Terrorism And Antiterrorism

ethnocentric qualities and attempt to assume the mindset of the adversary. This challenge is magnified by the fact that each of the major groups in the world has a different set of motivations, beliefs, and values. The antiterrorism and terrorism counteraction planner must learn to think like a terrorist. He must understand that a terrorist is willing to murder innocent civilians, is totally committed to his cause, and may be willing to die for what he perceives as the “greater cause.” The planner must adapt to the mind-set of the groups that present a threat to the assets he is responsible for protecting. He must be aware of the tactics they use, the training they have received, and the operational patterns they follow. After the threat analysis

It has also gone through various transformations, to mean newer aspects. But some of the basic aspects and meaning of the term has remained the same for all, over the years. Terrorism involves acts of violence by groups of people with a political motive or purpose. Terrorism has existed in different forms since the early days of human civilization. What has dramatically changed is the great proliferation that has taken place. It now poses a threat to our societies and our democratic way of life. Terrorism has also become more rampant and its acts more lethal. What was once small and isolated acts of terror can now become large scale death and destruction. Although most terrorist groups have many things in common, they differ according to their background and motive. Since the 1960s which is generally seen as the turning point of modern day terrorism, a wide variety of terrorist groups have sprung up around the world. The rise of ethnic movements and religion based movements has given further impetus to this trend. The threat posed by these terrorist groups is manifested by their tactics and approach to violence. Many of their acts involve hijacking, assassination; bombs blasting etc, these are now termed under the category of traditional terrorism and are the most common practice with most groups. But what is a more worrisome is that terrorist groups are now capable of using WMD means which can have catastrophic results. These are the threats from new terrorism. Combating terrorism is a very difficult and complex task. Terrorists are not a very defined and structured enemy; their elusive nature makes it even more difficult to counter it. An approach to counter terrorism needs a very clear understanding of the essence and the objectives of the counter terrorism. It is a multifaceted and multi functional task touching different