The Global Threat from Terrorism

The first decade of the 21st century  became witness to the most terrible terrorist attack on American soil. For the first time since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the United States had experienced a violent act of terrorism. On September 11, 2001, the United States once more became aware of the worldwide danger of terrorism, the greatest threat to international security and peace during this present time. Terrorism involves extremes acts of violence and aggression, varying from bombings, hostage taking and the indiscriminate killings of civilians by organized groups or hostile states. All of these crimes are committed and "justified" by the groups ideological beliefs or agenda. In different regions of the world, terrorist groups either operate worldwide, like Al Queda, or may just be active in one country or region, as the IRA exists in Northern Ireland. Terrorism may gain support stemming from key root causes: extreme poverty in a country which turns civilians into the fold of extremist groups as a possible way to change their lives; ethnic or religious differences that fuel civil division and prompt the rise of insurgent groups who use conflict in the name of their cause. Though these causes can be viewed sympathetically, they do not excuse for violence perpetrated by terrorist groups that have destroyed and ruined life's all around the world. The problem today with combating terrorism is that these groups usually do not engage in conventional warfare. They instead to fight using guerilla style tactics, focusing on small fights and ambushes rather than a full engagement. These are the kinds of engagements that have framed the conduct of the current War on Terror. Our soldiers in Afghanistan face these dangers on a daily basis as they struggle to stabilize that country and defeat the insurgent Taliban. However, terrorist attacks have also been attempted recently on America. The attempted Christmas Day Bombing almost about a year ago reminds us that the terrorist threat still poses a constant threat to our country and allies across the world.