Terrorism

September 11, 2001, is a moment frozen in time. It was on this day that the world seemed to stop turning, and its course would never be the same again. It was the day of the largest organized attack on American citizens that took the lives of 2,976 innocent everyday people (attention grabber). It not only destroyed buildings, it destroyed lives. Not only the innocent lives of the thousands murdered in the burning buildings were destroyed, but the lives of their families were destroyed, and their hearts became filled with hurt and loss.

As a result of this unthinkable attack on our country, the lives of thousands of American Soldiers and their families would soon be affected as well The war that 9/11 spun Americans and the rest of the world into was not a regular war in a regular country with regular soldiers. This war was one in which our brave men and women took on a radical religious band of terrorists who hide in caves, hide behind women and children, and strap bombs to themselves just to harm and terrorize others.

These people continue to threaten American safety and liberty each and every day and were responsible for the most bloodshed on American soil in a single act of war. These people want nothing more than to harm innocent people and their families and will stop at nothing to do so. So when these terrorists who wear no uniforms and claim no country are captured, some argue that they deserve to be treated humanely. The fact is, they have information that could save thousands of American lives.

However, they are so passionate about their cause; such information is not easily obtained. Therefore, the United States has the right to torture prisoners of war (suspected terrorists) in order to acquire vital information that is required to protect our country and its citizens. Terrorists are not regular soldiers in a regular war. They do not even merit POW (prisoner of war) status as stated by the Geneva Convention passed by the United Nations and approved by the Supreme Court.

Colin Powell stated that “bestowing POW status on detainees who do not meet the clear requirements of the Geneva Convention would undermine the rule of law giving equal protections and privileges to all combatants regardless to their respect to the law. ” This is not a regular war because we are not fighting against a country; we are fighting religious extremists. Terrorists are not part of an organized military, have no uniforms, and do not represent a country or legitimate state, and therefore, are not protected nor deserved to be rotected under the Geneva Convention. Despite the agreed Geneva Convention, this nine-year war has resulted in different opinions on how protocol should be run halfway across the globe in our country. A very prominent issue between politicians today is the issue of torture. Torture sounds like a horrible word, and when spoken the thought of inhumane treatment, pain, and misery come to mind. But there are different forms and types of torture that are not so cruel.

The United States has been accused of using a form of torture on suspected terrorists known as stress and duress. But this form of torture is, as defined by the Supreme Court, neither inappropriate nor inhumane by any means. (establish credibility/ source #2, quote supreme court) “Stress and duress is a form of torture that includes: psychological and physical pressure on suspects through methods such as sleep deprivation, covering head with hood to cause disorientation, and pinning prisoners in uncomfortable positions for hours. ” This is considered a form of torture.

It is sad to think that American citizens who are more worried about being politically correct than the safety of our country and their friends and neighbors are speaking out against these insignificant pushes that soldiers perform on prisoners of war. Videos come out from Iraq and Afghanistan of terrorists slowly cutting off the heads of our brave men and women protecting freedom. It is odd to think that terrorists decapitate and inhumanely kill and murder our soldiers and there is fuss when our soldiers keep a terrorist with American blood on his hands deprived of sleep for a week.

It is nice to know that our country still cares about and supports our men and women in uniform. As stated by a poll conducted by Rasmussen (source #3): “58% of U. S. voters say water boarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airline on Christmas Day. ” (Rasmussen) T hat means that over half of our nation supports interrogation methods that are more severe than the methods that others in this country are upset about.

Also, the military is not torturing terrorists just to torture them because they do not like them or want revenge. Terrorists are being “tortured” for information such as future plots, hiding places, sources of weapons, etcetera that is needed to simply protect our men and women overseas and our citizens who call this great country home. Some opposition goes so far as to demand American rights for terrorists who want to kill Americans and who hate this country.

A Counsel member for Human Rights Watch, Katherine Bierman, (cite source #4) is quoted saying “If you’re going to sentence them, there has to be a fair trial [this] amounts to nothing more extravagant than giving the defendant the chance to defend himself, not forcing him to incriminate himself and insuring he’s not tortured– the elements of what an ordinary citizen would consider a fair trial. ” (quoted in Katel 6) There are many scary and utterly ridiculous elements in this quote.

First, as established above, “torture” is not being used on suspected terrorists– they are using stress and duress to extract information. Secondly, terrorists openly express their hate for this country and say they are proud of their actions; none have incriminated themselves by nothing more than the truth. A terrorist is not going to bluntly admit to something he/she did not do, even if he was severely tortured which they are not. Government documentation, the definition of the word torture, and 58% of our nation can prove that. Not to mention, a trial is costly.

To fly a terrorist to our country to have a so-called “fair trial” is ridiculous and costs the people of this nation hard earned money to have this man put on trial. Not only is it costly, but it brings him/her into the country that his leaders and fellow terrorists spilt blood in. It is not only ethically incorrect to pay American money for these terrorists to have American rights; it is unconstitutional to not give someone a fair trial. Can someone realistically say that a terrorist will receive a fair trial in the country he tried to commit terrorist acts against?

What jury of American citizens would find this man innocent? What judge will set him free? And even if by some horrible miracle this murderer is set free- what happens to him? Does he freely walk our streets, or do our citizens spend yet more money to fly this man back home so he can go back to plotting against us? Finally these are not ordinary citizens, let alone even citizens. By no means does a foreign murderer against our citizens get the luxury of the rights he would have if he were a citizen.

As stated by an American General Tommy Franks (source citation) , “I don’t want a soldier when he kicks down a door in a hut in Afghanistan searching for Osama bin Laden to have to worry about whether when he does so and questions the individuals he finds inside who may or may not be bin Laden’s body guards, or even the individual himself- he’s got to advise them of their rights before he takes a statement” (quoted in Katel 6). “If you are intentionally inflicting pain on someone, then you are torturing them period,” (Masci 5) Human Rights leaders declare.

But the politically correct opposition fails to determine the definition of pain. Pain is defined in the dictionary as (source dictionary) “the acutely unpleasant physical discomfort experienced by somebody who is violently struck, injured, or ill. ” When a linebacker sacks the quarterback in a football game and puts the quarterback out of the game for a little bit with a rolled ankle, did he torture him? Or when children are playing dodge ball at school and a child is given a bloody nose, did the child who threw it torture the other child? Absolutely not. My point?

Torture is inhumane treatment that causes severe and sometimes permanent damage to another human being through psychological threats and physical beatings, not by sleep deprivation. There is a difference between torture and inhumane treatment. Causing someone stress or discomfort is not torture. Terrorists are a serious threat to our nation, citizens, beliefs, and safety. They do not deserve our rights, trials, and should be “tortured” by means of stress which is considered humane. The United States will not stoop to our enemy’s level and cruelly and brutally torture our prisoners of war.

The time of war is not the time to be politically correct, but the time to take a step back and look at the big picture, the one in which our country has the right to freedom win the war on terror so the world will be a safer place. It is up to us to maintain and protect our freedom and safety. These are the facts, and these are the views of opinions from both sides of this fragile issue. Now you know, and it is important as American citizens to be informed and aware so we can elect people that will do the right thing in our eyes and defend freedom in the way you see it best.

Works Cited Barber, Ben. “The POW Predicament. The American Legion. 1 Aug. 2002: (pg 1). Career and Technical Education, ProQuest. Canyon Ridge High School Library. 17 Feb. 2010. < http://proquest. umi. com Katel, Peter, and Kenneth Jost. “Treatment of Detainees. ” CQ Researcher 16: 29 (25 Aug 2006): 673-696. (pg6) CQ Researcher Online. 17 Feb. 2010 . Masci, David, and Patrick Marshall. “Civil Liberties in Wartime. ” CQ Researcher 11: 43 (14 Dec 2001): 1017-1040. CQ Researcher. 17 Feb. 2010 . Masci, David. “Torture. ” CQ Researcher. 13: 15 (18 April 2003): 345-368. (pg 3, 4,5) CQ Researcher. 17 Feb. 2010. http://library. cqpress. com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003041800

The Global War on Terrorism is a military run that began shortly after the terrorist onslaughts of September 11th 2001. First used by George W. Bush. the phrase ‘war on terror’ has become to be conceptualized as a term used to mean ‘global military. political. lawful. and conceptual battle aiming both organisations designated as terrorists and governments accused of back uping them. ” The war on panic chief focal point has been with Islamist activists and Al-Qaeda.

The war in Afghanistan and Iraq are both considered to be portion of the war on terrorist act. There is much guess on whether the war on panic is really a war. This essay will reason that both points of position are valid. There are grounds which validate the war on terrorist act as being considered an existent war such as the fact that an existent decelaration of war was waged by both the US and Al-Qaeda. it can be considered a new manner of war. and that finally like war. terrorist act is a mean to a political terminal.

On the other side of the spectrum. it may non be considered a war because it does non hold a clear terminal or possible triumph. it does non hold a confined conflict infinite as regular wars. and it is a ‘war’ against an immaterial construct such as the wars on poorness. drugs. and offense. There is an extended sum of literature on the topic of terrorist act and particularly the war on panic. Mia Bloom in ‘Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror’ examines the usage schemes. successes. and failures of self-destruction bombardment in Asia. the Middle East. and Europe.

She claims that in many cases the attempt of Israel. Russia. and the United States have failed to discourage terrorist act and suicide bombardments. Bloom besides contemplates how terrorist groups learn from one another. and therefore how they react and retaliate to counterterror tactics the funding of terrorist act. and the function of suicide onslaughts against the background of larger cultural and political struggles. Another current bookman authorship on terrorist act is Mark Juergensmeyer. Juergensmeyer surveies spiritual terrorist act more specifically. Bruce Hoffman gives a superb penetration to terrorist act and all its facets.

Hoffman describes its historical development and the mentality of the terrorist. He examines this unseeable enemy and his tactics and motive in a globalized universe. Hoffman argues that the 9/11 onslaughts on the Twin Towers radically altered the USA’s and the Wests position on terrorist act. When trying to reply the above inquiry it is of import to clear up and specify the footings. Terrorism has a huge figure of definitions and varies greatly depending on who is seeking to specify it and from what position it is being defined and at which range.

For illustration one definition of terrorist act is the FBI’s definition of it as ‘the improper usage of force or force against individuals or belongings to intimidate or hale a Government. the civilian population. or any section thereof. in farther political or societal objectives’ . Another definition is from the Department of Defense which states it to be as ‘the calculated usage of improper force or menace of improper force to instill fright ; intended to hale or to intimidate authoritiess or societies in the chase of ends that are by and large political. spiritual. or ideological aims.

A concluding illustration of one of the many definitions of terrorist act is that of the Department of homeland Security which states it as ‘any activity that involves an act that is unsafe to human life or potentially destructive of critic substructure or cardinal resources ; and…must besides appear to be intended ( I ) to intimidate or hale a civilian population ; ( two ) to act upon the policy of a authorities by bullying or coercion ; ( three ) to impact the behavior of a authorities by mass devastation. blackwash. or nobbling. ’ These definitions vary rather greatly from one to another.

Any definition of terrorist act suits a peculiar bureau and how they look at the act of force. whereas really few expression at the causes for it and what its kernel is. Notice the selected vocabulary for each definition will accommodate the type of agency’s profile. The job with specifying terrorist act is one that it is a subjective thing. and two that the parties seeking to specify it seek to include everything and nil in it. They try to set and assorted different events that happened and state of affairss every bit good to assist specify it so as to do certain that terrorist act encompasses a big figure of things.

For illustration the discotheque bombardment of Bali. It seems that the definitions need to include anything that attacks the West. With respects to the war on panic. is it the war on panic or terrorist act? Is there truly a war on terrorist act and if so harmonizing to whom? The USA? Al-Qaeda? And in which theaters and locations are we speaking about? The war on panic might be a war on panic in Afghanistan but non in other topographic points. Besides the rubric of the inquiry is rather equivocal because is terrorist act is an act of war. or is war is an act of terrorist act? Each one can be unfolded onto the other easy.

It is besides of import to see who is included in the war on panic. is it all terrorists groups including terrorist groups like the IRA? Or is it merely limited to Islamist hawkish terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda? It is non ever clear who are the terrorists and who are the terrorized… “All political relations is a battle for power. and the ultimate sort of power is force. ” Hoffman writes that terrorist act is where political relations and force intersect in the hope of presenting power. And that all terrorist act involves a pursuit for power. Power to make many things such as to rule. coerce. control but finally to ‘effect cardinal political alteration.

Clausewitz’s definition of war was ‘war is the continuance of Politick by other means’ . In this context terrorist act tantrums in conformity to his definition as terrorist act excessively can be considered portion of war. Terrorism can be considered a tactic or act of war. or war a tactic or act of terrorist act. For illustration the Gallic used anguish during the Battle of Algiers. the US uses panic tactics itself such as Abu Ghraib. It is really hard to divide war from terrorist act neatly. Bing a terrorist is a stepping-stone to going a politician.

Therefore because of the really equivocal relationship and line between war and terrorist act. terrorist act can be considered as a new manner. or military maneuver of contending war. Therefore anything that tries to counter onslaught it can besides be considered a war. Therefore riping the war on terrorist act a war. Terrorism is ‘a complex phenomena in which force is used to obtain political power to readdress grudges ’ In order for one to see the war on terrorist act as an existent war. an existent statement of engaging war has had to been made. This is the instance with the war on terrorist act. Al-Qaeda did declare war on the USA in 1998.

The bush disposal created the term of the ‘axis of evil’ and the USA did contend a conventional war in Iraq in 2003. The war on terrorist act might non be a war in itself but it could be made up and composed by several on traveling wars such as Chechnya. the authorities of Sri Lanka versus the Tumult Tigers ( which was really the first state to successfully get the better of terrorist act ) . and Mali. There have been clear aims set out and enemies to get the better of. Although this enemy is unseeable. and the manner of contending the conflicts are different ( due to the asymmetrical facet of the war on panic ) it does non intend this is non a war.

The regulations have changed. the conflict infinite as good. the manner of thought of the enemy and war has changed drastically. But it is still war. It is merely a new face of war. However. the war on terrorist act is difficult to specify as an existent ‘war’ for several grounds. One. because it seems the US and the West are merely patroling and prosecuting in state edifice to advance broad democracy. Hoffman mentions the 2nd factor. which is immensely of import in discrediting the war on terrorist act as a war saying that ‘unlike traditional wars. the war on panic does non hold a clear end’ . This is because the triumph seems unachievable.

Terrorism won’t dice along with the terrorist leaders. Not even when the most wanted terrorist has been killed. DCIA Leon E. Panetta stated that “I don’t think there’s any inquiry that when you get the figure one terrorist in the universe. that we’re a small safer today than we were when he was alive. But I besides don’t think we ought to pull the leg of ourselves that killing Usama Bin Ladin kills al-Qa’ida. Al-Qa’ida still remains a menace. they’re still traveling to seek to assail our state. and I think we have to go on to be argus-eyed and go on the attempt to finally get the better of these cats.

We damaged them. but we still have to get the better of them. ” In order for a war to be a war. shouldn’t it hold a clear terminal? Or at least a possible one? The war on terrorist act besides is discredited as being an existent war because it does non take topographic point on a clear conflict infinite. The manager of public prosecutions. Sir Ken Macdonald quoted “London is non a battleground. Those inexperienced persons who were murdered on July 7 2005 were non victims of war. And the work forces who killed them were non. as in their amour propre they claimed on their farcical pictures. ‘soldiers’ .

They were deluded. egotistic inadequates. They were felons. They were fantasists. We need to be really clear about this. On the streets of London. there is no such thing as a ‘war on terror’ . merely as there can be no such thing as a ‘war on drugs’ He continues by saying that ‘the battle against terrorist act on the streets of Britain is non a war. It is the bar of offense. the enforcement of our Torahs and the winning of justness for those damaged by their violation. ” The war on panic could merely be a war against a ‘thing’ such as the war on poorness. drugs. offense tc… There is no existent manner to get the better of. destroy and free the planet of such immaterial constructs. The war on terrorist act looked under these facets becomes more hard to truly accept as a war. It is hard to reply the inquiry if whether the war on terrorist act is an existent war. It appears that there is a battle between Al-Qaeda contending secularism. consumerism. and immorality and the US and the West is contending against retardation and against groups of people who reject western values and globalisation. Is this what the existent war being fought is about? Is this the existent war that is traveling on?

There are both facets crediting the war on terrorist act as a war and others discrediting it. This inquiry nevertheless is extremely relevant and intertwines to other facets of IR305 such as the altering nature of war ( is the war on panic the new type of war? ) . the different types of warfare ( is the war on panic the new western manner of warfare and terrorist act the Arab manner of warfare? ) . and the subject of hazard societies ( are we engendering more terrorist act by contending the war on panic. therefore making more hazard ) . All of these assorted facets of IR305 are relevant to the subject of the war on terrorist act.

Media is an important tool that societies use to project their values, cultures, ideologies and opinions they hold on various issues in life. It is used to influence perception of people in a society regarding certain issue. Media has been used to shape people’s opinions, thoughts, beliefs and attitudes they hold towards others in the world. There is print and electronic media. The development of electronic media such as videos, TVs and internet, increased the use of media by groups of people in the society to portray positively their image so as to gain social power.

Human beings usually form social groups based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social economic class, etc, in competing for social power, superiority, social privileges and entitlement. People within a group usually discredit other groups by displaying them negatively through the media. This tends to influence negative attitude and perception of people towards such a group. Films and motion pictures media has been widely used in the global media industry lately as they attached emotions to their message.

Hollywood’s film/ entertainment industry has been used to promote negative images of Asians-Americans, Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs (Ahmed 68). In most of films produced in Hollywood U. S, they project Arabs and Muslims as people filled with hatred and contempt (). In the film “the siege” produced in 1998, the movie shows how Islamic terrorist cells plan and execute bombing in New York (The siege). This film shows how the U. S government, and American society at large, views world terrorism.

In the film movie, the theme of terrorism is presented, where Muslims suicide bombers blow up a New York bus, a movie theater, the headquarters of the FBI counterterrorism task force and targets a school. Hundreds of citizens are killed in the attack (Ibid). Like in the material in aftermath of September 11, 2001 New York attack, there is the theme of terrorism. In the class material on September 11 attack, world trading center in New York (“Twins tower”) was blown up by terrorists.

There is theme of racial stereotype in class material, and also in “The siege”. The government immediate response to the terrorist attack was to mount police scrutiny of foreigners ‘perceived to be terrorists’ (Akram 57). South Asians, Arabs and Muslims were targeted, where they were pulled of their cars, beaten and some shot at. This clearly illustrated racial biasness against Asian-Americans, Arab and Muslims. It was noted that members belonging to Sikh American community also suffered because they dress like Arabs (Ibid 58).

The racial prejudice extends to the society, where after the Sept 11 attack, member of Asian-American communities faced racial hate crimes from the white majorities. The reported abuses of civil liberties directed to the Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, and Asians American did not get attention of the authorities. In dead, the government ordered New York police department to assist in vetting 5,000 immigrants of South Asia and Muslims decent (ASS Class Notes). Hate violence is another theme of both the film “siege” and class material.

In the class materials, the theme is elaborated in events where members of Asian-American community, Muslims and Arabs are beaten, their businesses vandalized and mosques and temples attacked by the other communities, particularly whites as they perceive them as their enemies (Akram 62). There is also racially-motivated hate violence directed to Arabs and Muslims by police forces. Civil injustices is another theme in the class material and also is present in the film the “The siege”. South Asians, Arabs and Muslims soon after the 9/11 attack were pulled out of their cars, beaten, arrested and shot at (The Siege).

Arab student attending school in New York City public schools are mobbed with rocks by their fellow non-Muslims, non-Arab students (ASS Class Notes). In Brooklyn and Queens Islands, homes of Muslims, South Asians and Arabs are searched and personal properties confisticated. All these are against their civil liberties and right (Ibid). The film “The siege” is an action thriller that was written by Lawrence Wright. Distributed by 20th century fox, the film was produced by Lynda Obst. Born on April 14, 1950 in New York, Lynda is an established film editor and producer (The Siege).

She was former editor of the New York Times. With partnership with Debra Hill in 1986, they produced “Adventures in babysitting”, “Heartbreak hotel” and “The fisher king” among others. A graduate of Ponoma college in Claremont, CA, Lynda her also produced other major films like “One fine day”, “Contact”, and “Someone like you”, in early 1990. The intended audience of the film “The siege” is the U. S government and its citizen. The film was a wake up call to the security forces to increase vigilance from a possible terrorist attacks in the homeland, following series of attacks in U.

S foreign facilities in early 1990 (The Siege). Also the film addresses the U. S citizens and society, on how the Muslim radicalists hate the nation; they are prime target of the terrorist groups and determined to destroy them. Terrorism is one of the themes of “The siege”. The film opens with scenes of bombed U. S marine base in Saudi Arabia by terrorists (The Siege). In retaliation, the U. S Army military task force captures an Iraq cleric (Ibid). This precipitates aggression by terrorist cells, each made up of not more than three members, launch attack after another in New York.

They bomb a bus killing everybody on board they also a Broadway theater, headquarters of the FBI counterterrorism task force, killing hundreds of citizens. Racial stereo type and violence is another theme of the film. The terrorists in the terror cell are Muslim-Arabs (The Siege). This shows how the U. S society perceives Muslims and Arabs (Akram 54). After the New York attacks, the president declares martial law and the U. S army occupies and seal off Brooklyn to find remaining terrorist (The Siege). Arabs and Muslims youths are arrested and detained. These suspects are tortured. Civil injustice is another theme in the film.

Use of army to roundup area Arab young males is against their civil liberty. There is also human right abuses, an Arabs who was arrested by FBI was later captured, tortured and killed by U. S army major general Devereaux (The Siege). There is theme of distrust. After the terrorist attacks, the FBI, CIA, U. S Army and NYPD were involved in keeping order and ensuring security of all. Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) leads a joint FBI/NYPD force . He works with Sharon Bridges (Annette), who first introduces herself as Elise Kraft, hiding her real name and her close connection with Arab terrorists.

Despite the Hubbard effort to contain the situation without necessary implementing the martial law, General Devereaux implements martial law without consultation (The Siege). The story in the film takes place in Brooklyn, New York City, U. S. A (The siege). The film was produced before the September 11, 2001 attack in 1998. During these periods, Muslims radicalists and terrorist network, Alqaeda had attacked U. S embassy in Kenya and Tanzania. Therefore the Americans were wary of Islamic groups who were out fiercely to fight “Zionism”.

During this time period, America beliefs and attitudes towards Muslims were negative, as they perceived them as terrorist. The cast in the film was planned excellently, Denzel Washington who acted as Anthony Hubbard (the FBI chief) though a black, gave and excellent performance. Major General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) fitted well in the character as physique and tough-guy appearance plays well. The use of Arabs to represent the Muslim terrorists clicked with the themes, though it made the film to be viewed as anti-Muslims (Ahmed 73).

The film, like the class works on aftermath of Sep 11 attack, have the racial stereotype, hate violence and civil injustices themes. Like in the class material, there are terrorism activities that result in death of many citizens. Also Arabs and Muslims are targeted in fight against terrorism. The civil rights and sometimes fundamental rights are abused by the authorities. This story in the film influences the way the audiences perceives Asian-Americans. The Asian Americans are portrayed as hostile terrorists (Ahmed 69). The siege did poorly in the U. S box-office after it was released in 1998.

This was mainly because Arab-American Organizations protested on it, critizing it as stereotyping Muslims as Terrorists. A change in script and casts may have changed this and made it hit more. The producer of the film could have changed characters in the terrorist cells and replace them with white actors to represent U. S white conspirators in the U. S. In the script, after the New York Attacks, instead of New Yorkers demonstrating against the occupation of Armies and harassment of the Arab youths, there could be race violence against Arabs and Muslims neighbors by non- Muslims especially the whites.

This would give it a real touch of feelings in the U. S society on this issue and also balance it so that it does not seem to be demonizing Islamic faith and the followers. Work Cited Ahmed, Akbar S. “Hello, Hollywood: your images affect Muslims everywhere. ” (The West and Islam) New Perspectives Quarterly, spring 2002 v19 i2 p 63-75 Akram, Susan M. “The aftermath of September 11, 2001: The targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America. ” Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ) (Spring-Summer 2002): 45-68 ASS Class Notes Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Bruce Willis, Perf. The Siege. Dir Edward Zwick. 20th Century Fox. Nov 1998.

Do you ever have one of those moments in your life in which you will never forget where you were? I remember waking up early on September 11, 2001, getting ready for school and my dad telling me hurry up to watch the news with him. Being in 8th grade at the time, the news really wasn’t something I would watch in the mornings so I knew it had to be something important. Then I saw it. An airplane crashing into a tower, people panicking, and mayhem ensuing in a city very well known to me. When any tragic event like 9/11 occurs, the effect it will have on a nation is tremendous.

It left America in shock, anger, and sadness just to name a few adjectives to describe the insurmountable amount of feelings that we felt on that day. With America being such a powerful nation, after recovering from the attack the next ideal step would be to seek retaliation, right? Well on October 7th 2001, the war in Afghanistan began marking the first step in the War on Terror. The 9/11 tragedy was very devastating to the American morale and our sense of security. America being so powerful and strong it may be logical to see how we had a false sense of security when it came to attacks on us.

I mean, who would really want to attack one of the strongest nations on Earth? No other nation in their right mind would, right? Wrong. When those two planes hit our towers and another hitting the pentagon we were slapped with a reality check. We weren’t as safe as we thought we were. To add onto things, on September 18th and October 9th, 2001, we were hit by the anthrax attack that killed five and injured seventeen Americans. Something had to be done about this. We shouldn’t be letting other nations attack us like this. So George W. Bush began the War on Terror.

The single person who took responsibility for these attacks on America is the notorious Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden founded the jihadist terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda at around 1988 to late 1989. The al-Qaeda, which translates into “The Base,” is well known for the September 11th attacks on the United States, but is also responsible for the 1998 US embassy bombings as well as the 2002 bombings in Bali. The war on terror started with America going on the offensive against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. With Osama bin laden becoming the most wanted criminal in the United States, f not the entire world, other countries would join in our attempt to dismantle the al-Qaeda and their usage of Afghanistan as a home base. Australia, United Kingdom, and the united afghan front became our allies in the war in Afghanistan. These nations would launch Operation Enduring Freedom. While Operation Enduring Freedom was mainly targeting Afghanistan, it also had many subordinate operations. Along with Afghanistan, there were operations in the Philippines, Horn of Africa/Somalia, Pankisi Gorge, Trans Sahara, Caribbean and Central America, and Kyrgyzstan.

The terrorist regimes were placed all over the world and the nations fighting terrorism found it necessary to assist these other countries in eliminating those hostile forces in their territory. Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines is a currently active mission to fight the terrorist forces of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah. Abu Sayyaf is an Islamist separatist group that was residing around the southern islands of the Republic of the Philippines while Jamaah Islamiyah is a militant Islamic terrorist group that was spread out through Southeast Asia in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, parts of Thailand, and the Philippines.

This operation is still ongoing and has tallied 17 US soldier casualties with >315 enemies killed, including Abu Sayyaf leader Janjalani. Another one of the Operation Enduring Freedom missions was the Horn of Africa (Northeast Africa/Somali Peninsula). This mission was dedicated to stopping terrorism and piracy in the Horn of Africa. The United States lost 29 due to non-combat fatalities, but so far have been able to kill 149-160 insurgents, 67-78 pirates, and captured around 1000 pirates. This mission is still ongoing since October 7th, 2002.

There was also another operation held in Africa referred to as Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara. A 500 million budget was approved for the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI) that would be spent over a six-year p to support those countries that were facing threats from the al-Qaeda. These countries were primarily Chad, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco, Mali, and Mauritania. Along with the attempts to thwart terrorism, the TSCTI were also focusing on drug and weapon trafficking. One of the main points of this specific mission was to train these 10 nations with the ecessary skills and equipment to combat these problems on their own. The last two Operation Enduring Freedom missions are “Caribbean and Central America” and Kyrgyzstan. The Caribbean and Central American mission has forces deployed in El Salvador, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize, Honduras, and Costa Rica. The US Air Force at Manas International Airport primarily runs the operation in Kyrgyzstan near the capitol Bishkek. Now onto the main mission in Operation Enduring Freedom, the War in Afghanistan.

The main reason behind this war was to dismantle the al-Qaeda organization and stopping them from using Afghanistan as their base. The United States would also go on to state that they were attempting to take the Taliban out of power and create a nation with a more democratic government. This war began on October 7th, 2001, and is still ongoing today making it the United States longest running war. “Article 51 permits a victimized state to engage in ‘individual or collective self-defense’ until recourse has been taken by the Security Council to establish peace” (Maogoto, 2003).

The reason that this war was criticized so much was because people felt that bombing and attacking Afghanistan was not self-defense because the 9/11 attacks were done by non-state actors, not Afghanistan’s own army. Either way, President George W. Bush was given authorization by Congress to go ahead and begin the war against Afghanistan on September 18th 2001, when a legislation called “Authorization for Use of Military Forces Against Terrorists,” was passed. With the War in Afghanistan being the longest war that the US has run, it is understandable that there are many losses.

In our coalition there were 3,097 killed with 2,031 of them being from the United States, over 23,500 wounded, and 1 missing/captured. Of the contractors hired, there were 1,143 killed and over 15,000 wounded. The Afghan Security Forces lost 10,086+ and the Afghan Northern Alliance lost over 200. As for the opposing forces, there was no real reliable estimate, but the Taliban forces were estimated to be around 25,000 strong. One of the more shocking numbers to be brought up in losses is how many civilians were killed during the attacks.

A rough estimate of civilian casualties is 12,500 – 14,700. While there were many causes for the civilian casualties, the majority of the losses came from the airstrikes and improvised explosives by the insurgents. The civilian deaths caused a lot of tension between the foreign countries and Afghanistan government causing President Karzai to summon his foreign military commanders to tell them “his people’s patience was wearing thin” (BBC, 2007). Even though there were many losses suffered by all participants and those civilians, there was a huge victory for the United States on May 2nd, 2011.

This was the day that al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, was finally shot and killed by the US forces in Pakistan (BBC, 2011). They would later confirm the death through DNA tests This could have also been another one of those “you’ll never forget where you were” events for many seeing how he caused so much damage with the 9/11 attacks. The next war to start after Operation Enduring Freedom began was the Iraq war. The reasons behind this war have been extremely debated and discussed since it started. The official factors were listed in the “Iraq Resolution. ” Here are some of the reasons to invade Iraq (President George W. Bush, 2002):  Members of al-Qaeda, the ones responsible for attacks on the US, were residing in Iraq.  Iraq paid bounties to suicide bomber’s families. Iraq was brutally repressing their civilian population.  Iraq was not complying with the 1991 ceasefire agreement while also interfering with U. N. weapons instructors.  Iraq was “continuing to aid and harbor other international terrorist organizations,” that also included anti-United States terrorist organizations.  Turkey, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia wanted Saddam out of power in Iraq and feared what he may do.

Those were listing only a few reasons, but another big factor in the Iraq War was that Saddam Hussein did not stop producing weapons of mass destruction in 2003 after the Duelfer Report revealed that information. In 1991, Hussein’s WMD capability was essentially destroyed by sanctions to restore Iraq’s economy to a more stable condition. On October 21, 2011, Obama announced, “After nearly 9 years, America’s war in Iraq will be over. ” The last troops to leave Iraq were leaving by January 1st, 2012, and that the troops in Afghanistan would start to come home as well.

A big problem that these wars caused for America, aside from the casualties, was how much money was spent. A lot of people look at the War on Terror and the Iraq War as the main reasons the American economy has taken a huge dive the last decade or so. From 2001 through 2011 the Afghanistan war cost the United States about $433 billion dollars (Bingham, 2012). The Iraq war has cost about $806 billion dollars so far, but Obama has said it may cost over $1 trillion dollars when it is all over (Krutzleben, 2011).

However, with all these wars not completely wrapped up, the final price of war could be as high as $4. 4 trillion dollars when all is told (costofwar. org, 2012). War affects every country involved, but specifically the veterans who participated and contributed to the war. It would only seem logical that those countries that have had veterans deployed and fight for their nation should be taking care of them as best they can. From the veterans who came back from the Iraq war, 20. 3% of active soldiers and 42. 4% of reserve soldiers required mental health treatment (Milliken, 2007).

The total numbers of those diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Iraq and Afghanistan war is about 30% of the 834,463 who were in those wars (Reno, 2012). These numbers were only the veterans that were treated by the V. A. (Veteran’s Association) hospitals, so there could actually be more who have not looked for further treatment after returning. With some of these numbers rising as more soldiers are returning from the wars, this would mean the V. A. hospitals would need to hire more mental health professionals to deal with the influx in PTSD cases continuing to go up.

The V. A. has increased their mental health investments by more than 1/3rd in the last three years. They have “hired more than 4,000 mental health professionals” and in April 2012 have announced they will add 1,600 more professionals, totaling their mental health staff to 22,000 (Reno, 2012). War has never been a good thing and there is never one side that is completely victorious when you consider how many people are killed on each side, civilians included. After the 9/11 attacks on the United States it would be hard to simply let that go unpunished, something HAD to be done.

As unpopular war is in the United States, there was a lot of support from the nation as a whole. I personally found it hard for there to be some type of peaceful way to come to an agreement with a terrorist organization so I also supported the war. The cost of these wars have been devastating to our economy though and a lot of people thought we were in these places for too long trying to do too much. Overall, it’s really hard to judge whether these wars have been a success. It’s really a matter of opinion and how a person wants to analyze the results.

I can only hope that we defend our nation much better, that all the troops come back, and that they receive the care they all deserve. We are doing our veterans a great disservice if we cannot properly accommodate them for life after war.

Bibliography

1. Bilmes, L. (2006, February). The economic costs of the iraq war: An appraisal threeyears after the beginning of the conflict. Retrieved fromhttp://www. nber. org/papers/w12054. pdf? new_window=1
2. Bingham, A. (2012, May). Afghanistan War by the Numbers: Lives Lost, Billions Spent. Retrieved from http://abcnews. go. om/Politics/OTUS/billions-dollars-thousandslives-lost-afghanistan-war/story? id=16256292#. UIRxJmk4WA0 Faiz, S. (2006, March 17).
3. A timeline of the iraq war. Retrieved fromhttp://thinkprogress. org/report/iraq-timeline/? mobile=nc Hoven, R. (2012, September 6). An iraq war every year. Retrieved fromhttp://www. americanthinker. com/blog/2012/09/an_iraq_war_every_year. html
4. Iraq War Veterans. (2004, July). Iraq veterans against the war. Retrieved fromhttp://www. ivaw. org/ Kellner, D. (2004, December). Bring ’em on: Media and politics in the iraq war. Retrieved fromhttp://books. google. com/books? l=en;amp;lr=;amp;id=10BiGSdCyVQC;amp;oi=fnd;amp;pg=R7;amp;dq=iraq war;amp;ots=DpgUR6Ohbz;amp;sig=cb0_JxEuXqNrmyLL2WQEWCNLFY
5. Kurtzleben, D. (2011, December). What Did the Iraq War Cost? More Than You Think. Retrieved from http://www. usnews. com/news/articles/2011/12/15/what-did-theiraq-war-cost-more-than-you-think
6. Milliken, C. (2007, Novemeber 14). Longitudinal assessment of mental health problemamong active and reserve component soldiers returning from the iraq war. Retrieved from http://jama. jamanetwork. com/article. aspx? articleid=209441
7. Montopoli, B. (2011, October 21). Obama announces end of iraq war, troops to returnhome by year end.

This paper gives a detailed analysis of terrorism and its effects in the fast increasing globalization that the world is witnessing presently. The paper draws attention to the fact that the globalization of terror has brought forth immense difficulties for transnational companies and organizations that are engaged in importing and exporting commodities and services in terror effected regions of the world.

The paper gives a logical analysis of the present scenario in a lucid manner that would make the reader understand the gravity of the situation where a terror attack takes place. The author has argued the need for consensus among the developed and democratic world and so also others who value life and properties of human beings to take proper action to counter these attacks.

Only weakening the attacks can the world be assured of further increase in bilateral ties and enhanced standard of living through the process of international trade. IV. Introduction The opening up of economies in most part of the world or globalization as it is called signaled a boon to international trade. However, the same boon to international trade has facilitated the rapid growth of transnational terrorism having its root in domestic soils which spread out further into the far reaching corners of the globe.

Terrorism has taken an ominous form in the present times leaving only a miniscule few countries out of its vicious grip while incurring huge loss on life, properties and business between nations in the most part of our planet. The origins of terrorism lies in the past history of mankind yet its implications have been more aggressive and having attained devilish proportions only in the recent past that could destabilize the whole of the international trade and financial order if the democratic and free world do not take cognizance of this problem.

In other words, terrorism has gained momentum with the rapid and fast changing global business environment due to the very reason that some people or parts of a community or nation are intransigent to the liberal exchange of views, ideas and actions of others which they feel are a threat to their own possessively held beliefs and practices.

When such exchange of liberal views and active demonstration of different values happen in the socio economic life of the community, the hardliners form a bastion to thwart the spread of such views and the rapid transformation taking place in the society which they feel is a threat to their own culture with utmost angst and violence.

There is no denying the fact that most terror originates from closed societies or regions where the dogma or practice of religion and social values are such as has been followed since times immemorial that they form an inevitable expression of dissent and outrage at the slightest hint of an intrusion of thoughts and actions from another community or region. This is more so when the ideas, thoughts and behaviors pertains to a foreign country with a totally different culture.

The orthodox communities in such instance wage wars carry out stealth bombings, suicide attacks and make all possible efforts to stop trade between the two nations and communities. In modern days terrorism is used in a more systematic ways to communicate a political, religious and cultural message whereby intimidating and spreading the fear among the gullible public. It has also been seen that modern terrorist aim to damage businesses more than any other targets which they feel can effectively put an impasse on the other community’s financial stability.

There are different forms of terrorism taking place around the world and they all aim to inflict fear upon the general public. The most common forms of terrorist attacks are carried out by bombings, guerilla squads, suicide attackers, kidnapping and hijacking and information warfare. The information warfare is the latest way that a terror group tries to demonstrate their strength and displeasure by uprooting the very base of the communication over which most governments and business organizations of the free world depends to a very large extent for their continuity and growth.

Yet what is seen to be terrorism may not be quite true for those who perpetrate it as they feel that it is the other side who is actually at fault and who are the real terrorists with seemingly neat manners and nice talks. The real reason for terrorism therefore is the growing discontent among a particular community when they see a threat to their own ways and means of practices and behaviors.

However, from the point of argument there may be several reasons that could look sound enough for giving justification to terror groups, but what cannot be forgotten is the reckless ways the life and properties of the civilians are put to stake. And this also means the dangers posed to the smooth flow of international trade without which the very basis and existence of the new world is not possible. V. Significance of the Study

The study assumes significance in the light of the numerous and even frequent attacks on innocent civilians by groups who have become enormous along with the ballooning growth of the world economy. The dastardly acts without an iota of compassion and reasoning by people who want to change the whole world order to their very own narrow terms have brought to focus that this area requires more in-depth analysis and holds potentials for future studies for mankind to be more knowledgeable in order to explore grounds wherein such incidents could be minimized and brought before the rule of international law.

If there is need for justification from the angle of the warring group and those who are the free liberals and who advocate a free society then the need of the hour is to come to an understanding whereby both groups could willingly express themselves and adopt procedures which could minimize such sort of terrorism activities in the future. Needless to say terrorists attack and destroy business and financial institutions with the firm and quite obvious belief that the most parts of the world depend on the world trade for sustenance.

Hence, by stunting the growth of business and trade they feel that they are to a large extent able to coerce the rest of the world to come to terms. Thus, the study is important not only from the point of curtailing the terrorist activities worldwide, but to see reason for what terrorist are trying to state and then derive at a consensus such that the extreme elements among the terrorist who see nothing short of the unreasonableness and those who are the moderates and who would like to have some support from the world, are singled out and segregated.

By doing so the students and researchers and general readers would have the ability to distinguish between the ideologically different groups, the moderates and the extreme hardcore elements that are hell bent to disrupt the entire flow of life as if it is their business to do so. The extreme hardcore elements are the political ideological groups, drug mafia, the religious bigots, and some extreme cults whose practices are highly questionable and do not in any way go with the civilized existence of human beings.

When it comes to the area of business it is usually seen that the effects of terrorism on the global businesses have been minimal if one considers the extent of damages caused by large scale wars. However, this is no reason to relegate the study of terrorism to a lower level for it is seen that the catastrophes of war is extreme and as such people by and large have already submitted themselves to the forthcoming casualties whether in the form of human life or business.

The fear psychosis on the other hand is more ominous with terrorism gaining ground as the population and businesses undergoes a series of frequent uncertainties, a sudden assault and then a relative period of ease due to which the actual normal life that was prevailing previously is never fully restored. The tension that a business organization experiences is multi-fold and on a continuous basis too and this is likely to remain so with no proper study so far being undertaken to tackle the menace from the grassroots itself.

Therefore, for businesses carrying on trade, whether domestic or international, an alternate means of survival has to be formed such that the financial constraints brought forth by terrorism can be effectively checked. This again would help in preparing future contingency plans for businesses carrying out trade in high risk, low risk or no risk terrorism countries or regions.

Another factor that has emerged over time in different literatures and the media is the presence of terror money or the ill-gotten money made by terrorist organizations which are in turn invested in shares of multi-national companies and in other securities which are traded freely as there is no proper means to control these properly. Further, the terrorist by themselves keep a low profile and their leaders who have come to the light seldom ever record these transactions in their own name, but do so in the name of their underworld accomplice or by their faithful proxies.

Again, some legitimate businesses are one way or the other transacting their business across countries with organizations belonging to a terrorist group by design or by ignorance. Several countries perpetuate business tensions too if the government of that country has an ulterior motive to help organizations belonging to terrorists to trade with organizations of other countries which had earlier carried out terror attacks on that country.

This can cause extreme embarrassment and there are several instances of governments of countries ignoring ethics and international agreements while forging business partnership with organizations belonging to well known terror organizations with an inherent desire to get access to the raw materials or services without which a part of their industry might find it difficult to survive. The US is one such country where its newspapers are the largest importers of Gum Arabic manufactured by Gum Arabic Company Ltd, belonging to Osama Bin Laden who incidentally has 70% shares in it.

The above example and many others clearly show how terrorism is intricately related with the mainstream legitimate business worldwide and there is frequent overlapping of trade with these hardcore elements when an international transaction is carried out between countries. Since, the terror organizations are numerous and so also the number of people employed by them, that it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate the good from the bad.

This is more prominently seen in the share market where the terrorist are skilled speculators and have made fortunes and thus been able to divert funds for financing further attacks on innocent civilian targets. The obvious solution then is to disallow activities which involve terrorists by systematically segregating them from the main stream activities. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done for it is impossible to identify a terrorist from the ordinary human beings until and after a terror attack takes place.

The damage occurring to business establishments, logistics, communication networks and political misunderstandings and suspicions leading to further deterioration of bilateral and multilateral trade is too enormous due to terrorist activities one way or the other. Besides, the severe monitoring of procedures, scanning of websites and cautious and detailed checking of transactions, both finance and non-finance, has led to greater rigidity of controls and time consuming efforts proving detrimental to the smooth flow of international trade.

It has been seen in several studies that terrorism creates a fear which generally disrupts normal business activities and their effects are as hereunder. V. (A). Consumer’s Lower Propensity to Consume The consumers in general show lesser appetite for consuming products or services after a terror attack had taken place. It has been seen that overall there is a significant fall in demand for weeks in and around the spots where an attack had taken place.

The growing atmosphere of uncertainty that prevails everywhere is not quite easy for the common consumers to think that everything is under control even though the authorities say so. In case of an attack of gigantic proportion the trade between two countries are greatly affected as the authorities are not likely to deny a second successive attack and this leads to a number of rules and regulations imposed or tightened and thereby several commodities ready for shipment may have to be scrutinized for custom clearance even more rigidly.

This obviously leads to time lapse, increased handling and shipment charges, increase in bank interest on loans due to delay, cancellation of orders and reduction in price of finished products due to its nature of being perishable commodity and other additional contingent liabilities which the business may have to experience. The next in line and which have direct consequences in the event of a terror attack is the tourism industry. Under such circumstances tourists altogether cease to arrive for the whole year giving a jolt to the tourism business.

V. (B). Shortages of Raw Materials Uncertainty is one of the most important factors leading to disruption of trade between countries. It is seen that importers generally fail to place repeat orders when they feel that the exporter may not be able to get the required raw materials for the manufacture of the items when a terror takes place near the vicinity of the company. This is because the entire supply chain of the manufacturer is disrupted and the importing party hardly feels any justification that the manufacturers would keep their word.

Again, some important chemicals and highly hazardous substances essential for the manufacture of an item may come under severe scrutiny or ban leading to production loss. V. (C). New Policy Regulations The government of the region or country which had experienced severe terror attacks is likely to introduce new stricter laws and monitoring which in general would affect the trade and commerce in that region. Even otherwise there can be changes in International relations between the affected countries with those with whom it has grave suspicions of having given shelter to the alleged perpetrators in its home land.

The case of India and Pakistan is very noteworthy in this regard with Pakistan being base to almost all the terror attacks on Indian soil. Although there is trade between the two countries it remains at very low or volatile levels and at times both countries opting for stoppages of trade due to differences at the political level mainly arising out of Pakistan adopting an attitude of rouge state and perpetrating terror in the Indian soil. V. (D). Absence of TCP

The absence of Terrorism Contingency Plan (TCP) can to a great extent inhibit a country’s future trade potential as well as prove to be a stumbling block to whatever trade was in progress prior to the terror attack. In fact, it is seen that most companies rarely have a Terror Contingency Plan in place and which if implemented could act like a shock absorber in case any damage is caused in the event of a terror strike on the company’s value chain.

Insurance policies to some extent helps businesses in recovering part of the cost of materials and damaged properties, it however, never actually helps in recovering the loss occurred in terms of sales lost, future uncertainties and loss on the manufacturing and distribution front which includes logistics too. Under such circumstances there is considerable loss for businesses when terror strikes near its vicinity. V. (E). Rise in Cost of doing Business There will be significant rise in cost of doing business in areas where terror attacks takes place.

This means that a business for continuity purposes would have to procure raw materials and other services from other costly sources when shipments to import from the previous suppliers fail. Again, there will be more additional software required for information network in the event of a cyber attack. Further, business would have to look after its own security by designing and implementing a better system for business continuity which inevitably increases the cost.

The government in all likelihood would be able to thwart a broader range of external threats, but might fail to address the security system for a particular business and its peculiarities. Moreover, the government of the country might increase its defense budget to counter problems of terrorism and thereby have less money at its disposal to address the security concerns of the individual businesses. V. (F). Rise in Unemployment

There is invariably a rise in unemployment in places where terror has struck due to the direct effect it causes on businesses and international trade. This may be mild or severe and depends to a great extent the way the political machinery of the country or region works. In many developing countries this may have disastrous consequences. Even in US the 26/11 attacks has had a significant effect on trade leading to unemployment. It is perhaps the vastness and soundness of the US domestic and international markets that had greatly checked the severity of unemployment.

For other countries this would have lead to a total collapse of the economy as mass unemployment would lead to social unrest leading to political instability in the region. VI. Purpose of the Study The goal of this study is to establish the importance of an effective all round deterrence against terror aimed at business organizations world wide and how it would help in mitigating the negative impacts on business with respect to its future growth and profitability.

The study’s prime aim is to facilitate further researches in this field such that it can be an effective ground for enabling a consensus driven discussion from academicians, scholars, students, businessmen, social and political leaders who have the genuine need to address the problems posed by terrorist activities. The study would in all probability lead to certain mechanisms from the viewpoints and suggestions raised by different academicians and scholars and so also the business groups.

During all subsequent discussions it would help to bring about certain valid changes in the international trade through better cost effective monitoring techniques, better contingency plans for protection of small and large businesses including tourism as well a more fool proof way of identifying and tracking money laundering. This concerted action would give ample justice for which the study has been undertaken and instill a greater response from all stakeholders from world over who wishes to see a phenomenal rise in international trade in years to come.

The study is therefore important from at least three points and these are as elucidated below. • There has been a steady increase in terrorist activities worldwide which clearly shows that the area of study has not been seriously pursued so far in order to recommend a proper defense mechanism that would save the huge loss incurring to international trade • There is also an increased intensity in terror attacks on both civilian and business targets over the years which have proved beyond doubt the incapacity of many businesses to recover the lost opportunities completely.

This jeopardizes the long term goals and targets of organization and in turn effects the economic development of the region. • Terrorism is relatively a new field of study and hence highlighting the importance of study in this area would benefit business organizations, policy makers and civilians. This is mainly because the study would throw up important suggestions and points of view from intellectuals to check its growing menace. This study has also taken into consideration the wide ranging implications of terror attacks and how the various literature have been able to throw light into the new emerging area of thought.

For the purpose of the study the available literature are not extensive enough to provide justification to such an important area of study yet they have helped in assessing the different viewpoints expressed by authors and academicians and the nature of terror threats that the world faces today. The paper underlines the need for a concerted action from all those people who would like to enhance their standard of living and free exchange of commodities, services and communication through international trade.

Under such circumstances any hindrance to free flow of trade is quite detrimental to the uplift of ones community and hence there must be a broad understanding by all stakeholders to fight terrorism. VII. Literature Review The literature reviews of different academicians and authors have so far been seen as quite meager when one considers the importance of the problem. Yet almost all authenticated journals and articles by authors point to the fact that terror not only disrupts normal life at places where it has struck, but has negative implications on businesses and disrupts smooth flow of trade between countries.

Again, all authenticated writings by scholars have pointed out to the fact that terror knows no boundary whether domestic or foreign and can strike anywhere at anytime on civilian targets in order to generate fear among the people. The latest form of terror is however the most feared among the modern businessmen and cross border traders and this is cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorist groups target the internet itself using DOS or DDOS virtually shutting down critical infrastructure and other software used constantly by organizations (Gable, 2010).

Nowadays there are hardly any companies who do not interact over the net or carry on their operation by online communication network. Hence, a terror attack on the network can shut down operations and destroy useful files and information for the business. Many companies having branches in other countries are also connected by intranet network which is equally vulnerable to such attacks. Since, the terrorist are low profiled people moving about just as ordinary folks do they are difficult to identify and their illicit transactions are never known.

Such is the efficiency of a terrorist that money laundering which is seen as yet another method the terrorist receives and provides the much necessary funds for the next attack. According to the authors Delston and Walls this type of money laundering is quite common as it seeks to disguise the proceeds of crime and moving value through use of trade transactions in order to legitimize their illicit origins (2009). In other words, the terror groups conduct their day to day business by stealth operations disguising their terror money in several forms.

In such cases in international trade and commerce the custom personnel must not only be vigilant about hazardous products being smuggled into a country, but must have the requisite knowledge of billing and the approximate prices of commodities that are being traded. At times, the actual cost of a commodity might be only $100, but the exporter may invoice it for $1, 00,000 to the importer as previously agreed upon where the difference in the amount stands for terror money that the importer makes in order to fund a ruthless operation. Such money looks every bit legitimate and passes on easily through approved financial networks.

This has given rise to whole lot of problems whereupon governments of different nations have undertaken to monitor the commodities that are being passed for shipment as there is always the chance of hazardous or nuclear materials passing through by declaring it as any one of the common items. Illicit transshipment and theft of nuclear materials used to manufacture bombs is not just a hypothetical worry, but an ongoing reality (Bunn, 2009). One of the important factors which several authors have voiced concern is the way globalization has been thrust upon the people with extremely different views and culture.

These communities by their very nature of being stubborn and possessing orthodox beliefs tend to express themselves in a totally different behavioral attitudes, views and preferences which in turn prove to be a stumbling block for smooth conduct of trade. In fact, globalization contributes to the creation of socio-cultural and psychological conditions which breeds discontentment and terrorism (Stout, 2002). Therefore, the need for the hour on part of every international business is to promote goodwill and understanding about different social, cultural and linguistic communities other than ones own.

However, some of these extreme elements rather than follow the path of least resistance try to foment trouble by hijacking the very beliefs of the people by calling themselves the real religious people. In many Moslem countries the religious heads under the threat of such groups and also by receiving cash benefits succumb to the pressures and ideologies the terror group dictates. The Pakistan based launching pad was effectively used by the so called Mujahidin or warriors of God, which consisted of Arab and Asian Moslems for carrying on their anti-Soviet Afghan campaign in the year 1979-1989 (Buckley and Fawn, 2003).

Here, religion compounded by the fear of Western or American hegemony created excellent conditions for such terror groups to emerge in rapid succession. Later on many of these terror elements would form part of the larger group whereby there strength would increase and so also pooling of funds for large scale terror attacks. Modern terrorist organizations are loose knit global entities that have practically no geographical borders, but use loopholes of each domestic law to establish safe havens (Airey, 2009).

However, the worst scenario seen in recent times is the timid responses of developed nations who have been under such attacks. Many of these developed countries have either a connection with a terrorist organization in the past especially during the Cold War periods. For instance, both the US as well as the erstwhile Soviet Union had their own well funded terror groups to launch attacks on each other. Again, for political reasons alone a terror group which showed allegiance to one country previously may have fallen out during the period of globalization.

The case is more intriguing when the warring group in another country can influence the political base of another country. The US failed to include IRA (Irish Republican Army) as a terror organization basically because it didn’t want to alienate Irish-American voters (Lutz JM and Lutz BJ, 2009). This kind of lackluster attitude on part of nations could hamper any consensus built to root out terrorism from the society. To reiterate the fact once more it is to be understood by the readers that the 26/11 attacks cost US 3000 lives while in July 2005 in London’s public transport system killed more than 50 people.

Further, the Madrid train bombing on March 2004 claimed 191 people. Even in Far East like Japan the terrorism has struck by domestic terrorist groups themselves. In 1994-95 Japanese citizens in Tokyo were attacked with chemicals which were allegedly to be carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo, a religious cult of Japan. There are, in fact, hundreds of terror attacks carried out in different parts of the world and the severest attacks happen in places where the region or country is under occupation of foreign armed forces.

The Israel and Hamas conflicts have left huge number of people dead and so also in Iraq. VIII. Recommendations The paper suggests a strong agreement between governments of the free democratic world with those of moderates who would like to see a civilized world order. There must be a consensus reached between the member countries to share valuable information and counter terror methods that are being effectively implemented by another country or countries.

The internet is here to stay and would be the next big picture where most or a significant part of the international trade would be conducted. Therefore, there must be development of software that would upgrade the communication and online network sites and which would effectively thwart any terrorists hackers from assessing the information. Above all the governments should provide a broad outline of a practical contingency plan for business to cover any liabilities whether tangible or intangible in case of a terror attack.

Lastly, but not the least there must be careful monitoring of business transactions world wide and a systematic elimination of terror groups by addressing some of the issues like giving importance to different cultural groups working for the organizations. Once, the basis of difference which is mainly cultural, religious and linguistic is properly addressed there would be lesser pressure from potential terror groups to inflict damage to business. This again would lead to the weakening of the hardcore extremist terror groups. Reference List Airey T. Joseph (2009).

Valuable Lessons Learned at International Counter- Terrorism Forum. Terrorists and Law. The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Buckley Mary and Fawn Rick (2003). Global Responses to Terrorism. 9/11 and Beyond. Al-Qaeda Organization and Operations. 3, 37. Routledge. New York. Bunn Mathew (2009). Reducing the Greatest Risks of Nuclear Theft & Terrorism. Daedalus. Delton S. Ross and Walls C. Stephen (2009). Reaching beyond Banks: How to Target Trade based Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing outside the Financial Sector. The Definition of Trade-Based Money Laundering. Case

Western Reserve Journal of International Law. Gable A. Kelly (2010). Cyber-Apocalypse Now: Securing the Internet against Cyber Terrorism and using Universal Jurisdiction as a deterrent. B. Direct Attacks on The Internet. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Lutz M. James and Lutz J. Brenda (2009). How successful is Terrorism? Definitions. Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table. Stout E. Chris (2002). The Psychology of Terrorism Volume III. Theoretical Understanding and Perspectives. The Unanticipated Consequences of Globalization. Contextualizing Terrorism. 2, 31. Westport CT. Praeger.

Violence is an intrinsic phenomenon in human society and its occurrence or recurrence indicates the ever dynamic character of society. Violence ensues because man ‘s interests and inclinations are varied and often antagonistic. The propensity of man to pursue his selfish interests which usually give room for the outbreaks of violence necessitated the evolution of the state as an impartial referee to check human excesses. In Africa, conflicts leading to violence have become a major source of concern due to their recurrent nature and consequence on the continent ‘s development efforts

The problem of insurgency in Africa dates back to 1904 when Moroccan insurgents kidnapped American nationals at Tangier, Morocco (Nwolise, 2005). The Nigerian experience of insurgency started pre-independence and increased significantly after independence (Olaniyan and Asuelime, 2014).

However, in recent years, the insurgency in Northern Nigeria by Boko Haram continues to attract worldwide attention and it is impacting on the corporate existence of the country, especially on agricultural, which is the main economic activity in Northern Nigeria (Osumah, 2013) The insurgency has created the big humanitarian crisis, with the recorded number of internally displaced persons totalling 2.3 million people in 2017 (United Nations Refugee Agency, 2017).

The literature on counter-insurgency propose diverse frameworks for understanding as well as tackling the issue, e.g. defeat through the enemy, population-centric methods- with the focused programme of support for the state. (Williams et al, 2016) An examination of literature in counter-insurgency in Nigeria shows that the response of the state has been multi-dimensional and multi-agency approach (through active colouration with both statutory, non-statutory and not for profit organisations) (Onapajo, 2017)

Whilst, this is the case, the counter-insurgency approach and intervention have weighed more heavily on the military as opposed to non-military measures. Evidence shows that this approach has been counterproductive as violent activities and various crimes against humanity are still being committed by Boko Haram (Amnesty International, 2015). The author is of the opinion that the state approach requires more thorough examination, “even when there are multidimensional differences between Nigerian state and states likes India where military approach solely worked in defeating the insurgents and for this “

This research has as its focus – a critical assessment of counterinsurgency measures and strategies in Nigeria, which have been two-fold: First, militarist methods like deployment of soldiers and creation of new military base in the northeast (Akinbi, 2015), and second, the political methods such as the establishment of Internally Displace Centres (IDC) across the country and active collaboration with international organisations and security agencies (Onuoha, 2012).

It aims to explore why in spite of the interventions, insurgency activities are still going on in Nigeria. The research will scrutinize existing research on counterinsurgency in Nigeria and Africa, especially published works by policymakers and academics as well as security agencies.

Statement of the Problem and Justification for the Research

Evidence revealed that insurgency in the country is a reflection of weakness and lack of institutional frameworks and capacity. Also, it reflects a myriad of the economic, social, cultural and political quagmire the country is experiencing currently by Naeke (2016) cited in the African-Centred Solutions Building Peace and Security in Africa.

As mentioned above, this research aims to examine the counterinsurgency approaches in Nigeria, with the principal purpose of developing or identifying a workable framework of analysis. It is hoped that this research will contribute to future research on counter-terrorism measures in Nigeria. The British counterinsurgency strategies applied in Malaya (1948-1960) that successfully transplanted in Kenya (1952-1960) will also be explored, as they appear to have worked in a multi-ethnic setting. This approach has been far-fetched in the Nigerian state counter-insurgency measures.

The above points are also mentioned by Weitz (2006) who noted that use of military approach can only record a success in the counterinsurgency campaign if it utilizes best practices to look into the factors that led to the crisis, and provide needed facilities to discourage both citizens and followers of the insurgent group through providing educational awareness.

Therefore, this work will explore counterinsurgency that will incorporate population-centric factors and interventions, in opposition to enemy-centric styles (see, e.g. Sitaraman, 2009). The work of Sitaraman will be used as a theoretical and policy framework because it is relevant to this research due to its focus on population-centric interventions. To date, there is the paucity of policy and scholarly research work on the effectiveness of the Nigerian counterinsurgency strategies. This claim gives credence and justification for doing this research, in view of two decades of failed policy interventions and the seriousness of the insurgency. It is hoped that the findings may be used by the government of Nigeria to revise its approach.

This research is significant because it will scrutinize the security apparatus of government and their short-comings so far in handling the activities of the insurgents in the country. This current research is timely intervention because it will assist the policy-makers in the areas of formulation and implementation of public policy, especially counterinsurgency strategies. This current research will contribute more knowledge to the subject matter –counterinsurgency strategy, not only in Nigeria but other Sub- Saharan African States who are under the threats of insurgent groups.

This research, therefore, becomes significant as it is geared towards identifying the best practice counterinsurgency strategy with a view to establish that the country adopted style is inappropriate and ineffective therefore necessitating the adaptation and adoption of best practices that are valuable to the fighting of modern insurgency like the Nigerian experience.

The Aim of the Research

The research aim is to explore the counterinsurgency interventions by the Nigerian government to address the Boko Haram Insurgency in the Northern Part of the Country

Objectives of The Research

The objectives of the research are:

• To understand the nature and extent of insurgency in Northern Part of Nigeria
• To explore whether social cultural and economic settings are imperative to the analysis of insurgency
• To scrutinise literature on counter-insurgency in order to identify the different theoretical perspectives and philosophical positions as well as unpack the different concepts that are relevant, e.g. identity, religious, ethnic affiliations.
• To explore the level of international co-operation and multi and bilateral agreements on counter-insurgency in Nigeria.

Research Question

The following research question has been identified:

Are the counterinsurgency intervention measures and strategies introduced by the Nigerian government fit for purpose?

The Scope and Limitations of the Research

The research delimits the scope to cover Nigeria’s State Policies and Strategies on counterinsurgency operations from 2009 to 2017. This research scope covers the government interventions to the Boko Haram insurgency in particular from 2009 when the insurgent group commence violent attacks in the North-East before its activities came to capture global and national attention, to 2017. Emphasis will be placed on the response of the Nigerian state within this period.

The major limitation of this research is the inability of the researcher to gain access to members of the Boko Haram sect for interviews. Some victims of the sect ‘s activities which were reached in Jos, Lagos, Kaduna and Abuja were not willing to talk, and this forms another setback to this research. Furthermore, members of the public particularly the target population for this research especially security agencies like the Department of State Security (SSS), the Police Force, Defence Headquarters etc. we’re not willing to divulge necessary information on grounds that the required information is classified and the Theater Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole is far from the targeted population, the headquarters of the Operation Lafiya Dole is at Maiduguri, Borno State and is not part of the fieldwork area.

The significance of the research

This research shall be of significance to knowledge as it will enable the Nigerian authorities and members of the public to appreciate what really need to put in place for winning hearts and minds of the populations, rather than sincerely and consciously getting to the immediate root causes of Boko Haram Insurgency and addressing them there from proactively, the Nigerian state rather adopts a violent or reactive approach which has so far not been successful but has only worsened the situation and to avoid the causes of another Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria.

It will also enhance an understanding of the stages of the crisis in order to build up counterinsurgency interventions to effectively arrest insurgent violence when they erupt if there is the failure in the application of early warning. Finally, it will serve as a contribution to existing literature on the counterinsurgency interventions which can assist other researchers in future studies.

This research therefore becomes significant as it is geared towards identifying the best practice of counterinsurgency interventions to win the hearts and minds of the population and to curb the activities of the insurgents and the remote and immediate causes of the Boko Haram insurgency with a view to establishing the policy framework that the country intervention measures to managing the Boko Haram. Violence is inappropriate and ineffective therefore necessitating the adoption of more effective and amicable counterinsurgency interventions.

Organization of Chapters

This research is structured into a seven-chapter framework. Chapter one introduces the research and comprises of the statement of the problem, objectives, significance, and scope and limitations. Chapter two comprises of literature review and theoretical framework of the research. Chapter three presents a general overview of the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria. Chapter four presents the various steps taken to conduct the data collection and design.

Chapter five explores the counterinsurgency interventions to counter Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria and asses the counterinsurgency interventions to counter insurgents in the developed and developing countries. Chapter six discuss the research findings and analysis of data obtained from the potential participants through semi-structured. Chapter seven discuss the summary, conclusion and recommendations of the research.

The operational definition of terms

• Insurgency

The research will adopt the definition of the United States Department of Defence to describe insurgency as a group that aimed at the overthrow of a legitimate and constituted authority of a state through the use of subversion and armed conflict (Sources)
It can also be classified as a rebellion against a legitimate government when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents and utilisation of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge the political system.

• Terrorism

Terrorism will be perceived as an attack against the state through an avenue to create violence among the majority non-combatants masses and utilisation of fear to achieve political or ideological goals of the group or movement they represent. (Source)

• Counterinsurgency

Counterinsurgency can be perceived as counterinsurgency campaigns integrate political, security, economic, and informational components that reinforce governmental legitimacy and effectiveness while reducing insurgent influence over the population. COIN strategies should be a comprehensive civilian, military efforts and civic actions taken to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes and winning hearts and minds of the local populace from insurgent violence; strengthen the legitimacy and capacity of government institutions to govern responsibly and marginalize insurgents politically, socially, and economically. (Source)

Although ‘terrorism” originally referred to acts committed by a gwernment, currently It usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes In such a way as to reate a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a “terrorist”. Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group ‘People’s Retribution” in 1869. In November 2004. a United Nations Secretary General report described terrorism as any act ‘”intended to cause death or serious ph population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act”.

Pejorative Use The terms “terrorism” and “terrorist” (someone who engages in terrorism) carry strong negative connotations. These terms are often used as political labels, to condemn violence or the threat of violence by certain actors as immoral, indiscriminate, unjustified or to condemn an entire segment of a population. Those labeled “terrorists” by their opponents rarely identify themselves as such, and typically use other terms or terms specific to their situation, such as separatist, freedom fighter.

On the question of whether particular terrorist acts, such as killing civilians, can be Justified as the lesser evil in a particular circumstance, philosophers have expressed different views: while, according to David Rodin, utilitarian philosophers can (in theory) conceive of cases in which the evil of terrorism is outweighed by the good which could not be achieved in a less morally costly way, in practice the “harmful effects of undermining the convention of non- combatant immunity is thought to outweigh the goods that may be achieved by particular acts of terrorism”.

Among the non-utilitarian philosophers, Michael Walzer argued that terrorism can be morally Justified in only one specific case: when “a nation or community faces the extreme threat of complete destruction and the nly way it can preserve itself is by intentionally targeting non-combatants, then it is morally entitled to do so. Motivation Of Terrorism Attacks on ‘collaborators’ are used to intimidate people from cooperating with the state in order to undermine state control.

This strategy was used in the USA in its War of Independence and in Ireland, in Kenya, in Algeria and in Cyprus during their independence struggles. Attacks on high profile symbolic targets are used to incite counter-terrorism by the state to polarise the population. This strategy was used by A1 Qaeda in its attacks on the USA in September 2001. These attacks are also used to draw international attention to struggles which are otherwise unreported such as the Palestinian airplane hijackings in 1970 and the South Moluccan hostage crises in the Netherlands in 1975.

Abraham suggests that terrorist organizations do not select terrorism for its political effectiveness. Individual terrorists tend to be motivated more by a desire for social solidarity with other members of their organization than by political platforms or strategic objectives, which are often murky and undefined. Religious Terrorism Religious terrorism is terrorism performed by groups or individuals, the motivation of which is typically rooted in faith-based tenets.

Terrorist acts throughout the centuries have been performed on religious grounds with the hope to either spread or enforce a system of belief, viewpoint or opinion. Religious terrorism does not in itself necessarily define a specific religious standpoint or view, but instead usually defines Terrorism in India A common definition of terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political, religious, r ideological change.

Terrorism in India, according to the Home Ministry, poses a significant threat to the state. Terrorism in India are basically two types external and internal, external terrorism emerge from neighbouring countries and internal terrorism emulates from religious or communal violence and Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. Terror activities involve either Indian or foreign citizens. The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and the Seven Sister States(independence and autonomy movements).