FREE ESSAY ON TERRORISM

TERRORISM

Imagine this scenario: You and another fifteen thousand hockey fans decide to spend the
night watching the Washington Capitals take on the Philadelphia Flyers. You get your
tickets, your food, and your program and you sit down in your seat. You can barely wait
for the game to start, let alone end, because you have so much money riding on this game.
The 7:00 face-off begins exactly at 7:00, and thousands of eager hockey fans sit back to
watch the game. Shortly after the face-off, terrorists trigger an explosive charge that
showers poisonous chemicals over you and the rest of the crowd. The new stadium has
become a hellhole of death and confusion. People all around you reel in all directions as
others push their way to clogged exits. Fans are falling to the ground choking and
coughing. Their skin blisters instantly. Other attempting to help become victims
themselves after breathing the poisoned air. The city's 911 emergency lines flood with
calls for help and medical assistance. Police and fire fighters arrive within minutes and
set up a staging area upwind, but keep their distance. No one knows yet what sort of
lethal chemical the terrorists have exploded upon you. Authorities block off the
neighborhood, seeking to contain the contamination from the rest of the city. Because of
the new rules of procedure, emergency professionals normally trained to risk danger have
to wait until you and other victims find your way out of the stadium, where they can be
decontaminated.
This horrifying scenario is what many people have had to live through, and many more will
probably live through in the future. Terrorism is a problem of the past, but it seems it
will be a problem of the future, too. Terrorism is once again a hot topic, but this time
it's not only about the devastation it causes. It seems terrorists have added a new twist
to their killing sprees: chemical ad biological weapons. Terrorism is now, yet always
was, a serious problem in our society. And it's not just affecting the U.S., it's
affecting many countries of the world. Bombing and chemical/biological warfare are two
excellent examples of what terrorists use to create mass destruction. What causes these
terrorist acts is something that some know and many others would like to find out. If we
were to look into what causes terrorism, maybe we could figure out a way to diminish
terrorism or possibly terminate it altogether. All it would take is a little time and
effort, and we could get rid of one of the scariest massacres of our time. The only thing
that really counts is the people and the effort they put into. The more we try, the more
we can do. The first step is learning about the problem.
Bombing is one terrorist act that has been around it seems forever. It affects not only
the victims, but their family, friends, co-workers, and etc. Bombs are used by many
terrorists because of the ease in which they can be used. They are extremely easy to make
these days, and instructions are simpler than ever to come across. Because of the
internet, it's possible to type one word, hit one key and find hundreds of different bomb
sights. They show the ingredients of any kind of bomb, how to make them, how big the
explosion will be, and many other interesting facts that any terrorist-to-be would love
to know. This makes it very easy for anyone, especially young, curious internet surfers,
to create a bomb and all the destruction it causes. In fact, the most common explosive
device encountered in the USA is the pipe bomb, which is easy to build and just as easy
to detonate. (Explosive Statistics)
Another reason bombing has been chosen by so many terrorists is because it's extremely
easy to get away with. In the old days, pushing down a lever that was only a small
distance away would set off bombs. Nowadays, because of a timer being invented, someone
could set a bomb and be 3,000 miles away waiting for it to explode, which would give him
or her a chance to build the perfect alibi. Many terrorists have been identified in the
past, but now because of the sophistication of intelligence, the bombers can walk away
unknown. The timer also allows the bomber to set a bomb to go off whenever he would like
it to, whether it's at 5:00 a.m. or 4:30 p.m. Hence, it lets the bomber choose whether to
kill thousands of people during the busiest time of the day or to only kill a few
nighttime workers. 
These factors show many of the things the bomber gets to decide for himself, which is
very scary to think about. For example: if someone were to upset the bomber before his
attack, he may change the explosion time in order to kill more people. These factors also
show why bombing is the most frequently used terrorist method in the United States.
(Fema) Another reason it's commonly used is because it creates a massive explosion that
causes anything from injury and death to property damage and disruptions in services such
as electricity, water supply, public transportation and communications. (Fema) These
destructions are important because the more devastating they are, the more panic they
cause which means a greater amount of media will be involved. If a terrorist bombing
makes front-page news worldwide, more people will know why it happened. 
Biochemical warfare is another terrorist act that is extremely dangerous and equally
frightening. Biochemical warfare is the use of biological and chemical weapons. They can
be silently sprayed from an aerosol can, sprinkled from a small plane, or dispersed from
the exhaust of a car passing through town. They may inflict days of swelling pain, then
death. Their effects can be devastating. Some cause people to choke, gasp and vomit as
intense pain knots their stomachs; nerves numb, muscles contract, fever grips the body,
blisters and ulcers lace the skin. Others kill almost instantly, leaving no time for
medics to distribute treatments. (Terrorists Find New Tools) These chemicals can be what
you least expect them to be. In Ohio, authorities arrested a man for ordering vials
containing the bubonic plague. The destruction he could've caused with this plague could
have been enormous. (Litke, Mark) Although chemicals can't create as much damage to
surrounding properties as bombing can, they aren't any more preferable. 
Biochemical warfare is another inexpensive way to cause massive destruction. They are now
called poor man's nukes. Information on how to make and use these weapons is also easy to
find on the internet, and ingredients can be purchased through the mail. (Terrorists Find
New Tools) This means that anyone could find this information; anyone whose curiosity
takes over may decide to build and use a weapon like this. These are not the kind of
weapons you would use to kill off two or three people; such weapons are thought to soon
become tools of choice in a new age of terrorism where killers seek to threaten large
numbers of people. (Terrorists Find New Tools)
In Oregon, investigators now believe an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning in Portland
salad bars that made more than 700 ill and hospitalized dozens was the work of a
religious cult hoping to sabotage voter turnout on Election Day. (Smithson, Amy) The
frightening thing about this story is the convenience of the weapon. It's a lot easier to
carry a vial of food poisoning into a public place than to carry an atomic bomb inside.
It's not only easy and convenient to use chemical weapons, but it's much safer for the
terrorist. If they use them to contaminate food or water, they because a lot more
difficult to detect Stories like this create media hypes that create panic and cause
worry throughout the world. 
Many people would probably quit dining out after hearing a story like this. That's why
terrorism is such a problem today. It affects so many people in so many different ways
that it may someday cause the end of the world as we know it. The only to begin to get
rid of terrorism is to find out what it is caused by.
Terrorism is a basic attempt to get a point across. The death and injuring of others
isn't cruel to terrorists, it's finally getting the attention they've been craving.
There's an incremental creep away from terrorism as solely a political act aimed at
getting attention. This quote sums it all up. Terrorism has nothing to do with the
victims personally; they're just the unlucky ones who have become victims just so someone
could get the attention of the world. This need of attention has caused a whole new
problem with terrorism. Instead of wanting to get a lot of people to watch, there are
those who now want a lot of people dead. This is frightening considering that the younger
generations have been softened to murder and purposeful destruction, which means that the
less they think it's wrong, the more they'll start doing it. The terrorists today most
likely grew up with the idea that death was bad and only bad people did it. Many kids
today have the same thoughts, but they are a few who may believe there is nothing wrong
with killing because it's just an expression of anger. For example, the Columbine
massacre was the result of two kids who saw nothing wrong with murder and decided to show
it to the world. We should consider what the future will be like when these kids group up
and gain access to much more than just the internet. Considering all this, kids still
aren't the main worry today; it's cults and other groups that are being watched for any
terrorist activity.
Many view the cult Aum Shinrikyo as a group seeking to bring on the end of the world. The
religious organization, officially recognized in Japan, harbored plans to attack the
United States with biochemical agents. The cult leaders planned to produce enough to
annihilate a large Japanese city by spraying it from a Russian helicopter they purchased.
Cult members let loose a bag of low-grade sarin nerve gas after poking it with umbrellas
on a Tokyo subway in 1995. The attack killed a dozen people and left thousands ill.
Investigators subsequently discovered the leaders of the international, 10,000-member
cult had been stockpiling anthrax and botulin toxin, two of the world's most deadliest
germ-warfare agents. Aum Shinrikyo had offices in New York and an estimated $1.5 billion
in assets. It has now been linked to two biological and five chemical attacks, including
a 1994 incident that killed seven and injured 500. But the group's activities took the
FBI and CIA by surprise. At Senate hearings, CIA and FBI officials admitted they were
unaware that Aum Shinrikyo had been developing chemical and biological weapons. They
first heard about the cult's goal for igniting a cataclysmic war between Japan and the
United States from reports in the news media. (Willing to Kill) The scariest part about
reading this story is thinking of how many other cults there are with the same
connections and the same plans to destroy the world. Cults are formed because two people
who think alike convince others to join their group and think like them. It's as if cults
think that whatever they believe should be the way it is, and since it's not, they're
personally going to do something about it because if they don't, who will? They think
they talk to God and it's a god that seems to encourage violence. They may turn to
extreme violence and weapons of mass destruction because they believe the Armageddon is
coming soon. (Stern, Jessica) These awful distortions of what life is/should be are what
drive cults, terrorists, and etc. to do disgusting things in order to get their way.
Something needs to be done about this soon. The only way to begin to end this problem is
to fight it until it is no more. 
On May 19, the US District Court in the Southern District of New York unsealed an
indictment against Ali Mohammed, charging him with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals
overseas. Ali, suspected of being a member of Usama Bin Ladin's al-Qaida terrorist
organization, had been arrested in the U.S. in September 1998 after testifying before a
grand jury concerning the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa.
In May of 1998, Abdul Hakim Murad was sentenced to life in prison, without parole, for
his role in the failed conspiracy in January 1995 to blow up a dozen US airliners over
the Pacific Ocean. Murad received an additional 60-year sentence for his role and was
fined $250,000. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who was convicted previously in this conspiracy and
for his role in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, is serving a life prison term.
(1999 Global Terrorism) Stories like these help show the people of the world that
something is being done about terrorism, and the first step to putting an end to a
problem is beginning the fight. The world may have already begun the fight to end
terrorism, but it has a long way to go. 
Efforts are also being made to stop terrorism before it starts. The commanding general of
the U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command, Maj. Gen. George Friel, has
coordinated a federal effort to train 120 cities across the country to learn about
terrorists. (Terrorists Find New Tools) That program is just one of more than 40
different initiatives the federal government is now spending billions on to defend
citizens. In January, Friel met with 200 local and federal emergency workers in
Washington, D.C., where they spent a week preparing for possible terrorist attacks in the
nation's capital. (Terrorists Find New Tools) These are excellent preparations to make,
but when do you actually use them? It's tough to know which phone call, e-mail or fax to
worry about, and which to ignore. The only thing we can do is use wise judgement to the
best of our ability. The real fight is in us. If nobody participates in the fight to end
terrorism, how is it going to stop? We need to apply ourselves until the job is done. We
can't start and give up halfway; it's a tough war that may continue for ages, but if we
begin the process and carry it out, we're doing the best we can.
Terrorism is destroying our world, and we need to do something about it. Bombing and
biochemical warfare are just two examples of what terrorists are using to gain attention
to themselves and/or their groups. The need for the attention of many people has been
distorted in many terrorists and now brings them the need for many people to be dead.
It's disgusting to think about, but the only way to stop this cruelty is to understand
the problem and begin to fight it. Starting the fight against terrorism is the first step
in putting an end to all terrorism. We got to fight in the little battles to be able to
end the war. And the only way to do that is to stick to it without thinking of giving up.
If we would've started sooner, we could have stopped the deaths of 741 and the injuring
of 5.952 in this past year. We could've got rid of all the fear and pain that many people
have had to live with because of terrorism. But if we fight now, we could end up stopping
the horrifying bombings and deliberate spread of diseases that our future holds. It's all
up to us; all we have to do is fight.
Bibliography
Works Cited
1999 Global Terrorism: the Year in Review. Hp. 1 Mar.1999 [Last Update]. Online. 
State Department. Available:
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/review.html. 
22 Nov. 2000
Explosive Statistics. Hp. 20 Nov. 2000 [Last Update]. Online. Sonic. Available: 
http://www.sonic.net/~brucel/explosivestats.html. 22 Nov. 2000.
Fema: Backgrounder - Terrorism. Hp. 10 Jan. 1999 [Last Update]. Online. Federal 
Emergency Management Agency. Available: http://www.fema.gov/library/terror.htm. 22 Nov.
2000
Litke, Mark. Willing to Kill for the Sake of Killing. Hp. 22 Nov. 2000 [Last Update]. 
Online. ABCNEWS. Available:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terrorism_face.html. 22 Nov. 2000.
Smithson, Amy. Willing to Kill for the Sake of Killing. Hp. 22 Nov. 2000 [Last 
Update]. Online. ABCNEWS. Available:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terrorism_face.html. 
22 Nov. 2000
Stern, Jessica. Willing to Kill for the Sake of Killing. Hp. 22 Nov. 2000 [Last Update].

Online. ABCNEWS. Available:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terrorism_face.html. 22 Nov. 2000.
Terrorists Find New Tools of Fear. Hp. 22 Nov. 2000 [Last Update]. Online. 
ABCNEWS. Available: 
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/terrorism_main.html. 22 Nov. 2000.