Conventional Warfare Against Terrorism - Report Example

The physical forms of conflicts have largely been practiced in a set of manners. Some of these methods make up for the conventional methods of engagement. Others constitute the unconventional or little approved manners of engagement with regard to accomplishing the ideas. Conventional warfare against terrorism comes along its own set of prerequisites, guidelines and methods of engagement. Similarly the practices of terrorism have taken up their own outlook based on which the terror based activities are initiated and executed (Wilkinson, 2011,p. 10). A conventional warfare has certain requirements and characteristics. These include existence of proper army that is declared and representative of a particular country. Nearly all the members of the global community have a proper army with exception of limited few. If they initiate an operation, or activity, their action would constitute an activity and engagement in form of conventional warfare. A conventional warfare is fought through the declaration and permission of the government of that particular army. The army takes actions on the grant and permission of the elected democratic and political government. International law categorically defines the activities that are legal even if including physical assault and also has clearly defined guidelines with regard to the activities of physical assault that are totally discouraged and declared prohibited. In the light of this, international Law and United Nations charter specify and segregate the conventional warfare from terrorism. It has clearly defined and distinguished the two from one another and this is largely based on the agenda, the principles and the methods of engagement (Lowe, Roberts, & Zaum, 2010,p 56). A conventional warfare starts off with the formal announcement of the activities. In the modern times they are usually initiated by the declaration and holding of press conferences. Conventional warfare are often announced by the media representative unit of the given army. Nearly all the armies of the world have their own media representative units. They announce about the initiation of the war. For example, when the United States Army initiated operation and war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein, it was formally announced both by the then President, President George W. Bush and the army representatives as well (Hallenberg & Karlsson, 2005,p. 2). The sole purpose of this is to declare it openly as a proper method of declaration of war. The declaration of war comes off as a guiding principle under the charter of United Nations Organization which has defined rules and regulations for war engagement under the law of warfare. Activities of terrorism on the other hand do not constitute the aforementioned principles. They rarely announce of any particular activity or action that they terrorist group intends to undertake. This largely takes away the legitimacy from their actions and thereby makes their actions deploring and condemnable on this account. A conventional warfare is formally channeled along the rules of international law. Under the rules of international law, war can be fought as a last option once the means of peaceful resolution have been exhausted. Despite that, the conventional warfare needs to take several considerations into account. The following are few of the basic considerations associated with the conventional warfare. No damage to the civilian property or life: Under this rule, the war so engaged must be engaged against the opponents army, opponents battle fields and must not entail any damage to the public property, public assets or any other valuables that are not relevant to the war agenda. The targeting must be based on hitting the military installations, other defense Geneva Convention of 1949 upholding: The Geneva Convention of 1949 with regard to the prisoners of war and the actions initiation during warfare must be upheld (Skaine, 2013,p. 67). These include ensuring that the prisoners of war are treated in a humane manner. Further, they must be respected for their personal beliefs, religious affiliations and other sentiments. The practices of terrorists throughout the last decade have led to the disowning on their activities and any other form of allegiance with them. For example, the single event of twin towers attacks that took place in America in 2001 directly attacked the civilians. The Bali bombings a couple of years later was another account of barbaric and coward attacks on the civilians. Similarly, London Bombing and many more instances in parts of the world (Heywood, 2014,p. 298). These include the large part in Pakistan and then in Africa in recent times when a college was stormed in Nigeria killing as many as 147 unarmed people (GETTLEMAN, 2015). This all amounts to the common type of practices that are undertaken by the terrorists largely. The conventional warfare also takes into account the principles related to the servitude and other holy places within the region of physical assault. All the global warfare engaged by the different countries takes place with due reverence and regard for the holy places and religious sites of the people of that land. During the conventional warfare, the military personnel largely resort to the battle fields or declared points of engagement. In the case of terrorism, the terrorists take refuge in the occupied states and cities and are hard to locate and isolate. This again is the negation of the general rules of engagement in a battle field and overall conflict. Prohibition of any kind of chemical or biological weapons: In the conventional warfare, chemical or any other form of hazardous material or weapons is strictly prohibited. The weapons so used must not come at the expense of damaging the human life, the eco system or any other hazardous material. The United Nations charter as well as the Geneva Convention clearly defines the guidelines in this regard. The use of terror towards accomplishment has found its existence through the history in number of shapes. The broad line existence and resurgence came about in the post September 2001 events. As a result of this, the global phenomena of terrorism resurfaced. Under this concept the perpetrators of such activities undertake a particular course of action. This includes engaging in activities that are relatively different from the conventional warfare engagement. The terrorist groups on the other hand do not engage in any of the aforementioned activity. The terrorist activities are largely guerilla warfare based in their approach. These activities do not entail any of the protocols considerations or rules set forth either by the global community or the United Nations charter or the Geneva Convention of 1949 which defines the guidelines towards physical engagements. The conventional warfare often comes into existence on account of political disputes. This is largely the trend in practice in the modern world. The concept of terrorism on the other hand has largely been based on ideologies that are considerably radical in their outlook. For example the terrorism based activities of Al-Qaeda and I.S.I.S are a rouge ideas based mechanism in which they do not keep regard for the people of other religions (Lombardi & Ragab, 2014,p. 40). The conventional warfare that comes into existence in the modern times is nearly and completely driven along the political manifestations and ensures that the religious elements and sentiments of the rival group are not hurt or offended by them. The two can be termed as counter existent to one another. The conventional warfare are these days engaged for the purpose of overcoming the menace of terrorism. These conventional operations take into considerations their planning, their activities and then targeting their hideouts and sanctuaries. The terrorist activities do not distinguish between the civilian, the military personnel (Fadul & Estoque, 2010,p. 39). The last decade which has shown a resurgence of the terrorist activities has clearly exhibited the fact that the activities and agendas so undertaken operate so without the regard to the rules of warfare which are acceptable and applicable to the general rules of warfare. The terrorist engagements have shown instances where churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of religious worship are being targeted without any discrimination (Deliso, 2007,p. 54). Contrary to this, the United States of America undertook an invasion in Iraq, yet their invasion did not target any religious or any other historical site in Iraq at large. This was largely due to the fact that their ideas and invasion was driven by the political disputes owing to the rivalry with Saddam Hussein on account of chemical weapons and other conflicts. Yet none of those associated the religious sentiment factor. The terrorism on other hand is largely based upon the principles of sectarian or ethnic conflicts. These conflicts result in the carnage and total disregard to the concepts of morality and law of warfare. The other core difference between the terrorism based activities and conventional warfare are the support and standing of the people of that particular country behind their physical assault. Any conventional warfare is engaged by the military forces of a given country after its citizens, its politicians and other decision making individuals show their approval to the physical assault. The activities of terrorism are largely operated without any approval sought and granted by the people of that particular land. Owing to the large scaled practices in the global community terrorism has given rise to the question of addressing the phenomena of terrorism on global level. This definition and formal demarcation comes in the form of law of warfare, United Nations resolutions and international law practices. Under the banner of each of these platforms, terrorism does not find any space for accommodation. The globally community stands united against any form of terrorism be it based on ethnic grounds, sectarian grounds or any other basis which directly run against the human morality and human life values. The human rights commissions from across the world, as well as the global community at large has rejected the concepts and mechanisms undertaken by terrorists regardless of their affiliation. On a concluding note, it can be stated that the conventional warfare comes into action on account of the government’s policy and it does find its legality among the community of modern world. The terrorist activities on the other hand are completely disowned and looked down up by nearly whole of the community of mankind comprising of over seven billion plus population. Terrorism can only be tackled by engaging proper operational forces. Terrorism as a phenomena is rejected by the global community regardless of the individuals affiliations and this is largely due to the fact that terrorism comes in conflict and contrast to the human rights and basic values of freedom to live. The terrorism based ideas aim to enforce their ideals and ideology through force. References: Deliso, C. (2007). The Coming Balkan Caliphate: The Threat of Radical Islam to Europe and the West. Greenwood Publishing Group. Fadul, J. A., & Estoque, R. S. (2010). A Workbook for an Introductory Course in Sociology. Lulu.com GETTLEMAN, J. (2015, April 2). Somali Militants Kill 147 at Kenyan University. Retrieved from nytimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world/africa/garissa-university-college-shooting-in-kenya.html?_r=0 Hallenberg, J., & Karlsson, H. (2005). The Iraq War: European Perspectives on Politics, Strategy and Operations. Routledge Heywood, A. (2014). Global Politics. Palgrave Macmillan Lombardi, M., & Ragab, V. C. (2014). Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism Among Youth to Prevent Terrorism. IOS Press Lowe, V., Roberts, A., & Zaum, D. (2010). The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945. Oxford University Press Skaine, R. (2013). Suicide Warfare: Culture, the Military, and the Individual as a Weapon. ABC-CLIO Wilkinson, P. (2011). Terrorism Versus Democracy: The Liberal State Response. Taylor & Francis Read More