Terrorism Essay, Research Paper

TERRORISM

The purpose of this paper is to define, describe, and explain what terrorism is and the laws of both Federal and State governments pertaining to this issue. Terrorism can be a difficult word to define. The governments of the world have never come up with a definition on which they can all agree. A very broad definition of terrorism is this: It is the planned use of violence to frighten and intimidate others in order to achieve political ends. (Kronenwetter 6)

What is a terrorist? Terrorists are people who commit terrorist acts. (Kronenwetter 8) Terrorism is a world wide phenomenon. Some place’s terrorism is held is in Iraq, Jerusalem, Israel, United states of America, Egypt…… these are only some of the country’s terrorism is held at.

Terrorism tends to involve violence against civilians or other noncombatants. People expect military forces to face danger. If terrorists expect to terrorize the general public their actions must reach beyond the military into the civilian population itself. They must give everyone the sense that anyone can become a victim of terrorism at any time. This is the only way they can gain enough leverage to obtain their political goals.

(Kronenwetter 8)

There are many ways in which terrorism is performed. Airplane hijackings, the taking of hostages, car and truck bombings, and the sabotaging of planes, are the main ways terrorism is performed today. (Simon 20)

There are many laws and regulations, both federal and state, pertaining to national terrorism. The federal policy on terrorism states that terrorism is a threat to the security of American citizens and other countries all over the world. (Rosenthal 2) The federal government feels that we should prosecute any terrorists to the full extent of the law. This would most likely mean the death penalty.

Just two years ago the single worst terrorist act in US history took place, the infamous bombing of the federal building at Oklahoma city. After this incident our federal government tightened down on terrorism and terrorists in the US and all over the world. The federal government has initiated many new agencies to counter terrorism. For instance, there is a new division dedicated specifically to immediate response in case of a chemical weapon attack. (Rosenthal 2)

There are still many ways we can improve on our federal governments policies. One way would be to crack down on unsafe airports, both national and international. Recently an international business corporation published a list of ten most dangerous airports around the world. They found the two most dangerous airports were Athens and Beirut International. (Rosenthal 131) The federal government should pressure the governments of many other countries to make their airports more secure. Another way to improve safety would be to protect terrorist targets. Our federal government did not seem serious about raising security levels at its diplomatic posts around the world until after two major bombings took place. the government simply has to add more barricades, buffer zones, bomb sniffing dogs, and bodyguards to greatly help the situation. (Rosenthal 134)

In the past there have been many midair bombings. The push is on to install sophisticated new technologies for detecting explosives at airports. But the required speed and accuracy are proving difficult to attain, and these costly systems raise difficult questions on invasion of personal privacy and dollar value of human life…… A variety of high-tech bomb detectors are under study, but certification cost and privacy dilemmas could keep them from your local airport. (Fischetti 1)

There are also many ways in which our regional or state governments place laws on terrorism. Even though State governments already regulate terrorism in many ways, they do not do enough. The Regional governments are very similar to the federal governments in there policies and laws. They also differ in many ways. For instance, the Regional governments do not have much of an influence on international issues. However, they have a great influence on local issues such as airport regulations in their state or country. If these airports are dangerous then the Sate government can pressure the Federal governments for funds to increase security at the airport. Drug lords taking control of cities are another new wave in American terrorism. But the people of these cities must stop looking toward the Federal government for help and must start to pressure the State or Regional governments, then the State government could pressure the Federal government for help. (Rosenthal 1)

In conclusion I will reiterate my thesis statement. The purpose of this paper is to define, describe, and explain what terrorism is and the laws of both Federal and State governments pertaining to this issue. Until world governments realize how important it is to secure areas in which terrorists may strike and to take a strong stand on terrorism and terrorists, emphasizing that anyone that is convicted of terrorist activities will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and there will be no negotiation. Only then will there be a chance of putting an end to the deadly grip of fear that terrorism holds on us.