Connection of Terrorism and the Middle East Essay

Security measures drastically increased after 9/11. 9/11 was an act of terrorism that would change the way the country handled privacy. Americans needed to voice their opinions after this happened and have their own rights protected. The need to protect individual rights is the utmost important aspect in a thriving U.S. society.

Al-Qaeda is the parent to ISIS. Al-Qaeda translates to “The Fundament”. It is a multi-national radical group founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden and other militants who fought for Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. It has been labeled as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and quite a few other countries. The Sunni- Islamic group was based in Sudan for the early part of the 1990, they moved to Afghanistan somewhere around 1996 and went under the name of Taliban. The group merged with Jihad’s and later declared a holy war against the United States. The United States troops all but eliminated the group and killed its leaders while they were in Afghanistan, but with withdrawal of the troops in 2011, have regrouped and made a comeback. https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda

Domestic terrorism consists of violations against federal and state law that put humans into danger. The purpose of domestic terrorism is to influence or to instill fear into the population and government. Terrorism comes in forms of gun violence, assassinations, and destruction (1). Since 1970, there have been 2,608 attacks and 226 fatal attacks up until 2011 (3). In 1867, the development of dynamite contributed to increasing terrorism, and radicals have used explosives to bring attention to political issues within the country. This invention led to the Haymarket Affair, Los Angeles Times, and the Preparedness Day bombings (2). What has further caused domestic terrorism has been the argument over who is an American. This explains the emergence of the Boston Tea Party and the “white supremacy” of the Ku Klux Klan which both occurred to claim what being an authentic American means (3). After the Cold war, domestic intelligence and law enforcement suppressed terrorist plots, but since the leader of al-Qaeda increased website usage in 2003, more internet terrorist sites have grown. In 2009, the FBI stated that there were approximately 15,000 websites that advocated terrorism with 10,000 sites still active on 80% of U.S based servers. (4) An example of an attack was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 which resulted in 168 people dead and 600 people injured; the motivation for this was to show the opposition against the U.S government by bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal

It has been over a decade and a half since Americans were first exposed to the power of foreign terrorism. The twin tower attacks left us helpless. Americans didn’t see it coming and we were even more unsure of how to respond to such a tragedy. Who would want to kill innocent people on purpose? Why? It wreaked fear over the American population for years. Its ghost, constantly revived with every sensationalized explosion, every failed attempt, every image of that Muslim man deeply dedicated to the Islamic ideology. Americans had never experienced such a huge attack from a foreign enemy since Pearl Harbor and we would do anything to prevent this atrocity from happening again.

At this point in time, the United States felt unbreakable. They believed that no one could hurt them. When the planes attacked on United States soil, everything changed. Within two weeks of the attack, at least five Middle Eastern students had been assaulted on a college campus, and several others had received threats(Verbrugge 9). Immediately after the attack, people looked at Middle Easterners differently. The immediate effects of the attacks on the Muslim American community were often negative, including an increase in suspicion of violence against American Muslims(Verbrugge 97). Strictly after traveling by an airplane was restricted for a period of time. When traveling by air was allowed again, more security has been put in place. People were now limited by what they could take onto the airplane. Of course it was limited before, but now more than ever. This also would now forever affect the Muslims entering an airport. Most people would associate the Middle Easterners with terrorists and get very afraid when they see

On November 9th 2016, Donald Trump was declared the president-elect of the United States. This announcement was quickly followed by mass protests in the streets. Citizens were outraged that a candidate, whose entire platform had relied on racist and misogynistic rhetoric, could win the presidency despite losing the popular vote. The protestor’s concerns are well founded. In the last year he has promised to create a Muslim registry, forcefully deport millions of people from the country, revoke citizenship rights, as well as implement other disturbing policies. There is an inherently fascistic and totalitarian element in Trump’s campaign which should influence a closer study into the history, creation, and continuation of different forms of political terror.

George Washington Bush once said, “There’s no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country.” Terrorism was and still is a huge problem in America and every other country in the world. We, as Americans, are privileged to live in a country where no real threats to our safety exist, no one pushes their religious or political beliefs on us and we are not threatened by an ongoing violence in our country. Although terrorism always has been and always will be an ongoing event, 9/11, the death of Osama bin Laden, and the Afghanistan war have been tremendous factors in learning how to protect this country.

After the gulf wars, a ceasefire was negotiated between the United Nations coalition and Iraq. During the ceasefire, the United Nations became aware that Iraq had started a biological warfare program in the 1980s, as well as a chemical warfare program. Upon further investigation, they found that these programs had not continued after the war. As a result, the United States main focus moving forward was the removal of the Saddam regime, their official foreign policy for years to come focused on this goal. With the suspicions that Saddam Hussein had the abilities to acquire weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration going as far as to claim he already had them, the United States and other countries began devising a plan of action. These countries strongly believed that Iraq was a treat to its neighbors and the rest of the world, and that the only solution was to invade Iraq. The United States invading Iraq in 2003 was a turning point in the reason why relationship between Iraq and the United States is the way it is today.

Long before the so called state of israel existed, Arabs from various religions have managed to live together in peace and harmony. As it was common to see Jewish, Muslim, and Christian neighbours living on the same street in countries such as Palestine, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Oman, Lebanon, and Syria. Due to the misconception between Zionism and Judaism tensions between Arabs and Arab Jews started increasing following the 1948 Nakba which pushed large numbers of Arab Jews out of their home towns and countries as they were accused of treason mostly by sending funds to support the shed of Arab blood.

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

We define terrorism as using force to influence or change a political decision. Given that there may be an array of situations the U.S. government and the American people are faced with on a daily basis, most would probably agree in saying that terrorism is the most imperative issue we are not only becoming victims to, but are interminably asked to deal with as well as finding a solution for.

In Israel Jews and Arabs have been in conflict for hundreds of years because they both share religious grounds in Israel. Since the founding of Israel in 1948 there has been continuous conflict between Israel and Arab

Think of the word terrorism. What is the first thing that comes to mind? One might think of kidnapping, assassination, bombing, or even genocide and guerrilla warfare. Because it is such a broad and complex issue, an all-encompassing definition is hard to formulate. The United States Department of Defence defines terrorism as…

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

Purpose: To inform readers of the effects the recent terrorist attacks have on society today.