What do you call terrorists?

Muslim extremists? Islamic terrorists? Al-Qaeda inspired terrorists? Islamofascists? Islamists? Jihadists?

So ponders Timothy Garton Ash in today's Guardian.

He concludes that 'jihadists' is best. Certainly, this has sometimes been used in Muslim circles for those that took a fighting view of the world.

My very serious hesitation is, as Garton Ash acknowledges, that jihad as a Islamic concept should serve noble purposes. It is to struggle for good. A word that has been hijacked by Al-Qaeda & Co, and all too many in the West have accepted their version of it.

It's like calling the neocons 'war-ists' after what they like to do. Easy enough phrase, but doesn't really identify what the issue is all about or who is behind it. The various 'Islamic' prefixes and uses of Islamic words like 'jihad' also give too much emphasis to the religious dimension of the problem - which is something that conveniently suits those that mongered for war and refuse to acknowledge the foreign policy mistakes of decades standing in creating this form of terrorism.

I prefer the phrase 'Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism'. Because that's exactly what it is. Garton Ash dismisses this for being too complicated to use. That's not a good enough reason to avoid accuracy.

UPDATE: On further reflection, if Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism is too much of a mouthful for anyone like Timothy Garton Ash (funny thing for someone with a triple barrel name to say, but anyway), how about AQIT?

Comments

[dawood]

The need to reduce everything down to a convenient sound-byte format these days makes it very difficult to define exactly what the various different groups stand for, and where they differ from each other. I for one find it most annoying and totally agree with your definition.

Keep up the good work - your articles are giving a great window inside the issues which are affecting yourself and the wider Muslim community. Not many Scottish Muslims active on the net so it is good to be informed (I am in 'exile' here in Sydney and also not active).

[Yunus]

So which Guardian reader is going to find "Al-Qaeda inspired terrorism" too complicated?

[Thersites]

Well, al-Qaeda and co think they are struggling for good.

[rose macaulay]

It is important to remember what terrorism is: it is the attempt by a minority with no electoral support to change the policy of a government by means of violence (terrifying the electorate into demanding the government change its policy, as happened in Spain) rather than verbal persuasion.

[joe90]

Rose
your definition of 'terrorism' sounds very much to me what the US and UK governments have done to Iraqis and Afghanis, and what the Israeli government has been doing to Palestinians and Lebanese for decades.

These governments don't have any support in the country's they are currently attacking and/or occupying.

So what you are saying Rose, is that the US, UK and Israeli governments are terrorists?

I couldn't agree more - but I would go very much further and say that the US, UK and Israeli governments are racist war criminals of the first order.

There is no comparison between the number of victims of terrorism and the number of victims of western war crimes. The casualties alone for Iraq runs into millions.

'Terrorists' might prevent the Spanish government from joining in the Hitlerian attack on Iraq - but preventing war crimes being committed by committing the lesser crime of terrorism seems a bit of a moral conundrum to me.

The fact terrorism worked and prevented the Spanish government committing war crimes doesn't justify the means at all - but the Spanish government was about to carry out henious appalling acts of mass murder itself, against innocent defenceless Iraqis.

This is why there is no universally used definition of 'terrorism', because every time the US or UK government try to come up with a formulation it sounds exactly the same as 'counter-terrorism'
ie it describes exactly the violent behaviour of western governments themsleves, or in other words, they are calling themselves terrorists, and we can't have that, can we?

[joe90]

I forgot to add Rose,
that Colin Powell at the UN convinced nobody, using verbal persuasion and dodgy 'intelligence', about the threat or even the existence of Iraqi WMD -
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Addresses the U.N. Security Council
The Whitehouse
05 Nov 2003

Just to say that,
'The Whitehouse' is refered to by the boffins at MediaLens.org as -
One of the best satirical web sites on the planet
Media Lens links

Of course,
how Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell managed to persuade themselves of the existence of Iraqi WMD, as they were already on record as categorically denying its existence, I couldn't say -
Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice Tell The Truth About Iraq
YouTube
John Pilger on voice-over
Excerpts from Februray and July 2001

Given that the Yanks currently have an extremely tiny presence in Iraq, compared to the 22 million Iraqis who live there, I'm sure you'll be hoping this tiny foreign violent minority of American war criminals and terrorists are expelled asap, same with illegal Israeli aliens in occupied Palestine, for instance.

all the best!

[Gary Trojan]

The worrying problem to most western people i know is not the terrorist groups themselves as that can be dealt with pragmatically, but the huge amount of "sympathisers" in the western muslim communities.

If muslims can SYMPATHIZE with 'fundamentalist-murderers' because they understand their grievances, then what is wrong with a westener who understands the grievances of 'european racists'. A lot of so-called racists hate the cultures they hate, not because of skin colour as most asians would like everybody to think, but because they feel that the people from these cultures "believe their original culture from another country is superior to the one they live in" and can never really integrate into the western countries they move too when their idea of these cultures is a middle-eastern aryanism whereby the west is an unhealthy immoral breed and they are the holy divine breed. They openly confess that their allegience lies with their 'brothers and sisters in islam' camped elsewhere.

People coming to democracies with empirical agendas of implementing islamic law one day and general disrespect for the ways of the west is unnacceptable. This is seen by some westeners as being just as empirical as how the middle-east see anglo-american aims in their regions.

If a muslim wants to say how disgusting western culture is to them, then they should concede the right for a westener to say how disgusting muslim culture is to them. If a muslim wants to burn a flag in disrespect of european culture and their ways, they then lose the right to complain when someone draws a cartoon or burns the koran in disrespect of middle-eastern islamic culture and their ways.

"Chopping off hands, believing something a guy dreamt up in a cave 600 plus years ago, treating women like animals because of some belief about mother nature being disgusting in the presence of the male deity" - these things are all foolish to a westener - just as alcohol-drinking, pornography and capitalist-democracy are foolish to a muslim.

[joe90]

I love it when racists accuse their victims of being nazis -
- it's political correctness gone mad!

Remind us all again Gary Trojan (Trojans, by the way, are Asians) which civilsation was responsible for the following -

1 - Nazism

2 - Stalinism

3 - World War I and World War II

4 - Hiroshima and Nagasaki

5 - the mass-murder of at least 1,000,000 Iraqis to date, and still counting

6 - the murder, in the most gruesome fashion, of at least 500,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5 years,
(here's a clue - madeleine albright on 60 minutes - "worth it"

7 - the extermination of native North Americans, from c.10 million population to about 200,000

8 - The extermination of the Aztecs

9 - The extermination of the Incas

10 - The genocide of East Timor 1974-2000 which resulted in a third of the population being murdered

11 - The emergence of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, and support for Pol Pot in the UN
(here's another clue - Nixon and Kissinger's secret bombing and genocide of north east Cambodia)

12 - The total destruction/poisoning of Vietnam using WMD

13 - The Complete destruction of Korea, north and south

13 - Selling and arming Saddam Hussein with WMD

14 - the support, training, funding and starting of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation
(here's another clue - the CIA)

etc

To neo-nazis, none of the above should disgust, in fact, giving the victims of western crimes the blame for being attacked, ought not to surprise anybody at all.

In the same fashion, pretending that the reaction by the victims of western war crimes is some kind of inherent racism on their part, doesn't really come as any surprise either.

I suppose people who were disgusted at the war crimes of the Nazis were just a bunch of sick anti-German racists - in the same way that people who are disgusted at American war crimes today are just 'anti-American', in the words of our own Glorious Leader, Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

As support dwindles to zero for British war crimes abroad, I suppose that makes us all anti-British racists, in the eyes of brainwashed fanatics like Gary Trojan, the Asian, who love nothing more than following their orders, saluting the flag, and blaming their victims of racism, if they dare to complain.

After all,
who needs to think when you're following your orders, marching in line and saluting the flag and the Glorious Leader, pavlov-style!

[joe90]

Oh, I forgot this other glorious example of western civilisation -

17 - Fascism

By the way,
the next time you hear complaints about how the Nazis treated Jewish folk, remember to call these Jews, and their supporters, a bunch of anti-German racists.

This is just another example political correctness gone mad!

Anytime you hear people complaining becuase a People's culture and religion are being publicly denigrated, such as the old Nazis done to the Jews, and today's neo-Nazis are doing to Muslim folk, remember, that these Nazis and neo-Nazis are merely exercising their rights to free speech and free expression.

And anybody who allows Nazis and neo-Nazis freedom of expression, and allow Muslims to be publicly baited and denigrated, aren't appeasers and Hitler-apologist Chamberlain-types, no!

They are, in fact, champions of democracy and free speech and our traditional western way of life (and death)!.

[David]

Ah the answer to any criticism of Islam- call the critic a nazi. Hmm, well given the Koran, Ahadith and Sira are full of nazi-type hatred towards non Muslims I rather think this is Orwellian double-speak/Goebbels' big lie in practice.There are obvious reasons why the extreme left loves another totalitarian system and hates the West. For the record, Mohammed and Allah's call for perpetual war on mankind , the cruel and unusual punishments their system imposes,make it perfectly sensible to criticise the religion of Islam. If the Koran says Jews are "pigs and apes", if it says all non Muslims should be fought until they submit in humiliation,if it says men can have four wives and can beat those wives, if Mohammed prescribes death for aspostacy and stoning for (female) adultery, if there is no freedom of speech, of thought or of life under that system , why shouldn't it be subject to as much criticism as a political ideology which says the same? If terrorists are Muslims who rely on canonical, 1400 year old Islamic teaching for what they do why can't they be called what they are? Perhaps Joe 90 would prefer to live in enlightened Iran or Egypt rather than in the UK?

[joe90]

Perhaps Joe 90 would prefer to live in enlightened Iran or Egypt rather than in the UK?
- I'm quite happy in Scotland thanks.
Why would I want to live in an American dictatorship, or in a country whose democracy was destroyed by the US and UK in 1953, I don't know!
And hopefully, the UK will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

There are obvious reasons why the extreme left loves another totalitarian system and hates the West.
- I've no idea who this 'extreme left' except perhaps, decent minded folks who abhor anti-Muslim racists and fanatical supporters of western war crimes and criminals.

As you peruse David's diatribe of racist hatred and bile, just do the 'antisemitism test'. Replace all David's references to Islam, with their Jewish equivalents, and you will see just how neo-nazi our democracy-loving champion of western values actually is.

If you aren't convinced,
then remember that Hitler also was a self-proclaimed champion of western values and culture against the threats of what he called the 'extreme left' as well as Jewish (read 'Muslim') influence.

Hitler considered the (supposed) threat to western civilisation was from the 'extreme left', which he also characterised as 'Jewish-Bolshevik'. Today, of course, it is something equivalent to 'Muslim-Bolshevik'.

Neo-nazis like 'David' here, have so little imagination however, that they haven't been able to come up with a contemporary replacement for the old-style term of abuse, 'bolshevik'. David and his fellow gang of racist thugs would get laughed at if they ever accused anyone of being 'Muslim-Bolsheviks' - hence the clunky neo-nazi abusive label of 'extreme left' along with the mandatory racist abuse of Islam.

[David]

I must say, the level of debate on this site is very low. Anyone who criticises the Koran is a neo nazi/racist! Laughable and pathetic. Remember Hitler had a great admiration for Islam. I was pointing, of course, to the very many statements in the Koran, Ahadith etc which insult non Muslims ( non believers are also called the "vilest of creatures" in the Koran)and which call on Muslims to make war on the rest of the world and subjugate it. These are the texts and beliefs which the jihadists rely on. Only if Islam is prepared to examine itself and jettison all these horrendous beliefs can the jihadists be defeated.

[joe90]

Carry out the usual 'antisemitism test' on David's pathetic paraphrases of Mein Kampf - replace all references to Islam and Muslims with their Jewish equivalents.

Hitler had an even greater admiration for western culture, and used Holy Jewish Scripture (read Muslim Scripture) in order to prove how alien and backward Jewish folk were, compared to his own beloved West which he claimed to be the champion and representative of.

Hitler also claimed the West was under attack from Jewish terrorist extremists (read 'Muslims extremists').

Hitler also carried out what he called 'humanitarian interventions' (read 'war crimes') in order to save the West from extremists living in Eastern savage backwaters.

Hitler, whilst attacking and illegally occupying the lands of his victims, setting up concentration camps and the like, also claimed his powerless defenceless victims, Jews and the 'extreme left', were overwhelming threats to the culture and very existence of the civilised West.

So likewise today,
with the Western illegal occupations and American Dictatorships covering practically the whole of the Middle East and beyond - with American torture chambers and concentration camps spanning the globe - and with the ongoing ethnic cleansing and extermination of Palestine, in particular - so we are led to believe by David, in true brainwashed fanatical western fashion, that it is the innocent defenceless victims of Western aggressive, racist, imperialism who represent an overwhelming and immediate threat against the West, and everything it stands for.

A truly Orwellian account of reality!

Blaming the victims is an old Goebbels trick!

Hitler also claimed that if only the Jews could be persuaded, or forced if need be, to alter their evils ways then the world would be all peachy again. Much like David's assertion -
Only if Islam is prepared to examine itself and jettison all these horrendous beliefs can the jihadists be defeated.

I don't know what is worse - David's plaigerisng the works of Hitler without acknowledgement, or his laughable pretence he isn't a brainwashed neo-nazi fanatic.

[David]

Joe 90 doesn't answer any of my points. He just calls me a Nazi for pointing out that the Koran calls all non Muslims the "vilest of creatures". Quite a weird performance all told, especially calling someone a Nazi for opposing violence, racism, sexism and homophobia.This blog is obviously in its own strange little world.Fortunately many Muslims can and do argue, more elequently than me, of their religion's need to reform itself and to lose all its commands to violence and supremacy.

[joe90]

He just calls me a Nazi for pointing out that the Koran calls all non Muslims the "vilest of creatures".
- No David,
I call you a neo-Nazi because you use collective accountability to accuse your victims (all Muslims everywhere) of crimes which they are not guilty of.

Just like Hilter
accused Jews everywhere of crimes they weren't responsible for.

I call you a neo-Nazi because
you denigrate and defame Muslim Holy Scripture.

Just like Hilter
before you, who did the same to Jewish Holy Scripture.

I call you a neo-Nazi because
you hold Muslims and Muslim Holy Scripture to standards of criminal proof which you don't use when treating other similar phenomena, such as the criminal culpability of Christians and Jewish Folks and their Holy Scriptures.

Just like Hilter
before you, who used Jewish Holy Scripture to prove Jewish folk were guilty of the crimes he accused them of. Christians and the like, were held to no such standards of collective criminal culpability despite the similarities of traditions, scriptural canon of work, monothiesm, etc.

opposing violence, racism, sexism and homophobia
- Yes, I's sure you're all these things that the old nazis weren't - hence the reason I call you a neo-Nazi, rather than just an old-style Nazi.

You have learned to exploit what you see as the weaknesses in today's democracy, in much the same way the old Nazis learned to exploit the weaknesses in the democracy of their day.