Religion and the Logic of TransnationalTerror

Religion also influenced the structure of terrorism. Neither suicide norasymmetry brought a transnational dimension to terrorism, but religion did. When the Soviets withdrew, the new Afghanleader, Najibullah, vowed to keep centralized Communist power in Kabul. Themujihadeen continued to resist, even though the United States ended itssupport, turning attention to Saddam Hussein. According to Gunaratna, AbdullahAzzam, the cleric who founded al Qaeda, believed that an ideological holy warshould continue after the Afghan struggle. This would involve evangelicalactivities and assisting Muslim guerrillas in the event of war. Osama bin Ladendisagreed. Influenced by two Egyptian organizations, bin Laden argued that alQaeda should embrace the tactics of terror. Azzam was murdered, and the binLaden/al Zawahiri philosophy took control of al Qaeda. They decentralizedcommand structures and created a loose-knit conglomeration of groups around theglobe. They also dispersed decentralized cells, sending al Qaeda fightersthroughout the world. This diverse group of terrorists avoided structure,bureaucracy, and hierarchical organization. Al Qaeda, bound together byreligious fanaticism, became a transnational terrorist group.

The United States refocused on the MiddleEast when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. A massive internationalcoalition, headed by American forces, responded and dismantled the Iraqis in aquick campaign. The presence of US forces in Saudi Arabia angered many Muslims,including the reconstituted al Qaeda. The United States soon found that it wasthe prime target of a transnational terrorist operation.

In the anticolonial and ideological phases ofmodern terrorism, most terrorist organizations did not seek to transcend thenation-state. For example, Hezbollah reinvented itself as an internationalterrorist group in the course of the Iranian revolution, leaving Iran to fightthe Israelis and eventually the Americans in Lebanon. But Hezbollah's politicalorientation and logistic links remained firmly attached to Iran, with secondarylinks to Syria and supporters from Lebanon until the mid-1990s. In the earlydays, Hezbollah internationalized the Shiite agenda but made no attempt totranscend the state. Al Qaeda took another path. Religion provided the basisfor transcending the state, and the process was not limited to Islamicextremists. Seeing the success of al Qaeda, Hezbollah changed its direction.Although still maintaining ties to Iran and Syria, it has branched into atransnational group.

The Theology of Transnational Terrorism

Religious terrorism in the modern worldevolved from earlier forms of terrorism, and holy terror ultimately became atheological process. That is, thetranscendent nature of religious violence took place because groups beganthinking in religious terms. Symbols, myth, and sacred meanings became thebasis for action and for transcending the nation-state.

Suicide bombers represent the epitome of thislogic. The media is replete with stories of bombers seeking a reward in heavenfor their suicidal exploits, but theology suggests a deeper rationale forsuicide bombing. In any religion, humans perform various activities to approacha deity, and one of the most fundamental elements for atonement is sacrifice.Sacrifice is the conduit for entering holy ground. Myth has the same power,vicariously placing the community in a hero's shoes as the deity is approached.Seen from this frame, suicide bombing becomes far more than simply an action togain a reward in the afterlife. It is the supreme act of sacrifice inapproaching a deity. Indeed, some people willingly sacrifice themselves forfamilial and political causes, but religion has a ready-made prescription tojustify such sacrifice.

Chip Berlet complements the portrait ofritual sacrifice by explaining how enemies become unholy. Soldiers,politicians, and others routinely degrade their enemies, but religiousterrorists take the matter further. They demonize their enemies, rendering themfit not for holy sacrifice but for destruction. Berlet believes the processbegins when a particular group is blamed for a social problem. He calls thisprocess scapegoating. When scapegoats are demonized, they become therepresentatives of the antideity in a divine struggle. Their destruction ismandated in the sacrifice.

An al Qaeda bombing illustrates the point. In1998, suicide terrorists destroyed two American embassies in Africa. Ironically,the majority of people killed were Muslims, not Americans or even Christians.According to one of the al Qaeda manuals, such killing is permissible becausegood Muslims will go to heaven. If the victims were not good Muslims, they werepart of the enemy's forces and deserved death. In the sacrificial world wherethe enemy is demonized, there is no middle ground. People are either part ofGod or part of the devil, and God will reward the innocent people who stand onholy ground. The demonized others are of no consequence. Innocent victimspresent no problem for a group that has dichotomized the world between therighteous and the demons.

Religious terrorists also frequently believethey have had some type of sacred enlightenment. A practical example can beused to emphasize this process. The Aum Shinrikyo was a religious cult based inJapan in the early 1990s. In 1995, it carried out the largest known act ofchemical terrorism in the history of the world. Fortunately, the cult'sinability to disperse sarin gas prevented massive casualties. Brackett providesthe best in-depth analysis of the cult. Formed by Shoko Asahara, Aum drewprofessionals into an eschatological grouping that combined apocalypticBuddhism and Christianity. Operating in Africa, Asia, Australia, North America,and Europe, Aum gradually gathered the ingredients necessary to make weapons ofmass destruction. Benjamin and Simon point to both the transnational characterof the group and its apocalyptic tendencies. After receiving a religiousrevelation, Asahara decided to bring about Armageddon by launching a chemicalattack on the Tokyo subway system. Several Aum members used sharpened umbrellasto puncture plastic bags filled with a liquid solution that would produce apoison gas when exposed to the air. The attack failed because the agents werenot strong enough to bring about massive casualties. The difficult point forthe Tokyo subway attack is not the failed technology but the willingness toinduce mass casualties. Technological weaknesses can be overcome. Asaharademonstrated the willingness to induce megadeath through religion. According toBrian Jenkins, the political terrorists of the 1970s and 1980s were unwillingto cross the line from localized destruction to using weapons that would resultin massive death. The reason is fairly straightforward. Political terroristswant to influence political opinion and gain power. By introducing massivedeath, they delegitimize the cause. Religious terrorists, playing to a deity,have no such inhibition. Furthermore, after receiving a mandate to perform sucha deed, sacred enlightenment, murderous religious zealots have no logicalincentive to hinder mass destruction.

Religious terrorism begins when potentialterrorists believe the existing order is a threat to divine structure.Religious terrorists are not in a battle with human forces; they battle evil.This leads to a cosmic confrontation. Terrorists operate on a battlefield wheretheir deity's creation is threatened with disorder. Myth, symbols, and sacredideology are invoked in the holy war, and the struggle assumes much more thanhistorical dimensions. All history hangs in the balance of the confrontation.Theology has criminological importance. Religious terrorists are able totranscend the state because they behave differently from political terrorists.The process can be illustrated by differentiating criminals from politicalterrorists. The behavior of ordinary criminals is self-focused, is driven byimmediate gratification, is oriented toward escape, and exhibits no particularloyalty to a cause. Terrorists, on the other hand, are focused on the group,willing to defer gratification for a greater good, oriented toward attack, andultimately loyal to a cause. Religious terrorists exhibit characteristicssimilar to political terrorists except in their attitude toward death. Althoughpolitical terrorists view death as a necessity, religious terrorists activelyseek to maximize death. They do not care about the political ramifications ofmegadeath, to say nothing of its tragic human toll, because existence is eithergood or evil, and all evil must be destroyed. This cosmic view transcendsnationalized terrorism.

Conclusion

Transnational terrorism is changing thefunction of terrorism in the modern world. The flattened structures of groupssuch as Hezbollah and al Qaeda posit true transnational challenges to the West.Terrorists do not tend to be either original or highly innovative, andterrorist organizations change slowly, mimicking the experiences of the past.Trends indicate that terrorism will increasingly decentralize as groupstranscend national boundaries. Groups will remain religious or use surrogatecauses such as animal rights, the environment, or genetic engineering. Thetrend toward religious violence not only brings transnational links, itprovides the logic for mass destruction. Terrorism has transmogrified into atransnational experience.