LAW

International Policing Policy



International Policing Policy

Introduction

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, represented the most significant single act of international anti-state terrorism in history, with roughly 3,000 people killed and damage estimates as high as $1 trillion. Until the September 11 attacks, generally state governments had committed the most significant actions in terms of death and destruction, either in the repression of various partisan groups within state territory or in the form of state-supported terrorism against other states or against movements outside the state's borders.

After the September 11 attacks, the United States opted to engage in a “global war on terror,” militarily intervening in Afghanistan in October 2001 and in Iraq in March 2003, while concurrently seeking international and multilateral supports from the United Nations and NATO. In addition to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), in an effort to deal with the questions of state-supported and anti-state terrorism in all its geopolitical, socioeconomic, and ideological-cultural aspects.

Discussion

The Counter Terrorism Strategy Established by the United States

Even though there had been an increase in governmental and political reaction to terrorism all throughout the 20th century, there still was a major impact of that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001brought forward. The approaches that were taken for counterterrorism were volatile; counterterrorism efforts extended majorly not only the national level but also at the international levels. The United States also passed the USA Patriot Act that permitted the imprisonment such suspects who seemed to be terrorist. This led to the formation of a new department by the name of Department of Homeland Security, which was designed to act in response to the threats of terrorist. Other than this, the counterterrorism measures even extended further up to the military ground when the United States and chosen nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) took over military ventures within the month of October 2001, which was against the Taliban government that was ruling in Afghanistan. This government was offering support to the members of Al-Qaeda.

In March 2003, the military invasion of Iraq, also politically integrated the alleged war on terror. Even though exposure about the decision to take over Iraq showed it to be very less related to the terrorist threat, the continuous conditions in Iraq along with the international controversial struggles of the war against terrorism prevailed consistently. Most remarkable is that numerous nations all over the globe along with a variety of international governing bodies established new legal and political policies that were alike those which were executed in the United States (Wallensteen & Staibano, 2005 pp.67-89).

The Role of the Police and Other Agencies Involved in Countering Terrorism

Police organizations find terrorism as definite issues of criminal enforcement that need proper response with proper policing techniques. Counterterrorism responses by the police, at the national as well as international level shows the comparative independence of police to seek out effective measures in order to specify the main objectives that are related to their counterterrorism ...