Terrorisms
The calculated use of violence or intimidation of violence against citizens in order to accomplish goals that can either be political, religious or ideological in nature is called terrorism. It is done through threats, coercion or instilling fear in the masses. In other words its criminal and violent acts that are committed by an individual or gangs against a peaceful society to get their demands accepted or further their organizational goals.
Starting from the year 2001 who can forget the 9/11 attacks in New York City, Arlington, Va, and Shanksville. The hijackers had crashed 2 commercial jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and 2 more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon and a field in rural Pa. Total dead and missing accounted to 2,921 and 2,749 respectively in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon, 40 in Pa. Al-Qaeda terrorist group was blamed for the same.
On June 14 2002 bomb explosions took place outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12. In the year 2003, suicide bombers killed 34 people, together with 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks in 2002 and 2003. In the year, 2004 in the month of june terrorists, had kidnapped and executed Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia along with 2 other Americans and a BBC cameraman was killed by gun attacks. On November 9 2005 certain suicide bombers had hit 3 American hotels which were Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, which was responsible for killing 57. In the year, 2009 on Dec. 30 A suicide bomber killed 8 Americans based in Afghanistan. The attacker was according to reports a double agent from Jordan who was acting in the lieu of Al-Qaeda.
With respect to statistics, it has been confirmed that no country in this world is an exception when it comes to the terrorist attacks, and USA is no exemption. Terrorism can be in the form of disruption, assassination, hijacking of planes, abduction, kidnapping, mass killings etc. The very reason or rather intention of the terrorists is so as to create terror in the minds of the natives. In terrorizing with “shock and awe” events the terrorists agenda most likely forces the current administration to submit to the terrorist requests. The terrorists do not have any respect for the democratic law and order. They believe in getting their demands fulfilled by hook or crook. They very well know that the government will not put up with the wrong doings of antisocial violent behavior, killing of innocent citizens or any other aggressive attacks. Terrorists resort to illegal activities with the intention of creating pressure, encouraging civil disobedience, chaos, and confusion. Some terrorists even do things for the sake of sadistic pleasure or valor, whereas others integrate their religious/social beliefs with those of Terrorist organizations agendas.
Terrorism is for the most part a meticulously planned and premeditated action performed in a group in an organized manner for the intention of carrying out a defined destructive activity. The cause of terrorism could be due to several reasons. They could be as follows:
Discontentment: Difference of opinions amid people, societies, regions, groups or countries which cannot be resolved which in return leads to aggression leading to anarchy, killing, looting, kidnapping and mass violence. Redundancy and poverty take place owing to the regional imbalance of economic development.
Injustice: The poor and the less developed countries are subjugated by the advanced and the developed countries because of their belief that the system can be put right by means of terrorism and power.
Terrorism has a great impact on the society, in the economy and also in the ethnic values. Being an anti social and destructive activity, it stops the very progress of the economy and social development of the nation affected. It is said so because for a society to develop a secured atmosphere and peace is needed. Terrorists give no regard to ethics and human values. They only seek to please their interests, needs and requirements. The provinces or countries which are regularly affected by this type of violence spend billions of dollars on it rather than economic development, education, health care, infrastructure and welfare of its citizens.
Terror is not just unpredictable, but it is also manmade, premeditated and intentional, creating a political, social and ideological superimpose that is not always associated with the more predictable forms of trauma. It leaves a lasting negative impression on good people in the form PTSD and other psychological disorders. Terrorism is criminal, not honorable or glorious.
Terrorist recruit the socially awkward and insecure under the guise of belongingness or brotherhood usually. They usually prey on weak mindsets in society such as: impoverished people, dissident youth and incarcerated individuals. Some of the most dangerous though are home grown sympathizers who identify themselves with a particular terror group. These home grown individuals usually are socially awkward, abused or rejected individuals who fall through the cracks of society.
Terror organizations are funded many ways and be very creative. They are not always funded by an unknown billionaire. Most of the time terror groups are funded by the communities they are victimizing, right under the nose of local governments. This is sometimes called “bleeding the beast” and why we must all remain vigilant. These Cells or groups work, learn, eat, exercise and sometimes even worship in the same places we all do. Don’t dismiss your gut feeling when something doesn’t seem right and report any inconsistencies or unusual behavior to the local or national authorities and let them investigate and disqualify any individuals.
Most of the time terrorist organizations are very effective in their reconnaissance and rarely make mistakes but even the most seasoned still slip up from time to time so if you are very familiar with your environment than please do not dismiss unusual behavior. Actions that should garner attention are: photographing building structural points, the purchasing of mass chemicals or bomb making materials, the testing of alarm or access control systems, the recording times and/or techniques of Law Enforcement response to situations. The most famous instance of unusual behavior to be noted was the 911 terrorists expressing a great deal of interest at a flight school to learn how to fly Jets but they were not interested in learning how to take off or land. Does that make sense? They wanted to skip small planes and go right to Jets with no interest in take offs or landings. That raises major red flags in my opinion and my knowledge of aviation is limited.
Terrorism affects us in some form or the other. For this, we ought to recognize that peace is the most precious need for humanity. Strong public service announcements should be made so as to create awareness of probable attacks. Administrations should in no means vacillate in order to adopt terrorist encouraged measures. Armed forces and organizations engaged in preventing this type of activity should be equipped with modern and improved version of weapons. Economic and regional discrepancies would be curtailed with the constructive assistance of world bodies like the UN.
Our global approach must be cooperative in fighting or countering terrorism thus making certain our world is protected and secure. No nation can single handedly deal with it because the networks cross so many boarders. World leaders have pivotal roles to carry out in the fight and follow up against terrorism to achieve the goals of global peace and safety. They can attend or even organize and host summits conferences and seminars. These actions as well as sharing intelligence will combat tactics, recruiting efforts, reconnaissance techniques, and organizational goals of terrorists. They have to be more practical and rational in their approach, create an environment that is favorable and beneficial for justice, equality, stability, unity, prosperity, tolerance, peace and security of all citizens.