How to fight against terrorist organizations?

The fight against terrorism is different from all armed struggles, including classical warfare, due to its unique characteristics. The most important feature of this struggle is that it has a multidimensional (social, political, cultural, economic, military, etc.) and complex structure. In the fight against terrorism, there are no battlefields with defined borders as in classical warfare. There are also no armies facing each other in a particular geographical area. The military field and the civil field are intertwined. In other words, the struggle has spread to all areas of life.

This means that the center of gravity of terrorist organizations[1] is too dispersed. The fact that the center of gravity is dispersed makes it almost impossible to achieve success in a short time in the fight. Because when the center of gravity is dispersed, it is not possible to completely eliminate the organization, no matter how great the achievements are.

Despite this, states generally focus on armed struggle in the fight against terrorism. Because the easiest is armed struggle. More precisely, decision makers think that the easiest way is armed struggle. But this understanding is wrong. Because the fight against the armed elements of terrorist organizations is also very difficult. There are hundreds of examples of this in history. For example, the armed elements of the Hashashin movement survived despite all the efforts of the Great Seljuk Empire, which was the most important superpower of the period, and this empire managed to survive for a long time after its collapse.

Today, there are many terrorist organizations (such as OKK, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Taliban) that have not been completely eliminated although their armed forces have been weakened. Because terrorist organizations spread to all areas of life, and the armed elements of these organizations operate by spreading over a very wide geography. Since this is the only way to protect their existence against the strong security forces of the states they are fighting against, acting by distributing the center of gravity of the armed elements is one of the most basic features of the strategy implemented by terrorist organizations.

In accordance with this strategy, terrorist organizations do not gather their armed elements intensively at any point until the strategic balance is achieved in the struggle and liberated areas are created. Armed elements of terrorist organizations act like fog, in accordance with the recommendations in Clausewitz's book "On Warfare" in the "Armament of the People" section. [2] They do not stay in one place for long. Like fog, they dissipate immediately when the temperature rises, that is, when they are under the pressure of the security forces. But they re-concentrate where and when necessary, according to need. They behave almost like a virtual entity rather than a tangible entity.

This situation makes it impossible to destroy the armed power of terrorist organizations in a single blow. For this reason, many military operations must be carried out in order to neutralize the armed elements of terrorist organizations. Considering that not all of these operations will be successful, the fight against terrorism has to be a long-term struggle by its nature. Prolonging the duration of the struggle generally provides an advantage to terrorist organizations. Because, thanks to a long-term struggle, the problem created by terrorist organizations turns into gangrene.

Gangrene means that the blood flow from the body to the problem area is reduced due to the occlusion of the vessels connecting the body and the gangrenous area, that is, the necessary oxygen and nutrients are not adequately supplied. If this situation continues for a long time, the organ, whose ties with the body gradually weakens, dies and must be cut off. Gangrene must be treated to avoid organ loss. Gangrene treatment, on the other hand, is primarily applied in the form of treating the cause.

These include practices such as regulating blood sugar level, reaching normal blood lipid levels and body weight, and treating infection if there is an infection. Smoking and alcohol consumption are prohibited. If blood pressure is high, it is treated. In addition to these treatments for the cause, dead tissues are also surgically removed.[3]

The fight against terrorism should be done with this logic. First of all, the emphasis should be on eliminating the causes. As with gangrene, a significant part of the causes are not only caused by the problems in the region, but also by the problems that concern the whole country. For this reason, first of all, the country should be strengthened and the ties[4] between the region and the country should be strengthened. However, armed struggle should never be abandoned or neglected. In addition to the struggle to eliminate the causes, the armed elements of terrorist organizations should be destroyed by military force, as in the surgical removal of dead tissue in cases of gangrene.

As such, it is necessary to make comprehensive plans based on the right strategies in the fight against terrorism and to constantly renew these plans according to time and conditions. While doing this, creative ideas should be found and new concepts should be developed. of struggle and its dimension should cover every area necessary to prevent terrorist organizations from continuing their existence. Therefore, it is necessary to give importance to unarmed struggle methods and indirect attitudes as much as armed struggle. While doing these, historical experiences should also be used.

Footnotes

[1] center of gravity; These are the features, capabilities and regions on which the characteristics, capabilities, freedom of movement, physical strength and will to fight of the forces are based and powered. If damaged or destroyed, it will cause failure, upset the balance of combat power, and weaken the force; force, geographic region, resource or psychological elements are the center of gravity. (Taken from my Land War Academy Lecture Notes, where I studied between 2003-2005.)

[2] For more information, see. Carl von Clausewitz, On War, trans. H. Fahri Celiker, Gnkur. Press, Ankara, 1991, p. 449.

[3] https://www.medicalpark.com.tr/kangren-nedir-belirtileri-ve-tedavisi-nedür/hg-1905

[4] Here economic, social, cultural etc. It is meant to strengthen all kinds of bonds. In addition, transportation opportunities and roads, which are the ties that unite the geography, should be arranged with this logic.