Millennial madness can manifest itself in many forms.
The Book of Revelation foretells a thousand-year period of holiness during which Jesus and his followers will rule the earth for a golden age of peace, joy, prosperity, and justice. The same book of the Bible warns of the apocalypse: the imminent destruction of the world and the salvation of the righteous. We have no problem with religious prophecies. But there are those who believe it is their divine duty to foment an apocalypse of whatever scriptural persuasion and to usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth themselves.
The literal millennium--the year 2000 or, for purists, 2001--offers a once-in-an-eon opportunity to fulfill such a mystical destiny. As Bruce Hoffman explains in this issue, the rise in religious terrorism, from Japan to the Middle East to Oklahoma City, has coincided with the upcoming millennium. The rise has also coincided with the discovery by terrorists of powerful new information-age weapons with which to wage their religious wars.
Our cover story highlights how the ancient and modern forces driving terrorism today feed on each other and how we can respond to both. To counteract the religious root causes of terrorism--by definition largely impervious to military resistance--Hoffman asserts the need for national and international leadership that goes beyond military strategy. At the same time, research on information-age terrorism points to some nuts-and-bolts strategies that the U.S. military can and should pursue to reinforce the fight against terrorism.
As we went to press, the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon had issued new warnings about potential attacks in the Persian Gulf by terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden, the dissident Saudi millionaire who has issued a religious edict against the United States and attracted an estimated 5,000 adherents to his crusade from throughout the Muslim world.
It is our hope that we at RAND can help policymakers reframe the debate about how to counteract terrorism, both the home-grown and foreign varieties. Any debate that focuses on the root causes of terrorism--whether they are religious, economic, or a combination of factors--can only improve matters. The old debate doesn't seem to be getting us very far.
--John Godges