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TERRORISM
(Continued from page 21}
just how well organized and
capab le of pulling off major
coups are they?
NELSON:
The weaponry of ter–
rorists is sufficient ly sophisti–
cated to have compelled the Brit–
ish army on severa! occasions to
send battalions out to London's
Heathrow Airport , to forestall an
attempt to shoot down an airliner
with a Soviet SAM-7 missile.
Terrorists have all the modero
hardware they need and can car–
ry.
Handguns and submachine
guns, especially the latter, are the
basic equipment. Portable mis–
siles such as the SAM-7 and
explosive devices of the greatest
sophistication are a ll availa ble.
Aside from the PLO, terrorists
haven't yet been armed with
tan ks or jet figh ters, as fa r as 1
know. lndeed, that would trans–
form them into an army and
make them too visible. But a
bullet can threatcn to take the
life of a national lcader--or a
little child-just as quickly as
can a cannon shell.
DOBSON:
Weaponry is grow–
ing increasingly sophist icated .
One group of PFLP "soldiers"
was arrested in Rome in a housc
close to the airport where the
Pales tinians were preparing to
shoot down an El Al air li ncr.
Thcy have Kalash nikovs, the
weapon used by the Viet Cong
and which is the best assault rifle
in the world. They also have min–
iature machinc pistols like the
Czech-made Skorpion. The Irish
in particu lar have bccome expcrt
in bomb making, using mercury
trcmbler fuses and remote con–
trolled bombs triggered by radio
devices similar to those used in
cont rolling the night of model
aircraft.
There are about 1
O
groups who
are organízed enough to pull off
major coups. But such coups have
become more difficult with the
formation of specialized anti–
terror ist groups such as the Brit–
ish Special Air Scrvice and the
August 1980
German GSG9 who cooperated in
the rescue of the passengers from
the hijacked Lufthansa airliner
at Mogadishu, Somalia. Hijack–
ing seems to have gone out of
fashion because this incident, fol–
lowing on that of Entebbe, con–
vinced the terrorists that the
world was prepared to fight
aga inst aerial hijacking. They
have switched their targets now
to the occupation of embassies
a nd the holding of diplomatic
captives, although this spring the
SAS mounted a particularly suc–
cessful operation in ending the
terrorist siege of the lranian
Embassy in London.
Q.
How do terrorists operate–
as armies or as popular move–
ments?
DOBSON:
Urban terrorist
grou ps of Eu rope opera te as
small groups. They are neither
armies, nor are they popular
movements . In fact the working
class population is bitterly op–
posed to their activities for it is
the workíng class which tends to
suffer from the antitcrrorist reac–
tion of the authorities. The Pales–
tinia ns are different. The PLO
can be described as a popular
movement and its various groups
can put armies into the field
cquippcd with tanks a nd field
guns. At the same time it has its
smaller terrorist groups which
operate on the same lines as the
urban guerrillas. The IRA is cer–
tainly a popular movement with
historical roots grounded in tradi–
tion, religion and to a lesser
extent, language. In South Amer–
ica you again have a double situ–
ation with small terrorist move–
ments existing in sorne countries
and regular guerrilla armies in
others.
Q.
Do the Arab terrorist
groups have asan ultimate ideal a
resurgent Islamic empire uniting
all Arab States?
NELSON:
Very likely there are
Ara b terrorists who hope for a
new
jihad,
for a n l slamic mili–
tary revival as wcll as a religious
one. But it must be understood
that terrorism is inherently irra–
tional, and that one cannot there-
fore expect rational objectives
from those pursuing irrationa l
means.
DOBSON:
Most terrori s t
groups which have been operating
throughout the world in the Pal–
estinian cause are not religious. In
fact the most ruthless of the
groups was founded and con–
trolled by two Christian Arabs.
lt
is the aim of most of these groups
first to reoccupy Palestine and
t
hen to spread a leftist movement
of various degrees throughou t
Arabia. The overthrow of the
shah by the Shia Moslems has,
however, introduced a new factor
because this movement and thc
general resurgence of Islam must
sooner or later clash with the
secular aims of the terrorists.
Islam can never live with commu–
nism.
Q .
Would you say that urban
terrorists are initially dedicated to
a narchy to bring about their
aims?
DOBSON:
Most of the urban
groups in Europc see anarchy as
a prerequisitc to the overthrow of
thc present systcm of goveromcnt
and the emcrgcnce of their ncw
utopía. The formula is well
known. Cause chaos. The govern–
ment will be forced to Introduce
repressive measures. The popu–
lace will rise. Anarchy will ensuc.
The system will collapse. Pa ra–
dise will be crcated out of the
ruins. This has so fa r not worked
because the ordinary people have
come to bate terrorism so much
they are prepared to put up with
repressive mcasures in order to
get rid of the tcrrorists. The dan–
ger lies in the fact that unlcss
these repressivc measures a re
removed from the statute books
once the tcrrorists have been
destroyed thcy could providc a
framework for a dictatorship-so
the ter rorists will have succeeded
only in creating what they hatc
the most.
Q.
To what cxtent can modero
urban society cope with the tcr–
rorist threat? To what degree is
there clase cooperation on a
worldwide basis?
NELSON:
Antiterrorist cooper-
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