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One major obstacle to an effective anti-terrorist campaign is the lack of a truly global consensus on the issue. Since 1963, six major international conventions dealing with aspects of terrorism have been adopted by consortiums of nations. But as long as there are states that will not sign such agreements, and no punitive measures can be taken against them, enforcement is impossible. A number of countries, notably Libya, South Yemen, Iraq, North Korea and Cuba, provide terrorists with money, arms or a haven; they seem to enjoy watching the industrial democracies squirm. Tough anti-terrorist resolutions have been presented at the United Nations; they usually suffer endless delays and are then emasculated. Following Lufthansa Pilot Schumann's death, Derry Pearce, president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association, threatened a worldwide two-day pilots' strike unless the U.N. finally acted against skyjacking. After a promise from Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim that an "urgent item" on the issue will be brought before the General Assembly this week, Pearce announced that the strike had been postponed.
A new, larger consensus on terrorism may be emerging. The Soviet Union, which rarely says anything good about West Germany, gave favorable coverage to the commando rescue mission. East German Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer offered his country's services in dealing with Somalia. And, of course, Somalia —long among the world's most notorious havens for skyjackers—cooperated in the rescue.
It can be argued that terrorism's present significance is less in what has happened than in what people fear might happen. In raw numbers, terrorists are few, as are their victims. From 1967 to 1975, terrorists the world over took 800 lives and wounded 1,700—a disturbing total but one that, notes a CIA study, is dwarfed by the 19,000 homicides committed in the U.S. in 1976 alone. The study also points out that the price tag of all terrorism to date (including ransoms paid and property damaged) falls well short of the $500 million in damage that vandals inflict on U.S. school buildings in an average year. Despite the verbal threats they hurl at established order, contemporary terrorists have yet to trigger a revolution or topple a government.
So long as terrorism remains what N.Y.U. Professor of Government Mark Roelofs calls "a popular form of ultimate protest," free societies that choose to remain free will be subject to the risks and fears of violence. Indeed, the potential for evil will soar if terrorists get their hands on new biological, chemical and radiological—to say nothing of nuclear—arms with which to frighten the innocent. Warns Laqueur: "In ten or fifteen years, terrorists will have the weapons of superviolence; then perhaps even a single person will be able to blackmail an entire town, district or country." To combat tomorrow's terrorist, new and creative measures, as well as an unprecedented degree of international cooperation, will be required. The one certainty is that civilization's war on terrorism will go on.