Why do we fear foreign terrorism when the greater threat is homegrown?
Terrorism is a complex phenomenon the effects of which combines targets, methods, attackers, propaganda, and media exposure. The attacks on September 11, 2001 were unquestionably masterful and due to the incredible audacity of the planning and success in implementation, they left a scar on our national psyche that will persist for a generation or more. The success or impact of terrorism involves (at least) the following elements in combination. 9/11 was textbook perfect on all accounts.
Target: US government (White House/Capitol Building); US Military (Pentagon); US Economy (WTC). All had great symbolic as well as utilitarian purposes.
+ Methods: Suicide Plane Hijacking. Can’t get much more exciting and attention grabbing than this.
+ Attackers: Islamic extremists, both of the “bearded turban in Afghanistan” as well as “clean cut quiet neighbor” types.
+ Media Exposure: Incredible images of the explosions and collapse of the buildings dominating the news cycle for weeks. Even if he hadn’t been involved, Osama Bin Laden would have known about them in his Afghanistan cave.
+ Propaganda: Both Al Qaeda and the US Government engaged in high profile propaganda efforts to characterize the aftermath as an existential battle pitting the forces of good against evil.
Maximizing results on all points is going to reap the greatest “benefit” for the attackers. But what if any portion of that equation was different? Prior to any attack actually happening, the target, methods and media exposure are subsumed by Propaganda. Even if a group is thwarted, if the authorities go overboard in their treatment of the interdiction, they end up propagandizing the whole effort but in a negative fashion that has essentially the same effect on people that the attack itself would have. It could even get to the point to where its cheaper and more effective for a group to begin assembling plans to attack some place, then tip the police to it. The fuzz swoops in, then crows about how dangerous and complex the action would have been. Cheap, easy, and the target population still cowers in fear. But I digress.
The 1990s saw two equivalent attacks, one by the same group of people that pulled off 9/11 and the other by a group of American extremists. The WTC was bombed in 1993, killing 6, far short of the goal of knocking one tower into the other and bringing the entire edifice down. In 1995, the Federal Building in Oklahoma Citywas destroyed, killing 168. Prior to 9/11, this was the most devastating terror attack on the United States, ever.
Looking a rough history of attacks in the US, it’s pretty obvious that domestic terrorism has been far more prevalent over our history. Even if we don’t count lynchings (which we should), there’s a lot more domestic than foreign terrorism. In my adult life I’ve seen the Unabomber, Olympic bombings, anthrax attacks, the Oklahoma City bomb, and the Christian terrorists’ campaign against doctors and clinics that provide abortions. And then there’s recent news of the discovery of the attempt to build a dirty bomb. Short version of the story is that wife kills husband on the basis of self-defense after years of ongoing abuse, investigation reveals that he had white supremacists and radical-libertarian ties as well as several jars of radioactive materials, including Deplete Uranium and Thorium. Word on the street is that he was upset at Obama’s election victory.
I was going to write about the disconnect between the government/media response to finding a dirty bomb plan by a white guy vs a muslim, but maybe the real story here isn’t that we didn’t make a big deal out of discovering a disgruntled actor willing and ready to make a bomb as much as it is the way we fling our hands in the air and scream when there is a “Other” involved. It is hard not to think that we are simply frightened more by bearded turbans than suburbanits, even though the odds of getting killed by the latter is far greater than the former (unless you work outside the USA).
People who want to inflict death and damage on the broader public do exist, in all shapes and sizes. They need to be investigated and stopped, regardless of their motivation, methods, or personal background. 1993 and 2001 show that there are groups of enterprising and ambitious Islamists intent on inflicting damage on the United States and that clearly needs to be addressed. (We should begin by taking a good hard look at some of the root causes) But the issue is so completely overblown. It’s wasting treasure and blood and distracting us from other more pressing policy options. But we also need to avoid throwing fuel on fire and inflating threats. I think the response to finding this dirty bomb was appropriate (an improvement over just 2 years ago.) Anything more than that starts to fall into the propaganda category of the terrorism equation, which contributes to the overall effectiveness of the attempt, exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. I’m not advocating that we try to hide attacks or “protect” the public from fear either. People deal with danger and stress better when they are informed. We need to avoid getting hysterical or overly secretive. Most of the news about Islamic-related terror (Buffalo 6, Padilla, liquid bombs on airplanes) falls into the former category, but maybe the shift in tone by the Obama administration and the change in our attention to economic issues is giving us a chance to put our societal response to terrorism on more reasonable footing.