BHS 411 Issues of Terrorism Mod 3 SLP - Essay Example

Order: 256489 Issues of Terrorism Post-9/11, the USA has mercifully had no terrorist attack, but that is no reason for complacency. While not even a soothsayer can say when there will be one, the USA needs to realize that no country is immune to the scourge. That means the USA cannot afford to lower its guard. The choice of target the next time around cannot be guessed, either, because it will be determined by the diabolical calculations, aims and objectives of the terrorists at the time of the attack.

The last time it was the World Trade Center because the desperados wanted to cripple the USA economically, though they did not succeed. But there is no knowing what the target of the homicidal maniacs will be the next time around.“Political terrorism is not likely to disappear from the stage, but viewing it as a theater may help prevent mindless tragedies. Down go the houselights, up goes the curtain, and then—bang. The stage becomes alive with the sounds, the lights and the characters of a highly dramatic performance.

The actors are political terrorists, protagonists of much modern tragedy, and their theater is the globe.” (Rubin Z. Jeffrey and Friedland Nehemia; “Theater of Terror”, Psychology Today; March 1986; p. 240)Whoever can be suspected of sponsoring terrorist attacks on the USA? True, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been consistent in his anti-American stance. It has also been said that he has some mental health problems. But anti-American rhetoric need not necessarily translate into funding of terrorism against the USA.

After all, his country is far too close to the USA for him to risk retaliation that could leave Venezuela reduced to rubble. Besides, whether or not he has mental health problems, he is not insane enough not to worry about the oil reserves in his country.Therefore, the obvious suspects need not necessarily prove guilty. Yes, Iran and North Korea are hostile enough to the USA to be expected to train and fund a terrorist attack on the USA, but the former looks far too obsessed with its nuclear ambitions to invite US retaliation; North Korea clearly lacks the resources to fund a terrorist attack.

Does that mean the USA is more or less safe? No, it does not, for the very valid reason that international terrorist groups are, by and large, self-sufficient. For instance, not long ago it became known that the money that the oil-rich Saudis had given away in charity had found its way into terrorists’ coffers, and there are some rogue states willing to sell sophisticated arms to terrorist groups, little realizing that in the process they create Frankensteins that may end up by gobbling them.

Additionally, every time there is a terrorist strike anywhere in the world, the media report it, though not consciously, in such a way as to make heroes of the attackers. To be believed, to be heard or to have an impact, terrorists need to be experts in the art of amplification or exaggeration, the real wizardry of the theater. A political terrorist’s first job is to get and hold the attention of the audience. “We typically think of terrorists as having short-term goals, such as obtaining the release of prisoners” (as they did when they hijacked an Indian airplane to Kandahar in Afghanistan) “or some governmental admission of guilt, but their most important objective is to attract an audience and deliver a message.

” (Rubin Z. Jeffrey and Friedland Nehemia; “Theater of Terror”; Psychology Today; March 1986; p.240).In terrorist situations, media personnel look a bit like drama critics who convey information to a group much larger than the immediate theater audience. Terrorists usually do all they can to make sure that the media tell about the event in sufficient detail, with emphasis and color to attract and hold the audience’s attention. The media are important to terrorists because they not only relay information but interpret it as well; and in a free society, a democracy, there is, sometimes unfettered, freedom of expression.

It would, however, be perverse to argue that media personnel reporting a terrorist attack show sneaking sympathy for the perpetrators of the outrage. In the process of reporting, despite all the professional sifting that goes into it, some information creeps in, and it proves to the advantage of terrorists. After all, only one who has taken leave of one’s senses can argue that media personnel are less patriotic than the rest of their countrymen.Finally, it needs to be admitted that, despite its global reach, the USA is not in a position to monitor the movements and designs even of such terrorist groups as al-Qaeda as lust for the blood of Americans.

The ramifications of terrorism have become far too extensive to be monitored, much less checked, by any one country. Therefore, the only way to fight international terrorism is through international effort; the United Nations must draw up a treaty to be signed by all countries so that a global fight may be launched against global terrorism. The days of localized containment of terrorism are well past. (850 words) . .