Terrorism in a free society

If there is a group of people, dedicated and committed to setting bombs off in public spaces, they will, eventually succeed.

This is bad news for authorities. Terrorism is, however reprehensible, a good strategy.

A couple of decades ago an IRA operative under interrogation told his captors

'You have to be lucky all the time. We only have to get lucky once'

This staement puts the power of assymetric warfare into sharp relief. Any time a bomber gets through, that is a significant victory for the terrorists. Any time a bomb gets stopped? No big deal.

So what can the authorities do?

The authorities, being as they are, near enough always clamp down, hard.

They restrict the rights of citizens.
They enhance the powers of the security forces.

As anyone who watches reports from Iran and Syria can testify, this can never work. Are we in Europe and North America really going to clamp down harder than regimes like that? Yet bombs still go off in those countries. However hard we clamp down, bombs can still go off.

As I noted at the beginning, if there is a group of people, dedicated and committed to setting bombs off in public spaces, they will, eventually succeed.

So why, then, do the authorities clamp down, when it can never work?

I don't pretend to know the full reasoning of every government clampdown, but I expect part of the reason is the need to be seen to 'do something' after an attack.

There is also the tendency to elevate the security establishment to the rank of saints. They are asked what they want to fight this new threat. Their response always involves more money and power. That is just human nature.

But the very nature of terrorism indicates that these are people who are opposed to democracy and freedom. They want to bend the world to their will by bullying. By slaughtering the innocent.

Not only are security clampdowns ineffective. They are tantamaount to surrender. When we curtail the rights of the citizenry in response to bomb attacks we present a victory to the terrorists. Giving up freedom after a bomb is a surrender of our culture. What is really needed is a coming together, a respecting of the rights of the citizen. The authorities trusting the citizenry to unite and fight the threat.

So next time when you see some police representative, someone from the armed secret services, the FBI or whatever telling us that they need these extra powers, these foreign prison camps, a bit of extraordinary rendition, 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (torture for anyone who speaks in simple truths), remember that the security establishment are just another bunch of people. They always want a bigger budget, and less responsibility.

But in a democracy, these people are our servants, not our masters. Just say NO!!!