As we are approaching the new millennium, it seems that terrorism is becoming another one of society's constant problems. It has reached to an extent that most of us have now become immune to it. We hear about the hijacking of different airplanes, kidnapping of diplomatic officers, slaughter of innocent civilians. However, terrorists in most instances first strike by doing something vicious like bombing an area and bio-chemical attacks which the government and the citizens of the country can be terrified of them. Then, they make their demands: safe passage or release of their fellow terrorists. What can the government do to stop terrorism? Mr. Bush and America do not negotiate with Terrorist. Unfortunately, the United States has become the target of the most recent terrorist attacks because of its political involvement in the Middle East. The United States has had involvement in the Middle East ever since before the Gulf War which took place in the early nineteen-ninety’s. Their involvement began in the early eighty’s when they were called to help out Israel, an ally which was being harasses by Palestine.
On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacked America. It was an act of war. It’s a Different type of war that involves terrorist. It is wrong to call it criminal activity, or to treat it as a criminal matter. It is wrong to consider it as a matter in which the people responsible must be arrested, brought before a judge and tried. This is war. The attackers must be destroyed. Why is it not a criminal act? First, the scale of the slaughter is far beyond criminal activity. The number of people killed may rise to five or ten times the number killed at Pearl Harbor. Additionally, the resources required to carry out the attack, especially training given the pilots, were on the scale of that available only to governments. The moral, political, economic, and religious support necessary for these attacks have been provided over the past twenty-five years by specific governments in the Middle East. Those governments wish to destroy the Great Satan: America, freedom, achievement, trade, values, and reason. This is a war against America, her core values, and the prosperity that has followed from our pursuit of those values. The enemy is first and foremost any government who supports the active opponents of those values. This is the material fact that we must face.
Another type of terrorism is the introduction of the computer known as informational terrorism, which presents a threat, equal to or greater than physical terrorism. E-mail bombs and attacks on internet servers are the lowest forms of informational terrorism in terms of destruction. Higher forms of informational warfare include using the internet as a catalyst to produce physical terrorism on a higher scale. The terrorist groups that attack the World Trade Center use information technology. They manage to use a website (ebay.com) to transfer funds and other types of transactions. While in physical terrorism, the perpetrator must come in contact with the target. In informational terrorism the perpetrator only needs a computer connection. Not only are the tools of information terrorism more accessible but the implications can be more devastating. In conjunction with the Internet and the infancy of its laws, the criminal justice system has fallen behind with its vague set of incoherent laws.
Information technology offers new opportunities to terrorists. A terrorist organization can reap low-risk, highly visible payoffs by attacking information systems. In an effort to attract the attention of the public, political terrorists perpetrate their acts with the media at the forefront of their strategy: this strategy calculus is based on the assumption that access to the communication structure is directly related to power. In short, informational terrorism can affect millions of people, thousands of miles away, without leaving a trail for restitution. Information Terrorism is a rapidly evolving and responsive phenomenon.
It used to be said of terrorist that “they want a lot of people watching and not a of people dead”; but the new variety of killers apparently see destruction as an end I itself. Where terrorism sought to change the world—however misguidedly—the new sort is often practiced by those who believe the world is beyond redemption. According to Bruce Hoffman, an American specialist on political violence, the hallmarks of the future terrorist include “amorphous religious and millenarians aims” and vehemently anti government forms of populism, reflecting far fetched conspiracy notions.”
Already, there has been one instance on future terrorist using weapons of mass destruction---the generic term for biological, chemical and nuclear arms. Additionally, the terrorist groups that demolished the World Trade Center try to purchase an airplane use for agriculture know as “crop duster”. “Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents say they have discovered operational manuals for crop dusting aerial applications in the apartment of one of the men accused of hijacking a commercial jetliner and crashing it into the World Trade Center September 11. And investigators have confirmed that one of the hijackers inquired about purchasing a crop duster in southern Florida, accompanied by "several men", prior to the day terrorists attacked New York City and Washington, D.C. (Logan Hawks, ABC News). On March 1995, when members of the Aum Shinrikyo a supreme truth sect religion preaching a bizarre of Hindu, Buddhist and Judeo Christian beliefs---unleashed a nerve gas called sarin in the Tokyo subway, killing twelve people and injuring several thousand. The attack was botched, and intended to inflict far greater casualties. The Police found enough sarin in the sect’s possession to kill millions of people. There was no reason to make light of Aum’s founder, a half-blind herbalist and mystic called Shoko Asahara, when he pledge to eradicate major cities by using the substance. With assets of up to a billion dollars, the sect had shopped in Russia’s chaotic arms bazaar. It’s purchased include a helicopter equipped to spray deadly chemicals, and training from Special Forces in the assembly and use of rifles and rocket launchers. This type of terrorism encourages mass destruction towards an insatiable fanaticism which has no agenda other than destruction and revenge.
As technology becomes more cost effective to terrorists – that is, its availability and potential for disruptive effects rise wile its financial and other costs go down.(Devost, 2) “To combat this growing threat, many members of Congress have recently proposed anti-terrorist legislation.”(Terrorism, 1) In my opinion the response to terrorism is too late. When presented with an act of violence the counter-action will involve violence. After the operation has transpired the anti-terrorism is only vengeance. The only true way to combat terrorism and terrorist activities is prevention. “The war against terrorism will be a protracted conflict.” (Responding, 5) “Terrorism for the foreseeable future will remain a weapon of choice for government groups, and other parties to conflict.” (Responding, 4)