Terrorism Stripped Down Ashley Cunningham March 19th 2015 INR3003 01 Reaction Paper 2 Terrorism can be defined in many different ways Cronin s definition of terrorism is simple Terrorism is composed of radical acts against a government to instill an emotionally crippling fear demanding attention that cannot be ignored 32 According to Cronin there are three major aspects of terrorism that everyone can agree on First the despicable crimes are meant to bring justice to the negatively affected party Second the group is a non state character meaning they do not agree with their state s political decision making they are outraged citizens rather than law enforcement or civil war participants Lastly terrorists intentionally hurt innocent people but try to play it off as accidental 33 For example the United States sends airstrikes to the Middle East hoping to kill the bad guys but accidentally hurt innocent civilians in the process this is different from terrorist attacks because the US does not want to purposely hurt innocent civilians I agree with Cronin s definition of terrorism because she uses relatable examples to support her evidence such as the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa and the September 11th incidents 33 There are differences between leftist rightist and ethno nationalist terrorist groups relating to their motives of gaining attention Leftist terrorists want to replace their state s capitalist structure with a communist one 39 Their goal is to promote fairness and freedom for all of society not just a select few caused by uneven distribution of power An example of a leftist group was the 1960s Black Panther Party based out of Oakland California They used aggressive and violent rebel tactics to protect the undermined black communities and also attempted to overthrow the United States government Baggins Leftist terrorists are more extreme than rightist ones Rightist terrorists aim to convert existing governments to nationalist fascist ones Basically these are people who want to protect their homeland from foreign invaders in order to preserve their nationality 40 The American Immigration Control Foundation is a relevant example of a rightist group Their goal is to preserve American freedom for only legal citizens and to deter immigrants from illegally crossing borders into our country Ethno nationalist terrorists are the most rational of the three kinds because their motives are clearly known either they want to have control over certain territory or they want to create their own independence 40 Usually these terrorists all have the same ethnic background and share common discriminations against their kind bonding them further An example of this group is the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia They assassinated a Turkish diplomat as payback for the 1915 Armenian Genocide Varol Armenia wanted to show that they were still hurting from the prejudiced acts carried out against them Outdoing all three of those groups are religious terrorist organizations Cronin describes five notable characteristics of religious terrorists First these terrorists are relentless when it comes to their faith If a person does not believe in their religion they automatically assume they are sinners which is not taken lightly Second they perform crude acts because they believe it will satisfy their deity which is completely irrational Third they consider themselves above the law Fourth they want to completely replace rather than improve existing governments Lastly and most worrisome they have support globally not just regionally their wide spread is intimidating to the international community 41 42 For example people from all over the world not just Muslims are joining and supporting ISIS Only a very powerful group has the ability to persuade multiple nations to join their cause The current wave of globalization is aiding the war on terrorism through two main channels One is advancement in technology and two is their increasing ability to collect financial resources 46 Technology allows terrorists to communicate with each other more effectively through the Internet and cell phones Through these devices they can arrange synchronized attacks instill fear worldwide via viral Internet videos of beheadings and fool their enemy by planting faulty attack locations via GPS cell phone trackers 48 Also the Internet has granted them access on how to build Chemical Biological Nuclear and Radiological CBNR weapons Financial security is a must for any organization to survive Terrorists have found ways to fund their operations through money laundering producing and selling drugs and stealing charity money from nonprofit organizations 49 The main objectives of terrorist organizations boil down to these main points Terrorists the Arabs in particular are upset that their states are crippled economically politically and militarily 53 Cronin points out that the Arab world is also frustrated with the United States involvement in various international relations probably those where the US is assisting other states before them 52 Since the Middle East virtually has no control they are taking their frustrations out via terror attacks It is seemingly the only way to bring to light the unequal distribution of worldly power and resources With no legitimate powers terrorists know the only card they can play is the scare tactic 54 I agree with Cronin that modern terrorism is a product of a power struggle not the pursuit of religious principle 55 Al Qaeda manipulates suicide bombers to believe they are killing people to please their deity However they are explicitly exploiting religion to achieve their overall goal of gaining power within the international community Bibliography Baggins Brian History of the Black Panther Party Marxists Internet Archive marx org 2002 18 Mar 2015 Cronin Audrey K Behind the Curve Globalization and International Terrorism International Security 27 3 2003 30 58 Web 18 Mar 2015 Varol Zeyneb Turkey remembers diplomat assassinated by Armenian group ASALA Daily Sabah Turkuvaz 28 Jan 2015 Web 18 Mar 2015 Vinson John AIC Foundation American Immigration and Control Foundation Web 18 Mar 2015
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