Michael Collins- Terrorist or Freedom Fighter? The Essay

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Michael Collins- Terrorist or Freedom Fighter?

The name Michael Collins has very different meanings for different groups of people. For millions of people, he is considered not only a terrorist, but one of the first real terrorists. For millions of others, he is considered a great freedom fighter. The author was called upon to choose a position and support an argument about whether Collins was a terrorist or a freedom fighter. However, the reality is that Collins was both a terrorist and a freedom fighter, and the two roles are not mutually exclusive. Many people who support his position as a freedom fighter reject the terrorist label. Therefore, this paper will focus explaining why the author believes that Collins was a terrorist. There are several facts that support Collins being considered a terrorist. First, Collins developed modern guerrilla warfare, one of the preferred tactics of modern-day terrorists. Initially, he targeted governmental institutions, but was not a recognized leader of state, so could not declare war. Finally, he had a number of civilian targets and casualties, despite having a policy of not intentionally targeting civilians.

The idea that Collins was a terrorist is not a new one. Both China's Mao Tse-tung and Israel's Yitzhak Shamir thought of him as the founder of modern guerrilla warfare (Majendie, 1990). Guerrilla warfare is a type of conflict that is frequently favored by terrorist groups, though not all people who engage in guerrilla warfare are terrorists. "Collins was the brains behind a brilliantly conceived guerrilla war of hit-and-run ambushes against Britain, colonial ruler of Ireland for 700 often repressive years" (Majendie, 1990).

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In fact, it is important to look at how the Irish Rebellion changed the face of modern terrorism to understand exactly how Collins was a terrorist. "The Irish War of 1919 brought three concepts to the development of terrorism: (1) selective terrorism, (2) sustained terror over time and (3) cell operations" (The Delaware Criminal Justice Council Terrorism Research Page, 2007). Perhaps the most significant of those operations is the concept of cell operation of terrorism. "Cell operation decentralizes the implementation of terrorist acts and prevents the discovery and destruction of the terrorist organization. Each cell has a specific goal or objective. Each cell only knows its members and its specific task. Thus the capture of one cell does not provide avenues to other terrorists" (The Delaware Criminal Justice Council Terrorism Research Page, 2007). This is a tactic used by modern-day terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda.

Another factor that labels Collins a terrorist is that he was not simply a criminal breaking laws for personal gain; while he engaged and directed a significant amount of criminal activity, this behavior was not indiscriminate. Some people might like to compare Collins to some type of modern-day crime boss, but his actions were targeted for a specific goal. He intentionally targeted government agencies. "Terrorists have gotten a bad name, and rightly so, but if ever there was a good terrorist it was the fun-loving, hard-living "Mick." Unlike so many of those who have practiced terrorism in more recent years, Collins avoided indiscriminate attacks on civilians. He vetoed schemes such as the….....

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