Terror In The Mind Of God By Mark Juergensmeyer

When you hear the words terrorism, what does you mind go to? Most people would say some sort of extremist group because that is what the media puts into our heads but in reality most domestic terrorist attacks are committed by what is known as a ‘Lone Wolf” attacker. These are people who prepare and commit violent acts alone. These cases are much harder to detect because of a multitude of things. For instance laws have been established to protect civil liberties but in the process have prevented investigators from tracking people engaged with hateful speech, unless there is a suspected crime that person may be involved in. It is easier to track and detect international terrorism because often there are many people involved in the attack and often those attacks are committed by different terrorist groups, and the U.S government is constantly tracking and getting new information on those different terrorist groups. Many counterterrorism efforts have been shaped in response to foreign terrorism

September 11, 2001 is a day many will not forget. This is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, in U.S. history. The Islamic extremists group, al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden, had hijacked four planes two of which had crashed into World Trade Center, one in the Pentagon, and the other in an open field in Pennsylvania. These attacks left many people dead and the U.S. in a state of chaos. After September 11, 2001 many were affected by the lives loss, the stock market being closed for several days, wars began over seas, the Department of Homeland Security was created, airport security became more stringent, and families weren 't able to get financial aid.

When you think of the word terrorist, what comes to mind? ISIS, Al Qaeda, or bearded Muslims? Terrorist are all over the world, including in the United States. They look just like me and you. Since 9/11 a lot of Americans think of people of middle eastern descent adorned in hijabs as terrorists due to that tragic event. We as Americans have discriminated towards “brown colored” people because that is what the media around us has ingrained into our minds. In actuality, a smart terrorist looks just like you and me. A terrorist is a person who uses terrorism as a tool in the pursuit of political aims. This semester, I came to understand that terrorist has multiple meanings and faces. In my opinion, a Terrorist is a person who conspires against the government and uses violent acts to prove points or send messages. Many terrorists see their act of terror as heroic. Based on information I’ve gained through this class and coursework, I have come to believe that the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) is a terrorist group. The KKK, just like any other terrorist groups around the world argue’s their attacks on civilian targets to spread fear for some alleged political goal.

The fear that comes with the word terrorism is created by the people themselves and actually lessens the true meaning of the word. After the hijacking attacks September 11, 2001, America was filled with dread. The entire country saw the pictures, the videos, the people whose loved ones had lost their lives. A tragic event like this cannot be forgotten, and it was far from it. The 9/11 attacks on the United States actually gained traction to the term terrorism. ‘The number of books with “terrorism” in their title published in the six and a half years since 2001 was more than ten times the total number of publications for the past six

According to Gilbert H. Muller in The Age of Terror, the new world has become a very dangerous place on behalf of terrorists. Around the world, people have different perspectives on foreign affairs, politics, and religion. Asking a Christian on their views of terrorism, they would agree that it is the most horrible thing to happen to anyone. Asking someone who supports terrorism, they would say that nothing is wrong with what is going on. In Phillip B. Heymann’s Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning Without War, terrorism in the United States became a domestic concern for the government and citizens. Terrorist threats and attacks leave people asking questions: Who is to blame for the attacks? Why do they attack? When are they going to attack next?

Terrorism can have many different meanings or definitions to different individuals but in the end terrorism is the threat and use of physical and physiological force by individuals or groups who want to receive strategic and political gain. The FBI’s definition comes from the Code of Federal Regulations which states that, “The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." (Href, Mailto, Oliver, & Libaw, 2011) Terrorists want to put fear in the citizens and government that they are targeting. The more fear communities and the government have, the more successful terrorists will judge their attacks. (Newman & Clarke, 2007) The goals of terrorists is to inflict causalities, create fear, and to draw media attention. (Newman & Clarke, 2007) Terrorism acts are thought to be large, astonishing events but terrorism comes in many different forms. Some different forms consist of car bombing, assassinations, kidnapping, hijacking of an airline, train or ship, chemical or biological attacks, suicide bombings, and many more. (Newman & Clarke, 2007) With all of these unique ways that terrorist attacks can materialize first responders are presented with many risks. These risks consist of putting their own life in danger, not having full knowledge and information of the situation before being in the situation themselves, not having the

Imagine this specific scenario for a moment, a young boy is walking on a sidewalk with his mother on their way to the grocery store. A car quickly swerves and slams into both the boy and his mother. The boy is killed and his mother has to deal and mourn the loss of her only child for the rest of her life. Put yourself in the mother's shoes. As we all know, terrorism and massive acts of violence are considerable threats in our society today, and so are cars. Just like the epidemic of mass shootings is a gun problem, the thousands of people slaughtered by cars as they walk our modern-day streets every year is a car problem.

A terrorist group is defined as an unlawful use of violence against the public or state with the intention of making a political statement by means of coercion or attack. The Sunni group, Hamas, which is an arabic acronym for “The Islamic Resistance Movement”, was created towards the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising during late 1987. This group was founded by Islamic activists, connected with the Muslim Brotherhood, in Gaza with the intention of offering Palestinians an alternative to PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Their goal is to have an Islamic-based Palestinian state in areas currently known as the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. The United States and European union have both named Hamas a terrorist organization due to the fact Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has conducted violent actions against Israeli civilian targets, improvised roadside explosives, rocket attacks, and small-arms attacks. All of these are performed with the intention of being seen as anti-Israeli and Palestinian territories. Governments such as those of Syria and Iran as well as wealthy private individuals in Saudi Arabia and others in the Arab world support this group. They also benefit from Iran’s financial and political backing since the opportunity was realized to increase their influence in the region along with exporting the Islamic Revolution outside Iran, similar to what happened in Lebanon.

Are the people of the Islamic faith prone to violence? Do they seek it? Is that their goal? Is that how they show their faith? For decades America has feared those who do not share the same likeness as it does. Of course it is the melting pot, but America’s media sure does make it difficult nowadays, even fifty years ago, to accept those of another race. America is always on it’s toes when it comes to those of different backgrounds, even when it seems so accepting. Muslims have caught this for years, especially after 9/11, people love to put every Muslims in one category…….. Terrorists. Not all Muslims are terrorist, but all terrorist are Muslims, everyone of us has heard this wild statement right? I wholeheartedly blame the media (not just news outlets) for this horrible misconception. They know the general public takes everything they say or do not say and make it a one hundred percent fact without any research. And yet they still continue to make such strong accusations/stereotypes.

Following the September 11 terror attack on the United States, terrorism has remained a salient issue for the Australian government and a significant source of anxiety for Australians. In fact, a study conducted by Hassan and Martin (2015) determined that 81% of Australians are somewhat fearful of terrorism. In response to the threat, Australia implemented an exhaustive counter-terrorism regime to pre-emptively eliminate potential harms (Williams, 2011). However, while expanded police and judicial powers are somewhat effective crime prevention mechanisms, they do not address the underlying problem. Essentially, a common characteristic of recent terror attacks in Sydney and Melbourne is that the perpetrators are ‘home grown’ individuals who have been radicalised. Critically, these individuals are not formally connected to terrorist organisations, making them harder to detect (Patucci, Ellis, and Chaplais, 2016). The potential harm of terrorism is catastrophic, thus, various developmental programs in Australia and around the world attempt to minimise youth radicalisation through early intervention. Nevertheless, developmental criminology remains underutilised in the counter-terrorism regime and is an important step to eliminating the accompanying us vs. them mentality. Therefore, this paper will establish the body of literature and theoretical framework from which recommendations may be drawn to inform de-radicalisation programs.

September 11th is a day that nobody will ever forget, it was such a terrible tragedy and we lost many people because of it. This attack was made out of hatred and tremendously impacted the government and citizens of the United States. This attack was rooted in a hatred that has existed for thousands of years between Jews in Israel and its Islamic neighbors. Because of the United States support for Israel and the Gulf Wars where the United States stopped Iraqi aggression, the United States has become a target of Islamic terrorism. It was such a serious and harmful incident and it forever changed American Society and by influencing the country to make new laws and as a result, its citizens have become more aware of their surroundings.

Terrorism is not a new issue in today’s world. It has been an issue for centuries, and even in the ancient world. The military strategy “total war” can be seen as terrorism because it struck fear in the hearts in the next town before the army arrived. According to the United States Code and the FBI website, terrorism is split in our law into three types. 18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines two types of terrorism, international and domestic terrorism.

Terrorism is when a group of extremist or just one extremist attacks because of political, religious, or economic reasons. I believe the reason why people use terrorism is because this is their form of revenge. They may disagree with something and attack to show how mad they are and to create fear. Terrorism has been used in the past. 9/11 was not the first time terrorism has happened. For example on February 26, 1993, there was the first World Trade Center bombing. What happened was that in a van there were explosives and cyanide. They were set of and six people died and thousands were wounded. Also, there was the Terror of the State. What happened was that millions of people were executed, arrested, and imprisoned. Around 20 million Soviets ended up dying. On February 25, 1994 a man named Baruch Goldstein did a religiously inspired terror. Goldstein was a follower of a Jewish terrorist group name Kach. During the holy month of Ramadan Goldstein went into the town of Hebron. In Hebron he went inside the Ibrahim Mosque. Inside the Ibrahim Mosque he had an assault-rifle and shot 111 shots. The people he was shooting at were 800 Palestinian Muslim worshippers. 29 people died and 150 were injured but were then beaten to death.

Terrorism is terrorist activity either made on one’s homeland or made on another person’s country, which is/has become a huge concern for the United States. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the US has taken huge measures to make sure there were not foreign attacks made on US soil again, but what about domestic attacks? The attacks of 9/11 left more than 3,000 civilians dead and more injured, but the number of deaths caused by homegrown terrorism far exceeds that number. Because of the amount of homegrown terrorism in the US one starts to think is homegrown terrorism a bigger threat to the US than international terrorism?

In the past, Sudan had been designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism regarding support for international terrorist groups. However, Sudan has changed its approach ever since the 9/11 attacks has been aiding the United States in diminishing the pervasiveness of terrorist groups in Sudan, and in the world. Recently, Sudan has remained cooperative with the United States in its war on counter terrorism. Sudan has taken many preventive measures to keep these terrorist groups out of Sudan, and we are currently attempting to limit their influence and use of Sudan as a base for their operations. Currently, unfortunately, Sudan is plagued with terrorist groups who are seeping in, but there are limitations being placed and we are in the process of eliminating these terrorist groups once and for all.