In order to counter religiously-motivated terrorist threats I would use a myriad of tactics. However, there would be three I would focus on the most: an educational campaign, a partnership between nations, and a strengthened counter terrorism effort.
An educational campaign would serve as one of the most rewarding tactics. This counterterrorism effort would teach kids, both here and abroad, about cultural and religious differences that exist around the world. It would serve more or less as a “sensitivity training.” This action would benefit future generations of people in multifarious ways as long as other nations support this idea. When religious ideologies are introduced the propensity for violence tends to grow, as does the number of casualties of terrorism. The religious force of terror is vicious and its terrorizing agenda is most often meant to hurt the most people and topple the most “targets” (White, 2006).
As stated before, the support of other nations is vital in countering terrorism. Political terrorism differs immensely from religious terrorism; where a political idea may carry its message within a couple of countries, a religious initiative may be spread out all over the world. Dr. Goldstein (2007) states in his document that religion is the “true” catalyst for more than 50% of the most dangerous organizations and the acts of terror are part of their extremely meticulous belief system. Other countries need to support further eradication of terrorism worldwide, especially the religious radicals who utilize terrorism tactics. Terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and Hezbollah have “set up shop” in countries like England, Germany, Spain, Greece, and U.S., and religion is their main strength in setting up campaigns to exterminate the non-believers (Goldstein, 2007).
The other aspect of fighting terrorism is an increased counter terrorism effort against religious fundamentalists. I think that more needs to be done in order to properly train and consequently deploy counter terrorism forces. What I mean by that is that religion and culture needs to be presented to special units which will be infiltrating religiously run terrorist groups. A different approach on devout terrorism should be taken, as the world viewed by such terrorists is a constant war between “good and evil.” There is no such thing as negotiations or mutual agreements, because “(…) God can never compromise with evil [the U.S., other countries fighting against their cause, and essentially, all the non-believers]” (White, 2006, p. 62).
Resources:
Goldstein, D. (2007). Week 3: Religion and Modern Terrorism. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from Boston University Vista Online Web site: http://vista.bu.edu/webct/
White, J.R. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
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