War, Terrorism and Military Response
“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be
dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War
is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes…known
instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few… No
nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
— James Madison, Political Observations, 1795
WAR
According to a dictionary definition, war is a state of armed conflict
between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme aggression,
destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. As of 2017,
war in the 21st century has a different meaning then war in previous eras. Now,
war on fought on different fronts, and conducted with weapons inconceivable
in the past. Wars between different nation-states is rare but the threats posed
by conflict as more deadly than ever.
First, let us define the different types of modern warfare.
1) Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological
toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
2) Chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat.
Poison gas as a chemical weapon was principally used during World War I,
and resulted in over a million estimated causalities, including more than
100,000 civilians.
3) Civil War is a war between forces belonging to the same nation or political
entity.
4) Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear,
biological, or chemical weapons are not used.
5) Cyberwarfare involves the actions of a nation-state or international
organizations to attack, and attempt to damage another nation’s
information systems.
6) Information warfare is the application of destructive force on a large scale
against information assets and systems, against the computers and
networks that the support the four critical infrastructures: the power grid,
communications, financial, and transportation.
7) Nuclear Warfare is warfare in which nuclear weapons are the primary
method of achieving capitulation.
8) Total war is warfare by any means possible, disregarding the laws of war,
placing no limits on legitimate military targets, using weapons and tactics
resulting in significant civilian causalities, or demanding a war effort
requiring significant sacrifices by the friendly civilian population.
9) War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense;
this can be the basis of war crimes under customary international war.
There are currently dozens of ongoing armed conflicts around the world,
the deadliest of which is the Syrian Civil War. The 4 conflicts in the following list
have caused at least 10,000 direct violent deaths in current or past calendar
year.
1) War in Afghanistan, start of the conflict was in 1978, has a total
cumulative fatalities of between 1.2 and 2 million people, including 23,
539 in 2016.
2) Iraq War, begun in 2003, with an estimated total causalities of 268, 000,
including 23, 898 in 2016.
3) Mexican Drug War, beginning in 2006 with between 100,000 and 145, 000
total fatalities, 12, 224 in 2016.
4) Syrian Civil War since 2011 has an estimated 312,000 to 470, 000
fatalities, estimated 60, 000 in 2016.
Terrorism
In the international community, terrorism has no legally binding,
criminal law definition. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to
those violent acts that are intended to create fear (terror); are perpetrated
for a religious, political, or ideological goal; and deliberately target or
disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutral military personnel or
civilians). Some definitions now include acts of unlawful violence and war.
The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for protection rackets or
to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism, though these
same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by a politically
motivated group. Usage of the term has also been criticized for its frequent
undue equating with Islamism or Jihadism, while ignoring non-Islamic
organizations or individuals.
The word “terrorism” is politically loaded and emotionally charged,
and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition.
Studies have found over 100 definitions of “terrorism”. In some cases, the
same group may be described as “freedom fighters” by its supporters and
considered to be terrorists by its opponents. The concept of terrorism may
be controversial as it is often used by state authorities (and individuals with
access to state support) to delegitimize political or other opponents, and
potentially legitimize the state’s own use of armed force against opponents
(such use of force may be described as “terror” by opponents of the state).
At the same time, the reverse may also take place when states perpetrate
or are accused of perpetrating state terrorism. The usage of the term has a
controversial history, with individuals such as ANC leader Nelson Mandela
at one point also branded a terrorist.
Terrorism has been practiced by a broad array of political
organizations to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both
right-wing and left-wing political parties, nationalistic groups, religious
groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments. An abiding characteristic
is the indiscriminate use of violence against non-combatants for the
purpose of gaining publicity for a group, cause, or individual. The
symbolism of terrorism can exploit human fear to help achieve these goals.
ORIGIN OF THE TERM
“Terrorism” comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally
referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French
government during the 1793–1794 Reigns Of Terror. The French word
terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terreōmeaning “I frighten”.
The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of emergency in Rome in
response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105 BC. The
Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the
French Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word “terrorist”
became a term of abuse. Although “terrorism” originally referred to acts
committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of
innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a media
spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who
described himself as a “terrorist”. Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist
group “People’s Retribution” (Народная расправа) in 1869.
In November 2004, a United Nations Secretary General report
described terrorism as any act “intended to cause death or serious bodily
harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a
population or compelling a government or an international organization to
do or abstain from doing any act”.
The definition of terrorism has proved controversial. Various legal
systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism in
their national legislation. Moreover, the international community has been
slow to formulate a universally agreed, legally binding definition of this
crime. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term “terrorism” is
politically and emotionally charged. In this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing
the Australian Parliament, stated,
The international community has never succeeded in developing an
accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and
1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term floundered mainly
due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of
violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation and selfdetermination.
These divergences have made it impossible for the United Nations to
conclude a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that
incorporates a single, all-encompassing, legally binding, criminal law
definition of terrorism. The international community has adopted a series
of sectoral conventions that define and criminalize various types of
terrorist activities.
Since 1994, the United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly
condemned terrorist acts using the following political description of
terrorism:
Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the
general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political
purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the
considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic,
religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.
Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism, published in 1998
noted in that book: It is not only individual agencies within the same
governmental apparatus that cannot agree on a single definition of
terrorism. Experts and other long-established scholars in the field are
equally incapable of reaching a consensus. In the first edition of his
magisterial survey, “Political Terrorism: A Research Guide,” Alex Schmid
devoted more than a hundred pages to examining more than a hundred
different definitions of terrorism in an effort to discover a broadly
acceptable, reasonably comprehensive explication of the word. Four years
and a second edition later, Schmid was no closer to the goal of his quest,
conceding in the first sentence of the revised volume that the “search for
an adequate definition is still on”. Walter Laqueur despaired of defining
terrorism in his work on the subject “Terrorism: A Brief History,”
maintaining that it is neither possible to do so nor worthwhile to make the
attempt.
Eco-terrorism has described property destruction by the Earth
Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front as violence and terrorism and
terrorist attacks are usually carried out in such a way as to maximize the
severity and length of the psychological impact. Each act of terrorism is a
“performance” devised to have an impact on many large audiences.
Terrorists also attack national symbols, to show power and to attempt to
shake the foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This
may negatively affect a government, while increasing the prestige of the
given terrorist organization and/or ideology behind a terrorist act.
Terrorist acts frequently have a political purpose. This is often
where the inter-relationship between terrorism and religion occurs. When
a political struggle is integrated into the framework of a religious or
“cosmic” struggle, such as over the control of an ancestral homeland or
holy site such as Israel and Jerusalem, failing in the political goal
(nationalism) becomes equated with spiritual failure, which, for the highly
committed, is worse than their own death or the deaths of innocent
civilians. Their suffering accomplishes the terrorists’ goals of instilling fear,
getting their message out to an audience or otherwise satisfying the
demands of their often radical religious and political agendas.
The United States State Department publishes a comprehensive list
of terrorist organizations around the world. They define terrorism in Title
22 of the U.S. Code 2656 as “premeditated, politically motivated violence
perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or
clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.” Critics of
the State Department will also use this list when an organization who
commits a terrorist act is not on the official list. Terror organizations appear
on the scene usually after they commit an act of terror. For this reason the
State Department continually revises this list.
LIST OF STATES WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
There are eight sovereign states that have successfully detonated nuclear weapons.
Five are considered to be “nuclear- weapon states” (NWS) under the terms of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons these are: the
United States, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, France, and China.
Since the NPT entered into force in 1970, three states that were not parties to the
Treaty have conducted nuclear tests, namely India, Pakistan, and North Korea. North Korea
had been a party to the NPT but withdrew in 2003. Israel is also widely believed to have
nuclear weapons, though it maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity regarding this, and is
not known definitively to have conducted a nuclear test.
In summary the five NPT designated states are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom,
and the United States. Other states with nuclear weapons are India, Pakistan, and North
Korea. Israel is believed to have nuclear weapons. NATO nuclear weapons sharing states are
Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and Turkey. And states that have formerly possessed
nuclear weapons are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and South Africa.
According to a Wikipedia search, the following is a list of the nuclear weapons that
exist now. Each country will be listed with two numbers—active warheads/total warheads.
1) United States—2104/7315
2) Russia—1600/8000
3) United Kingdom—160/225
4) France—290/300
5) China—n.a./250
6) India—n.a./90-110
7) Pakistan—n.a./100-120
8) North Korea—n.a./10
9) Israel—n.a. / suspected 60-400
NATO
NATO was formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist
expansion as the Soviet Union sought to expand its influence in Europe. Originally NATO
consisted of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The organization
expanded to include Greece and Turkey in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982.
Enlargement of NATO has continued after Spain joined in 1982. The process of
joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the treaty, which allows only for the invitation
of “other European states.” After the Cold War ended, and Germany was reunited in 1990,
there was debate in NATO about continued expansion eastward. In 1999, Poland, Hungary,
and the Czech Republic joined NATO and another expansion came with the admission of
seven Eastern and Central European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
Slovakia, and Slovenia in 2004. On April 1, 2009, Albania and Croatia were added. The most
recent member, Montenegro joined on June 5, 2017. In 2017, NATO officially recognized
three aspiring members: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Macedonia.
The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, and is the treaty
establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The treaty states in Article 1 that NATO
members are committed to “settle any international dispute in which they may be involved
by peaceful means… and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of
force in any manner inconsistent with the purpose of the United Nations. “ In Article 2 the
treaty also commits each member country to achieve this “by promoting conditions of
stability and well-being.”
The key sections of the NATO treaty are Articles 4 and 5. Article 4 triggers not
military intervention but merely consultation over military matters when “the territorial
integrity, political independence or security of the parties are threatened.” Article 4 has been
invoked three times by Turkey: Once in 2003 over the Iraq War, once in June 2012 after the
shooting down of a Turkish military jet, and once again in October 2012 after Syrian attacks
on Turkey and their counterattacks. An Article 4 meeting was also invoked by Latvia,
Lithuania, and Poland in March 2014 as a response to the 2014 Crimean crisis.
Article 5 commitment clause defines the casus foederis, derived from the Latin for
“case for the alliance.” It commits each member state to consider an armed attack against
one member state, in Europe or in North Americas, to be an armed attack against them all.
The provision has been invoked only once in NATO history: by the United States after the
September 11, 2001 attacks. On April 16, 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
