Salem High School
           Salem, MO

Teacher: Mr. Hendricks
        J.C. Flores

What is terrorism?  In this essay I will try to give you an exact definition of the word “terrorism”.  Let’s start out by giving the definition of terrorism out of Webster’s dictionary:  Terrorism:  Noun.  1.  The act of terrorizing; use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate, and subjugate, esp. such use as a political weapon or policy.  2.  the demoralization and intimidation produced in this way.      

That is a good definition, but it doesn’t tell us what we want to know.  We know many instances where we, as a nation, have declared some event an act of terrorism.  The horrific incident that happened on September 11, 2001 was considered an act of terrorism.  Afghans decided to fly a plane into our buildings and kill a whole lot of people.  I will agree that that was wrong, but the United States is not the most innocent and perfect country.  We have bombed so many countries that it is no wonder we get bombed sometimes.  We shot down two Libyan planes in 1981, bombed Beirut in 1983-4, bombed Libya in 1986, sank an Iranian ship in 1987, shot down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, shot down two Libyan planes in 1989, bombed Iraq repeatedly in the 1990s, and bombed Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998.  We stick our noses into every conflict that happens in the world.  We have to police every situation that goes on.  We have sent troops to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Panama, Somalia, Yemen, Phillipines, South Korea, Germany, and Turkey.  That is just a recent list.  It would be very difficult for someone to name a country that the United States has not been involved with sometime or another.  When we interfer with a civil war or just a plain war, we always help the side that we think should win.  So we choose a side and back it up.  After we choose a side, we will look for something wrong that the other side has done and explot that to the media and have the media broadcast it so the whole nation is behind the fact that were are helping out one side.  No one stops and thinks about the fact that the side that we are helping is probably guilty of the exact same thing, we just don’t know about it.  When we got involved in the Korean War, we wanted the South Koreans to win.  So what we did was we found something that the North Koreans did and exploted it.  We made propaganda out of the wrongs that the North Koreans did and overlooked the wrongs the South Koreans did.  Typical of the United States.  By making propaganda, we demoralize the country that we don’t want to win. 

The United States are also really good at intimidating countries.  We will send troops over and police what they do, when in reality, we are trying to threaten them so they don’t do any harsh or irrational things toward us.  The U. S. has sent troops over to Saudi Arabia to “watch” over the search for nuclear weapons.  America sent troops to help free Kuwait.  Now, that might have been a nice thing to do when we were doing it, but were they really that bad off, or were we just making everyone think that they had it so bad?  We sent troops to Panama, Lebanon, Manila, Bosnia, and Vietnam, just to name a few. 

 To subjugate, have we ever done that before?  Yes, we have.  We have threaten other countries to overcome them and bend them to do whatever we say.  For example, we threaten Saddam Husseine when he said that he wouldn’t do the nuclear weapon search.  We have threaten so many countries just because they wouldn’t do what we wanted them to do, it really isn’t funny. 

So when you want a good definition of the word terrorism, you can basically sum it all up by saying, “The United States.”  The United States is one of the biggest terrorist there are.  We throw our weight around and act like we are the rulers of the planet.  Then we get mad when someone does it to us.  Yes, granted, what happened to us was wrong, but it was also wrong when we bombed Hiroshima.  More people died over there than on September 11.  But did we think that we were in the wrong, no.  We have this false illusion that whatever we do, our actions are always right.  Well they aren’t.  Many of the things that the United States has done in the past were wrong.  If we stop and think about it we all have to agree: we were not in the right by bombing all those countries like Japan, Beirut, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan.

The fastest way to stop terrorism in the world would be for us, as a nation, to stop committing acts of terrorism ourselves.  We have to stop doing things that are wrong unless we want things like that done to us.  It’s a miracle Japan hasn’t bombed us into oblivion by now, or Saddam hasn’t sent a couple of hundred warheads aimed at Washington D.C. by now, or any of the other countries that we have ticked off in the past haven’t come back and bit us in the rear end.  One day though, I think, the United States will be reprimanded for what we have done.  I hope I am not around for that day.  Am I an American?  Yes, I am.  I do think that it was wrong that Afghans flew the planes into the buildings and killed so many innocent lives.  However, we are just as guilty as they are.  When we stop doing all the things that we are so good at doing, threatening other countries, demoralizing other countries, and subjugating other countries; then and only then, can we sit in our homes and complain about how its not fair how some Afghan people flew planes into our buildings and killed so many people.  

Questions 

Q1- Why, in your opinion, was the United States attacked?

A1- I feel that the United States was attacked because the terrorists were carrying out a part of a religious agenda.  They were doing what they thought to be the correct and right thing to do.  Just like we have priest that hold sermons every Sunday, because they think that it is what God wants; the terrorists attacked to U.S. because that is what they thought their god would want.         

Q2- Why is the first question so important to resolve and agree upon?

A2-  It is important for us to resolve and come to an agreement on the first question because we need to decide if what they did was an act of terrorism or an act of religious obligation.  We, as a country, must decide the answer.  Before we attack Afghanistan and declare war on them, we must decide what to do when we attack them.  The terrorist are on a religious quest to take out the United States.  We must decide if we are able to handle a foe such as them.  The terrorists are not afraid of death, due to the fact that they are guaranteed a place in Heaven when they die.  We haven’t gone up against that yet, and I don’t feel that we can engage that  yet.

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?

A3-  The author stated that  the US and its allies backed down from Saddam Hussein's refusal to allow inspections of suspected Iraqi weapons manufacturing facilities. 

Q4- Why does the author believe the United States is a popular target for terrorists?

A4-  The author says that the reason that the United States is a popular target for terrorists was that we have done so many things that are wrong and can be considered acts of terrorism; like United States shot down two Libyan planes in 1981, bombed Beirut in 1983-4, bombed Libya in 1986, sank an Iranian ship in 1987, shot down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988 and two more Libyan planes in 1989, bombed Iraq repeatedly in the 1990s and Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998.  These things we have done and are proud of them.

Q5- What motivates terrorists, in the author’s opinion?

A5-  The author states that the terrorist are motivated by the fact that the United States have done so many wrong things and don’t feel bad about it.  We also gloat on the acts we have done.  We are the strongest country in the world and the terrorist think that a country like ours should be the poorest country.

Q6- What reasons does the author give for the intense hatred of the United States by people like Osama bin Laden?

A6-  People like bin Laden think that what we have done to all the Islamic countries around there is wrong.  We have gotten used to being hated by everyone and we don’t really care what everyone else thinks.  We are also the strongest and most economically inclined people in the world.  That makes it hard for Islamic leaders to say that if  you don’t follow their religion that  you will be poor and be sent to hell.  This makes people like bin Laden very mad and vengeful.

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

A7-  When someone rules by divine right; they are chosen by God to rule the country and have absolute power over anyone.  But on the other hand, with a democracy, there is a leader, but the people of that country still have a say in what goes on in that country.

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?

A8-  The fact that bin Laden had, in 1998, issued a fatwah to kill all the Americans, is good evidence. 

Q9- What is a fatwah?

A9-  A fatwah is an explicit religious order, making it the holy duty of Muslims to do what is stated in the order.

Q10- Why does the author think new attacks are likely and how does he/she suggest we stop them?

A10-  The author states that there will be more attacks will come because of the great success of the last attack.  The family of bin Laden and himself will be glorified like a holy guardian of their religion.  That will cause the terrorist to attack again.  The author suggests that we can stop them by understanding our enemy first.  Once we have found out how our enemy fights and does stuff, then we can go to war with them.  If we do, they won’t play by any rules, so we can’t either.

Q11- Why does the author claim that declaring war is futile? What two historical examples does he/she give to back up this claim?

A11-  We can’t declare war on an enemy that we don’t know and isn’t afraid of death.  It is futile; we have a bad track record with two instances.  One is when we can't identify the enemy geographically (e.g., the War on Drugs), and the other is when we try to fight on a limited basis (Vietnam, the Persian Gulf).

Q12- Complete this sentence using the author’s words: “A declaration of war implies . . .

A12-  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?

A13-  The author suggests that we learn our enemy before we do anything dumb.  On "declaring war" very satisfying words when we're angry, but we have to give this some more thought before we go off and shoot ourselves in the foot

Q14- Explain the significance of the Coventry story.

A14-  The significance of the Coventry story was to express the point that we have to keep the enemy thinking that we are ignorant.  Churchill had to allow the Germans to bomb the Coventry to keep the fact that the Allied Forces knew the German code secret.

Q15- Suppose you were a general in a combat situation. Could you “consort with evil to prevent larger evil”?   Why or why not?

A15-  If I was general in a combat situation; I could consort to evil to prevent larger evil.  I would do anything it took to get the greater evil out of the picture.

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. 

A16-  The author says that it is un-American when something done for the country isn’t done in the best interest for the country.  I think that the author is correct in saying that.  Un-American to me is when something is done that is against the Constitution and is harmful to the country as a whole. 

Q17- Do you agree that terrorism must be defined adequately in order to be stopped? 

A17-  Yes.  Before we attack these people for doing acts of terrorism, we must first know clearly what terrorism is.  We cannot as a nation, attack someone for something that we are guilty of ourselves.

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?

A18-  I think that it is very important to know exactly know what we are going to persecute.  I am willing to spend the time to give the best definition.  I think that it is important that people know that so they can know what to do when the time comes. 

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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