Chapter Summaries
Chapter 9 Summary: Background to the Middle East
The Middle East has been associated with terrorism for a very long time. This chapter provides background information on the Middle East. Most of the people living in the Middle East are of Islamic faith, and some of the countries include those in North Africa, Southwest Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Afghanistan, and Iran. However, in the past there have other religions such as Judaism and Christianity.
Issues of terrorism are based on certain theological concepts of Islam, which have resulted to the development of a militant philosophy. Islam itself is divided into two branches, the Shiites and the Sunnis. This developed from the leadership conflicts in the Islamic communities. Further, the first encounters of the Western world with the Middle East were violent as they tried to conquer the Muslims. This resulted to the development of hatred between Christians and Muslims. The development of crises both political and economic encouraged the rise of certain reformers who used theology to pursue militant endeavors. Ibn Taymiyyah initiated jihad as a way of responding to the violence that resulted from the Western Crusades. Further, he believed that nonbelievers and impure Muslims were to be punished as a way of preserving the Muslim community. Moreover, certain scholars such as Qutb propagated the need for violence as an avenue to purify Islam to its former status during the time of Mohammed Ali.
The late 20th century saw the development of modern Israel. Issues such as persecutions of the Jews in Europe, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of the Zionist movement contributed highly to the development of modern Israel. The Zionist movement developed the first modern terrorists in Palestine. Conflicts between the Arabs and the Israelis resulted to wars. The Palestinians used terrorism as a method to defeat the superiority of the Israeli military.
Chapter 10 Summary: Terrorism in Israel and Palestine
Terrorism in Israel and Palestine is because of the violent actions of both sides. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is one of the major instigators of violence and terrorism. Founded in 1964, the PLO’s purpose was to be a political organization that would stand up against Israel. This was because Israel was being influenced by Europe. The Fatah did violent activities of the PLO. The increasing number of Fatah attacks elevated the PLO’s status. Furthermore, certain Fatah warriors called the Fedayeen sacrificed themselves as the raids increased and this increased their efficiency in the attacks.
Factionalism in Palestine emerged in the 1980’s when the people of Palestine especially the youth were fed up with the terrorism activities of the PLO. A movement referred to as the Intifada developed and consisted of a large number of Palestinian youths. PLO’s effort to end terrorism through an agreement referred to as the Oslo accord generated a lot of resistance from different factions in Palestine such as the Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Fronts, and the Popular Front for Liberation and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad among others.
Hezbollah is viewed as a terrorist organization that uses international crime to finance its operations. Sponsored mainly by Iran, the Hezbollah is responsible for several murders in Israel and the murder of U.S. citizens. It has instigated suicide attacks on civilians and disrupted peacekeeping efforts. Followers of the Hezbollah view it to be an authentic militia that defends the rights of the Shiites from the Israelis.
Jewish groups also have violence based on religion. Certain Jewish militias have propagated the terrorist activities. For instance, Kach is responsible for several terrorist attacks in America. The Kahane Chai group has been involved in attacking Arabs and Palestinians.
The two main issues in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict involve politics and religion. Religion is significant in the sense that Jews and the Muslims have different perspectives. Israel is mainly composed of Jews while Palestine is composed of Arab Muslims. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, there was a struggle to take control of Palestine to make it a Jewish state. The Israelis were determined to take control of the Arab dominated Palestine. These resulted to wars between the Arabs and the Israelis. In order to defeat the Israeli military, the Palestinian resulted in using terrorism as a tactic. This has continued to be the case up until today.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) were responsible for the revolutions in Palestine. Following the decision of PLO to sign a peace agreement, certain emerging factions such as the Hamas opposed the peace process. The Hamas were determined to use violence as the only means to achieve their ends. The Fatah a political movement associated with the PLO is in constant conflict with the Hamas that are opposed to the PLO. The Hamas are in the view of expelling the Jews from Israel. They have opposed the PLO since it has acted in contrary to its initial ideologies of removing the Jews. Additionally, there is the fight to control a border region between the Israeli and Palestinian border. This has also generated conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Chapter 11 Summary: Revolutionary, Counter Revolutionary and Religious Terrorism
One of the revolutionary groups discussed in this chapter is the Tupamaros. It started from the confrontations of the workers union towards the government because of the hard economic state in Uruguay, which was leaving people jobless. Militants sought this as an opportunity to oppose the government. The revolutions started in the rural areas and eventually spread to the urban areas. One of the leaders that were planning revolution saw that only violence was the way to bring the control of the government to the people. The Tupamaros prime strategy was violence in the city through terrorism. Despite the fact that the Tupamaros stated that their main goal was wealth distribution, they lacked a clear philosophical agenda as they were more interested in the violence.
The Tupamaros used different tactics. The Tupamaros had several small units, which perpetrated acts of violence. The urban terrorists could not be easily identified as they blended well with the public. This was followed with the developed of communication networks, which the Tupamaros used to propagate their agendas. The Tupamaros developed illegal networks for transportation and communication and developed safe houses, which shielded them from potential enemies. Furthermore, the Tupamaros were involved in robberies, attacking symbolic targets and kidnapping. The kidnappings aided in raising finances through demanding ransoms.
Increased violence from the Tupamaros prompted the government to adopt oppressive actions that included torture. The public seemed to support the government as they had been fed up with the violence that the Tupamaros propagated. Despite their fall, terrorists groups in Europe and the United States used the Tupamaros model to conduct their terrorist activities.
The development of death squad was a strategy used to end the revolutions. The death squads were seen as an effort to stop any social change from happening. In Colombia, revolutionary groups included the FARC and the ELN. These groups were involved with the drug cartels. In Iran, the MeK formed the revolution against the Iran government. The Maoists movements purpose was to overthrow the government. This was mainly in Peru.
Chapter 12 Summary: Al Qaeda and Jihadist Networks
Al Qaeda was formed by Osama bin Laden a native of Saudi Arabia. Later owing to his terrorist activities, he was exiled to Sudan owing to his declaration of war on the United States. Following the end of the Soviet-Afghan Cold war, the United States supported governments that objected to communism. Osama joined the mujahedeen who were against the reforms that were initiated by America. Al Qaeda developed following the end of the Soviet Afghan war in 1988. Osama bin laden led the Al Qaeda to launch several attacks in Afghanistan as a way of trying to take control of the country. Following the writings of Qutb, which encouraged violence as a form of purifying Islam, Osama was responsible for attacks in several U.S. embassies in Africa and the September 9/11 attacks. Zawahiri was also a member of Al Qaeda and propagated religious revolutions through terrorism. Both Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri used their intelligence to develop Al Qaeda as a major terrorist organization in the world.
The operational abilities of Al Qaeda have changed since the September 9/11 attacks. The Al Qaeda has been responsible for motivating several other bombings such as the London 2005 bombings. New networks are developing and associating their activities to Al Qaeda. The Al Shabab in Somalia has sought to be recognized as an operational arm of Al Qaeda. Further, new jihadist groups such as the AQAP in Yemen are involved in terrorists’ attacks and their efficiency has increased tremendously.
Can religion ever justify the use of terrorism as a moral just?
Acts of terrorism portray lack of any moral obligations. The consequences of terrorism such as death and destruction bring no good. One can view terrorism as the opposite of moral justice. In religion, messages of peace are taught. Individuals who have sought terrorism activities seek to use it to achieve their own agendas. What started as a simple conflict between individuals of the same religion escalates to using violence to seek supremacy over one group.
Religious revolutions that used terrorism have been viewed to some extent as being a corruption of the religion especially the Islamic faith. Based on the writings of Qutb, individuals have resorted to use religion as a reason to support their terrorist activities. However, such writings have been in contrary to the initial messages of the prophet Mohammed who viewed Islam as a peaceful religion. Actions of terrorism that result to killing of innocent civilians contradicts the message of peace, justice and equality of all religions. Terrorism itself is a threat to humanity and religion puts value in human life. To justify the destruction caused by terrorism would be morally wrong.
A research into the terrorism activities in the Middle East indicates that most activities have been politically motivated. Groups such as the Al Qaeda developed following the end of civil war were opposed in America’s involvement, in Afghanistan.
Chapter 13 Summary: Domestic Terrorism
Domestic terrorism has been classified as a method used by the weak to threaten the strong and used by the strong to suppress the weak people. Labor violence in the past has been linked to acts of domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism can be categorized into vigilante terrorism, transnational terrorism and insurgent terrorism. Vigilante terrorism mainly consists of right-wing extremists who want to defend the status quo. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of vigilante terrorist group. The insurgent terrorism purpose is to change political policies via direct threats to the governments. Examples of such groups include the Puerto Rican nationalists. The transnational terrorism occurs where foreigners cross national borders to enhance their terrorism activities. The jihadist movement in America is a good example of a transnational terrorist group. The jihadist networks continue to increase in America, and some of the recruitment is being done in American prisons. They have developed financial structures to fund their causes of violence.
The law enforcement in America has had troubles in understanding terrorism. In most counties, law enforcement is more concerned about traffic accidents and local crimes to give thought to terrorism. Further, the terrorism activities do not normally occur in certain areas. The FBI has also not been able to separate criminal activities from domestic terrorism. In most cases, it is viewed as similar crimes that occur in America. Additionally, hate crime has been confused with domestic terrorism. Issues and activities of criminal activities that may range widely make it difficult to define domestic terrorism.
Chapter 14 Summary: Introduction to Homeland Security
Having a common definition of homeland security depends on the types of organization involved. Depending on the mission of a particular organization, different definitions of homeland security are possible. However, three critical roles that define homeland security deal with preventing terrorism, responding to attacks, and providing technical support to local agencies.
Homeland security consists of several. The department of homeland security is the main agency that deals with issues of homeland security. The department has a number of missions it has to perform. For instance, it is has the duty to respond to natural and human disasters. The U.S, Coast Guard serves under the DHS and is responsible for protecting coastal and inland waterways. The department of justice is also involved in homeland security. The U.S attorneys are responsible for investigating and prosecuting cases of terrorism. The FBI also falls under the department of justice where it is the lead agency in investigating cases of terrorism. Other agencies include the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community and the state, local and tribunal law enforcement.
Terroristic activities have necessitated the development of intelligence systems. These systems have been built based on a four-step process. These processes include obtaining basic information, applied information, real-time information, and analyzed information. Intelligence includes criminal intelligence and security intelligence. Different states have their own intelligence systems.
Planning is essential to ensure that terrorist activities are prevented. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security needs to have enough resources to respond to crises that may develop and help solve problems from these attacks, which may affect the community. Therefore, information sharing is encouraged between the different law enforcement agencies across the country to facilitate the prevention of terrorism and criminal activities.
Should the U.S. military have a role in the fight against domestic terrorism and homeland security?
The military should be provided a role in the fight against domestic terrorism. In some cases, the level of domestic terrorism may be extreme to levels of nuclear threats and in these cases; the military may have the necessary equipment to handle such a situation. Terrorist activities are likely to involve chemical, biological, and high yield explosive technologies in the near future, which increase the need to involve the military, which has powerful weapons to deal with such threats. Furthermore, the military may offer technical assistance to law enforcement agencies when a domestic terrorism situation escalates beyond the capabilities of the law enforcement. Threats that are likely to affect national security are best handled by the military. Having the military involved in homeland security provides the president with an option of selecting the best response to a domestic attack depending on the level of terrorist activity involved. Further, in case an agency fails to respond to a certain attack, the military can be used as a substitute to handle the situation.
However, the role of the military should always be limited and used only in extreme cases. Agencies that are mandated to handle issues of domestic terrorism and homeland security need to be equipped with the necessary facilities and equipment especially intelligent systems, which can go a long way in preventing terrorism activities.
Work Cited
White, Jonathan Randall. Terrorism and homeland security. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
