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State-Sponsored Terrorism - Government Tool?
by Joseph Perce
State-sponsored terrorism against its people is not a new concept - it is a tool that has evolved and been perfected over the centuries. After all, what better way for a government or ruler to gain complete and unquestionable control of its subjects than by instilling fear?
There are many historical examples of fear and state-sponsored terrorism against ones own people. One such prominent example occurred during the rule of Nero, emperor of Rome. Having being blatantly anti-Christian, Nero instituted policies of terrorism against the growing Christian believers. Nero is well-known for having been the prime suspect in the setting of an immense fire that destroyed much of Rome. Whether he deliberately set the fire or not, one thing is certain: Nero used the devastation as a means to lay blame on a certain segment of society, thereby granting him the public favor to carry out his tortures and atrocities against the Christians.
Perhaps the most well-known historical example of a political figure using a destructive event to further his political goals is Adolf Hitler and the Reichstag. The Reichstag building was the seat of parliamentary government in Germany and had been in recess since December of the preceding year. On the night of February 27, 1933, witnesses claimed to have seen a man with a burning torch near the building. Moments later, the building was on fire.
A short while later, Chancellor Hitler and Prussian Minister Göring arrived with an entourage of reporters and photographers. Göring's immediate reaction was to accuse the communists of setting the fire.
Germany's president at the time, Hindenburg, became easily convinced that the nation was on the verge of a communist revolution and was cajoled by Hitler to sign an emergency decree suspending the basic rights of the citizens for the length of the supposed emergency. This decree authorized the Reich government to assume full powers in any federal state whose government proved unable to restore or keep public order. Furthermore, the decree went on to open the doors for death or imprisonment as a means of punishment for a number of crimes including opposition to the decree itself. The decree did not include any provision guaranteeing an arrested person a quick hearing, access to legal counsel, or redress for false arrest.
Hitler was asked by a corespondent of the Daily Express on March 2nd whether the suspension of liberties was permanent. His response? - "Full rights would be restored as soon as the Communist danger was over."
As we all now know, the decree paved the way to the establishment of how business was done under National Socialism - arrest on suspicion, imprisonment without trial,imprisonment in concentration camps. This condition would persist until the end of the Third Reich.
Another horrible example of state-sponsored terrorism can be seen in the execution of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians under the Pol Pot's "Khmer Rouge" regime during the 1970s. State sponsored terrorism conditions human beings to commit acts of unspeakable brutality, as was clearly evident during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. In 1975 the movement, led by dictator Pol Pot, overthrew the Cambodian government, establishing what became known as "Democratic Kampuchea." This new government carried out a radical program of evacuating cities, closing schools and factories, and herding the population into collective farms. Intellectuals and skilled workers were imprisoned, tortured and in many cases killed. As many as 1.5 million Cambodians died under this regime.
Chile has also been the victim of state sponsored terrorism. Popularly elected president Allende was overthrown by what has been said to have been a CIA backed coup and a new president, Pinochet, seized control. Once in power, Pinochet ruled with an iron fist. Those speaking out against this new regime are said to have "been disappeared", a phrase used to describe the disappearance, horrific torture and murder of dissidents. It is unknown exactly how many people were killed by government and military forces during the 17 years that he was in power, but an estimate points to 2,095 were killed and 1,102 "disappearances." A disturbing aspect of this situation in Chile brings to light the CIA's role in the affairs of sovereign governments. Documents declassified during the Clinton administration show that the United States government and the CIA had sought the overthrow of Allende in 1970, immediately after he took office ("Project FUBELT").
Can this happen again? Human nature and the greed and struggle for power has not changed over the centuries. As Machiavelli stated in The Prince - "Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely". It is naďve at best to believe that human beings are incapable of repeating history.
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