There are no terrorists, only criminals

TWO years on from the kidnapping of 276 girls from a boarding school in the northern Nigerian state of  Borno, the heartless terrorists of Boko Haram have published a video showing 15 of them. The footage, of course, brought heartache and despair to anxious parents. It also further outraged all decent opinion at the depraved antics of these blood-stained blasphemers. However, this was exactly the intention of the terrorists. It should give pause for thought to all those dedicated to eliminating these monsters. As Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) has demonstrated so clearly, publicity is a key element in the terrorists’ campaign against civilized society. The publicity disseminated through the easily-accessible channels of social media has become increasingly slick.  This produces two effects. The first is to act as an alluring recruiting sergeant for young dupes around the world, who kid themselves that they can “fulfill” themselves in the ranks of seemingly pampered and well-paid killers, who strut and pose with guns and utter vicious invective against the countries in which they were raised, cared for and educated. But the second effect is more insidious. It pretends to be counter-propaganda against the massed ranks of society that are ranged against it. The unlamented former US president George W. Bush said many foolish things, but one of the most stupid was to declare a “war” on terrorism.  This single word made the men of violence into something they most patently were not. Where there is a war, you have opposing “warriors”. Bush made these killers into warriors. A step on from this, and the word terrorism becomes tinged with a spurious romanticism. Confronted by the might of organized states, by the withering firepower of sophisticated military machines and by the implacable disgust and hatred of the majority of people, there was something Quixotic, even obscenely heroic about becoming a terrorist. The publicity given to each and every outrage, to each new act of mass slaughter, has served to reinforce this gross self-image  among foolish young people, of a courageous few taking on society as a whole. How much better it would be if these disgusting deeds were ignored by the media, if politicians stopped themselves from rushing in front of the cameras to express their repulsion and to give vacuous promises of swift retribution. Robbed of the oxygen of free, wall-to-wall publicity for every fresh attack, the men of violence would lose a great deal of their power.  And there is something else. Why are they still being called “terrorists”, as if the horrific deeds they perpetrate were somehow different from common crimes? Because that is what these people are: plain and simple common criminals. The Boko Haram thugs with the 276 girls they seized in 2014 are kidnappers, rapists and child abusers. They should not be treated as some warrior band. They are a gang of paedophiles, perverts and killers. No one would think of broadcasting a bragging video from a gang of biker criminals showing their repugnant initiation ceremonies.  So why should these hooligans be accorded the status of terrorist warriors engaged in a noble struggle?  They are evil, deluded dirt, exploited by a few cynical and power-crazed older gang leaders. If they were treated as abhorrent criminal gangs, maybe many fewer young idiots would think of joining their ranks.