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46 Friday, March 7, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

'They speak of us as a bastion of Western
imperialism. America, as the leader of the
Western world, is the enemy because it
embodies all the values, democracy, equali-
ty, freedom of choice, that they reject."
And so, says Cohen, terrorists want not
only to defeat us but to "rub our noses in
the dirt." And they can do that best by
making sure it's there for all the world to
see.
"Media is the oxygen on which terrorism
thrives," says Cohen. "Terrorism is the
superentertainment of our time. It has all
the ingredients of a good show — mystery,
tension, drama and it gets good ratings.
They want exposure because it gives them
access to the public agenda and the abil-
ity to talk about themselves and their
alleged grievances. It's their form of self-
display."
And because attention is so important,
says Netanyahu, terrorists make sure to
do what it takes to get it. "Once the world
gets used to a certain level of outrage, we
need more violence to be outraged anew.
So the terrorists come up with new things,
cruise ships and executing hostages."
At the moment, the best practitioner of
the art of attracting attention is that
master of outrage, Libya's Muammar
Kaddafi. "Kaddafi thrives on publicity
and mock confrontations," says William
Quandt of the Brookings Institution, a
Washington think tank. "It charges him
up, puffs him up. He lives off publicity."
Which is why, says Cohen, we have to
remember that "Kaddafi is a little pisher,
a nobody. He's even run out of TV outfits.
We should ignore him in public, take in-
stead behind-the-scenes effective action to
contain his adventures. We should get
him, but we should do it quietly."
In fact, says Cohen, the U.S. needs to
rethink how we've come to look at all ter-
rorists and how we've come to handle ter-
rorism. "We have to start by stopping the
muddled thinking, by resisting the corrup-
tion of the language. We have to stop call- .
ing terrorists commandos and guerrillas
and freedom fighters, calling their torture
a trial or interrogation, their murders an
execution. They are not guerrillas, they're
criminals and we should call them that.
Anyone who takes an individual captive
- and threatens him with violence in order
to frighten a larger group is a criminal,
period."
Cohen asserts that we have to stop try-
ing to understand why terrorists do what
they do. "I call it the 'Officer Krupke Syn-
drome,' from when the Sharks in 'West
Side Story' told Krupke, 'we're depraved
on account of we're deprived.' The world
is filled with grievances. But it's not okay
to kill civilians because of a grievance. It's .
the wrong kind of thinking to look for poli-
tical or social or economic reasons. If
someone is holding captives, I don't want
to hear that the guy had a bad childhood.

Stop committing a crime and then I'll
listen."
But, says Quandt, it's not so simple. "I
don't say there is a justification for what
they do. But there are reasons 'a 19-year-
old kid is sent to Rome to shoot up an El
Al terminal. Just like we need to look at
how our slums turn juvenile delinquents
into criminals, so we need to look at the
roots of terrorism. We need to look at the
swamp that is Lebanon and how it serves
as a breeding ground for political ex-
temism."
"It is," agrees Marvin Zonis, a Middle
East expert at the University of Chicago,
"a mark of frustration at the inability to
achieve their goals under any other cir-
cumstances. Terrorism comes from the
rage and frustration that is felt. There are
no born terrorists, there are people who
respond with terrorism to perceived in-
justice." Which is why, says Zonis, one of
the important ways to fight terrorism is
by working harder to solve the problems
of the Middle East.

sanctions against governments support-
ing terrorism.
One way the West can win, says Nor-
man Podhoretz, is by doing more of what
Israel has done all along. "Israel has done
better than any other country in the
world," he says. "It is the most effective
country in fighting terrorism, a model for
the rest of us."
But, says Zonis, an advisor to President
Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage
crisis, while Israel can be a model, its ap-
proach is not one the U.S. can adopt.
"Israel's policy must be seen in a broad
context because it's not driven by the fight
against terrorism alone. There are pro-
found philosophical issues at work that go
back to Herzl, who became a Zionist as a
result of the belief that Jews were safe
nowhere but within their own country. It
is Israel's fundamental raison d'etre to
"We must tell the
protect the lives of Jews. If it doesn't, the
legitimacy of the state is undermined.'
key regimes that
"The U.S. position is very different.
assist terrorism that
We're a superpower with widespread and
divergent interests. Sure we can retaliate
we know what
against a country and stop the next two
planned
terrorist attacks but we might
they're doing and
also poison relations with that country for
that we hold them
the next 25 years. We have so many com-
plex interests and diverse goals that we're
accountable."
very limited in what we can do. Israel is
free to do things we can't."
Which is not to say, however, that there
But in the meantime, says Netanyahu,
are not.plenty of things the U.S. is free to
we have to show terrorists that their
do. But, says Quandt, "There is no single
behavior won't be tolerated. "The nature
thing that will solve the problem. It's not
of terrorism is that if it is unchallenged,
a problem with a solution. It won't go
it escalates. It only gets worse if we don't
away even if we do. the right things. There
bother to put a stop to it."
are always going to be crazies and those
Explaining the nature of terrorism is the
who figure terrorism is the best way to ad-
chief goal of the Johathan Institute,
vance their political cause. But we can
founded by Netanyahu in memory of his
make it more difficult for them."
brother, Johathan, who led Israeli troops
The way to do that, says Quandt, is by
in the rescue mission at Entebbe and who
learning not just to react to but to antici-
was the only Israeli soldier killed in the
pate terrorist attacks. And that means "a
operation.
The Institute holds seminars and pub-
whole range of defenses" including the
lishes information designed, says Netan- '
training and positioning of more effective
yahu to "help opinion leaders, journalists,
counter-terrorism forces, mobiliiing public
opinion in support of fighting terrorism,
scholars, government officials, understand
instituting better airport security, setting
the true nature of the terrorist threat and
how to deal with it." The Institute will
up a permanent crisis management team
soon pub* a book, edited by Netanyahu,
at the State Department, having better
entitled, "Terrorism: How the West Can
intelligence-gathering operations.
Win." The book outlines when and how to
"The single best way to disrupt terror-
apply diplomatic, economic and military
ism is by good police work," says Quandt,

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