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Collins:Contemporary Security Studies2e  

Contemporary Security and al-Qaeda: The War Against Terror   Following the World Trade Centre attacks by al-Qaeda on September 11 th 2001, America has declared a war against terrorism, thus shaping the global security environment around a counterterrorist strategy that rests on the definition of terrorism as an empirically definable entity that can be sought out, fought and defeated through battle. The challenge to America and its allies in this ‘war’ is to effectively conceptualise and respond to a threat that is changing and evolving in unprecedented ways as globalisation and technology shape development across the world. Critics claim that the framework of ‘war’ will not encompass the broad range of complex societal, economic and cultural issues that underlie the formation of the terrorist group, whilst others regard the recent upsurge in Islamic terrorism as the last frantic response before the inevitable global hegemony of liberalism (Chapter 3: 44).   A conclusive and unanimous definition of terrorism has proved elusive in the international community, not least because states often do not wish to codify a definition that could limit their ability to support groups or individuals deemed by others to be terrorists (Chapter 20: 341). This is indicative of the nature of terrorism within the international system; states and governmental actors have a vested political interest in the definition of certain agents as ‘terrorist’, and such interests shape the contemporary definitions of terrorism as well as the international security environment. In 1998 the political writer Eqbal Ahmed gave a speech illustrating the transient and often hypocritical nature of these political definitions through an overview of the changing relationship between Osama bin Laden and the US government. Now one of the FBI’s most wanted, bin Laden had once been working in cohorts with the American state in their opposition of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was described as one of their ‘prize recruits’ (Ahmed as cited in Hoffman 1998: 50). The transition from freedom fighter to terrorist, and from ally to enemy, is said by Eqbal to demonstrate the extremes of double standards that have in the past characterised the US stance towards terror; whilst the USA has condemned Palestinian and Afghan terrorist groups, they have condoned the use of terror tactics by Israel, Pakistan and El Salvador (Hoffman 1998: 50).   If the international community find it hard to agree on a definition by which to identify terrorist groups or behaviours, the interpretation of that label by those marked as ‘terrorists’ can prove just as contentious. There is a significant gap between the way in which each group, that of terrorist and target, perceive themselves and each other. In the context of the USA and al-Qaeda, each group obviously identifies themselves to be justifiably wronged, the victim of attempts to eliminate or infringe on the other’s moral values, and of threats to their fundamental identity. The prerogative nature of the term ‘terrorist’ adds to its political charge; the label can be used to undermine the legitimacy of causes or actors, removing them from the political sphere and defining them by their criminal, violent and anti-social aspects. Ruling elites and powerful actors in support of the status quo are likely to cast political opposition, resistance movements and other challengers to regime security as ‘terrorists’, thus criminalising their activity and bolstering support for the targeted regime. Since the Jewish Stern Gang of the 1940s few groups have publically declared themselves as terrorists, preferring to use the language of liberation, self defence or military organisations instead (Hoffman, 1998: 13). However, terrorist leaders also seek to redefine the label on their own terms; following the infamous attacks on the World Trade Centre, bin Laden proclaimed in October 2001 that “if killing the ones that kill our sons is terrorism, then let history witness that we are terrorists.” OXFORD   E d u c a t i o nH i g h e r   © Oxford University Press, 2010. All rights reserved.