In recent years the world has been one of the worst scourges known: terrorism. A general definition of terrorism is mentioned in Resolution 1269 of the Security Council of Unites Nations: "... a terrorist act is any act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian or any other person not taking direct part in hostilities in a armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do an act or refrain from doing so." However, how to understand this phenomenon? What are its implications?
In the first place, terrorism is a way open to all acts of violence, degrading and intimidating, and applied without any moral reservation or concern. From September 11 there has been a revival of terrorism, within the concept of National and International Security, the Terrorism recovers importance, and it is seen as the enemy of the world. An enemy that is willing to strike at any time to any country or person indiscriminately in order to achieve their aims.
In the second place, terrorism can be understood as a kind of war. War in the wider sense, can be understood as a clash between two or more entities to achieve specific purposes. In the internal civil wars are two ideologically contrasting parts within the same state they come into constant conflict. Related to the phenomenon of terrorism, war plays a major role as many of the terrorist acts related to civil and ethnic wars in defense of an ethnic group or simply an ideology to destabilize the country or enemy group.
Generally, the contemporary terrorist act is carried out by a dissident group, rather than a particular country. The best example is the attacks are September 11, called Tuesday black in America. This completely revolutionized the systems of defense and national security of the country, generating a change in the political system and how to receive inputs to the demands and fear of people.
Among the most important implications of terrorism is the psychological terror that occurs in countries where it operates. It has often been said that terrorism seeks to kill a few to terrorize many. The objective of warfare is to conquer a territory or knock out an enemy unit, i.e. physical targets. The purpose of terrorism is in contrast to terrorize a population to force a government to act in certain ways, a psychological purpose. You could say that the psychological effects are greater than the physical, with the exception of acts of attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Every day we see the other implication of terrorism, the death of innocents. Continuously, the world is shaken with news of attacks produced in public, where innocent people are killed and completely unrelated to the war. Although the ends sought by this form of unconventional warfare may have a political, religious, in the pursuit of these, committing countless atrocities.
You could say that terrorism must be understood as the deliberate killing of innocent people haphazardly, with the immediate aim of spreading fear and terror throughout the population in order to achieve these policy objectives, ideological and religious. For example, the IRA or the Irish Republican Army dissidents, who are blamed for car bomb attack in Omaha in 1998 that left 29 dead, or ETA, which has killed over 800 people, including Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, in 1973.
You could say that terrorism must be understood as the deliberate killing of innocent people haphazardly, with the immediate aim of spreading fear and terror throughout the population in order to achieve these policy objectives, ideological and religious. For example, the IRA or the Irish Republican Army dissidents, who are blamed for car bomb attack in Omaha in 1998 that left 29 dead, or ETA, which has killed over 800 people, including Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, in 1973.
We can conclude that terrorism is not justified under any circumstances because there are peaceful means to resolve conflicts. Such violence threatens the greatest right we have as human beings: life. But terrorism also requires concrete actions by governments to eradicate as it is one of the biggest global problems, Not Only for USA, but for the rest of the world.
Sources
TERRORIST (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism
TERRORIST (n.d.). Website of Unities Nations. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from www.un.org/en/sc/ctc/docs/bestpractices/unodc_modellegislation.doc
The Dangerous Possibility of Islamic Terror in Sri Lanka. Website of Lankaweb. Retrieved November 15, from http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2010/08/22/the-dangerous-possibility-of-islamic-terror-in-sri-lanka/
History of terrorist. Website of .docstoc.com; Retrieved November 15, 2010, from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/445036/the-history-of-terrorism-from-antiquity-to-al-qaeda978052024709329084