“Terror without a cause”

repost from article By Adam Morris, “Terror without a cause,” 1919 Magazine, August 2, 2024

Former superintendent Martin Gallagher talks to 1919 about his new book linking terrorism to serious organised crime.

It was a quote about the Mafia which piqued Martin Gallagher’s interest in terrorism and organised crime.

“The Mafia will help whoever can pay,” it claimed.

It sparked a curiosity which spanned almost three decades of policing across the UK, several academic qualifications and culminating in his first book, which has just been published.

“I just thought – that’s rubbish. It didn’t sit well with me at all,” he says. “These people, believe it or not, have families and dreams and aspirations.

“Their moral compass may not align with most, but that assertion is quite wrong, and it required far more analysis. Organised criminals will only help you if it’s in their interests.”

The result of this work is Terror For Profit, an intense investigation into acts of terror past and present, at home and abroad, and a study of what motivates those involved.

Gallagher is at pains to explain this isn’t a post-career hobby, stumbled upon after retiring from Police Scotland after 28 years’ service.

All through his service he studied externally, including a masters in terrorism at St Andrews and a criminology PHD with Lancaster University.

The capital is where Gallagher began his policing career. Glasgow-born, he was reluctant to return to the city after studying in Stirling, and attempts to join the Metropolitan Police were thwarted by a temporary policy to only hire officers from the Home Counties.

His extensive career ranged from having bones broken by drug dealers to dining with the Prime Minister ahead of the London Olympics, with a range of street and desk jobs in-between.

By the time he reached superintendent, he was fixing his views on life after the force and a career writing about terrorism.

From his Linlithgow home, which he shares with his wife and two teenage sons, he fascinates on geopolitical issues.

And while his focus is worldwide, it is examples from Northern Ireland which he uses to draw a global comparison.

“They’re not cause-based terrorists, they’re criminals,” he says of the less reputable republican and unionist organisations in the country.

“Thirty or 40-odd years ago it was different, but the Good Friday Agreement has almost caused a dis-dividend whereby both sides are working together to sustain huge criminal empires.”

“They’re not cause-based terrorists, they’re criminals”

He uses an anecdote told to him by friend where a builder was carrying out work on a property.

“There was a knock at the door and two burly guys with Belfast accents were demanding £300 for the right to carry out the work – extortion in other words. They were from the IRA and made no secret of it.”

Knowing how it works, the builder obliged, but was then greeted with a knock at the door the following day.

“This time it was a different two burly guys, with slightly stronger Belfast accents,” he said. “They were from the other side, but made the same demand.

“The guy explained he’d already paid the IRA, and the two said they would leave to check.

“On day three they returned to say, right enough, he had paid and all was fine. It illustrates the extent to which two criminal gangs, despite us thinking they are hugely opposed, are quite happy to work together.”

The arrangement seems one that authorities are happy to tolerate so long as the death and destruction of the Troubles aren’t revisited.

Gallagher puts down his tea cup and points a finger. “I get that, but what’s the exit strategy?

“Where is the line? In terms of time, but also in terms of how bad things get? Because things, as I understand it, are pretty bad and will only get worse. It’s not sustainable.”

That poses risks to Scotland too.

“We don’t like to acknowledge it here, but Scotland is a massive support hub to what goes on in Northern Ireland. There is a cancer there which, as it grows, will impact us too. We’ve got a big problem.”

Gallagher’s book, which comes on the back of around 50 articles published in academic journals and trade publications, looks back for patterns which can be seen re-emerging now.

The apparent advent of “lone wolf” terrorists even had a harbinger.

“We never learn from history, but they’re just like anarchists used to be,” Gallagher says, almost laughing in disbelief at society’s failure to do its research.

“People who are socially disconnected and wanting to make something of their lives when they have nothing otherwise.

“They don’t understand the cause, and they don’t understand the motives of people at the top of the organisation”

“Then it was the spread of newspapers which influenced them, now it is the internet. None of this is new.

“We get so much wrong.

“People who you might dismiss as a Jihadist – they’re just idiots.

“They don’t understand the cause, and they don’t understand the motives of people at the top of the organisation.

“They just want to be a part of something. Think of people who throw a petrol bomb in Northern Ireland, or drive a digger across the border into Israel, or stab a police officer in France while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’.

“They just want to be part of something, they’re mentally ill, and usually socially disconnected and isolated.

“Think of Hamas – the folk running it are multi-millionaires. What’s the cause there?”

The crisis sparked by the October 7 terrorist act, when more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered by Hamas operatives who rampaged over the Gaza border, is one Gallagher struggles to see an end to.

“With Northern Ireland, you can see a way out, albeit a very difficult one,” he sighs.

“But with what’s going on in Israel, I don’t see what the solution is. Even the two-state solution forgets there already two separate Palestinian enclaves, so is it a three-state solution? I’m not sure anyone knows.”

Terror For Profit also examines how state-sponsored terrorism has supplanted acts motivated by religion.

The actions of Iran and Russia in seeking to destabilise life in the west is one of the focuses, and how arm’s-length organisations like the Putin-linked Wagner group operate across the world to make money and breed disruption.

“There’s no easy solution to any of this, but when it comes to 'lone wolves', it seems to me that addressing issues of isolation and social disconnection are key to stopping this,” he says.

“The book doesn’t have all the answers, but we do need to understand what causes people to commit acts of terror, and it isn’t always straightforward or the received wisdom of the time.

“Terrorism and crime are always evolving – there would be nothing more dangerous than to take a fixed view of the situation.”

Terror For Profit is available here.

Force should support officers with external study

Martin Gallagher has urged Police Scotland to support officers who want to study while on the job.

During his 28-year career he was able to embark on a number of qualifications, including a masters at St Andrews and a PhD from Lancaster University.

“It was possible because work paid for it, and they gave me time,” he said.

“In England and Wales, a police officer can apply to do a post-graduate degree – you can’t in Scotland.”

He wants to see a culture where officers are encouraged to take external courses which could contribute to their knowledge and benefit their work.

“I’m not saying they should be doing courses on ancient Mesopotamia, but what about different criminology courses? Do your dissertation on the drugs crisis in Glasgow. Are you telling me that wouldn’t make a better force, and better police officers?

“I’m not one of these people who says everyone needs a degree. The police needs to reflect society, so you need people of all types. But for those who want to, they should be supported.

“It would boost morale too. I really think we’re missing a trick by not doing this.

“Even in the military, the last year is spent preparing for you leaving.

“In the police you just go and, I can tell you, when it’s over, it’s over. That can be a bit of a shock.”

‘I was only scared once’

Despite a career spanning almost three decades, Martin Gallagher said he was only scared once.

“You don’t have time to be scared as an officer. You respond to events and it just happens.”

But during the 2005 riots in Edinburgh, which related to the G8 summit in Gleneagles, matters reached a boiling point.

“There were a couple of days of protests and riots,” he said.

“Then on the Monday there was an event called the Carnival for Full Enjoyment.

“We went to the lecture theatre at Fettes beforehand for a briefing. They were going to try and destroy Harvey Nichols, and we had to stop them while restoring public order generally.

“After the meeting I left the room, went into the bathroom, into a cubicle and locked the door – I just sat with my head in my hands.

“But then 40 seconds later I said to myself ‘what are you doing, you’re the sergeant, get out there’.

“You only get scared when you have too much time to think about it.”