Terrorist groups have been a huge concern across the world. They cause destruction, terror, death and fear of safety to those who are innocent victims. The terrorist groups that have evolved over time are deadly and do not have any compassion for humanity. The groups are formed with individuals who have the same beliefs, norms, and goals that are of harmful consequences. They target governments, organizations, and political scenarios that they want to take out because they do not believe in what the targets stand for. Many groups have had national attention and more are being born across the world. We know how groups come together and cause terrorism in the world. How does a terrorist group stop what they are doing? What strategies occur that caused a certain terrorist group to come to an end? This question will be researched and groups will be explored to find out what puts a halt on terrorism.
In order to figure out how to put an end to a terrorist group is to research how past groups have ended. There needs to be an investigation into the focused groups that are needing to cease. It is important to know how a group works before trying to stop it. “The finances of a group should be one of the first investigations submitted” . When the financial outcome is found then it is important to track the expensed and spending of that finance. The police and military can assist in uncovering all aspects of a group. If the military and government understand what the group is about, then it will be easier to understand their operations. Once the operations are documented the government will know what the goal of their terrorism is angled at.
They have also taken a look at the previous terrorist groups over the last 50 years to compare the take down of each group. These groups will help examine if any of them is related to goals or takedowns. Before strategizing a plan to put an end to a terrorist group it is critical to know everything about the group. Understanding the layout, function, and future plans of these groups can assist in the strategy when assessing the attack.
Many of the groups that were studied over the last fifty years had been put out of commission. Some of them were taken down by the police or intelligence departments of their own country. Others had made an agreement and turned themselves into their government. “Terrorist groups that were reviewed from 1968-2006 had different outcomes” . A few of those groups had not been defeated. They had achieved their goals and won the battle of terrorism they had achieved.
The study of these terrorist groups had one common scenario that did not happen. The majority of them were not ended due to military force or action. This tells us that the approach not to use to take down a known group like Al Qaeda is not to use military force. The reason military should not be used is because it was not a tactic used in the past when defeating terrorist groups. Previous terrorist groups have ended because of the efforts of intelligence and police in the terrorists own country.
The data gathered to analyze the ending of past terrorist groups came from several different reporting agencies. The first agency name is RAND. The research group has compiled data from an enormous amount of resources that displays information about terrorist groups. “The second agency that was used to gather information regarding all the terrorist groups in the last 50 years was Memorial Institute that is focused on the preventing of terrorist groups” .
Another strategy to determine how to end these types of groups was to consider the location and economic status of them. To determine how these groups had survived as long as they had it is important to examine the goals and ideas that helped them stay active on the terrorist list. This information combined with the tactics that had worked to delete the groups and make them end will shed light on the takedown. When intelligence decided to take down a terrorist organization it is important they succeed in the end. They do not want to make any mistakes when putting a final end to the terror they have caused. If the strategy does not work as planned it may be more difficult in the future to try to end the group again. The group will have caught on to what was occurring and flee to another location. This will make it more difficult to track the group down and plan for another attack.
Groups that fit this category are hard to take down and put out of commission. They have a stronger stance and willpower to fight for what they believe is right. It does not matter if it is legal or morally approved. “The people who belong to the groups are only focused on what they think is right and what will serve the purpose of their achievement” . It could be a victory for the group if they succeed in taking out a government or political campaign location. They may have an issue with the campaign and want to destroy it. The campaign may be preaching beliefs that the group is highly against. When this occurs the terrorist will come together and plan an attack to make a point and eliminate the problem. The active terrorists are more complex and require an intense investigation. The goal is to strategize on what is keeping them active especially if they have been active for decades.
There was an estimated 40 percent of those groups taken down by their own intelligence from their country, or they had come to an agreement with their government to stop what they were doing. Almost 45 percent of the groups that ended had done so politically. These groups had wanted to achieve a political stance about what they believed to be correct. The small goals that the political groups wanted, had been met or negotiated by the government officials. Once the goals were either achieved or negotiated, then the group was no longer needed. The goals were being met and achieved by political understanding and agreements.
The groups who had successful reached their accomplishments of terrorism made up of only 10 percent of all the groups. The groups had found a positive outcome of victory when pursuing terror to make a point. Only seven percent of these groups were brought down and put to an end because of the military. The military had forced the seven percent of those groups to end their terror. The forces of the military could have used several tactics when taking out those groups. When the military has cut off the money and supplies to the terror groups it is then easier for the groups to be in distress. Not having money, food, or supplies can way heavy on the operations of terror groups.
One group that fits into terrorism is religious terror groups. These groups are not as easy to end because of the amount of people involved. The beliefs of religious groups enhance their goals of terror. “The good news is those religious groups that were analyzed over the last 50 years had not been able to succeed in achieving their goals” .
This information pertains to the lack of victory that religious groups have when trying to make a point regarding their beliefs. The religious groups were not the main focus on terror because they had not successful in their goals. Groups that had a large amount of followers and members had more power and stance in their achievements. They were harder to eliminate and end because of the amount of member that were a part of them. The groups that had a lower amount of members were easier to stop and end their terror group goals.
One terrorist group that the United States had problems with for years was run by Saddam Hussain. In the early 1990’s the United States had gone to war in the Gulf to try and put an end to Hussain and his terrorist members. The group had caused great distress, trauma, and scare tactics to try and impact danger in the United States. The U.S. had enough of the tactics and issued troops to hunt and take down the leader who was Hussain.
The issues with Saddam Hussain continued throughout September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. After over a decade of trying to defeat Hussain, the decisions came to take him down permanently. “President Bush had assumed that the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks was established and completed by the terrorist group of Hussain” . This made the country even more determined to come up with a strategy to end his terror one and for all. The military and the intelligence department had a helping hand in investigating under the radar, and determining the hideout of Hussain. It took quite some time to capture him but with excellent planning and a positive strategic plot, he was finally captured.
The United States had to analyze the results of taking Hussain out of the equation and placing him with a legible democracy in the Middle East. The next step in this strategy was to examine the cost that it would take to put this plan into motion. The two different strategic scenario’s that needed to be viewed was the containment process, and the best approach to remove him from his terrorist group and country. The United States had realized that the only logical way to take Hussain out of his leadership was to remove him by military force. The country could not take a chance and wait on attacking Hussain’s group and eliminating him. There could be another attack and actions was needed immediately to eliminate the threat.
The strategies that were put into action had worked and Hussain was found hiding underground. He had been hiding for quite some time and knew that his time of being free would soon end. After the capture of Hussain, the President and military had shared a victory of capturing a terrorist who had been wanted for decades. He was brought back and imprisoned for the whole country to witness. This gave the country a chance to see that the plans had paid off, and he was no longer a threat to the country. The man had caused great destruction for over a decade. The United States had utilized the strategic plan and accomplished what they had wanted to do. They also eliminated one out of the man terrorist groups across the world.
Another terrorist group that had been a problem for over a decade is Al Qaeda. This terrorist group had completed numerous attacks on the United States and other countries. This group was very dangerous and had enlisted thousands of members from many countries. The leader of this group was Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden had been the result of the 2001 attacks on the United States and had been the cause of action to take out Sudan Hussain. The new strategic approach did not focus on a counterterrorism approach instead of the war on terrorism strategy. This new approach was to enforce strict goals and complete the mission to apprehend Hussain. The reason was to not terrify the country or give clues to the terrorists that they were coming in for a take- down.
The strategy of Osama Bin Laden was implemented when the President of the United States had learned of the group responsible for the attacks on the country. Once the President realized the attacks occurred because of Bin Laden and not Hussain there was an intense plan of attack. The military had been looking for him for years and he would elude them. Bin Laden would make tapes and taunt the United States that he was still alive. He stayed in hiding but had moved around from place to place.
The strategy to either capture or kill Osama Bin Laden had been a secret plan that the world did not know about. The President Barrack Obama had secretly been gathering evidence of his location for quite some time. Once the President had legitimate knowledge of where Osama was hiding, he had gathered secret meeting to plan the attack. The President and only a handful of people knew what was going to happen. The attack was revised and analyzed to perfection. “There could not be any mistakes on the capture or murder of Bin Laden” . This was a one-time opportunity that could not fail.
The strategy to end Osama Bin Laden was put into place and the action of the Navy Seal Team had issued the plan into motion. They aimed to execute their plan in the dark to keep people from seeing the Seal Team coming. The military planes had landed in the compound where Bin Laden was hiding. His compound and house was huge and had many walls and partitions. The home was valued over one million dollars in Pakistan. Once they landed they used tactical forces and sneaked into the home undetected. They utilized all their skills to get in, grab Bin Laden and get out in a timely manner. They knew if they took too much time they could have gotten ambushed by Pakistan army or Bin Laden, terrorist members.
They killed several guards and made their way up to the top of the home where Bin Laden was hiding with his family. His wife and kids were living with him as well as other family members. Bin Laden was not surprised they had come for him, and he knew the time was near for his capture or death. The Seal Six Team had killed Bin Laden and taken his body out of the house to bring back. Documents’ found was also confiscated for the use of terror plots and future attacks. The United States would be able to use these documents to find out what he had been planning. The strategic plan was a success and Bin Laden was killed. The exact plan had no issues and went very smooth in the capture and killing of a terrorist leader.
Reference
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