Terrorism 2 Essay, Research Paper

Terrorism is a highly effective tool in getting worldly attention but if we increase the punishments we can then decrease the amount of terrorism. In order to stop terrorism we need to understand what terrorism is. Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives (The Vice President s Task Force on Combating Terrorism, pg. 17). Terrorist can use many different approaches. Sometimes they give warnings and sometimes they don t. The best ways to solve terrorism is by understanding the reasons behind it, ending publicity for it, and increasing securitiy measures for it.

Terrorism is used to change a groups political or social objectives. It is generally intended to intimidate or coerce a governments, individuals or groups to modify their behavior or policies (The Vice President s Task Force on Combating Terrorism, pg. 17). Violence is its main ley in obtaining this change. Terrorist aim at the entire population. Which increases their chance of change. There id do much terrorism due to its unnecessary success. Terrorism has become out of hand. Terrorism has become the accepted model for the modern use of force, with terrorists them selves often enjoying more moral credibility than the democratic stated they are trying to bring down (McGurn, William, pg.91). By allowing the terrorist to become more popular than their government it creates a even more hectic situation. This needs to change or the terrorists acts will only increase.

Terrorism is a strategy used because it has no rules. This makes it vary useful due to it having no restrictions at all. Whereas nuclear weapons are means that can be shaped according to human will and strategies, terrorism rejects the foundation of all Western ethics: the conviction that even the noble cause has limits (McGurn, William, pg.94). Since there is no rules there is no limit to how far a terrorist can take his act. To contradict them having no rules we need to put up limits on what we allow them to do. If they want to protest against something or some government the best way to actually get results is by non-violent acts.

Terrorism right now has a lesser punishment that that of the same criminal act. It seems that just because they have a reason they can put others at risk. If your a terrorist you have a little respect because you are standing up for what you believe in. But their is a right and wrong way of achieving this. Just because you do have a reason for the terrorist act does not make it right to do that act. To cure this we need to have terrorist acts and criminal acts with the same punishment.

To put an end to the confusion between what is and is not a terrorist act, the laws need to be rewritten. With out the linkage to a specific group determined to force political change, an explosion, by definition is not a terrorist act (Wall, James, pg. 771). When it does become a terrorist attack that is when we need to step in a show the terrorist that we are not going to put up with it anymore. The law on terrorism right now is not working. So obviously we need to change the law until it starts working the way we need it to work. We also need to understand that just by changing the law does not mean that we are finished in are fight against terrorism. It only means that we need to stick to that law and not let a single incident go by without punishment.

Most terrorists grow up learning that in fact terrorism is the right thing to do. Terrorist traditions are impressed upon young community members in many parts of the world(Connor, Michael, pg. 19). Terrorism is the only way they are taught to deal with their problems. The training of a terrorist effectively begins with his introduction to the cause he will work for, and this may conceivable occur during childhood (Connor, Michael, pg. 19). Since these terrorists are taught at such an early age that they do not know what they are doing is wrong. If we can teach the children other ways to deal with their problems their will be less terrorists act to come in the future.

Some bombers grow up and are taught that what they are doing is making them come closer to God. Haman bombers begin their education at puberty, where the boys learn that those who die for God go directly to Heaven, a place of lush greenery where every martyr gets 70 virgin brides (Miller, Kenneth, pg. 38). But to kill yourself along with others will only put you further away from God. Not everyone can be a suicide bomber, but those who make the grade are seen as stars, their faces captured on posters, key chains and collectors cards (Miller, Kenneth, pg. 38). To be a suicide bomber is nothing to be proud of. What they have done is taken the power of God into their own hands. Suicide bombers should be viewed as criminals not stars.

Terrorists usually do not have a problem with finding financial support.

Terrorists are surrounded with ways of finding financial support. Certain kinds of financial support are state sponsored, robbery, extortion, and blackmail. Sometimes, of course, a wealthy sponsor would befriend a group and, while taking no active part in campaigns, would maintain a supply of cash (Bowman, Stephen, pg. 11). If we stop their flow of cash then we can stop their operation.

State sponsored international terrorists usually fight for a religious war. Modern advances of mass communication, international travel, and the development of weapons of mass destruction have helped terrorists move their causes from a local status to a global one (Bowman, Stephen, pg. 1). Now these terrorists have broadened their boundaries on their religious war. These terrorists have become so important to their government that they are physically protected by them (Bowman, Stephen, pg.11-12). This makes it a lot harder to counter-attack terrorism. If we have to stop the government before we can stop the terrorists then we in fact need to do that.

Ethical conflicts have been know to break up a group of terrorists. A decision to turn to robbery was not always made lightly, and more then one group was to split up because of ethical conflicts among members (Connor, Michael, pg. 35). Although this is great that these terrorist have broken up this still is not enough in our fight against terrorism. This means the majority of terrorists are still finding financial support. So our quest to end terrorism has not yet ended. A commonly misled thought is that terrorists are not intelligent when in fact they really are. A popular IRA tactic is to hire attractive women to be picked up by off-duty soldiers. Then after an evenings drinking, the soldiers are invited back to one of their houses where then the ladies leave the room for a minute and are replaced by armed terrorists who kill the soldiers and take their identity cards and other passes (Connor, Michael, pg. 48). Terrorists have many intelligent ways of performing their acts of terrorism. When a terrorist group is frustrated in striking at what it considers its legitimate targets, it must find a means of effective action at a point of lesser resistance (Connor, Michael, pg. 43). There is only one logical way a terrorist group would perform this act. The terrorist might go after an important but not as highly protected person (Connor, Michael, pg. 47). This allows them to still get their message across while creating a less dangerous environment to themselves. But we can t give in to all of this kind of terrorism, but we do need to know when we have no choice.

Terrorists usually stay away from highly protected people. Kidnapping poses more problems for the perpetrators then does assassinations in the majority of situations, but the potential rewards are much higher, whether in terms of publicity, ransom payments, or political concessions (Connor, Michael, pg. 47). The problem with kidnapping is maintaining stability under the pressure. . They aim to seize or kill some specific individual when he is visiting another country (Connor, Michael, pg. 43). This allows them to still have the power with less chance of getting caught. This gives us a less chance to end terrorism. This is a very useful tactic for terrorists. Outbursts of

irrational violence brings to the surface our deep sense of fear and anger (Wall, James, pg. 772).

To decrease terrorism effectively, the publicity that it draws needs to decrease. Terrorists thrive on publicity; bombings in world class cities generate more television coverage and more terror then atrocities perpetrated elsewhere (Anonymous, pg. 13). Publicity that the terrorists gets spreads their message even further. Terrorists target big cities because that s where the most people live (Anonymous, pg. 13). The more people the terrorists can threat creates more publicity worldwide. Large stores remain popular terrorist targets due to the large number of people which guarantees the terrorists a wide spread of fear and publicity (Connor, Michael, pg. 56). To protect yourself, you might want to shop at smaller stores.

Important dates are likely times for terrorist attacks. An attack maybe made at anytime during the year, but there are certain times that are more probable (Conner, Michael, pg. 56). High shopping seasons are good times for an attack to occur. Christmas is the most likely times for a terrorist to attack. Other likely times for attacks are dates which coincide with some known terrorist anniversary, or dates which coincide with or closely follow the announcement of some anti-terrorist or anti-cause measures by the target government (Conner, Michael, pg. 56). To get around this you need to be aware of how to protect yourself. Try to visit the most popular tourist attractions during off-peak hours. The smaller, off-peak crowds are less tempting targets for publicity-hungry terrorists (Anonymous, pg. 13).

In order to ensure shoppers safety, security measures need to be increased. There is no practical way of preventing a determined terrorist attack against a large store without persuading shoppers to accept permanent war-like security screening at entrances and exits (Connor, Michael, pg. 56). But what shoppers and employees can do is just keep an eye out for anything that looks out of the ordinary. Perhaps the best protection against bombs is beefed-up security: continuous monitoring by surveillance cameras, bomb detectors in use at all building entrances, and traffic and parking restrictions that are rigidly enforced (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). This would increase the shoppers safety while maintaining the work forces accessibility.

A numerous installment of some physical feature can either help put an nd to or tone down the amount of bombings on buildings. These installments can help control the effect a bomb has on a building. Ordinary windows can be replaced with thick, blast-resistant glass, or coated with shatter-dampening plastic film. Vents, valves, or blow-out panels can be installed throughout the building to alleviate pressure from an internal blast (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). These will help maintain the buildings structure from collapsing. Physical barriers such as high curbs or concrete planters can prevent vehicles from getting too close to the building (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). This nstallment will help on an external bombing such as a car bombing. Pressure from a bomb blast falls off dramatically with distance (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58).

There has to be a balance between maintaining the work force and rotecting employees personal safety. Existing buildings can have reasonable blast protection installed but being expensive (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). Most companies are not willing to pay for this. A building capable of surviving a big explosion, with thick concrete in place of windows, would be a fortress, not an office (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). When the work place has become a fortress, the scale has become unbalanced. No one would want to work in it (Nadis, Steve, pg. 58). Also when there is no or very little protection people are afraid at their work place which creates tension that is not maintaining the

work force or employees safety.

If we show our fear of terrorism than we have lost the battle before it has begun. The goal of all terrorists is to inspire fear and immobilize people. If you stay at home because of some real or imagined threat, the terrorists win a crucial victory (Anonymous, pg. 13). This should be the worst thing that we could do. As long as the terrorist can sustain the pressure, as long as he can launch attacks with increasing frequency and audacity, he will advance toward his goal. The minute you weaken its ability to deliver repeated blows, you have broken its back (Netanyahu, Benjamin, pg. 85). When we have broken its back we can then deliver counter-attacks. This will help decrease terrorism and allow us to make a safer environment for ourselves and the world.

We need to better understand why it happens so we can put an end to it. In the age of nuclear weaponry, terrorism has become toe idiom of expression among the weak and desperate in confronting super-powers they feel are not listening (Wright, Robin, pg. 48). This allows anyone to be a threat to everyone. The nature of terrorism is what makes it a greater threat than nuclear weapons (McGurn, William, pg. 91). Nuclear weaponry can usually be detected but terrorism can not. Terrorism is used because it is a more likely way of making sure that the victims listen to their reasons. That does not

mean terrorism should be condoned; but it does mean the reason behind it must be

understood – or the violence will only escalate (Wright, Robin, pg. 48).

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