Global Terrorism and it's Side Effects

Outline

Over the past Century, terrorism has evolved from random killings to massive plans for terrorist groups. From the Trade Center bombing, to the September 11th attack in 2002, the United States had endured more than enough of its share of terrorism, and to this day continues to suffer.

The first real wake-up call occurred on February 26, 1993. The main conspirator, Ramzi Yousef, was first discovered with partner Abu Barra under fake passports (under the alias of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa) Both were arrested, but due to the fact that INS holding cells were overcrowded, Yusef was told to come back in one month, Whereas, Abu Barra was taken into custody on the spot for having luggage containing bomb-making instructions. Yusef's plan involved creating a car bomb made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum/magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen, and intended on preventing the smoke from escaping the towers, therefore, caching the public eye by poisoning people inside. After the actual bombing, he then foresaw Tower One collapsing into Tower Two. The total cost of his project totaled to be $300 U.S. dollars leaving 6 people dead, and at least 1,040 injured. Due to the strength of the tower, and the lack of funding for a more powerful bomb, the World Trade Center did not collapse, but only left the world wondering what the country would do to protect itself from its new threat.

Introduction

Imagine you are a resident of Jerusalem, in the year 60 AD. You are taking a walk throughout the marketplace doing your weekly shopping. You see a man pull out a dagger and he yells 'death to all Romans' and attacks a roman guard, killing him in front of hundreds of spectators. The assassin quietly slips into the crowd and is lost in a sea of people never to be found. The word of the attack spreads and soon it is the talk of the town. Many more attacks on Romans are made by the Sicarii and the Zealots. Sympathizers of the Romans slowly disappear and their voices vanish from Jerusalem. The fear of terrorism grows and Roman repression grows along with it, this in turn leads to the people of Jerusalem to revolt in 70 AD (Miller V). If this attack had been made in some dark alley with no spectators would the people react the way they did?

The marketplace of old Jerusalem, can be compared to the media of today. What better place to get the public informed about your reasons and purpose for attacks than the news. Albert gave a good definition of terrorist's objectives when he stated: 'Terrorists try to exercise influence over targeted officials on nations through intimidation of the public and arousal of sympathy for the social and political causes they espouse. Without widespread publicity, terrorist acts can achieve neither of these effects' (Bandura, Albert quoted In Nacos 1). Terrorists need the news media to get the publicity, and the media is a willing accomplice. The news media is ...