How terrorism works

Ralph Peters:

THE most important consumer good any government supplies to its citizens is security. Consequently, the universal terrorist strategy is to convince the people that their state can no longer protect them.

Thanks to their paramount weapon, the suicide bomber, our enemies have been making progress.

From the relentless attacks on Iraqi innocents, to last week's blasts in Morocco and Algeria, terrorist masterminds seek to destroy the people's confidence in their governments, to persuade them that safety lies only in submission to the extremists.

It's a brilliant approach. Even where it ultimately fails - and terror usually does fail - it succeeds in doing two related things: It costs the victimized government a disproportionate amount of money to respond to could-be-anywhere threats, and it punishes those who decline to see the light.

That first achievement of terror is obvious by now. As a result of 9/11, Washington expended hundreds of billions of dollars on tightening security at home and pursuing terrorists abroad. That money was diverted from more productive uses.

The good news is that the United States can bear the financial burden. But weaker states can't: That's what the terrorists count on.

Consider Iraq, where efforts to rebuild a ravaged infrastructure founder on security costs. Headlines alert us to the blood the terrorists spill, but the financial bleeding leaves the government anemic in every other sphere. As Bob Dylan once put it, "Nothing is delivered." The people's confidence in the state is near collapse.

The counter-Islamist struggle in Algeria has dragged on for over a decade, with hot phases and lulls, but the latest attacks showed a classic profile: Strike in the capital to demonstrate the government's vulnerability. In Morocco, where Islamist terror has yet to grip the nation, the botched suicide attacks sought a government over-reaction.

In the early phases of a terror campaign, Islamist leaders want to force the state to tighten security - expending its financial and moral capital - and the state rarely has a choice.

In a healthy system such as our own, enhanced security means annoyances at the airport. In a weaker state, the response has to be stronger - ultimately alienating those who feel the weight of the crackdown.

Yet, beyond all these rational objectives, terror bombings have a second, deeper purpose more difficult for secular Westerners to comprehend: Inflicting punishment.

In the cosmology of religion-driven terrorists, anyone not fully committed to the fanatic's interpretation of the faith is a legitimate target for his god's wrath: Humanity needs to be purged and taught its lesson.

This is where terror gets personal, in a variety of ways. First, virtually any target is fair game, invading the personal sphere of the average citizen. And when anything can be a target, everything must be protected - an impossible mission for any government.

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There is more.

The punishment purpose comes from the cruel and unusual punishment found in Shari'a law which the enemy wants to inflict on the world. Its requirement for dismembering bodies and severe lashings, not to mention stoning to death provide a rich source for the sadistic impulse of this enemy. The purpose of the corporal punishment in both cases is the same--submission to the will of the the guy with the whip hand.