seen a number of governments react in an extreme manner: states of emergency in France and Belgium have been declared, and crackdowns on suspected terrorists and their sympathizers. As a result of the Paris attacks, there has been a type of quarantine of Muslims in Europe, and a lot of negative reaction against Muslims, of who the vast majority are peace loving. That is not a good thing.

In other western countries there is a heightened sense of vulnerability, and fear of attack from terrorists.

From a cerebral and even sophomoric response, by the US President Barack Obama, to the more aggressive tone of President Francois Hollande of France, western society is in a conundrum over how to respond to Islamic Extremist Terror.
OK. There is a difference between Mr. Vigilance and Mrs. Intelligence. Mr. Vigilance is a weary and observant type. Today he is concerned that a certain passenger may or may not have the best intentions before boarding that flight to New York from Bahrain.

At the other end of the security and safety spectrum, Mrs. Intelligence is also a vigilant type. But on top of her super observance, today, she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the passenger that concerns Mr. Vigilance is a terrorist, and has an explosive device in his carryon. She has called for the apprehension of the terrorist and a full search of the aircraft.

Mr. Vigilance is concerned about that truck parked outside the Embassy in a volatile region. Mrs. Intelligence was reliably informed that it was a truck bomb an hour earlier, and she has prompted an evacuation of the embassy saving scores of lives.

Both Mr. Vigilance and Mrs. Intelligence are joined at the hip. Both are critical in the fight against terrorism. Both must work together to prevent that plane from exploding at high altitude, or the truck bomb detonating in front the embassy.
Now, make no mistake about it. The downing of the Russian plane over the Sinai on October 21 and the Paris terrorist attack of November 13, 2015, leaving hundreds of innocent’s dead and maimed, point to a colossal failure of western intelligence.

The coordinated nature of the attacks of October and November show that the terrorists are ahead in their favourite game of indiscriminate murder and death. The intelligence and security agencies of the west lag behind the terrorist. The intelligence analyst and professional spy are playing catch up.

The failure to construct a collaborative and strategic vision for western security has resulted in the failure to penetrate the terrorist’s network. This failure in intelligence gathering and effective intervention is despite the billions spent on intelligence annually by western states. It is further worsened by the failure of effective surveillance.

The security failure is also compounded by the failure to effectively coordinate the various elements of state craft linked with intelligence both inside and outside of national boundaries.

Then add to the preceding, the failure to correctly assess that sooner or later the ISIS terrorists would take the fight to the streets of Western capitals, from war torn Syria, and Iraq, and a violent and tumultuous North Africa and Middle East.

All the preceding gaps in security and intelligence point to a lack of strategic and visionary thinking in the fight against terror.

In the fight against the terrorist, the failure of intelligence is an unacceptable death sentence for too many innocents.

To be continued

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