In their book titled Global Terrorism, Lutz & Lutz (2004) note that critics of the U.S. policies on global terrorism often questions the capacity of the policies to meet international threshold and the will of America to involve other traditionally non-aligned state actors in the fight on global terrorism.
However, the article by The Jamestown Foundation demonstrates the U.S. willingness and commitment to cooperate with all countries in the fight against global terrorism, thus rendering tenable the view that the U.S. is interested in developing frameworks that will ensure inclusivity in the war on global terrorism. The article by The Jamestown Foundation is a chronology of terrorist attacks believed to have been carried out by the Caucasus Emirate insurgent group under the leadership of Doku Umarov against Russian targets.
The Caucasus Emirate has been previously accused of providing material and financial support to terrorist, terrorist networks or acts of terrorism, and the number and frequency of terrorist attacks perpetrated using improvised devices (IEDs), vehicle-born IEDs and suicide bombers seems to render credibility to assertions made by a number of countries, including Russia, that the Caucasus Emirate is responsible in providing support to the insurgent group.
The latest of the series of attacks targeted two Moscow subway stations, where 40 people lost their lives (The Jamestown Foundation, 2011). An internet search on the Caucasus Emirate insurgent network demonstrates evidence that this group has indeed claimed responsibility in a number of terrorist attacks highlighted by The Jamestown Foundation, and Umarov, the group’s leader, has been on record for encouraging his followers to undertake aggressive attacks against the Caucasus Emirate’s perceived enemies, which include the U.S., Israel, Russia, and the UK.
Evidence demonstrated by The Jamestown Foundation about the activities of the terror group provides enough grounds for the U.S. to use Presidential Executive Order 13224 against the Caucasus Emirate with the view to disrupt Umarov’s financial support network and degrade the group’s capacity to mount terrorist attacks on Russian interests.
Although Executive Order 13224 has received its fair share of criticisms, mainly for its over-inclusive language and over-broad implementation strategies (Ferrer, 2009), it has been effective in dismantling and neutralizing terrorist networks mainly by curtailing the terrorists financial sources. The article by The Jamestown Foundation, more than anything else, demonstrates the U.S. commitment to the war on global terrorism.
Additionally, the article demonstrates America’s readiness to cooperate with all countries in the fight against global terrorism despite their political orientation, structural frameworks, or ideological predisposition. This is exactly what is needed to ensure the peace and stability of the whole world.
Lutz & Lutz (2004) reveal that Russia has on numerous times developed cold feet in joining the U.S. attempts to fight terrorism, but Washington continues to emphasize the concepts of inclusivity and information sharing among nations if the war on global terrorism is to be won. By imposing sanctions against a terrorist network that is traditionally known to target Russian interests, the U.S. is demonstrating a very valid point – that terrorism has no borders.
It is therefore imperative for Russia to reciprocate and show active responses aimed at disrupting terrorism operatives from undertaking terrorist attacks or from finding a safe haven in Russia.
As observed by Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, the terrorist problem facing countries today has already assumed a global nature (The Jamestown Foundation, 2011). To achieve positive outcomes, countries need to cooperate and stand in solidarity with each other.
The executive Order 13224 will surely curtail the Umarov’s financial might to undertake further terrorist activities against Russia or any other country, but more needs to be done to ensure that Umarov and other terror operatives are apprehended to face the law, or are wiped out to curtail further loss of life through terrorist attacks.
Reference List
Ferrer, M. (2009). Prosecuting extortion victims: How counter-terrorist finance measure Executive Order 13224 is going too far. Journal of Financial Crime, 16(3), 262-288.
Lutz, B., & Lutz, J.M. (2004). Global terrorism. London: Routledge.
The Jamestown Foundation. (2011). US slaps sanctions on Caucasus Emirates as violence continues in north Caucasus. Eurasia Daily Monitor, 8(103). Web.