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Connection religion and terrorism
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Why Terrorists Attack the U.S. Terrorism is the use of physical violence whether it be a threat or an actual act of aggression. They create a common surrounding of fear in a selected target of the population. This is done so that they may provoke some kind of political and/or social change. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001, there has been a lot of controversy on why terrorist attacks are so frequent in the United States. By doing some research I have found that there are several possible answers to this question. This paper will explore the possibilities and hopefully help America prevent future attacks. While researching this topic, it has come to my attention that the most common reason these attacks occur is that there are a large number of radical groups in the United States with anti-modern ideologies stemming from their extremist religious beliefs. Not only do the terrorists who believe in these religions "feel the need to preserve their religious identity, they also see this time as an opportunity to fundamentally shape the future"(Ranstorp). ...
This paper will talk about three different types of terrorism. A background of each type will be provided to understand the motivations and goals. The first type that will be discussed is religious terrorism. The second type that will be discussed is suicide terrorism. The third and last type that will be discussed is nationalist terrorism. Each type of terrorism has distinct differences in their goals, motivations, strategy, use of violence, etc. However, the main focus of this paper will be on the difference between each type’s tactics and/or strategy.
The FBI defines terrorism as “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 objectives (fbi.gov).” By this definition, terrorism can be classified as internal or international based on the overall intent of the attack. Terrorism has been around since the beginning of time, but it’s only since 2011 that the world has come to fully understand the meaning of terrorism. The following paragraphs will highlight four different types of terrorist attacks that all took place within the United States spanning over a 40 year time period.
As stated by Haddow, C., Bullock, J., Coppola, D.P., Terrorism is a global problem. From 1969 to 2009, over 38,000 terrorist attacks were reported worldwide. Three thousand, or 8 percent of these, targeted Americans or American interests both inside the United States and overseas, leading to the deaths of almost 5600 people and injuries to over 16,000 more (p. 309).
Some terrorists may have the motivation to prove something political, while some may just inflict terror to keep control over a group, people or country. Then there are terrorists who act under the notion that they are showing support for something, as in religious regions, while others do so to show disdain for something they don't agree with. Government, individual agencies, private agencies, and academic experts have all developed, proposed, designed, and analyzed what constitutes acts of terrorism. The meaning of terrorism has definitely changed and has acquired new definitions over the years. The million dollar question is how will the future of America be affected by this act of terrorism?
The War On Terror. It is a name that brings many strong thoughts and emotions to mind for Americans still to this today. It is has been Americas longest war, most expensive war, and a deadly conflict. All in all, the Iraqi War from 2003 to 2011 brought a cost of 500,000 lives from civilians to militants (Vergano 1). Among the U.S. army alone it is estimated that around 900,000 veterans have had some form of injury ranging from PTSD to amputations (Ruis 1). Not to mention, many experts say once all war reparations have been paid the war will cost upwards of three trillion dollars (Broder 1). That means when the math is done, if the war cost were to be split evenly among all American households, than every family in the U.S. would have to pay $75,000 (Auken 1). When President Barack Obama was campaigning in 2008 he once argued that through various taxes the Iraqi War (2003-2011) was and is costing each America household over $100 a month (Broder 1). With such catastrophic cost and tolls of the thousands of innocent lives where can the foundations for such a war effort begin?
The topic of my paper is types of terrorism. There are several types of terrorism for which to choose for my paper, state, dissident, religious, left-wing v. right-wing, and international. In this paper I have chosen state terrorism, religious terrorism, and international terrorism as the types of terrorism that I am going to discuss. I will discuss what they are in my own words and give examples of two different groups for each type that represent that type of terrorism. Then I will compare and contrast the three types of terrorism that I chose.
In the United States, we have Americans that are waiting and wanting to destroy anything that has to do with our country and our western way of life, all in the name of “jihad” or holy war. Just in the past year and almost 10 years after September 11, 2001, there has been upsurge in jihadist recruitment and incidents within the United States. This seems to be a call out to all the homegrown jihadist sympathizers that were waiting to come into action. According a RAND Corporation report, “there were 46 reported cases of radicalization and recruitment to jihadist terrorism in the United States between 9/11 and the end of 2009” (Jenkins). Young men and women are being charged with the intention to harm innocent American citizens, and destroy the United States, all of them with the proclamation of being an Islamic soldier and dying for Islam as a martyr. Faisal Shahzad, the unsuccessful Times Square bomber from Connecticut who pleaded guilty June 21, said in front of a judge, “I am part of the answer to the US terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people, and on behalf of that, I'm avenging the attacks" (Scherer).
In Module one, I learned that terrorism is a result of physical harm or deadly acts of force with the intent of a political outcome by the use of terror for coercion. There are various types of terrorism such as international terrorism and domestic terrorism. International terrorism occurs outside of the United States with a purpose to influence the policy of a government by intimidation. International and Domestic terrorism both involve violent acts dangerous to human life that violate federal and state laws. Domestic terrorism occurs within the United States with the intention of coercion or intimidation by way of mass destruction, etc. Some forms of terrorism include Improvised explosive devices (IED), kidnappings, suicide bombings and
A United States citizen turning against one’s own government and embracing an ideology to kill another citizen or commit an act of violence is a growing phenomenon commonly known as homegrown terrorism. This transition or radicalization process that transforms an individual into an adversary has intensified since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The problem continues to persist in other parts of the world such as Canada, United Kingdom and even in Saudi Arabia, a Non-Western country. This form of extremism has shown its propensity in the United States since the turn of the century when Muslim extremism had its early beginnings as a venue to support a black separatist movement. Today, the threat emerges more rampantly with the accessibility and excess of information technology; as well as the political and socio-economic environment influencing many spectrums of perception and intent.
The key to identifying the threat posed by a particular terrorist group is its basic tenets, and the level of violence thereof. “Groups that model themselves on an avenging angel or a vindictive god…are more likely to lash out than those whose core myth is the suffering Messiah,” (Stern, p.72). For example, the element that may be both the most prevalent and violent in the world today is fundamental Islamic extremism. With its emphasis on violent martyrdom and conquest on “infidels,” Islam is a religion based on values that are easily twisted to an extreme. Due to their religious ...
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
The United States, like any large nation, experiences its fair share of domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism comes in two forms, within the United States, secular terrorism and religious terrorism. The broader category of terrorism, of which secular and religious terrorism fall under, is defined as a violent act committed against defenseless civilians in order to incite change. The distinctive difference between secular and religious terrorism is the motivation to commit the act. Secular terrorist are motivated by ideology, that is separate from religion, and Religious terrorist are motivated by an interpretation of their religion. Because of these terrorist acts the United States is forced to take action, in order to prevent terrorist acts,
On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the mindset and the opinion of nearly every American on the one of the most vital issues in the 21st century: terrorism (Hoffman 2). Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a perverse method of political change, one must first begin to understand what terrorism is, where it is derived from, and why there is terrorism. These issues are essential in America’s analysis of this phenomenon that has revolutionized its foreign policy and changed America’s stance in the world.
Political violence is the leading cause of wars today. Personal agendas have led to many of the political objectives that cause violence today this has caused many problems throughout the world and will continue to do so until a solution to this issue is found. Political objectives have been advanced involuntarily dependent upon the kind of government a nation exercises. For instance, in a democratic nation political groups must worry about convincing the majority in order to advance ethically. Those who try to influence the majority through acts of violence are considered today as “terror” organizations. Though perhaps if it were not because of the recent 9/11 terror attacks that maybe such warrants would not be seen as terror attacks, but instead the result of partisan advancement. Acts of terrorism have been around throughout the evolution of mankind. Terror attacks have even been traced back as far as the religious roots of an ancient middle east (Ross, Will Terrorism End?, 2006). However as man evolved, so did terrorism. Today’s extremism involves some of the main characteristics of ancient terrorism, but much more developed. Political advancement is no longer the root cause of terrorism acts. Instead influxes of “holy” wars have been appended the prior definition of terrorism. Mistakably modern terrorism has been confused for Political violence with political objectives, but research will establish that the nature of terrorism is fundamentally different from other forms of political violence.
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,