America's Part in Terrorism Essay examples

Terrorism has always existed in American policing, and while the groups committing these acts have changed, their intentions have not. Their intentions being to cause maximum fear and scare those who they target into doing and following their ideology. In the 1970’s and 1980’s in America, the main terrorist groups were associated with the environmental movement and race based groups, while other parts of the world were dealing with Islamic extremists, were committing terrorist acts across the Middle East without much intervention from the United States. In fact the group Al-Qaeda, who attacked the World Trade Centers in 1993 and 2001, found its roots in the 1980’s fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with weapons supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency. While the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement agencies knew of these groups, they underestimated the capabilities of lone wolf, small cell, and whole terrorist organizations. This was due to the fact that the Federal Law Enforcement agencies top priority was general crime such as organized crimes and white-collar crime.

Terrorism is something that has been going on since the dawn of mankind, and it will be with us until the very end. Most people know terrorism only as a horrific, inhumane process that is used to inflict harm and fear towards specific ethnic and religious groups. In reality, however, terrorism was actually used in our very own revolution, the American Revolution. You will see that the Boston Tea Party is a superb example of terrorism. American settlers dressed up like Native Americans, parading and shouting down the streets of Boston late at night, all the way down to the docks, boarded the tea ships, and dumped every parcel of tea down the Charles river. This was the start of American terrorism in the American revolution, and it continued through the war as the Americans started using guerilla warfare and attacking major centers for the British military and the British economy.

Terrorism is a major threat to national and global security that encompasses more than violent means by foreigners and Islamic extremists. This is mainly because most of the recent terror acts in America have been carried out by single-issue individuals and special-interest extremists with the intention of protecting the environment and animals based on their beliefs. Actually, terrorism is described as the illegitimate use of extreme violence and force with the intention of coercing a

Terrorism is often used in asymmetric power struggles. In this source it said terrorism is, “When a weaker person, or group, is fighting against a powerful nation-state.” Terrorist groups have begun using the internet and media to spread fear. Also, to impact public opinion with their political or social message. Terrorism has been around for a very long time. Resources of the United States and other countries have been directed toward ending terrorism in American and around the world. Two major attacks that most individuals will remember is the 9/11 attack and the Boston Marathon Bombing.

The word “ terrorism” is used a lot in the world nowadays. The definition of a terrorist is someone who uses intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. Some example of what we have establish as terror attacks are the Twin Towers in New York on the 11 of september 2001 or the Paris attack on november the 13 2015. The attacks were done by two different groups of terrorists, but what people tend to ignore is that these terrorist groups did not come to life from the unknown. What people tend to ignore or maybe just don’t understand or don’t know is that in this case, Al Qaeda was a creation of the United States of America, a country which was colossally

Terrorism not only happens abroad but it also happens in our backyard as well. The United States has had its government and citizens involved in terrorism as well. The American Revolution and the war tactics used against The British, can be linked to terrorism. Also, the CIA involvement on the attack of Rene Schneider, a commander of the Chilean Army as well. Though the United States has had close involvement with terrorist acts, it has also dealt with its fair share being a target. The Molly Maguires, is a terrorist organization that has been targeting America, since it was founded. This all started because of their opposition of the mistreatment of tenants by landlords(McEntire,2009). The Molly Maguires also protested coal mines and even

They elucidate that terrorism is a “premeditated, politically motivated, violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups of clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience,” (National Institute of Justice).

Living the United State when one thinks of a terrorist attacks often their mind will first go to a larger scale attack such as the events of September 11th 2001. “September 11, 2001 changed the United States forever, the terrorist attack that day marked a dramatic escalation in a trend toward more destructive terrorist attacks which began in the 1980s. It also reflected a trend toward more indiscriminate targeting among international terrorists. The vast majority of the more than 3,000 victims of the attack were civilians. In addition, the attack represented the first known case of suicide attacks carried out by international terrorists in the United States.” (Waston, 2002) However as the years have gone by we have come to learn that terrorist attacks are not always on a large scale and that even one person who is inspired by the ideologies of a terrorist group without being directly connected to them can carry out attacks. Those that engage in this type of terrorism are referred to as lone wolf terrorist. A recent example of such an even was the mass shooting at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center in December of 2015.

Before the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 in the United States, the CIA was very aware of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups who’s aim was to target the United States. The CIA became aware of Al Qaeda when they were tracking Osama Bin Laden in 1991 for financing terrorist attacks. As previously discussed, the CIA followed Bin Laden to Afghanistan where they eventually declared war on him. In 1999 the CIA was aware of and defeated Bin Laden operatives planning a series of attacks against the US alongside the FBI. The CIA broke up a large terrorist cell in Jordan that was planning to blow up the Radisson Hotel, holy sites, and Israeli tour buses, and had plans to use chemical weapons. During this time, Ahmad Ressam was arrested coming into the United States from the Canadian border, which provided the CIA with knowledge that Bin Laden was planning to attack the United States. In 2000 there was an increase in Ramadan related threats in which the CIA, in conjunction with a number of foreign governments, was able to thwart planned attacks, including one against US interests. During the spring and summer of 2001, the CIA noticed a substantial increase in the amount of threats being reported. While working with the FBI and foreign liaison services, the CIA prevented attacks against US facilities and people in Europe and the Middle East. The CIA considered themselves to be at war with Al Qaeda since 1998 and for the most part was on the

Prior to the Iran hostage crisis, the United States was heavily involved in the affairs of the Middle East, as well as the rest of the world. After World War II, the United states became the de facto world police and were the leaders in monitoring global terrorism. In 1937, the League of Nations proposed a definition for terrorism as “All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public.” This definition was used globally by the United States and other countries for a majority of the 20th century.

Chomsky takes a turn that is someone conservative and attempts to take a neutral position and evaluates some truths that he sees. He takes us through the reason and definitions of terrorism. He uses examples such Nazi Germany and says that terror is more subjective in the sense that when unprovoked, war is terror on that entity such as England trying to push back Germany. Chomsky then takes us through the idea that 9/11 has changed the world. He refutes this idea and says that the only reason that this was a big change was because it happened to America, the center of the world. He gives an example here by showing how the U.S. government interfered in Guatemala by not doing anything about the deaths that were being taken place there as we supplied El Salvador with weapons and ammunition. (pg 192) Chomsky again brings up the idea of state-supported terrorism and gives example after example of how this was played out in Central and Southern America. (Pg193-194) Chomsky jumps into the just war theory here and says that statements about just war theory are made only by empirical forces only justifying war. During this period of time, most of

Terrorism and the United States A cloud of anthrax spores looming in the sky of San Diego California

The world has been changed forever since the tragic attack on September 11, 2001. An observer described the atrocity by saying, "It just went 'bam,' like a bomb went off. It was like holy hell (CNN 1). " The new world will be different from what any American has known before. A new war has arisen, not against a foreign country or a major region of the world, but rather against a select group of people who have the capabilities to destroy the lives of so many. The war against terrorism which the United States is now forced to wage will not be an easily won battle. This war will not be fought solely on scattered battlefields in certain countries. It will instead permeate through every aspect of life as we

The immediacy and the primacy of any truly potent force is the ability to perpetuate itself. Sharp and energetic outbursts have their place, and can be known to have great effect-cataclysmic forces, despite their maximum destructive potential, are temporary in their total effects in relation to some absolute goal. In other words, they are generally limited in scope, and well defined in purpose; there is a tactical objective, which is usually consummated quickly. The more dreaded force creeps along, escalating incrementally, and while it may abide a strategic goal, or even a policy, it is generally open-ended. This sort of ambiguity I am referring to differs from the flexible tactical necessity in that strategic outcomes are very much

From the lips of the FBI, “Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objective.” On September 11, 2001 the United States of America experienced such actions, it was the largest terror attack experienced by any country. The affect this had on America was tremendous,