Acts of terrorism against public transportation evolved since the 1970s from acts of hostage taking to free imprisoned terrorists to acts of indiscriminate murder of passengers and grew popular due to the lack of a robust response by the target countries. Later, this modus operandi shifted into attempts to blow up aircraft in flight and, of course, the attacks of 9/11. The logic behind the attacks remained the same—to hit Western society at its “soft belly.” Islamist terrorists adhere to similar strategic and tactical considerations as their secular predecessors. However, they are also obliged to take into account the rulings (fatwas) of Islamic legal experts. The tactical appeal for terrorists of all ideological streams for attacking mass transportation will not disappear. Therefore, it remains to deter the terrorists and to counter the very ideology that promotes such actions. True, even if prominent moderate Sheikhs issue fatwas against such acts of terrorism, there will emerge others who will condone them. The answers therefore may lie in a Kulturkampf of the Islamic orthodoxy against the radicals, criminalization in Western law of acts and statements that condone terrorism, and redefining the principle of personal criminal culpability to cover religious leaders for the acts of their flock as a result of their spiritual influence.
Terrorist Targeting of Public Transportation
Ideology and Tactics
Securing Transportation Systems ; 23-34
2015-06-30
11 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
fatwa , jurisprudence , Islam , hijacking , skyjacking , modus operandi , terrorism , jihad , justification of terrorism
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