Analysis of a Terrorist Organization: The Armed Islamic Group

As facile as the phrase may be, one man's terrorist is often another man's freedom fighter. Katerina Dalacoura (2006) made precisely this point in discussing the various categories of putatively "terrorist" organizations operating in the world today. Some such groups are more legitimately called "domestic insurgencies" which operate with respect to a political or ideological agenda. This essay will present a case analysis of one terrorist group and answer a series of questions regarding the group's motivation, its tactics, and its causal antecedents.

The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is described by the Intelligence Resource Program (2004) as an Islamic terrorist group that seeks to overthrown the secular government of Algeria and to replace that regime with an Islamic state. The GIA began violent domestic activity in 1992 in response to the Algerian government's voiding of the December 1991 legislative electoral victory of the Islamic Salvation Front, the main opposition party (Intelligence Resource Program, 2004). Since 1992, GIA has been engaged in an ongoing campaign of civilian massacres that have at times eliminated entire villages. Additionally, GIA has targeted foreigners living in Algeria since 1993, killing over 100 expatriates in the country, most of them European. Assassinations, kidnappings, bombings (including car bombing), and even airliner hijacking are among the terror tactics used by t

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by Algerian police in 2004 (Vriens, 2008). Knowledge of the motivation of terrorists helps in planning counterterrorist strategies in several ways. First, some groups can be co-opted by means of inclusion in the political process (Dalacoura, 2006). Second, domestic insurgents like the GIA have a narrow agenda and tend to use consistent tactics over time. This helps authorities to identify possible members of the group and to guard against repeat attacks. The motivations of terrorists differ from those of other violent criminals. Potter (2008) asserts that terrorist groups or political insurgencies like the GIA tend not to motivated by greed or deep seated psychological disorders. Terrorists tend to have ideological or political or religious motivations for their activities. While they may become involved in drug dealing, arms sales, kidnapping for ransom, and other crimes designed to generate revenue, greed is not their motivation. Their goal is to disrupt the activities of their targets whether they are governments or businesses. They wish to frighten ordinary individuals into believing that they are not safe and that the authorities cannot protect them (Potter, 2008). This is not to suggest that terrorists d

Category: Government - A