Terrorism is a scourge of the modern world. It is a highly organized and systematic form of crime, directed towards clear cut goal of harming a particular set of people, community, or country. Terrorists act at international levels and their activities are aimed to harm many at a time. Terrorist activities are aimed at spreading terror, extortion and ransom, mass murder etc. Many times, these activities are born off a twisted mind that harbors wrongly placed ideas of righteousness. Some terrorists call themselves revolutionary, claiming to liberate their social, cultural or ethical ideas. They are highly convinced that their motives aim at greater good, but the truth lies in the fact that all they manage to do is leave behind a trail of terror, destruction and shame. Warfare against terrorism is as much a psychological activity as it is physical, and the potent weapon against terrorism is drafting policies that are effective in controlling terrorism through damaging its root of ideologies and beliefs. United States has faced many terrorist attacks in its history but it was the attack in 9/11 on World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon, in Washington, DC that shook the country to its core. This incident became the reason for United States to become a fore runner in the fight against terrorism. Post 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, United States of America has become the fore-runner in the fight against terrorism. US have achieved many captures and foils but their anti-terrorist drives draw speculations from all over the world. The following article is a discussion about these efforts and how effective have these efforts been in preventing terrorist attacks in the past five years.
The United States of America has since then tightened its border securities, with stricter checks on visas and identities. Biometric scans like finger-print recognition; face recognition; and very recently eye recognition have been added to numerous and extensive measures set up at the entry gates of United States. Coupled with these are the facts that embassies all over the world and transit agencies have begun to communicate faster and more accurately, relaying crucial information to any part of the world in proper time. The databases of information keep expanding and anyone who crosses US borders is under close scrutiny. These measures have been instated in order to deter errant individuals with wrong motives from entering the US mainland.
The first act of anti-terrorism began with a demand to stop world-wide drive proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). The drive came through United Nations request for rejection of such weapons at a global level. However, the drive still continues with countries joining in at a slow pace. The disarmament drive has not been a complete success as yet, but it will take time for such a movement to realize success. Many countries continue to develop nuclear weapons that may prove as a threat, as nuclear materials continue to remain available for war purposes and can be misused. Many get apprehended each year for possession of nuclear material that can be used as nuclear detonating devices.
The most impactful effort, however, came not through negotiations but war. United States of America directed an open assault on the terrorist outfit leader Osama Bin Laden who master minded the 9/11 attacks under the then president of United States of America, President George W. Bush. Security across borders were tightened and entry to the American soil became very difficult for the coming few years. The United States administration was well aware of the drawbacks of the system and was trying to reconcile and rectify the problems during this period of time. However, the anti-terrorism drive took time to gain momentum throughout the US. The tightened security at the borders proved a problematic affair.
This was the story that triggered and developed into the current fight against terrorism. United States expanded their efforts by increasing their spying and surveillance activities around the world. The doubled military activity and the increased border security helped foil many terrorist attacks on the States. The government realized that the threat did not come merely from the middle-east Asia. Terrorism was not an enemy, but a very dangerous tool used by twisted minds to prove their notoriety. In the drive for anti-terrorism, Al-Qaeda emerged amongst the top-most in the list of terrorist outfits who work against United States as well as world peace.
The anti-terrorist drive gained a lot of momentum under President Barack Obama and many terrorist attacks were foiled. 19 terrorist strikes alone were foiled in between the period of 2008 and 2011 alone. Most of these strikes included bombing plans and were planned by affiliates of al-Qaeda residing at different places in the world. Heritage.org, a website dedicated to documenting all foiled terrorist plans, reports one of these foiled attacks in a 2011 article. The article described about an American Citizen, Michael Finton, who was arrested on September 23, 2009, by FBI agents who worked undercover to capture the man after he attempted to detonate a car bomb filled with what he believed to be close a ton of explosives outside the Paul Findley Federal Building and Courthouse in downtown Springfield, Illinois. Evidence presented against Finton showed that he had the desire to become a fighter in the jihad movement and was fully aware that his planned attack would cause severe civilian injuries. He was arrested on charges of attempt to murder federal employees and an attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Finton pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Another foiled attack involved Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized citizen from Pakistan, who attempted to discharge explosives in a vehicle parked in Times Square. Alleged to have received explosives training in Pakistan, he was blamed for receiving $12,000 from affiliates with terrorist organization Tehrik-e-Taliban to fund these attacks. When attempt at bombing failed, Shahzad allegedly tried to flee United States to seek asylum in Dubai, but was intercepted and arrested before the flight could leave New York’s JFK airport. Shahzad pleaded guilty to 10 counts of charges, which included conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and the use of a weapon of mass destruction.
But the turn of events came with the covert strike on a Pakistani bunker that led to the killing of the infamous Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011. However, killing Bin Laden did not bring the desired effect on the world anti-terrorism drive as the United States administration had believed. It brought this fact to the fore front that United States used secretive methods to lay surveillance on conversations and proceedings. This led to an increasing distrust against the United States and many countries opinionated the United States as a war mongering nation.
However, administration under Barack Obama realized that using the term “war against terrorism” was not an appropriate term to garner the support of intellectuals, as it would depict anti- sentiments against communities portions of which were involved in terrorist activities against the United States. Post 9/11 attacks the terrorist activities evolved to become decentralized and depend more on allied sources for funding and aid. Home grown terrorism has become the favorite weapon for terrorists all across the globe. Surveillance has become the primary task of intelligence services to thwart terrorist activities and the stance that United States takes against terrorism is of utmost importance in the present scenario.
Indeed there were outrages in many European countries who resented to United States using phone tapping methods of world leaders. Although the United States extends reasons of its anti-terrorism drive to validate its activities, foreign nations object to these activities as intrusion into their jurisdiction. Al-Jazeera in October, 2013 reported that "European leaders emphasized on the fact that intelligence acquisition is an important part in the fight against terrorism. This aspect is crucial when it comes to relations between European countries with the United States of America. Herman van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said in remarks on Friday:
"A lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence gathering."
Such remarks came from European leaders who presided over the 2012 EU in Brussels. The surveillance activities used by United States became the center of speculation of this summit. This can mean a bad name for the United States and can prove demeaning towards United States efforts to fight against terrorism. Under President Barack Obama’s second term as President of the United States, the stance has changed from an aggressive one to that of stealth as direct attacks can severe international bonds. Editors at bloomberg.org say, “The spread of al-Qaeda’s brand to copycat groups potentially consigns the U.S. to a costly and ineffectual global game of Whac-A-Mole with deadly stakes.” Other strides that the United States has taken to keep objections low are by recruiting local personnel into their corps stationed in East Africa, in a bid to extend their fights against al-Qaeda and its sister co-ordinations. This comes as a measure to lower contentions against lingering large United States Defense footprints in some countries. The second benefit of doing so is that it is necessary to bring back personnel from foreign shores back to the country. The third benefit is the decrease in military expenditure. But the fourth and most important benefit is grounds to attack Islamic terror outfits that continue to operate through African soil. Baker in a report to the National Journal said that there are not many governments that would agree to a big U.S. military footprint in their countries. Therefore, Pentagon strategists require a cheaper method to fight militant Islamists, many of whom are operating, unmolested, in Africa, who would unseat United States allies or attack US soil directly. This “train enable and assist” model developed by the US military serves not just to empower African countries to fight their own terror wars but also secure the border lines for United States against terror strikes perpetrated from African countries (Kitfield).
Insinuations have also flown towards the US military about their hushed up activities in the past years. The increasing secretive tribunal functioning of the United States has always garnered suspicion. However many strides have been made to remove these allegations and commendable amendments have come through. These seem to give the United States administration some of the credit they deserve in being able to safeguard their own shores. Though an absolute acceptance of the United States anti-terrorist activities has yet to be achieved, and this aim is definitely far flung, it is not impossible to get it satisfactorily. What needs to be done is to bring in more transparency in the US anti-terrorism activities to win the trust of people at all levels. Policies should be well thought and presented in ways so as to satisfy ethics and safe guard any citizen from any failure that may lead to the erosion of their rights.
With the decentralization of Islamic terrorist groups and many other groups readying to open terror attacks on the United States, the fight has become tougher. Adding to this difficulty is the growing distrust amongst nations all over the world towards the United States. Although it has become crucial to keep American soil safe, it is also important not to lose international credibility as well. The fight against terrorism is a long and grueling one, and it needs to be fought with minimum bloodshed, as terrorists do not mind shedding blood, be it innocent citizens or even their own. There has to be a difference between the strategies that both the sides use to fight each other. There is a lot that has been achieved but a lot more has to be done in order to achiever world peace and to get rid of the scourge of terrorism.
Works cited
Al Jazeera Eds. EU say US spying harms fight against terror. Al Jazeera News Networks. 25 Oct. 2013. Accessed 18 Nov. 2013. Web.
Bin Laden Death Changed Little in Fight Against Terrorism. Eds. Bloomberg.com. 1 May, 2012. Accessed 17 Nov. 2013. Web.
Kitfield, J. Outsourcing the Fight Against Terrorism. Nationaljournal.com. 7 Mar. 2013. Accessed 18 Nov. 2013. Web.
Heritage.org. Fifty Terror Plots Foiled Since 9/11: The Homegrown Threat and the Long War on Terrorism. Heritage.org. 25 Apr. 2012. Accessed 18 Nov. 2013. Web.
Thesis: This article is a discussion about the efforts United States of America puts against its fight against terrorism and how effective have these efforts been in preventing terrorist attacks in the past five years.
- Brief discussion of the background of the United States’ drive against terrorism
- 9/11 attacks
- Reaction of the United States Government
- Present day scenario beginning from the year 2008
- Achievements so far
- Methods employed by the United States Government against terrorists and terrorism
- Current problems faced by the United States in the fight against terrorism
- Opposition against surveillance techniques from foreign countries
- Decentralization of terrorist outfits leading to worldwide chase
- Conclusion with future prospects
