ADDRESS THE CAUSES, NOT JUST EFFECTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807620004-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

I Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA- RDP90-00965R000807620004-8 STAT
ARTICLE ~J a -E',rZo
ON PAGE 1L?P bZ V LOS ANGELES TIMES
20 October 1985
Address the
Causes, Not
Just Effects
By Robin Writ
DURHAM. N.G
n 1957, a young American senator
said, 'The most powerful single force
in the world today is neither commu-
nism nor capitalism, neither the H-bomb
nor the guided missile. It is man's eternal,
desire to be free and independent"
The senator might have been predicting
the recent wave of terrorism, _ for his
remark ex iaipg much .about the moths
beind TWA of the Achille Lass
Flight 847 last summer. It
also applies to the deaths of almost 300
Americans in suicide bombings over the
last three years at a marine compound and,
at embassies in Lebanon and Kuwait, and
the. kidnapings of nine Americans, six of
whom are still held hostage.
In each case, the attacks were not from
love of violence, but from expressions of
rage and frustration over an inability to
achieve some form of freedom or inde-
pendence.
The Rev. Benjamin M. Weir, freed in
September after being held hostage for 14
months by Shia extremists in Lebanon,
said, "I shy away from the word 'terror-
ist,' a loaded term that tends to set up
opposites. Actions of governments, in-
cluding my own, can sometimes be classi-
fied as terrorism as terrible as that of
individuals." Or, as an adage goes, "One
man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter."
In an age of nuclear weaponry, terror-
ism has become the idiom of expression
among the weak and desperate in can-
fronting superpowers they feel are not
listening. That does not mean terrorism
should be condoned, but it does mean the
reasons behind it must be understood-or
the violence will only escalate. Indeed,
experts now predict that terrorism, ones
limited largely to foreign shores, may
soon target American officials and instal-
lations at home.
The dramatic midair interception of the
four hijackers gives cause to celebrate,
but only temporarily. Nabbing a mugger
does not. eliminate the motives behind
street crime. The problem goes deeper.
Rather than being obsessed by the
mechanics and personalities-the hows
and whoa-of terrorism, the United States
must focus on the whys.
.So far, the United States has been
unrealistic in dealing with the complexity
of terrorism. Spending $3.3 billion for the
biggest embassy-rebuilding program in
U.S. history to improve security at 139
diplomatic posts will not end the threat.
Nor will warning Americans against using
international airports with lax security.
And offering $500,000 to individual in-
formers is unlikely to tempt the com-
mitted opponent.
Nor will retaliation work. As the Israe-
lis discovered in south Lebanon, the
eye-for-an-eye approach can backfire
disastrously. During Israel's three-year
occupation, more than 600 soldiers died.
Indeed, the use of force-either in
retaliation or to preempt future at-
tacks-only escalates the cycle -of vio-
lence, providing new motives for expres-
sion of rage, raising the timbre and stakes.
Shlomo Gazit, a former chief of Israeli
military intelligence mates, "Me-re -isno
technical-military solution to a nro lem
of terrorism. There is only a political
solution."
During its 40 years as a superpower, the
United States has usually dealt only with effects of
specific incidents. It is time for Washington to stand
back from the passion and fury that follows each
incident and begin looking at the roots of violent
opposition.
Policy-makers could start by not lumpinglncidents:
together as if a monolithic anti-American force were
at work; that is as errantly simplistic as Iran calling
the ;United States "the Great Satan" and condemning
evesyt Thg American. Somehow the capture of the
Ach1 Lauro hijackers is now being perceived as
partial compensation for the impotence felt during
the 17-day trauma of TWA 847. In fact, the two are
unrelated.
Two strains of terrorism, with separate goals and
different tactics, emanate from the Middle East
today.
The first involves the kind of Palestinians who
hijacked the Achille Lauro. Their cause is a home-
land. Their terrorism is designed to frighten or
pressure Israel and its ally, the United States, into
recognizing them and what they feel are their rights.
The second involves Islamic militants, particularly
Shia Muslims, who are responsible for the hijacking of
TWA 847, the suicide bombings and the abductions of
Americans in Lebanon. Their terrorism is aimed at
eliminating what they say is foreign domination and
encroachment on every aspect of their lives, particu-
larly by the United States, over the last 40 years.
Within both movements are many branches, each
with specific, often different, flash points. Ironically,
the two broad groups have been at odds, particularly
in Lebanon, where fighting between Shias and
Palestinians has killed hundreds since May.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807620004-8
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807620004-8
The danger for the United States, however, is that
these two disparate forces will some day act in
unison, intentionally or indirectly, as a result of
anti-American fervor, unleashing a force so potent
that costly and humiliating attacks so far will seem
small by comparison. Although it is remote now, that
possibility was evident earlier this month when
Islamic Jihad, the underground Shia group in
Lebanon, claimed it had killed U.S. hostage William
Buckley in retaliation for Israel's attack on the
Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in
Tunisia. However, the specific circumstances in this
case remain murky.
To end or at least diminish terrorism from the
Middle East, the only lasting solution lies in tackling,
with urgency, the two basic problems in that volatile
region.
First, the United States needs, finally, to get the
Arabs and Israelis to the peace table-without being
waylaid by rhetoric or the often-violent advance
posturing. Before the spate of recent incidents-the
murder of three Israelis by Palestinians in Cyprus,
the Israeli air strike on PLO headquarters that killed
60 and the piracy-the United States and Jordan's
King Hussein appeared to be making progress.
Attempts to end a 37-year dispute should not be
aborted because of the heat of the moment.
Second, the United States and its Western allies
need to begin defusing the tension with Islamic
militants who say they have been increasingly
overwhelmed and manipulated by the West since
Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Egypt almost 200
years ago.
Neither act involves "conceding" to terrorism, but
rather emphasizes constructive rather than destruc-
tive policies.
And neither will be done easily, quickly or,
probably, without further bloodshed. But the United
States needs to take the initiative in rooting out
causes of terrorism rather than simply reacting to
attacks. The United States has the resources and the
power; it lacks only the confidence and determina-
tion.
The same senator who spoke of freedom and
independence, John F. Kennedy, told the United
Nations after he was elected President, "If we can all
persevere, if we can in every land and office look
beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely
the age will dawn in which the strong are just, and
the weak secure and the peace preserved." 0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807620004-8