Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Terrorism Influences free essay sample

Through the last 200 years, the concept of terrorism has been used to as a reference to political motivations and has been used a way to obtain liberation, oppression, and international global politics (â€Å"State Of Delaware†, 2012). Since the terrorist attacks, police departments have adopted homeland security measures. Every police department has a homeland security measure and also added counterterrorism to their regular mission to enhance their capabilities. Police departments have obtained terrorism related equipment and training and recent grant allocations are a clear illustration of how things have changed since 9/11. Communities and individuals are more aware of their surroundings and are willing to cooperate with new security measures created as a result of terrorist attacks. â€Å"Through the past two hundred years, terrorism has been used to achieve political ends and has developed as a tool for liberation, oppression, and international global politics† (â€Å"State Of Delaware†, 2012). The Russian Revolution and Irish Republican Army Influence on Western Hemisphere The Russian revolution was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. It was here that the idealization of revolutionary terrorism first surfaced. â€Å"Revolutionary Terrorism emerged as a strategic companion piece to the rise of various ideologies in the middle 1800s. Hand-in-hand with the failure of the relatively peaceful revolutions which had swept across Europe in 1848, many nationalists, anarchists and socialists were tempted by the politics of the gun† (Bowen, 2011). The Irish Republican Army (IRA), fought an insurgency that challenged British rule during the twentieth century. Warfare between 1916-1921 created an independent Irish Free State in 1921. The old IRA’s leadership agreed to allow Ireland’s six northern counties to remain under British rule. The IRA rejected this partition so it organized a civil war. During the late 1960’s, feelings of discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland instigated civil disobedience and violence. â€Å"The Irish Rebellion (1919 1921) The Irish War of 1919 brought three concepts to the development of terrorism (1) selective terrorism, (2) sustained terror over time and (3) cell operations† (â€Å"State Of Delaware†, 2012). During the late 1960’s, the IRA used to be considered one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. The IRA is responsible for 1,800 deaths that include 650 civilians, British troops, police officers, prison guards, and judges. Many of these people were unarmed or off-duty officers (Gregory, 2010). The Russian revolution and the Irish Republican Army influenced terrorism in the Western hemisphere by encouraging people to get involved in activism. Those involved in this activism were motivated by economic and idealistic reasons. College students who were encountering bad economic situations and who blamed the government for the hardships engaged in violent acts as a way to destroy industrialized capitalist structures. The Irish war provided the concept of terrorism to change aspects in society. They also introduced the concept of cell operation. Each cell has a specific goal or objective and each cell only knows that members who belong to that cell. Left-Wing Guerilla and Right-Wing Terrorism Left-wing guerilla ideological terrorism views the government as authoritarian and corrupt. The ideology for these groups is influenced by communist and socialist views. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces) in Colombia is a left-wing guerrilla. They are anti-American and have drawn support from the other communist and socialist countries such as Cuba and Soviet Union (Hanson, 2009). Right-wing terrorists are anti-Marxist and religious. This group supports the economic system and are usually in rural areas. They concentrate attacks on government figures. Modern right-wing terrorism began to appear in Western Europe around 1980’s. Their beliefs include racism, opposition to immigration and people from other countries. â€Å"Some of these forms of terrorism have long traditions: violence against ethnic, racial, sexual and political minorities has been going on for decades, and even centuries, in some countries† (â€Å"War On Terrorism And Racism†, 2011). Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism The introduction of weapons of mass destruction into terrorism has triggered the creation of new departments that have the responsibility to analyze all types of threat information in a single location. Such weapons include biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological devices, and range from the silent threat of a poison gas attack to a cataclysmic nuclear explosion. Those who would launch such attacks know thousands could die, of course, but their fundamental motive would be to strike fear and panic in tens of millions more† (Porteus, 2006). The likelihood of terrorists being able to produce or ob tain weapons of mass destruction is the result of loose controls of the technology to produce such weapons, during the time of the former Soviet states. Weapons of mass destruction are very hard to produce and obtain. Some terrorist organizations have tried to develop the capabilities for weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States. Terrorist motivations are extreme and their ambitions seem limitless. The main goal is to keep terrorists from accessing materials or the means to manufacture the necessary components for creating weapons of mass destruction. Modern Terrorism and Creation of Department of Homeland Security The Department of Homeland Security was created on November 25, 2002 as a result of the 9/11 attacks. According to the DHS website their mission is the following: â€Å"The vision of homeland security is to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and way of life can thrive. Three key concepts form the foundation of our national homeland security strategy designed to achieve this vision: Security, Resilience, and Customs and Exchange†. The Department of Homeland Security was created, as a response to the various security needs the United States needed as a result of modern terrorism. A number of agencies were combined to form the DHS. Modern Terrorism and Interagency Relationships Modern terrorism has changed the relationships between federal, state, and local government, and private corporations in a positive way. The war on terrorism has changed the mission of law enforcement and security agencies by emphasizing the need for interagency cooperation and communication. The Patriot Act is a good example of the need for interagency cooperation. The Patriot Act was created as a response to the 9/11 attacks. It was created to reduce the restrictions law enforcement agencies faced when gathering information during terrorism investigations, it expanded the authority to regulate financial transactions involving foreign individuals and entities broadened the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism. The definition of terrorism was also expanded and now it included domestic terrorism. As a result of the war on terrorism, law enforcement’s powers have been expanded. In conclusion, the Russian revolution was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. It was here that the idealization of revolutionary terrorism first surfaced. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought an insurgency that challenged British rule during the twentieth century. The Russian revolution and the Irish Republican Army influenced terrorism in the Western hemisphere by encouraging people to get involved in activism. Those involved in this activism were motivated by economic and idealistic reasons. Left-wing guerilla ideological terrorism views the government as authoritarian and corrupt. The ideology for these groups is influenced by communist and socialist views. Right-wing terrorists are anti-Marxist and religious. This group supports the economic system and are usually in rural areas. The introduction of weapons of mass destruction into terrorism has triggered the creation of new departments that have the responsibility to analyze all types of threat information in a single location. The Department of Homeland Security was created, as a response to the various security needs the United States needed as a result of modern terrorism.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.