The Threat Of Terrorist Attacks

For our purposes, we will use the Title 22 of the US Code, Section 2656f(d), to define terrorism. It defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Examples of terrorism persist on a near daily basis around the world. Unstable countries, such as Afghanistan and Syria, deal with terrorist attacks on a constant basis. The common thread of these attacks is deliberate targeting of civilian populations in order to achieve political objectives. The best known and largest example are

Over the past decades suicide terrorism has confirmed its effective tactic and it is seem to be developing and growing movement. Terrorism is designed to cause panic within people, communities and countries but also to gain the publicity through media. Suicide terrorism, more than other forms of terrorist activities is presenting determination and dedication both of dying by individual terrorist as well as the desire to kill innocent people. Suicide terrorism is an attractive tool for terrorist activities with guarantee media publicity with the international dimension. The aim of the attacks is to draw attention of governments, international organisations and

Terrorism is a massive problem--everybody realizes that. Regardless of origin, culture, country, or political standpoint, every sane person understands that terrorism is something that is still relatively prevalent in the world, and something needs to be done about it. The problem, however, is that there is no easy solution. The United States tends to take overbearing control and responsibility for all terrorist threats, groups, and attacks, but this is simply not reasonable. Although we cannot expect every country to take initiative against terrorist threats like ISIS, sustained international coordination is necessary to effectively confront transnational terrorist groups (Shirkey). This way, the US can begin taking care of themselves and their own country, as they still have many issues that have yet to be solved. While working together is important, though, it is not the key to solving the problem. What we must do in addition is investigate and address the root causes of terrorism, and analyse them in detail in order to best combat terrorist groups at their roots.

This article by Isabelle Duyvesteyn starts off by summarising the objectives that challenge the perspective of terrorism since the last decade of the twentieth century is fundamentally new. In this article certain questions have been debated regarding new aspects of terrorism and they are: “transnational nature of the perpetrators and their organizations, their religious inspiration, fanaticism, use of weapons of mass destruction and their indiscriminate targeting.” ("How New Is the New Terrorism?", 2017)In order to understand the depth of aspects of new terrorism the article talks about “national and territorial focus of the new terrorists, their political motivations, use of conventional weaponry and the symbolic targeting that is aimed in order to achieve a surprising effect.” ("How New Is the New Terrorism?", 2017)

“Terrorism's particularly heinous but highly attractive means to achieve political objectives or even radically restructure political foundations is manifest within societies in all reaches of the world. While the practical application of terrorist methodologies comes across as a relatively straightforward craft, the conceptual and ideological understanding, and subsequent evaluation of its socio-political influence, implementation, and psychological impacts present difficult questions, and in some cases conceivably insurmountable obstacles” (Romaniuk 2014, para

Suicide terrorism is one of those acts of violence that is almost impossible to defend against. In his article, Atran (2003) explains suicide terrorism as “the targeted use of self-destructing humans against noncombatant-typically civilian-populations to effect political change” (pg. 1534). One of the most remembered dates is American history is September 11, 2001. This was a day in which suicide terrorism took the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans (History.com, 2010). This suicide attack is where 19 Al-Qaeda followers hi-jacked four airplanes and used them to crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. This triggered the then President, George W. Bush to declare war to “destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there” (History.com, 2010). Osama bin Laden was Al-Qaeda leader that claimed responsibility of the suicide attack on the United States. This type of use of suicide terrorism was not only used to kill many innocent people, but to be televised and reported on to put fear into the

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.

Additionally, John Mueller lambasts what he labels as the socially constructed ‘terrorist industry,’ which he attacks for artificially inflating concerns over terrorist attacks. Instead, Mueller confirms that the damage caused by terrorism is not materially significant but stems primarily from the fear that it creates. Violent retaliation is viewed as a form of ‘self-flagellation’ that provides the terrorists with exactly what they want. As mentioned, realist definitions of power, self-interest and rationality lack explanatory prowess when non-state actors are able to subvert states thanks largely in part to the use of suicide-terrorism. The proliferation of terrorist groups and their use of suicide-tactics in many ways defies realist expectations and conclusions.

Terror related attacks in the United States is a vastly growing situation. From non-government organizations, to individual lone wolf attacks. Numerous attacks and circumstances can be related to the American way of life, as well as the foreign policies and procedures the U.S follows. There are various aspects in which are the “why” of the attacks, relating to government and religion are two dominant reasons for attacks.

Suicide terrorism is frequently associated with irrational behavior. In the article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” written by Robert A. Pape, he asserts that suicide terrorism are strategies of rational thinking. Furthermore, he claims that leaders of terrorist organizations utilize suicide terrorism, as a form of coercion. Thus, he characterizes suicide terrorism as a rational and strategic act amongst the leaders of terrorist organizations to achieve their political objectives. Although Pape constructed a significant correlation between coercion, suicide terrorism, and success. The article, however, fails to present a well-balanced argument, opposing viewpoints, and lacked sufficient

During the Iraq war, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the United States was introduced to suicide terrorism, which was used to threaten and exterminate the Iraqi security forces and to start a civil war amongst the Shi’i and Sunni Muslims (Hafez 2006). To dictate when a suicide attack is approaching, there are two developments that are involved: one is on the battlefield and the other in the political arena (Hafez 2006). On the battlefield, insurgents want to show their enemies and supporting audience they will not be intimidated, nor will they surrender their motives in the face of repression (Hafez 2006). In the public arena, suicidal terrorism arose “after the January 2005 elections for an assembly to draft a new Iraqi constitution, endorsement

In 2003, a warning by the Israeli government noted that female participation in terrorism in Palestine is increasing and that “the terrorist organizations behind the attacks want to exploit the advantages of dispatching females to perpetuate them … under the assumption that a female is thought of as a soft, gentle, and innocent and therefore will arouse less suspicion that a man.” (Sjoberg and Gentry, p.1, 2011). In addition, the Israeli government outlines the roles women have played in attacks by different levels. The highest level is the suicide bomber, or the female who attempts a suicide bombing and failed. Lower level would be those females who have performed as facilitators, in both planning and perpetuating terrorist attacks. (Sjoberg,

Although journalist Dexter Filkins has spent years covering the war in Iraq, he still appears unsure as to what exactly motivates a suicide bomber to embrace jihad. Citing a specific example in his book, The Forever War, Filkins poses the question, “The most intriguing part of Ra’ad’s story was unknowable. How did an English-speaking, American-loving, hair-gel-wearing lawyer who’d walked among the bikinis of Santa Monica come to blow himself up in Iraq?” (177). While this particular quandary may appear unknowable to Filkins, the motivation behind suicide bombers’ actions may be more obvious than he thinks. It is no secret that American culture differs immensely from that of the Islamic way of life, as both groups have great difficulty

Suicide terrorism has become so commonplace that it is easy to overlook how relatively new and suddenly popular the phenomenon is. Between the end of World War II and the Iranian revolution, there were no suicide attacks in the world. Yet only months after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini solidified power and formed the Pasdaran and Basij, suicide attacks began to appear in conflicts involving Shiites (Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war) and then took root among Palestinian Sunni groups.3 It eventually became the preferred tactic of Islamist terror organizations. Khomeini selected specific passages from the Qur’an and hadith (canonical collections of Muhammad’s alleged sayings and actions) to craft his suicidal version of radical Islam.

While suicide attacks usually happen a long way away, and the chance of being killed by a local attack is small, it’s not irrational to hold some concern over the growth of militant Islam. In a post 9/11 world, where frequent Islamist