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Terrorism Essay

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Terrorism is a form of violence that is difficult to define. The State Department defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience." Terrorism is not a random, undirected, purposeless act of violence, it has definite goals and violence is the medium of attaining those goals. The most well-known, recent instance of terrorism were the attacks made on the World Trade Center on September 11th , but terrorism goes back to first-century Palestine, where Jewish Zealots would publicly slit the throats of Romans and their collaborators. Because the causes of terrorism are so deep-rooted and …show more content…

The group behind the attacks, Al-Qaeda, is an Afghanistan based group led by Osama Bin-Laden. Al-Qaeda seeks to rid Muslim countries of what it sees as the profane influence of the West and replace their governments with fundamentalist Islamic regimes.
What is the root cause of terrorism and what can be done about it? While no-one knows for sure, there has been a lot of speculation as to these issues especially after 9/11. There are several key factors that seam to be prominent. The key reasons for the most recent of the attacks, especially 9/11, are due to deep seated hatred for American policies and actions around the world. Strong anti-American undercurrents breed tolerance for extremist terror networks, like those of Osama bin Laden in many Islamic countries. Although most Americans would not agree, many foreign countries view America as very arrogant, and say we had it coming on 9/11. However, much of terrorism is aimed at the western world, not only the United States. Much of these anti-western sentiments can be traced to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In that area of the world, terrorism is not a seldom occurrence, but rather a near daily occurrence where casualties are normal. Both countries are fighting a bloody war over religious turf, with no peace or solution in sight. The Islamic faction feels suppressed by the

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