Do old terrorists ever get to retire?
For several reasons, I was intrigued by today’s news that self-proclaimed emir of the Caucasus and Moscow Metro bombings planner Dokku Umarov is stepping down for health reasons. First, for what this means for the North Caucasus insurgency. Second, for the rarity of a senior terrorist leader retiring. Some, like al Qaeda co-founder Sayyid Imam ...
For several reasons, I was intrigued by today's news that self-proclaimed emir of the Caucasus and Moscow Metro bombings planner Dokku Umarov is stepping down for health reasons. First, for what this means for the North Caucasus insurgency. Second, for the rarity of a senior terrorist leader retiring. Some, like al Qaeda co-founder Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, have renounced their former associates after capture. Others, like senior FARC commander Nelly Avila Moreno, accept government amnesty deals. Onetime Provisional IRA commander Martin McGuiness has successfully reinvented himself as a civilian political leader. But I couldn't think of another example of a senior-level militant simply stepping down without surrendering or renouncing his organization or its methods. Generally speaking, death or prison are the only way out once you've reached a certain level in a terror group's heirarchy.
For several reasons, I was intrigued by today’s news that self-proclaimed emir of the Caucasus and Moscow Metro bombings planner Dokku Umarov is stepping down for health reasons. First, for what this means for the North Caucasus insurgency. Second, for the rarity of a senior terrorist leader retiring. Some, like al Qaeda co-founder Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, have renounced their former associates after capture. Others, like senior FARC commander Nelly Avila Moreno, accept government amnesty deals. Onetime Provisional IRA commander Martin McGuiness has successfully reinvented himself as a civilian political leader. But I couldn’t think of another example of a senior-level militant simply stepping down without surrendering or renouncing his organization or its methods. Generally speaking, death or prison are the only way out once you’ve reached a certain level in a terror group’s heirarchy.
After crowdsourcing the question on Twitter, I got a interesting few suggestions. Mullah Krekar, the former leader of Kurdish Sunni group Ansar al-Islam, who fled to Norway in the early 1990s was suggested, though he continued to travel to Iraq to aid the group for years before he was placed under house arrest. Other suggestions include the former Malaysian communist rebel leader Chin Peng, who currently lives in exile Thailand and continues to petition the government to allow him to return home, but the Malaysian Communist Party laid down its arms more than two decades ago.
There was also a vote for Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban exile and Miami resident widely suspected of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban passenger jet in 1976, though Posada’s ties to the CIA probably make him the exception that proves the rule.
As for the 46-year-old Umarov, who is thought to be in poor health, he may yet sympathetic regime where he can take refuge, though he is designated as a terrorist by both the U.S. and Russia. But he should keep in mind that the list of top militants who live out their final years in peace and quiet is not long.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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