Terrorists strike (again) - How do we combat Terrorism?

99.vikram

99.vikram

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So eight explosions Mumbai, India's financial capital some time yesterday. Around 150 died in the blasts. So how does a government combat a threat like this? How long must police forces and civilians stay under constant fear of having their arses bombed? More importantly, how on earth do you fight an enemy you cant see?

IMO terror attacks have only increased in frequency over the past few years and I dont see any way things can get better soon. Tight security can only go so far, and there are always loopholes in these security measures. Also, such a high level of security cannot be maintained indefinitely. So the question is this:
How can the world governments beat terrorism? Is there any way?

Discuss.
 
Not the frequency, just the news system's getting better and better.
 
I wonder what took this so long to be posted, its kind of sad the world we live in today. Its obviously a terrorist probably Pakistani or something who just want to shake things up a little, India is full of people i'm sure they will recover and gain a nationalistic pride perhaps even a barrier. What am I talking about?
 
nofx said:
I wonder what took this so long to be posted
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Heh, it's not as important as the London bombings...

I waited to see if anyone noticed it happened, but nope, Jack Thompson is a more interesting topic.

BTW, I am in Mumbai right now :)eek:) and yesterday there were guys on the streets distributing biscuits and tea to the victims and their relatives outside hospitals, for free!
The morale is not too badly hit - people are back on the streets, trains are back on track and it's life as usual again. But I think there is some bitterness under the defiance.
 
99.vikram said:
Heh, it's not as important as the London bombings...

I waited to see if anyone noticed it happened, but nope, Jack Thompson is a more interesting topic.

BTW, I am in Mumbai right now :)eek:) and yesterday there were guys on the streets distributing biscuits and tea to the victims and their relatives outside hospitals, for free!
The morale is not too badly hit - people are back on the streets, trains are back on track and it's life as usual again. But I think there is some bitterness under the defiance.
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Thats what the Red Cross is supposed to do, I dont know why it says American there should be disaster agencies there helping you guys. I am glad that you are ok, and I am hoping that president bush won't use this as an example to beef up the war against terror/ sighs,
 
it's such a vague topic .. what kind of terrorism? socio-economic? religious extremism?, state-sponsored terrorism?, legitimized terrorism (insurgency against military targets), state terrorism? is there a simple answer to the question? more security more clamping down on radicalism doesnt work, eventually any barrier can be overcome
 
I'm talking about fundamentalist terrorism. I feel this is the biggest threat to world unity and security right now.

Let's leave state sponsored terrorism for another day.
 
Either through negotiation or by wiping them out completely.
We seem to be going down the second route.
 
we will never wipe out terrorism ...it's as old as civilization. Fighting it directly only fuels the fire especially when governments use it as a front for other criminal/immoral activities. In many cases governments are just as capable of committing acts of terrorism however they're usually "justified" as national security or idelogical reasons ...they also have a far better relationship with the media
 
Total control over every aspect of every individual's life.

Hey, it's a solution.
 
Reaktor4 said:
Either through negotiation....
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Terrorists are not an army - they want to instill terror in the enemy, because their philosophy is based on irrational hatred. You cant make deals with someone who's sole aim is to kill you.

....or by wiping them out completely.
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With every war, poverty and hatred increases. And what does that create? Terrorists.
 
Well vikram if thats your new direction for this thread, rather than the other one here, it becomes a politics thread! Lets see how it goes.

I think it's a terrible point, when groups must kill people via explosions or other means in order to be heard, and when this extends to doing it for a good cause very much tainted by extremists. When people learn to talk, and even more importantly listen (western world mostly) I'd hope to see improvement. /dream world.
 
That was some superior modage. I vote Glenn the most skilled moderator of 2k6. :LOL:
 
In terms of religious fundamentalist terrorism, I think a lot of religious leaders are very much involved in trying to get their flock to undertsand the more peaceful message their faith has to offer and that is, in fact, the main message of their belief system. I think that much of the responsibility lies with them and that goes for all religions and sects. The more people that see that the main message of Islam isn't "kill the infidel" the better. Same goes for Christianity and any other faith.
 
The thread title was pretty bad, huh? :p
I'm not looking for a sympathy wave, just ideas.

My theory is that the situation will continue to get worse and worse until citizens everywhere are forced to give up freedoms like privacy and freedom of speech, to maintain national security. :x

Either that or every legitimate army will enlist a "suicide corps", to bomb the sh*t out of enemies. :p
 
Jintor said:
Total control over every aspect of every individual's life.

Hey, it's a solution.
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I concur.


Actually, I think there should be more survailanece and police patrols of often crowded places like subways.
 
15357 said:
I concur.


Actually, I think there should be more survailanece and police patrols of often crowded places like subways.
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That gives the terrorists a victory they could not have won by themselves.
 
What, we have APCs on patrol, and they've stopped several attempted arsons and firebombings in buildings and subways. What victory?

edit: I mean that foiling attacks that could have killed hundreds is not a victory for the terrorists.
 
Guys, the sad fact is that you cannot stop terrorism altogether. However, you can analyze what sort of behaviors (esp. governmental behavior) lead to the terrorists feeling that the only way to somehow enter the arena and do something about their interests is to murder. Once we address these issues, I think there will be less terrorism.

Of course, the other sad fact is that no one wants to address these issues because of one thing: $.

:x
 
15357 said:
What, we have APCs on patrol, and they've stopped several attempted arsons and firebombings in buildings and subways. What victory?
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Imposing fear upon the citizens.

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
 
or so they say ...that kind of propaganda makes good headlines I'll bet ...however no amount of security will prevent terrorism 100% of the time
 
The Monkey said:
Imposing fear upon the citizens.

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
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Seeing the guys in berets impose fear? People here are actually relieved that the Military Police patrols the subways. They don't want another disastor. Having a gas canister explode in a crowded subway imposes fear, not the friendly guys in black.

or so they say ...that kind of propaganda makes good headlines I'll bet ...however no amount of security will prevent terrorism 100% of the time
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Of course, but 90% or even 1% is better than 0%.
 
With extreme prejudice!

No wait, with NO extreme prejudice! It seems like the only way to fight terrorism is to fight the causes rather than merely trying to stop attacks/fight insurgents/capture plotters - in some senses, these things are rearranging the deckchairs on the proverbial Titanic.
 
99.vikram said:
Terrorists are not an army - they want to instill terror in the enemy, because their philosophy is based on irrational hatred. You cant make deals with someone who's sole aim is to kill you.
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So what is their philosophy then?
Im not sure that is their sole aim.
 
CptStern said:
...they also have a far better relationship with the media
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hmm, well i always read that Terrorism seeks media attention, though not hoping to have a good relationships with it. The munich hijackers kidnapped and killed the Israeli athletes to focus world attention on the Israeli-palestinian conflict -> not get public "favor" for their actions.

I'd guess 9/11 was a similar act to get people's attention (in whatever way possible).

Getting rid of terrorism? probably not, but perhaps we should lessen media-exposure instead of hyping it up..
 
Sulkdodds said:
With extreme prejudice!

No wait, with NO extreme prejudice! It seems like the only way to fight terrorism is to fight the causes rather than merely trying to stop attacks/fight insurgents/capture plotters - in some senses, these things are rearranging the deckchairs on the proverbial Titanic.
Click to expand...

Ok, so we make the entire population convert to Islam/ect., while also hating whatever religion the terrorists dislike, and shut down corporations, stop trade, withdraw all troops from everywhere, abolish goverment?
 
Sulkdodds said:
No wait, with NO extreme prejudice! It seems like the only way to fight terrorism is to fight the causes rather than merely trying to stop attacks/fight insurgents/capture plotters - in some senses, these things are rearranging the deckchairs on the proverbial Titanic.
Click to expand...

"This administration isn't rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic! This administration is soaring! If anything this administration is rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"

<3 Stephen Colbert
 
15357 said:
Ok, so we make the entire population convert to Islam/ect., while also hating whatever religion the terrorists dislike, and shut down corporations, stop trade, withdraw all troops from everywhere, abolish goverment?
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No.
 
Vikram,glad to hear that you are allright.
I have a couple of my friends there, and a cousin who is doing his postgraduation in internal medicine there. They are all safe.

I think its extremely difficult to root out terrorism from free societies, because the control the government can have on individual action is limited.
Though the people behind these acts may be broadly of the same group , they exploit different situations in different countries and as such, there can be no universal solution ,but rather region-- specific measures are required.

Mumbai's case is different from that of madrid or london.
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=109392&page=2

There are multiple problems to be addressed simultaneously... flow of money to these guys from abroad,links with organised crime and bringing disillusioned youth from the muslim community into the mainstream by providing for equal opportunity in education and employment( having said that, i think muslims in india are much better off than muslims in some other countries where islam is the dominant relegion, say pakistan , indonesia or bangladesh).

Prominent memebers of the Muslim community should come forward and speak out more forcefully to drown out the voices of the extremist fringe elements who are at present hijacking islam.At present,these people are just making half-hearted attempts.

And our PM needs to be tougher on pakistan.

And ALL madrasas should be burned to the ground.

The one good news I heard last week was the killing of Shamil Basayev.
 
You can't. Terrorism is a tactic, not a group. You can't stop a tactic.
 
Very true Tr0n, but you can make a tactic unusable or inneffective. Terrorism is essentially "bringing terror" or bringing fear. Fear is a feeling of percieved risk or danger. Often times fear is imagined or expanded beyond knowing rational facts. So essentially in order to combat terrorism you have to combat not knowing facts. Which in turn means providing education about the facts. Despite fighting the so-called "war on terror", the U.S. is cutting funding to education, making state-terrorism on their part easier.

An analogy is that a person who knows what a room looks like cannot be "terrorised" into thinking that that same room without a light on has a monster in it. A person who does not know what a room looks like can.

-DaMaN
 
An analogy is that a person who knows what a room looks like cannot be "terrorised" into thinking that that same room without a light on has a monster in it.
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But people will keep trying!!
 
Tr0n said:
You can't. Terrorism is a tactic, not a group. You can't stop a tactic.
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But we can do our best to prevent damage and loss of life that may occur from this tactic. And, to be frank, I think that counter-intelligence is probably our best bet.
 
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