CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF TERRORISM
The era of modern terrorism began in 1968 with the hijacking of anairliner flying from Rome to Tel Aviv (Dershowitz). The distinguishingbetween earlier criminal aviation hijackings and the pattern of terroristhijackings is that prior to 1968, the motive was either to divert theransom it for money. Modern terrorists learned very quickly that theirreached more easily through terrorism than through peaceful negotiation ifabiding community at large is unprepared to respond decisively. Terrorismparticularly successful when elements of the government are sympathetic toobjectives, since it can provides a perfect excuse to make concessions that The psychology of terrorism is simple enough, it is the samebehind old-fashioned kidnapping: the idea is if you want to coerce someoneeffectively, just threaten to do something that he fears worse than theyour demands. Terrorism is much easier to employ successfully in societiesthat incorporate a concern with civil rights, and comparatively more
Helists everyinstance of terrorism by the PLO-and ancillary groups with sharedobjectives-since 1968, alongside the political benefits achieved by the Palestiniancausecorresponding to those terrorist activities. Where the issue is punishment after the fact, the heinousness of the crimedoes notjustify violating due process protections that have been so deliberatelyandpainstakingly crafted in two centuries of American jurisprudence. I aminclined to agree with this position, that civil rights now present anobstacle to themost basic approach to preventing terrorism at soft targets like airportsecuritycheckpoints where Equal Protection principles undermine the most basictools ofcommon sense in the effort to prevent terrorists intent on boardingaircraft. A Balanced Approach: Ultimately, I believe it is possible to tailor civil rights and thelaws that protectthem in a manner that preserves fundamental civil rights while enablingsecuritymeasures demanded by and appropriate to the need to respond to terroristthreats. On theother hand, statutes specifically outlining circumstances where theinformation knownto be in the possession of terrorists justifies methods of extraction thatare absolutelyimpermissible in any other circumstances. Except for rareinstances where terrorism is employed purely for vengeance, the goal ofterrorism isuniversally the same: to bring greater attention to one's cause thanpossible throughnon-violent political discourse. In Poking Holes in the Constitution, Robert Kuttner arguesessentially that theBush administration has undermined civil rights in its response toterrorism. Whereas Dershowitz argues against theactualimplementation of the tool he describes and Kuttner would oppose virtuallyanyadjustment of civil liberties in the fight against terror, Kmiec wouldpresumablysupport the judicious use of torture warrants to extract information knownto be inpossession of captured terrorists (this is the "ticking time bomb"hypothetical alsooutlined by Dershowitz) purely in order to prevent imminent acts of terroragainstinnocent civilians. In Why Terrorism Works, Alan Dershowitz provides a convincingillustrationinto the effectiveness of terrorism once it is allowed to achieve anysuccess bygraphing the long history of Palestinian terrorism against Israel and therest of theworld for the purpose of calling attention to their political aims. United States citizens enjoy the safety of civil rights that arecompletelyforeign concepts in most of the rest of the civilized world. authoritiescurrently engage in such practices by proxy, by handing over suspects toagencies ofother countries known to operate outside the bounds officially sanctionedby U.
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Acceptance Essays
