Terrorism is the use of guerrilla war tactics by weaker parties to launch attacks on a stronger party or its unsuspecting civilians. The affected parties usually result to use of strong military force to annihilate the forces responsible. This is the war against terror. A good example is the vigorous effort put by the USA in finding Osama Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein. However, the cost of stopping such forces of terror has been very high. First, many soldiers have been deployed to remote areas to look for the leaders of these terrorist groups. This involves the use of a major part of the taxpayer’s money. Many development projects have been put on hold due to this misdirection of funds.
Presidents, such as George Bush, dedicated most of his policies, energy and time on the war against terror. However, he ignored many affairs of the country some of which he had promised the people during his campaign period. This made people to lose confidence in his regime and their delivery on policies that concerned home affairs and development programs. Furthermore, many young soldiers lost their lives in the military missions that required deployment of US soldiers. Many lives were lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. This involved the killing of many innocent civilians as the soldiers engaged some locals in battles and gunfire. Furthermore, the war on terror ignores the universal agreements on the upholding of human rights. These are utterly disregarded by both the terrorists and the affected parties as they seek vengeance. The level of spending on the war on terrorism is concerning seeing as the government seeks money from borrowing, yet this money is not spent on development projects (Smit, 2005).
However, much as there many costs that come with the war on terror there are certain justifications that come with it. The most important factor that encourages the war on terror is the reassurance of security to the citizen. It is a stand by the affected party that they will not be forced to follow the instructions of cowardly terrorists. The intense follow up on terrorist activity has been a show of bravery and intolerance to oppression. Although, the search for the leaders of top terrorist groups has been expensive, it has borne fruit. This is especially with the capturing of the elusive Osama Bin Laden. This was a major victory to America and other countries were victims to Osama’s terrorist activities. The citizens of USA and any country that has been a victim of terrorism enjoy a feeling of safety. This is a restoration of faith in the government’s security system and their duty to deliver on protecting their citizens. This has a positive effect on the tourism in the country (Jackson, 2005).
Tourists feels more secure hence frequent countries of their choice. This increases the countries’ income and creates employment to its citizens. Terrorism impairs the normal activities that ought to occur within a country. It is show of harassment. The thwarting of these attempts reassures people of the level of justice available and the efficiency of governments to command their rule. It also enhances international alliances between various countries as they partner to fight terrorist groups. It shows the role of the United Nations and the sharing of useful intelligence in fighting terrorism and creating a safer world.
References
Jackson, R. (2005). Writing the war on terrorism: Language, politics and counter-terrorism.
Manchester [u.a.: Manchester Univ. Press.
Smit, W. (2005). Just war and terrorism: The end of the just war concept?. Leuven: Peeters
publishers.
