Different Kinds of Terrorism

“the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” Within this definition, there are three key

The word ‘terrorism’ can be traced back to the French Revolution and the reign of terror committed against the population of France in the 1790s. During this time, thousands of people were killed and the general population was severely oppressed. Also, some of the first instances of terrorist tactics, such as assassination and intimidation, were witnessed in the killing of prominent officials and other opponents of the Revolution. In general, terrorists aim to incite fear in the population through pre-meditated violent acts and gain publicity as a medium in achieving their goals. Such acts include taking hostages, bombings and assassinations, all of which create fear and compliance in a victim or audience. Terrorism can be distinguished from other types of political violence through its disregard for and intentional harming of innocent civilians. Also, terrorists usually adopt a state of mind where one side is always good and any opposition is bad and deserves to be punished. As a result, terrorists will always have some supporters who share the same radical thoughts as them and thus terrorism, as a whole, will always be accepted as a legitimate use of violence. This is the reasoning behind the famous phrase by Gerald Seymour, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”(QUOTE

Terrorism is an act that threatens or carries out violence with the intention to disrupt, kill or coerce against a body or nation in order to impose will. This means that a lot of groups use this method to get what they want. The groups use a variety of methods, groups such as:

Terrorism is a word that is widely used in modern society even though most people don’t know the real definition and the meaning behind it.

The potential effects from an Argo terrorism attack on the U.S. agricultural sector and economy could be very significant. In the dissertation Threats and Risks to U.S. Agriculture: An Overview, written by Dr. Franz, he states that “The U.S. food and fiber industry generates nearly $1 trillion in revenue annually” (Franz, 2005, p. 1). Franz also goes on to explain that “…[the united states’] efficiency in this sector is unsurpassed and serves as a stimulus for the rest of the economy…” (Franz, 2005, p. 1). This means that the industry and profits affect everyone, not only the farmers, ranchers and plant workers. Franz elaborates further on this point, when he states that “…an economic attack such as [foot and mouth disease] FMD in our livestock herds would have an almost immediate and very personal impact across the country…at the supermarket…” (Franz, 2005, p. 2).

Terrorism has been around since at least the First Century. Terrorism is a crime in which people or groups of people use, or say they will use, violence in order to get what they want from the government or society. A terrorist is a person who uses violence and fear to achieve political

Terrorism refers to the use of threat and violence to frighten and coarse mainly for political reasons. A group that practises the vice is the Al-Qaeda.

Chemical terrorism is the use of natural or synthetic substances such as mustard gas to kill a group of civilians (Freedmen 1). There is also such thing as bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is the use of a biological weapon against a civilian population such as smallpox and fungus (Hoyel 1). Chemical and biological terrorism is very dangerous because it intends to kill a lot of people at a time. Terrorists can get their hands on chemicals but it is much easier for them to get biologics (biological agents) because they are harder to detect and are cheaper to make.

Eco terrorism has been said by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be "the most significant domestic terror threat facing the United States today" ("Environmental"). This assumption could not be any more true. Everyday, the lives of many innocent citizens and animals are put in danger just for a group of people to try to make a statement about what they believe is right, and what they believe is wrong. These actions are "usually committed by individuals who believe that the exploitation of natural resources and despoliation of the environment are becoming so severe that action outside of conventional legal and environmental channels is required" ("Ecoterrorism." Pollution). Although this may be effective in getting the wanted attention

Terrorism has been a growing concern throughout the years, there are many forms of terrorism such as eco-terrorism,

Agroterrorism is a substantial threat to the United States economy and agricultural sector. As Olsen (2012), mentions, the U.S. agricultural sector is extremely vulnerable to attack and an attack has already been considered by Al Qaeda. The two biggest potential effects of an agroterror attack would be fear and economic stress.

Terrorism, as stated by Bruce Hoffman, is a broad subject. It is due to this broadness that allows people to intermingle terrorism and guerilla warfare. It is easy to understand why this misconception occurs; both utilize violence as a means to coerce other countries, factions, and people. Despite the similarities in tactics, there are nuances which separate the two – namely strategy and motivation. In order to determine whether an act is considered guerilla warfare or terrorism a look at strategy and motivation will provide the answer rather quickly.

I agree with Peter Chalk’s statements that the agricultural sector is vulnerable and the U.S is not prepared for dealing with acts of agro-terror. The United States agricultural system is a very important system for which it provides food for millions of people. However, such an important system, which keeps the citizens feed is not very well protected. With all the hormones used in present times to make the animals grow faster in order to feed all the citizens it weakens there immune system which makes them for susceptible to infections. A terrorist can easily expose a huge livestock farm with a foreign virus or bacterium that would not kill the livestock but infect them, consequently infecting all the people that eat the infected meat.

Terrorism in the twenty-first century has some similarities and differences from terrorism in the twentieth century. Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use or threatened use of violence in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. Also useful to remember that because the two entities involved, the terrorists and the terrorized, are on the opposite end of the political, religious or ideological continuum, the same act is viewed by them differently. There is much sense in the phrase one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

PPD-21 recognizes sixteen critical infrastructures; including the Food and Agriculture Sector, the Chemical Sector, Healthcare and Public Health Sector, Transportation Systems Sector, and Water and Wastewater Systems Sector. As these sectors have been looked at more and more by agronomists, scientists, and other government officials they are all still wondering why or how no one has tried to attack us through our crops or our livestock. Agroterrorism is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as “the deliberate introduction of an animal or plant disease for the purpose of generating fear, causing economic losses, or undermining social stability.” (Threats 2013) Of course even though it was not profoundly considered looked upon until after September 11th, that does not mean Agroterrorism is a new notion. One of the earliest acknowledged terrorist attacks related to agriculture was during the 6th century B.C. The Assyrians poisoned their enemy’s wells with rye ergot. German agents infected cattle during World War I that spread from the Atlantic to France. In 1994, more than seven hundred and fifty people fell ill when a cult intentionally contaminated ten salad bars with salmonella. (Threats 2013).