Salem High School

Salem, Missouri 

Chris Case
Teacher: Mr. Hendricks

Terrorism

        Terrorism is a growing issue among this complicated world.  There has been terrorism since the Middle Ages.  To my knowledge it has never really been successful.  My definition of terrorism is a person or group who do or take part in a violent act against innocent people whose outcome is causality or psychologically damaged.    I don’t see how anybody in their right mind could take part in these kinds of acts.  Then again, other people cant really see why we run our country the way that we do.  As long as there are people on this earth we will never agree on things such as politics and religion and so forth.  There will always be disputes about these things.  This is also why there will always be terrorism in this world too. 

        I really don’t think there is anything that anyone can do to stop terrorism because people will always disagree about such things and try and do something stupid to show that they disagree.  This is why I think that we have terrorism.  Every political group will always have their arguments about which way to run a country and how much better their ways to run

the country are better than other people’s ways. 

        You really get this problem whenever you get into religion.  There are so many different religion choices and views that it would be impossible to set a world religion.  For the whole world to believe and follow in one religion would make things a lot better I believe.  Even though this is totally out of the question, even for a single community, it would never happen. 

        The definition for terrorism in Webster’s Dictionary is.. 1.  The act of terrorizing; use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate, and subjugate. Such use as a political policy or weapon.  2.  The demoralization and intimidation produced in this way. I think that this is a good basic definition for terrorism.  The federal government needs specific definitions for this so that when something happens in this nature they can decide what to do about it and how to classify it. 

        I think that President Bush did a good job in dealing with the September 11th event at first even though he didn’t know who did it.  I really wonder if the C.I.A. didn’t know about it in the first place.  Reading that article off of the Internet really opened my mind for ideas that I never had thought about.  Personally, I don’t think that they did because they probably would Have done everything in their power to stop it. 

        I think that terrorist attacks really wake a country or providence up because there are countries out there that think that they are invincible like we (the U.S.) thought we were.  The terrorist attack on the U.S. really changed the way that we ourselves and other countries look at us.  We know now that things can happen to us also and other countries and terrorist organizations see that also.  They also know that the U.S. will take authority over the situation and find the people who try and do things like terrorizing our country. 

        It’s really scary knowing what could really happen if they could be carried out.  Nuclear warfare is what scares me.  Just knowing what could have been in those warehouses that the U.N. tried to inspect and couldn’t kind of gets me pretty antsy.  Atomic bombs and nuclear warfare would be a great problem for the whole world.  I live exactly 18 miles in a straight line from Ft. Leonard Wood.  If we got into a biological war with another country I would be greatly terrified because I know that Ft. Leonard Wood would be one of their targets.  If one of the nuclear bombs were dropped there, then my house and places around it would be totally destroyed.  I really don’t like to think about it though.  I just know that there are people out there dumb enough to pull an event like this that could ruin a lot of lives.

        The soul purpose of the Afghan rebels and the terrorist who attacked New York are just hoping that the people of this country would turn against each other and ruin our country.  Throughout history terrorism has never worked but has caused a lot of problems.  These problems will always arise and there’s really nothing that we can do about it but punish the people who pull these horrible acts. 

        One of the famous acts of terrorism was when Guerilla Princip assassinated Francis Ferdinand.  Francis Ferdinand was the archduke of the Austria-Hungary empire.  He was meeting politicians in Sarajevo, Bosnia to discuss joining Bosnia and Serbia.  There was a terrorist group called the Blackhand who was against all of this.  They decided to shoot the archduke while riding in his topless car going down one of the main streets in Sarajevo.  When the archduke and his wife got within shooting range Princip shot and killed both of them.  This was a major act of terrorism that caused the outbreak of World War I.  This is one of the few acts that have been successful in the world’s history.

        I’m sure that there will be successful acts in the future but many people cant just figure out what cause these attacks.  Since the terrorist don’t want anything or don’t use anything to bribe countries, it’s hard to stop these attacks and know when they are going to take place.  I just guess some people are just born into terrorism because their parents or family might be in a terrorist organization and that’s all they grow up knowing what to do.  I think that some people are actually influenced so much by other People’s actions that they think that they are doing something good or not doing anything wrong at all. 

        I guess that this subject will always be discussable but I really don’t think that there is any way that we can prevent terrorism.  There are ways that we could probably help prevent it but all in all I don’t think that we can solve it for good or even make it disappear even though we’d like to.   

Q1- Why, in your opinion, was the United States attacked?      
I think the United States was attacked because we have gotten used to being hated by other countries that we give it no thought any more.  This makes us a perfect target.  Also we have done things to other countries that made us look like a bad country with no ethics.  “ Like shooting down Libyan planes and bombing Beirut”.  These things might not seem bad to us but it could profusely upset other people outside the U.S.          

Q2- Why is the first question so important to resolve and agree upon?    
If we don’t know why we were attacked then it would be hard to take action without it back-firing.  Anything that we would do with combat could easily turn back on us. 

Q3- What action or inaction by the United States and its allies, in the author’s opinion, increased the likelihood of chemical and biological attacks?     
The author thinks the deal with Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow inspections of suspected Iraqi manufacturing facilities for weapons.  The author really thinks that this situation could come back to haunt us.  There’s no telling what was made and how it could be used against us. 

Q4- Why does the author believe the United States is a popular target for terrorists?    
The author believes that we were attacked because of either us getting used to other countries hating and despising us or the occasions that were dealt with by the military between us and Libya, Beirut, or Iran.  Either one of these things could be enough to give terrorist enough self reason to attack the U.S.

Q5- What motivates terrorists, in the author’s opinion?     
Every terrorists group has to have some sort of enemy.  This enemy doesn’t even have to do anything to them but just be against their ethics and values.  The group will find something about them that they don’t like and then attempt to terrorize their country.  I think that it all comes down to jealousy part of the time but there could be other reasons.

Q6- What reasons does the author give for the intense hatred of the United States by people like Osama bin Ladin?    
Osama bin Ladin is totally against the American living culture.  He thinks that everyone in the United States is the devil and he really wants all of us dead.  Osama wants to take over the U.S. by trying to get the American people going against one another.

Q7- How does rule by divine right preclude the reasoned debate that occurs naturally in a democracy?    

Q8- What evidence does the author offer that the terrorism visited upon the United States on September 11, 2001 was based on religious rather than political fanaticism?    
The terrorist show that it is a religious issue because we do not follow their religious beliefs and don’t worship their god.  They do not want to do no negotiating or want something out of us but to change into Muslim beliefs and to turn the world over to them.  This shows that this is a religious issue and not a political one.
Q9- What is a fatwah?    
This is a specific religious order that certain people follow.
Q10- Why does the author think new attacks are likely and how does he/she suggest we stop them?     
With the success of the September 11^th incident, it inspires all other terrorist to attempt to try and do the same thing.  The terrorist are not afraid to die and they welcome it in some circumstances.  It doesn’t matter if we catch the people who were involved with the recent incident, it matter if we can stop the crazy people who are willing to try and do the same thing or something even more drastic. 
Q11- Why does the author claim that declaring war is futile? What two historical examples does he/she give to back up this claim?    
The two historical examples are Vietnam and the Persian gulf wars.  America is used to fighting full blow wars in which we know who the enemy is and where the are located geographically.  Fighting the terrorist or a religious group would be certainly different.  We have to identify these people before we can engage in a full blown war of some kind.
Q12- Complete this sentence using the author’s words: “A declaration of war implies . . . 
a conflict of limited duration in which one side eventually surrenders or capitulates and the other side wins.
Q13- What does the author suggest we do?     

He thinks that the U.S. should not fight according to the traditional rules because if we do then we will lose.  We should not fight by the rules if we fight at all.  We have the right to protect ourselves so we should take advantage of that. 
Q14- Explain the significance of the Coventry story.     
It shows how being patient, even though how hard it is, could help you a lot more in the long run.  Churchill could of saved that city but then the Germans would know that their messages were being decoded.  By waiting the British could be totally ready for the Germans the next time and bring the war to an end. 
Q15- Suppose you were a general in a combat situation. Could you “consort with evil to prevent larger evil”?   Why or why not?     
I could do this only knowing that I could even make a bigger difference by waiting.  If I didn’t know about the difference that I could of made then I don’t know if I could hold back from stopping them.
Q16- The author says something is unAmerican. What is it? Do you think the author is correct? Please write out your own definition of unAmerican.      
He says that turning our anger on the Islams because they are unable to get the real villains is un-American.  Being un-American is doing something that no other American would think about doing that is un-ethical or moral.  Doing something that would give America a bad name.     
Q17- Do you agree that terrorism must be defined adequately in order to be stopped?    

I think there is no way to stop terrorism totally but I think that it can be reduced.  It must be defined adequetly so the terrorist can be sought out and be punished.
Q18- How important do you think it is for you to research, discuss and consider the definition of terrorism? Are you willing to spend the time it takes to give your definition your very best effort? Why or why not?    
I think that it is very important that we know what the definition of terrorism is and I would spend my time trying to find the right answer to it.  I think that it would be a good thing to do research and discuss this topic in class because everyone has their own views to the subject.
Q19- Were you able to define terrorism in your essay without admitting that the United States has been guilty of terrorist acts?

Q20- Are you optimistic about the future? Will you pledge to do your part in pursuing mutual understanding? Why or why not?

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