From the foregoing, there is need for theoretical
framework. Theoretical framework was emphasized in the late 1960’s when a
commission appointed to investigate the causes of violence found that one of
the major obstacles in the way of understanding this social phenomenon was “the
lack of a general theoretical framework with which to order our perceptions of
the motives and attitudes that impel groups towards violence and the social
conditions conducive to it.
The central purpose of this section of the study is to
analyze why terrorists attack, using “frustration-aggression theory”. Although
the causes of violence are numerous, complex and closely related, it is the
duty social scientists to contribute as much as possible to shed some light on
this extremely important phenomenon. We must assume as Allen silver (1980) did,
that “men who engage in dangerous and desperate… have a certain claim to have
taken seriously the meaning which they see in their acts and wish others to see
in them”
Unfortunately, there is a common tendency to assume
that terrorists are insane or crazy individuals bent on the destruction of
society and themselves. Ikejiani Clark (2001), for example observed as follows:
Our general
assumption is that in this twenty first century, people who are terrorists and
capable of such acts are crazy anti-social and cruel.
This statement is very unfortunate because as Mojekwu
(1978) observed, this act of terrorism and violence, these political crimes
that produce psychic fear… should be looked upon as the normal behaviour
expected of desperate people in our human society. More import, the description
of terrorists as crazy, wicked and cruel has three main implications. First, it
means we do not really understand terrorist behaviour second and perhaps, such
description may mean that terrorist behaviour can hardly be explained or
predicted. Finally, such a tag may make negotiation with those groups
impossible, since one may not negotiate with a mad man. The
frustration-aggression theory assumes that the individuals and groups have
goals of sort, that much of their behaviour is purposive in the sense of
goal-seeking and that if this is not prevented in some way, the group or the
individual is likely to behave quite peaceably. Since this condition is
unlikely to be regular or at least always fulfilled in the human condition of
scarcity, the theory predicts that the result is likely to be aggressive
behaviour . As Dowse and Hughes (1972) have argued, the frustrated individual
or group is likely to attack the believed source which is not necessarily the
real source of frustration, and if the attack fails to remove the frustration,
the aggression is likely to recur. Basically, a person thwarted in the attempt
to reach a goal is made angry and likely to strike at the imputed source of
frustration. as Dowse and huges observed, in social life, men come to value
many thing, wealth status, power, security, equality, freedom, the nation and
so on. When they cannot achieve these values, or when achieving one value means
losing another, dissatisfaction, anger and often aggression occur. Moyer, (
1976) argues that the normal tendency towards violent aggression is increased
by frustration of desires According to him, when a goal presumably attractive
to two or more individuals is made available in such a way that it can be
obtained by only one of them, the end result is frustration for the loser.
these frustrated actors in the political system can become potential
terrorists. Davies(1976) said that frustration may lead to the building up of
organized particles in the brain which when released, lead to violent behavior
either individually or collectively. Davies (1973) opined that aggressive action
requires four main steps, namely, activation of demand, frustration of demand,
mental process of deciding how to overcome the frustration and action. It is
important to note that political terrorism aims at satisfaction of desires, of
desires, which the terrorist believes he has been to frustration which the
terrorist feels he may overcome by violence denied. The denial of those desires
leads to frustration which the terrorist feels he may overcome by violence most
terrorists hope to otter a power hierarchy in which the perceive a ruling elite
satisfying its desires at the expense of other member of society. From the theoretical stand it is clear
that terrorist violence, like other
types of violent aggression, serves
certain purposes for its perpetrations and often aims at making the condition
of proponents better. from this angle, terrorism is a strategy for increasing
the access of its perpetrators to desirable resources. The main question is how
can this theory help us to understand the September 11 terrorist attack on the
united states ? There is no doubt that one of the major problems that have
generated the united the largest number of terrorist attacks on the united
states is the middle crisis , namely, the question of home land for the Palestinians.
Between 1948 and now (2011) about five major wars have been fought between
Israel and Arab nations with devastating consequences for the region more so
the Arab states have accused the united states of not putting in enough
pressure on Israel to accommodate the Palestinians. Specially, the Arab states
have alleged the u.sA policy has always been hostile towards the Arabs, and
that the United States has supported Israel automatically ever since the crisis
started in 1948. On the basis of this feeling of deprivation, many terrorist
groups emerged to protest the situation. To day, more than 80% of all the
terrorist groups in the world derive their support from or are formed in the
Middle East. While the Palestinian liberations organization and HAMAS have been
unleashing terror or the Israelis to protest their domination, O Sama Bin Laden
used the opportunity to mobilize the whole Arab world against the United
States. Even though the issue at stake is not a religious one, Osama and his AI
– qaeda group have used it to effectively mobilize the Muslims in the world
against the United States, Today, radical Islamic factions identify the west
with religious colonialism hypocrisy and tradition of treating non-white people
unfairly. As Buckelew has stated, the United States and Israel are considered
the strongest bastions of these principles thus they are primary targets of
terrorist activities. Under standing Islamic terrorists perception makes their
actions predictable and historically understandable. Islamic terrorists are
convinced that the United States and Israel are determined to destroy them and
the whole Islamic social order and that belief fuels their over zealous and
often bizarre behavior. The true position is that since the Arab world cannot
face America in a convectional war and survive it they resort to terrorist
attacks. As one expert has observed, terrorist attacks. As one expert has
observed, terrorism pits the weak against the mighty, the challenger. Against
structure. This analysis forms the basis for explaining the September 11,
terrorist attack. Before the attack the signs were that America was a target.
for example, in 1986, an Islamic publication distribution in was Hinton D.C
declared the United States “ Kuffur” (apostate) and a crusading imperialist”
state. In a radical Islam, the destruction of apostate takes priority over the
destruction of infidels. the bulletin also called on all muslins to” cancel all
the puppet regimes in their own countries”, and American Muslims were told that
“ Jihad is the only way to restore the honour of Muslim people and bring about
Muslim revolution. According to the document all Muslims should move and take
up arms to shake the earth under the feet of the Kuffur” (Rees, 1987). The
bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, Dares Salaam, Tanzania in
August 1998 that killed at least , 301 individuals and injured more than 5000
other quickly followed this incident. Then on September 11, 2001, 19 AI- Qaeda
suicide attackers hijacked and crashed four United States commercial jets, two
on the world trade center in New York city, one on the fourth into a field in
shanks Ville, Pennsylvania, leaving about 3000 thousand individuals dead or
missing. Recent studies have revealed that Alqaeda have members in more than 60
countries in the world due to their claim to fight for the Muslim world. From
the above analysis, one can then under stand why the September 11 attack has
been described as the worst intelligence failure since 1945. As earlier
mentioned the United States is a prime target because of directly opposed by
many terrorist groups and because of her extensive official and commercial
presence overseas. Israel, western democracies and moderate Arab governments
also are major targets. The key question here what are the types of terrorism
and America’s reactions and policies towards terrorism Lets briefly address the
issue, beginning from the various kinds or types of terrorism.
2.5 Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism, a diary of Osama
Bin Ladens killings (al-quaeda)