Terrorism Or Not Terrorism

In a totally expectable fashion, a completely artificial debate has emerged in the aftermath of the Fort Hood mass shooting. The controversy is over whether or not the action of the Army shrink, Maj. Nidel Malik Hasan, constituted terrorism per se. The breakdown in positions is between those who find it terroristic such as Walid Phares and those who do not such as the shooter's aunt.

The debate is not likely to be productive. Beyond that it is fundamentally irrelevant. Regardless of the precise intentions of Major Hasan or the details of his motivation, the act was, broadly speaking, terroristic in effect. It did perturb the societal fabric not only of the personnel at Fort Hood but of the US population as a whole.

That is the effect of terrorism. The only predictable effect actually. The effect is a necessary but not sufficient component of the definition of terrorism. To be terrorism per se it is also necessary that the intent of the actor be to change some policy or aspect of policy held by the government of the target population.

There is no indication as yet that Major Hasan had any such well formed intention. Nor is there any hint yet that he held more than a generalized distaste for US policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, or with respect to the "Palestinian" territory which held his family roots. As usual, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

However, it is too simplistic, too pat to allege that the major went a little "funny" due to his impending overseas deployment. Murder/suicide is not typically the preferred way to get out of an unwanted posting.

It is also too simplistic, too pat to maintain that the major was driven off the rails by the climate of anti-Muslim feeling extant within the US military. If, as the major is quoted as telling relatives, some of his psychiatric patients expressed anti-Muslim undercurrents following their return from Iraq, these were not of a magnitude to be plausibly adduced as motive. At the very least, as a (presumably) well trained and supervised clinician, Major Hasan should have had the tools necessary to absorb the perceived negative feelings, creatively challenge them in the patient's own better interests, or, at the least, request assistance from his superiors.

The most accurate way to view the major's exercise in trigger pulling is as terroristic. It was not terror per se, but it was in effect. This means it was like but different from such well defined terror acts as 9/11, 7/7, and the Madrid train bombings. Major Hasan's actions ripped societal fabric, engendered both fear and grief, but had neither political intent nor effect. So, it was terroristic but not terrorist.

However, there is one very important way in which Major Hasan is joined at the hip and shoulder with Osama bin Laden and all the others. The major and the al-Qaeda chieftain as well as the suicide bombers, Taliban triggermen, Hamas rocket launchers all drew the inspiration for their acts from their religion, from their understanding of the requirements of their faith, and the strictures of their holy writings. There is no way in which Major Hasan can be separated from the ideological soil of Islam. No more can he and his motives be ripped from their Islamic context than can be the actions of the other jihadists both well known and anonymous.

A direct and unbroken continuum exists. It ranges from Islam qua Islam to Islamism (or, political Islam, if you prefer that euphemism) and thence to the armed expression of Islamism, jihad. One follows from the other as a more or less logical progression from lesser to greater commitment, from lesser to greater belief.

It is true that other religious confessions in recent times have shown a similar progression. Examples range from sectarian warfare and terrorism in Northern Ireland to violent, even lethal attacks on providers of abortion in the US. In these cases, particularly the latter, religious belief was exaggerated, even distorted by community tensions or individual personality features. In any event, their extent has been limited, severely limited.

In comparison, Islamist jihadism has been and continues to be both widespread and increasing in the number of practitioners. The result has been a climate of acceptability, even attraction for the jihadist world view and concomitant actions. Major Hasan showed both in his actions the other day and in the web postings attributed to him that he had been infected by the Islamist jihadist virus.

Infected is perhaps too strong for its use implies that Major Hasan was a sort of victim, the passive recipient of an outside pathogen. This implication does not do justice to the major. It is evident that he chose to adopt the Islamist jihadist world view. The web postings linked to his name show a mind engaged in justifying contemplated actions. He was, it would appear, in the process of convincing himself as to the correctness of a jihad act some months ago.

This and the oft repeated contention that the posting(s) had come to the attention of the "authorities" (don't you just love that bit of generic labeling?) prompts speculation over the roads not taken. Had the post(s) been linked conclusively with the major, it would seem possible that the massacre at Fort Hood could have been prevented. It seems possible, even probable, that the major's trajectory to the jihadist world view and its inevitable ending could have been halted.

Not by arrest. Not by law enforcement. No. The major was a psychiatrist. It seems that he would have been far more amenable to psychological intervention than is the typical Islamist jihadist. Even if an attempt at intervention were to have failed, at the very least the security concerns would have been brought to full light. Effective protective measures could have been taken.

The only possible positive effect of the major's bloody act is an increased awareness of the climate created by Islamist jihadism. An awareness that this sort of ideological context can produce, in a self-organizing way, individuals or groups which engage in terroristic acts. Not terrorism because the political aim and result will be absent, but lethal and scary acts which rip societal fabric and induce both fear and uncertainty.

Terroristic acts are every bit as serious and threatening as the activity of a truly terrorist entity such as Taliban or al-Qaeda. They are, however, harder to detect and prevent. The terroristic actor is homegrown, often quite unsuspected and radicalized, not by external propaganda but rather by personal choice, personal "growth" if you like.

But, the terroristic actor just like the terrorist has his roots in Islam. Whether the many Muslims who have never contemplated Islamist jihadism and may even genuinely detest the Islamist jihadists love affair with death are comfortable with this truth is irrelevant. Islam is the foundational glue which cements Major Hasan and the rest of the blood drenched Warriors of the One True Faith.