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Terrorism
•
tn
the '80s
N
EVER BEFORE
has the
t h rea t of ter r orism
been so great.
We bring our readers a fasci –
nati n g interview, by
Piain
Truth
sen ior writer J ohn Ross
Schroeder, with Christopher
Dobson , British author and
journal ist , and one of t h e
world's most knowledgeable
authorities on the frightening
spectre of terrorism. Mr. Dob–
son has authored or coauthored
six books on terrorist groups,
their weapons and philosophy.
How would you define ter–
rorism?
A very good definition of ter ror–
ism is in the United Kingdom's
P revention of Terrorism Act: Ter–
rorism means the use of violence
for political ends and includes any
use of violence for the purpose of
putting the public or any section of
the community in fear.
That ' s an excellent definit ion
because if you use it then you know
when you are dealing with a terror–
ist and when you're not dealing
with a terrorist.
Terrorism has become an instru–
mentalíty not only of small groups
taking revenge against society,
but it has also become an instru-
May 1984
Britisb author Christopber Dobson
mentality of states. Could you
comment on this phenomenon?
Yes, terrorism has become a
surrogate form of waging war.
The Soviet Union uses this form.
T'm not for one moment suggest–
ing that the Russians are behind
every single act of ter rorism. I
wou ldn ' t suggest that they manip–
ulate every ter rorist gang. But
where a terrorist gang or ter rorist
sit uation suits their purpose, they
will then support it, they will take
advantage of it, they will finance
it and they wi ll give it arms, and
it will be used . In sorne ways one
may say that the T hird World
War is al ready being fough t, and
it is being fought by means of
ter rorism.
What role is terrorism presently
playing, and what role will it con–
tinua to play in the struggle for
power and influence between
states and superstates? One act
of terrorism actually began World
War l.
Yes, one remembers very well
the assassination at Sarajevo, but of
course that single act could not
have sparked the Great War unless
the conditions for that Great War
l5
were already present. The great
~
danger is that where the conditions
~
are r ight for war, a single act of
terrorism can actually provide the
detonator.
All types of states use terrorism
now. Look at Col. [Muammar]
Kadafi, for example. Col. Kadafi
sends out bis hit teams, trained by
the Venezuelan assassin, Carlos,
to k ili off bis opponents in otber
countries. I interviewed Kadaf i
abou t two years ago, immediately
after one of bis hit teams had
murdered one of his opponents
bere in Britain, and I said to him,
"Colonel, when are your people
going to stop killing you r enemies
in my country, in Britain?" He
said,
" 1
don' t see why you are
wor ried abou t this. We don' t
harm Br itish people, it's nothing
to do with the British government,
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