jad@harpo.UUCP (jad) (07/03/85)
I commend President Reagan for his pledge to bring the skyjackers to justice, but we should all hope that the U.S. government has further plans for combating the terrorist threat. When would-be terrorists realize that they will likely be captured and extradited to the U.S. to face trial and punishment, they will feel more compelled than ever to commit murderous acts of a suicidal nature. Not only would they be motivated by a yearning for martyrdom, but they would feel the added compulsion to escape the dis- grace and humiliation of being captured, tried and punished by the U.S. So I ask everyone, not rhetorically, but for the purpose of soliciting shrewd, creative and effective ideas; how would potential terrorists be inhibited from becoming kinetic terrorists (suicidal or not)? As in foil- ing a terrorist plot, devising a penalty having effective deterrence re- quires thinking like a terrorist. Here are a few ideas: The small-fry are suicidal, but their ayatollahs and their war lords are not. These leaders must be convinced that their punishment will be much too severe to risk facing. For example, Iran fears that the U.S. might arm the rebellious Kurds or worse yet, the U.S. might supply Iraq in it's war against Iran. The U.S. might demand that Israel cease selling war-weaponry to Iran. Perhaps there is some punishment decreed by his religion, the fear of which would inhibit the terrorist. The U.S. government must begin to treat the peoples of the Islamic nations fairly, justly and respectfully, because it is morally right. We should recognize their grievances and try to resolve them. Please let us hear your ideas on how to inhibit terrorist acts. I pose this question, not as frivolous banter, but with the hope that it might save lives. If readers think your idea is valuable, they should tell it to their congressperson. Don't assume that the people in the Reagan admin- istration are more intelligent or more imaginative than you are.
slk@mit-vax.UUCP (Ling Ku) (07/04/85)
One solution is to *execute* all terrorists once captured (make it an international capital punishment law) because a lot of times, terrorists acts (for example hijacking) are used to force some governments to release terrorists that were captured. Therefore, even though the captured terrorist may not have been bad enough, their continual existance will serve as a pretext for further terrorism. For those "terrorist" (for example the Shii'tes who were captured by Isreal) who really doesn't deserve to be killed, then maybe they shouldn't be called terrorist and hence should be available for negotiation in a subsequent terrorist act. Or maybe they shouldn't be held prisoners/hostages to start with - any government that condones holding innocent people hostage to further some political means deserves to get terrorism thrown back to its face. (If some terrorist hold up a plane and demand money, do you think people would really insist in not making deals with them?) My personal opinion regarding terrorists is that they should not be allowed to live (same as ANY criminal who deliberatly kills innocent people, but that is another issue). Siu-Ling Ku