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ation has grown between nations,
but it needs to be much further
developed. Sorne countries coop–
erate, others refuse to do so. A
good example is the continuing
failure of the world to achieve
concerted action against airline
hijackers. The airline pilots have
urged for years that airlines
should refuse to fly to any coun–
try which is not willing to give an
undertakjng that they will never
allow hijackers asylum or aid of
any kind.
If
hijackers could not
expect a safe haven, or even a
refueling facility, anywhere in
the world, that would bring
hijacking to an end.
DOBSON:
Modern society can.
cope with the terrorist threat and
is doing so. Europe realized the
nature of the threat very late and
even then there were great diffi–
culties in internationalizing coop–
eration. For example the laws
covering extradition and how
long a suspect could be held and
whether a policeman from a for–
eign country could interrogate a
suspect all caused problems. The
police forces of the various coun–
tries ignored the rules and
worked together long before tbe
politicians and lawyers agreed.
But formal cooperation has now
been agreed to by the EEC and
1
there is a great deal of coopera–
tion between the countries of
Europe. Tbe British SAS and the
German GSG9 have an excellent
working relationship. The Dutch
too, are extremely cooperative
and so are the ltalians. There is
also a constant flow of informa–
tion between Europe and the
United States. Much of this
comes from the German police
computer at Stammheim which
contains every known fact about
every known ter rorist and terror–
ist organization. The world has
been mobilized against terrorism
and si licon chips are its · shock
troops.
Q .
In past years we have seen
joint combined operations among
terrorist groups. Are such opera–
tions likely to increase, with more
ambitious targets?
DOBSON:
Precisely because of
the growth of the international
40
antiterrorist forces the ability of
the terrorists to mount interna–
tional operations has been cur–
tailed.
It
is still possible for them
to mount spectaculars but it is
much more difficult and danger–
ous for them to do so.
Q.
Does the average terrorist
have a common mentality which
goes beyond specific national and
idealistic bounds?
NELSON:
The modern urban
terrorist is an "idealist"-bowev–
er misplaced and mistaken those
ideals are-and utterly convinced
his or her aims can only be ful–
filled by violence. In his or her
view, society is corrupt, the ruling
establishment repressive, the
working class brainwashed and
stupefied, and the voting system
and democratic process a com–
plete fraud. Given that common
denominator, what separates ter–
rorists are questions of tactics.
Often, these are deliberately pro–
vocative. IRA terrorists hope to
drive British troops from Ulster,
knowing this couJd provoke kill–
ings of Catholics by Protestants.
They hope the Trish Republic
would then have to intervene mil–
itarily.
If
forced reunion resulted,
Ireland would have a militant
Protestant minority, and in the
resultant chaos, democracy in
l reland would collapse, leading to
tbe Marxist dictatorship IRA
extremists champion. Similarly,
in West Germany, terrorists a im
át forcing the government into
such repressive, "fascist" coun–
ter-measures· that democracy
would collapse, leading to a revo–
lutionary situation. Aimless or
mindless terrorism exists as well:
this is "classical" or "anarchical"
terror, best seen today in Italy
and in recent years in the United
States. But even here an aim can
be detected: society must be
destroyed if anything new is to be
built upon the ruins.
DOBSON:
The makings of the
modern urban terrorist in Europe
go back to 1968, to the great
student demonstrations in France
which eventually brought about
the retirement of General de
Gaulle from political life and
spread throughout Europe, par-
ticularly to Germany. The work–
ing class was not affected, it
spurned the antics of the stu–
dents. But the movement caught
hold among the young products
of the German economic miracle.
These were idealistic students
who despised the materialistic
outlook of their parents. They felt
deeply about the plight of the
Palestinians and the Tbird
World. But what started as ideal–
ism, slipped into terrorism. The
majority of the students who
demonstrated "to cbange the
world" eventually became mid–
dle-class citizens themselves,
mostly social democratic in polit–
ical outlook. But a few saw terro–
rism as the only way to change
the world. Then because the
Arab groups have the arms and
the money and the training
grounds they inevitably joined
with the Arabs and the modern
groups emerged. The one com–
mon factor in the groups is a
resentment of the society in
which they live and a desire to
tear it down. Where they would
differ violently is in what sort of
regime they themselves would
impose.
Q.
Ts it right to assume that
terrorists are thugs by nature, or
are they rather well educated and
intelligent?
DOBSON:
The answer to this
question is mult iple. T he urban
terrorist groups are mainly mid–
dle-class with a university train–
ing. Of all the German terrorists
only one was truly working class
and he was in it for the money.
The Arab groups, while led by
educated men from the Palestin–
ian technocrat middle-class- en–
gineers, teachers, doctors-draw
their
"soldiers~·
from the refugee
camps. They tend to be youths of
little education who have been
brutalized in the camps, com–
pletely tunnel-visioned, knowing
nothing of the world outside,
motivated only by hatred. PIRA
is almost completely working
class and Catholic. Middle-class
Catholics as a rule stay away
from terrorism and so the move–
ment tends to attract the unem–
ployed and the ill-educated.
The
PLAIN TRUTH