Book Review - III

 The Ultimate Terrorist 

Jessica Stern, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2000,Pages 160
by Ahmed Ijaz Malik, Asst. Research Officer (IPRI) 
 

he title of the book is very intriguing. Terrorism is perhaps one of the greatest challenges being faced by both developing and developed countries alike. The book arouses inquisitiveness about the ultimate terrorist. It comprises eight chapters and by looking at the contents it becomes clear that it is not only about the most serious form of terrorism; nuclear terrorism, but the causes and motivations, and the channels through which this crime flows. The author starts by portraying a gruesome and horrifying detail of a possible terrorist nuclear attack on the Empire State Building. The effects will be long term in intensity and scale of devastation. The greatest cost will be the shattering of balance between the civil liberties and public safety. These details were unimaginable before September 11, 2001, incident, but the theme is   comprehensible in the current international scenario.

The author gives an account of the psyche of an average American, who has become paranoid. Explaining the Oklahoma bombing incident, it was due to paranoia that the Americans jumped to the conclusion that this bombing was the work of Middle Eastern terrorists, leading to the harassment of the Americans of Arab origin. The leaders will now be forced to take actions internationally in deporting the foreigners alleged of having suspicious links or liaisons with terrorist organisations. This action is liable to violate the civil rights. The American way of life has changed substantially with people running off to other cities. There are economic costs too. Stern talks of a probability of an Anthrax attack. As the disease caused by Anthrax attack is difficult to be detected at early stage, the infection goes on unnoticed as the symptoms take time to show.

Modern societies are called ‘vulnerable societies’, as the members live in close proximity. People have a lack of trust towards their social order and the panic, in turn becomes more susceptible and a cause of psychological torment. The modern trend in this type of terrorism has arisen due to the belief that America is a difficult nation to be militarily defeated in a conventional conflict. The adversaries of America believe that the only way to get even or to defeat America is through the weapons of mass destruction, without openly declaring war. The writer identifies Iran and Syria as symbols of terrorism.

US may have contributed to terrorism by training and financing guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. The morality of these actions in terrorists’ view would be to give the countries that have used these weapons in the past, a taste of their own deadly medicine. There is a rise in the fanatic groups. The disintegration of USSR has offered a black market for nuclear weapons with inadequate safety at the nuclear installations. Mentioning the incident of Project Sapphire, she has quoted an example where highly enriched Uranium was left behind in a metallurgical plant in the former Soviet Union and was highly vulnerable to theft, as it was not properly protected. The implication is to the possibility of many such places that went unnoticed and theft of fissile material could have taken place.

                Describing the Agents of Death as the biological, chemical and radiological agents, Stern gives detailed, yet a simple, explanation of all the toxic agents. Quoting the Bhopal incident, Stern explains the leak of Methyl Isocyanate, caused by the addition of water to a storage tank by a mentally deranged individual. This caused uncontrollable damage and devastation, where 4,000 people died and 11,000 were left disabled. She gives an account of the technicalities in the fission and fusion reaction and explains how the implosion weapons, consisting of highly explosive chemicals around the core of the fissile material can be the weapons of terror.

The writer calls the use of nuclear weapons barbaric, morally unacceptable and the nuclear war unthinkable. The after effects of radiation are the Trojan Horses of the human body that show their effects after they slip inside the body. Additionally, the fears of food contamination and the probable ailments due to stress at work are also explained. Dread and disgust are more terrible than fear and horror. She asserts that using poisons, as a weapon is immoral and considered the weapons of the weak, but fails to suggest a morally justified response by the weak, to counter the insurmountable weapon arsenal of the powerful aggressors. These have reduced the trust of the American people in prevention against the exposure to toxic agents by their government. The writer contends that it is easy to obtain fissile or chemical material, literature and hire people to make bombs.

This idea puts the central theme to question, that why the terrorists would want to acquire nuclear weapons if they can cause similar damage through chemical and biological weapons, which are easier to obtain. Macro-terrorism is to influence large population and spread dread worldwide. This theme motivated some of the cults to profess the ideas like Armageddon and the End of the World. Terrorists use dread of radiation and the maladies associated with it, as a weapon of influencing the audience, thus introducing psychological factor to the concept.

The threat of terrorism cannot be eliminated altogether, but minimised. The first prerequisite is to address the threat of nuclear terrorism and all the associated biological, chemical and radiation elements liable or capable of causing damage at a large scale. Terrorists are reactionaries, which makes it even more difficult to deal and bargain with them. The states sponsoring terrorism must be penalised and refrained from exporting terrorism. The last chapter is devoted to the possibilities of a state dealing with such attacks and there are recommendations for the improvement in civil defence, advanced biological research in preventions against diseases from radiation, raising emergency funds to cope with the unexpected damage and making international laws more stringent.

The research methodology is the most modern and references are very professionally quoted. The references are mainly secondary but of most authentic authors on the subject. The book is very relevant in the current scenario especially for those who do not have a prior knowledge of the subject. It is informative and educative. The book stimulates curiosity about the ultimate terrorist and when the origins of the problem are studied, the causes and motivations imply that people who are branded as the terrorist of today, have actually been terrorised by some one in the past. The conclusion to be drawn is that terrorism is essentially a reactionary phenomenon. Ironically, the reader is left to ponder upon question, from whom this new threat of nuclear terrorism is felt? the ultimate terrorist or the one, who first introduced and used these weapons of mass annihilation, be they nuclear, chemical or biological. However, the book is valuable in the context that it agitates the mind to contemplate on these pressing questions.