According to Douglas, Sutton and Cichocka (2017) conspiracy theory explains an event or situation on the basis of an alternate version of the incident that are not revealed to the public. There are some political motivation and power actions associated with the conspiracy theories that presents a conspiracy against the government or power allies. There are both criticism and acceptance aligns with the conspiracy theory that portrays a clear identification in favour of or against the conspiracy theorists (Van Prooijen, Krouwel and Pollet 2015). However, it is important to note that the conspiracy theories sometimes highlights some crucial facts that questions the main story behind any action. This essay is going to find out the significance and importance of conspiracy theories behind terrorist activities. It is important to note that for making a better argument, the essay look forward to two terrorist organisations, ISIS and Al Qaeda and its terrorist operations and the politics behind the terrorist events as per the believe of the conspiracy theorists.
From the research of Jolley, Meleady and Douglas (2019) it can be stated that the attack of 9/11 had changed the course and paradigm of terrorism in international sphere. Fervour with more political and religious claims the terrorist organisations were tried to reset the balance of power in West. Al-Qaeda was the main contributor in this regard with its rightful leadership of Osama bin Laden. There is no doubt that the fundamentalist Islamic groups were trying to wrath upon the so called civilised West because of its global dominance (Iqtidar 2016). As a result of that a series of attacks were staged in course of destabilise the European world and establish a Islamic dominance. Form the research of Hagen (2018) it can be stated that the stand of the radical Islamic fundamentalist organisations was justified by its religion war Jihad and called Muslim brothers to wage war against European domination. This is a very straight story that everybody knows. However, it cannot be stated that the wage of war in the name of religion culminates in the process of terrorising Europe through terrorist activities. The contribution of the political propaganda of the West is also there that supports the justification of the western powers to demolish the terrorist occupation in Middle East (Mashuri and Zaduqisti 2015). As a result of that terrorism is identified as a story or event that has two ends one is associated with the demand and justice for the Islamic people and another is related to the political justice that claimed by the Western super powers.
In this regard, the role of conspiracy theory creates a more disturbing picture that presents not a linear depiction of terrorist events. Enough conspiracy and political manoeuvrings are also played significant part in the process of establishing a solid course of terrorist practice. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of the political organisation and the purpose of international terrorism on the question of analysing and understanding the behind the scene story of a terrorist act (Wilson 2017). It is undoubtedly been stated that organisations like Al-Qaeda and ISIS are doing terrorism for a long time and heavily responsible for creating unnecessary bloodshed and fear throughout the world. Nevertheless, there are still a number of important aspects that can facilitate great importance to the course of understanding the political activities of the state powers. There are two significant acts done by ISIS and Al-Qaeda that requires further introspection because the conspiracy theorists highlight some important facts regarding the course of the terrorist acts and the responsible groups. Historically, it can be stated that the emergence of terrorism in Middle East was a brain child of US and the mujahidin soldiers were brought into limelight for combatting with Soviet Russia (Orr and Husting 2018). US aided to those militant tribes of Afghanistan by providing arms and ammunition. It gradually took an opposite turn after the US interference in Middle East politics. There was always a considerable amount of interests the US possessed over the oil politics in Middle East. This US intention to overthrown the balance in Middle East created a power vacuum in the region was revealed after a long time nearly in the year 2000 (Coco v2015). Therefore, conspiracy theory is always identified as an alternative concept that can reveal the other side of the story that political powers were intentionally kept in dark.
The event of London bombing in 2005 was such an act that presented a number of questions regarding the role of British government and the actual responsibility of the terrorist organisation with proper intention. The London Attack on 7th July, 2005 was often referred as 7/7 attack coordinated by Islamist terrorists in city’s public transport system. More than 50 people were dead and 700 were injured in the terrorist attack (Giordano and Lindström 2016). Later on four suicide bombers were identified like Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Germaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain. The first hand report on the attack and the later investigations proved that the attackers have clear link with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and they belonged to a branch organisation of Al-Qaeda (Van de Vyver et al. 2016). However, it is important to note that there were plenty of anomalies on the police report that creates scepticism on the actual role of Al-Qaeda or any relation between fundamentalist group and the suicide attack in London. The conspiracy theory tries to implement a new theory behind the attack and held the British government itself responsible for all the bloodsheds and mayhem. There are some important claims that the conspiracy theorists are coined and the British government also failed to answer those questions.
For instance, the first point that the conspiracy theorists had identified was an anomaly into the travel route of four suicide bombers. The report claimed that four men had travelled from Luton to Central London on the 7:40 morning train. However, on that day the 7:40 train had been cancelled (Oswald 2016). Moreover, a political controversy was also staged on the backdrop of the event. Conspiracy theorists linked the event with a broader consensus where it would condemn the Muslim community of UK and pushed the government to marched invasion in the Middle East especially in Iraq. It was under the supervision of Prime Minister Tony Blaire and got assistance from the US government also (Lee 2017). The conspiracy theorists also ran tests on the psychology and intention of four suicide bombers to understand their terrorist intention. There was no clear evidence that could suggested that the plan was executed by those four men. As a matter of fact, one of the major stance into the event that no terrorist organisation took the responsibility on the eve of the attack which is a very astonishing and unbelievable event in the history of terrorism or Al-Qaeda operations (Van Prooijen and Douglas 2017). Therefore, some of the conspiracy theorists believed that it is a government sponsored attack and deliberately orchestrated by British secret service and United States government.
Another important event can be analysed where ISIS had been condemned to take a great part in the terrorist attack. The attack was staged in November, 2015, Paris and as a result of that more than 100 people were dead and several others were severely injured. It is considered to be one of the most threatening event in the history of Paris and Islamic State of Iraq and Levant of ISIS hold responsibility for the attacks saying that it was a retaliation for the French airstrikes in Syria and Iraq (Kreis 2015). From the government statement it was considered to be an act of war and France would take enough stance to suppress terrorist activities in an extensive manner. The investigation report found out that the attack was planned in Syria and executed by a terrorist cell in Belgium. There are two aspects in this that are significant in the attacks. For instance, the claim of ISIS to be the mastermind of the entire attack and their reason to retaliate against the French occupation over Iraq and Syria (Lantian et al. 2018). As a matter of fact, the government also claimed to find out the link with terrorist cell in Belgium. From that point of view, it seemed to be a terrorist threat by infamous terrorist organisations like ISIS.
However, from the perspective of the conspiracy theorists it becomes a pertinent aspect to identify the role and engagement of the government and the actual background behind the occurrence of the terrorist attack. The initial hunt for the terrorists projected huge government intervention and at the same time ISIL or ISIS also claimed its involvement in the terrorist attack. It seems to a naïve interpretation of the attack and timing of ISIL. It was argued that ISIL claimed responsibility of the attack at the same time French government initiated further investigation into the attack (Colas 2017). Moreover, suspicion was generated with a fold of conspiracy theory that questioned the involvement of a Syrian terrorists. The government presented a half burned passport of the terrorists and claimed that a Syrian attacker was involved in the attack. However, conspiracy theorists deployed a rational argument that how could it be possible for the government to find passport of the terrorists blown himself to death. As a result of that the government involvement in this factor is also contributed to the conspiracy theory where people developed the rational justification behind the involvement of French government. It was argued that the France was intended to involve into the war against Iraq and Syria and the government got a legitimate cause on intervening in the region (Schulzke 2018). Therefore, portraying the Muslims negatively created a great advantage for the French government to carry out its political and military involvement in the military zone of Iraq and Syria.
As a result of that the two events and activities of two terrorist organisations is very important to understand the international politics and its resemblance in the current perception regarding the terrorist organisations across the globe. There is no such alteration that conspiracy theory intends to impose on the perception of terrorism in modern politics but it supplements the fact that political powers are also involved in nefarious actions that somehow indicates the terrorist organisations only. It is to be stated that the current state of terrorism is not driving by a single organisation or region rather the host country politics are also reflect enough presence of the political organisations in terrorism irrespective of religion or regional boundaries. In this regard, the Conspiracy theory is highly significant to understand the paradigm of terrorism and activities that infested into the international politics. As per the research of Galliford and Furnham (2017) it can be stated that the role of the conspiracy theories is to portray a parallel picture of the story so that different aspects of the events can be discussed effectively. On the contrary, Coco (2015) articulated that conspiracy theory formulates an argument that is highly based on believes and assumption. Therefore, the conspiracy theories do not have any justification to analyse the event unbiasedly. Despite of all the facts, it can be stated that the arguments that conspiracy theories are propounded to the government fail to answer by the government. Therefore, it is obvious that there are some conspiracies formulated behind the terrorist events and need to be evaluated properly.
The above discussion is trying to portray the relevance of conspiracy theories on the backdrop of understanding the terrorist acts and events. It is pertinent to understand the motive of the terrorist organisations and the nature of their activities that will shape a clear understanding regarding the responsibility of those terrorist organisations. However, there are certainly a number of important aspects that the conspiracy theories are projected in order to procure an alternative image of the events and its relation with the government. The discussion creates a close understanding of the efficacy of conspiracy theory in understanding the proximity of international terrorism .Therefore, the terrorist activities are not enough to understand the entire picture of terrorism and its nature. Conspiracy theories helps to provide an alternative picture based on assumption and mere evidence. From that point of view, it can be concluded that conspiracy theories play pivotal role in understanding terrorism and terrorist operations.
Reference
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