The struggle against terrorism is quite different than that of other crimes. We will evaluate the matter from the dimension of the security forces (the Police). The gradually increasing terrorist events have surrounded the entire globe; and the terrorism is the cause of fear everywhere. In the struggle against terrorism, security units are the ones mostly criticized or appraised. However, ones criticizing must have enough knowledge to assess the issue much coherently since the first rule of criticism is to know the subject you know. Thus, with the help of such knowledge, it is possible to come to a reasonable solution. The security units must adopt policies which are just the opposite of the terrorists. The security forces must take the utmost care of the principles such as innocence, ethics, and law. Here, what comes into our minds is the question whether the police are much weaker if they respect the principles above or any other virtues of humanity. Not necessarily.
The ultimate mistake of the security forces is their coming closer to the behaviors of terrorists. That is, they behave like the terrorists do. Terrorists try to provoke the security forces at a maximum level and get them agitated without respecting any rule. The whole picture the terrorists would like to draw is an atmosphere of chaos in which hatred reaches to its apex, and polarity within the society increases. Any mistake in this process will be the excuse of new actions and the main source of new propagandas. This is the basis of opportunist strategy of terrorists in their struggle of the propaganda field enlargement. Thinking from this perspective, we may define the struggle as the increasing endeavor between the terrorists and the security forces to win the support of the public. The party that has faults in its strategy will harm the field of the other party. The terrorists regard the mistakes of the state administrative forces and the security units as an advantage. There are many examples of this approach throughout the history. However, now let’s focus on the recent developments.
The announcement of the Swedish Strategic Research Organization about the number of 39.000 thousand people killed in the Iraqi War is a trigger of the terrorists. And the deeds of the USA in the struggle against terror at the Guantanamo base and the violations of human rights at the Abu Ghraib prison serve as the vital source of the terrorists. This and similar practices do not legitimize the terror, yet such attitudes may be described as the important defects of the Security because these defects enable the terrorists to have much more supporters, followers, and sympathizers. Such mistakes constitute the gap between the security forces and the public in the struggle against terror, thus preventing the support of a large public.
The struggle against terrorism is by nature a struggle of propaganda. The side losing his credibility is also reducing its power to a certain degree. Before seeing the result of the killing of the man shot by the police during the London Bomb attacks on the 22nd of July (a Brazilian, and the one who is either the accused or completely the innocent to certain news agencies), it is hard and demanding to estimate the effect of this event on the success of the London Police in the struggle against terror since it is only possible to arrest the guilty and avoid the attacks only with the help of the public. Hence, if the dead man were completely innocent and was shot by the mistaken policeman (here, I disregard the possibility of the shooting on purpose), this would create a barrier between the police and the public due to the police’ own mistake. If we take into consideration that the man was a Brazilian, this is much graver since the potential terrorists and the accused ones are investigated within the British citizens of foreign origin. Therefore, the support of this part should be of vital importance. The main tool to differentiate between the innocent and the terrorists is the analysis of the intelligence. Humans are the basic source of the intelligence. Because of this characteristic, it is much more damaging to lose the trust of the public. The reactive and exited behaviors of the police are a means of the solidification of the terror and this is the most important matter to deal with in the struggle against terror.
The main criteria that differentiate the terrorists and the security forces also determine the success.
The security forces do their tasks by maintaining the peace, calmness, common sense. On the contrary, the terrorists advocate the principles such as rebellion, polarity, animosity and chaos. The security forces are the ones who must have the nerves of the steel against the attacks and are required to be calm. Their job is much more challenging in cases where all people are anxious and excited.
Besides ending the crisis, the police are expected to arrest the perpetrators with as few mistakes as possible. The authority and the power of the security forces depend on the law and the trust they get with their deeds. Usually, the trust is not provided by an innate ability but with the help of a success. Therefore, the security forces have to pass their exam of calmness as perfectly as possible. What leads the terrorists to the success is the harm they give at the time of panic and surprise. Due to the wrong practices and constant accusations, the security forces may show a bad temper. This results in the isolation and disconnection from the society. As a result, the necessary conditions to realize the aims of the terrorists are constituted. Legal authorities are important to establish the trust within the factions of the society.
Recently, there have been debates about this issue in as in the other parts of the world. At the center of the debates lies the question whether much more authority should be given to the security units and this authority damages a free society. To be able to answer the question, it is necessary to establish a connection between the authorized unit and the struggle against terror.
Generally speaking, the pendulum of freedom and the security should be placed on a stable center. The struggle resembles the treatment of chemotherapy to the cancerous cells. The dose should be adjusted accordingly, and the authorities must be specialists. It is impossible to maintain the public order with units whose authorities are restricted. Hence, the police equipped with necessary legislative power can be effective. Similarly, the police with such authorities can reach to the real terrorist, the guilty ones. The police whose authority restricted with the assumption that it will misbehave resemble a doctor whose tools were taken due to the fear of a wrong operation. Yet, because of the importance of the matter, there must be authorized organs to call the police to account anytime necessary. The strong police against the terrorists mean the police who guarantee the public order, freedom and democracy. They also mean authorized, professional forces, which supervise the other colleagues and call for accountability. Freedom in democracies does not mean a mechanism that takes authorities. Rather than this, it gives the authority in which accountability is open to debates and legal organs’ control. If this essence is grasped, the boundary of the authorities is just a detail.
Consequently, the basic principles of the struggle against the terror must be the public support and trust. We can summarize that to reach the real terrorists is only possible if the security forces specialize in the field, have much more insight knowledge, have adequate power, have enough patients in combating wit terrorists, respect for the rule of Law and at the main time be open to accountability.
Trn. by Zeynep SENGUL
19 August 2005
Ihsan BAL: Assoc. Prof. Dr., Head of the ISRO Center for International Security, Terrorism and Ethnic Conflicts. ibal@usak.org.uk
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