Once a Terrorist, Always a Terrorist?
I just finished reading a report about efforts by Indonesian authorities to “deradicalize” hard-core jihadi members of Jemaah Islamiya and other groups. This isn’t the only place that such a thing has been tried — similar programs have been instituted in countries like Singapore, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Britain. By using a variety of tactics, the aim of these programs is to convince extremists to reconsider their views. Typically, efforts to “deprogram” jihadis involve bringing in moderate and respected religious clerics to undercut belief in violence. The report describes the process like this:
Once prisoners show a willingness to accept police assistance, they are exposed to religious arguments against some forms of jihad by scholars whose credentials within the movement are unimpeachable. Some have then accepted that attacks on civilians, such as the first and second Bali bombings and the Australian embassy bombing, were wrong.
It’s hard to imagine that this kind of thing really works (ideologies are hard to erase), and this report didn’t exactly confirm otherwise. The results are very mixed, and it’s not at all clear that the “success stories” are valid. Many of those who appear to have gone along with Indonesia’s program, the report found, did so because their family was offered a bundle of “economic aid,” not because of any genuine change in their belief structures.
4 Responses to “Once a Terrorist, Always a Terrorist?”
The way to stop potential terrorists is to identify “high risk” kids and teach them from an early age the pillars of their religion.
Of course practically speaking this can not be done to stop every potential terrorist from turning into a terrorist. We can only reduce their numbers. But it only takes a few terrorist fanatics to convert hundreds or thousands of kids to their side. So we need to prevent kids from developing into terrorists, otherwise they’ll multiple like rabbits. The attitude needed is NOT, “One less person is a terrorist so there is one less terrorist in the world.” The correct attitude should be, “We’ve prevented one person from becoming a terrorist so in the future there are countless fewer terrorists in the world.”
The other alternative is to follow Bush- go in and bomb them all (even innocent children) before they get a chance to even develop terrorist thoughts (or pro-Democracy thoughts, for that matter).
An ideology can change only when the individual chooses to change it. One cannot be forced to change.
By definition, an extremist would not change his position based upon dialog and peer-to-peer modeling. The ignorant can benefit from education and exposure to the truth but extremists cannot.
Yes, kindlingman- I agree with you completely. That’s why it’s important that we not allow terrorists to develop at all.
Isn’t this similar to reform programs in US prisons? The results indicate that while crimilnals can be convertoed to want to live drug-free, crime free lives, they fall off the wagon when they return to old neighborhoods, and old unemployed states.
In NY, they are trying programs now that offer support (counseling, buddy systems, help with jobs, etc) for significant periods of time after release from prison. They claim good, or improved, success rates.
For this to be applied to terrorists, however, the religious leaders teaching moderation would need to follow those released to thier homes and into their families. Is that even possible?
A lot depends on the supply of moderate clergy in all dommunities. That’s something the governemtns of the ME should be mindful of. Like the US, however, the ME pays too little attention to prevention.