Terrorism – what is it exactly? A social movement with a purpose? An ideology? Mostly, terrorism is derived from religious fanaticism, political rivalries, ethnic hatred, etc. And Terrorists are a group of people that think that violence is a way to achieve whatever goals they have and will be tolerated. Most of the people who are a part of such groups are “Muslim Extremists” hence, people equate views with religion. However, people forget that no religion encourages such abhorrent acts. Karima Bennoune, a professor at the University of California – Davis School of Law shares her and other people (many are Muslims) she interviewed stories’ about fighting against fundamentalism. These stories demonstrate how people from their community take a step to fight against crimes against basic human rights. This is her way to point out the most common myth related to the terrorism – all Muslims are not terrorists. It’s the people who use religion as a way to take out the anger on the world.  In the past few years, it has been noticed that terrorism has resulted not only resulted in the increase of Islamophobia but also resulted in the change of trends related to terrorism. It is no more a as big a threat to the world as it is to the West. However, we can still say that Terrorism is somewhere down the line increasing. Even though Europe has been a target in the past couple of years, it is noted that the attacks that took place on the American soil were the worst. This research paper maps different aspects of terrorism starting with the basic understanding (meaning and reason behind it, and the psyche of the terrorists), the trends of terrorism (growth, areas affected and what made it possible), its affect (terrorism’s) on the United States government and the myths related to religion and terrorism.

It is important for the people to know the meaning of terrorism in order to understand what it actually is. Stephen Sloan, a Professor at the University of Central Florida, specializes in research, consulting, and teaching terrorism insurgency, intelligence and crisis management under National Security. In his book, “Terrorism: The Present Threat in Context,” he explains terrorism as, “Terrorism is the premeditated use or threat to use violence by individuals or subnational groups to obtain a political or social objective through the intimidation of a large audience beyond that of the immediate noncombatant victims.” In other words, it is ‘violence for effect’. As observed in several cases, the act of terrorism is done to attain political or social goals. For example, the dreadful night of the Paris attacks, three teams of terrorists from the Islamic Front attacked the most popular locations in the city. The shootings and bombings led to the death of 130 people and hundreds wounded. It began with the explosions at State de France (there was a suicide bomber), the game was attended by the President of the country. Then, Guns attacks at La Petit Cambodge, La Carillon and rue Fontaine au Roi. And lastly, a suicide bomb at Boulevard Voltaire (BBC). All these lives were taken to precipitate fear in the hearts of the people. However, the focus right should be whether the attacks happening in the past have been a Terrorist activity? If yes, then it is important to know fast the attacks are increasing, how big of a threat they are and the steps that should be taken to protect the American soil. If not, it is important to know the nature of these acts. 

For major part of the society, the logic behind such acts is abhorrent. Hence, it is important for the world to know the intention and psyche of the people behind these attacks. Sloan has investigated the logic basis of such violent acts. He clearly points out, “While it may be emotionally difficult to conceive of Terrorism as a form of purposeful violence when one sees the shocking results of such acts, the fact remains that terrorism is ‘violence for effect’.” Other than that, by using means like psychology and precise analysis of previous attacks, trails left by some of the terrorists, it has been observed that they (terrorists) totally believe in the saying “actions speak louder than words.” Such acts symbolize the terrorists’ need to show dominance, make the world fear them, believe in the fact that the political systems and their countries have done wrong to them. Al Qaeda, the most well-known terrorist association, which is still in operation and encourage people from all the Islamic countries to join their initiative. From where do the people in such groups get their motivation from, these are still unknown contexts. However, people who are more open to terrorist recruitment and radicalization are known to – a) feel angry or alienated, b) perceive themselves as victims of social and political injustice, c) strongly believe in taking an action (mostly by engaging in violence) rather than talking about the problem, and d) believe that such acts will get them justice and recognition (Understanding Terrorism). “Tactics associated with the Islamic State have made these judgments particularly tricky. The group, which commits acts of direct violence primarily in Iraq and Syria, has encouraged sympathetic individuals to carry out attacks overseas in the group’s name. While the Islamic State has trained terrorists who have carried out attacks in the West, like those involved in the Paris attack last year, more Western attacks were carried out by people who have described their violence as “inspired” by the group. The result is that some acts of violence are now more likely to be presumptively described as terrorism.” (Sanger-Kantz)

Now that it’s clear what terrorism is and what motivates it, it is important to know the trends of terrorism. Uri Freidman, a University of Pennsylvania graduate has been working for The Atlantic for the past three years as the Global Affairs Editor. He also worked for the Foreign Policy Magazine as a Deputy Managing Editor.  In the article ‘Is Terrorism Getting any Worse?’ Freidman explains, “These days, terrorism seems not just more lethal and more common, but more widespread. The death toll in recent weeks speaks for itself: 22 people dead in Bangladesh, 49 gone in the United States, 44 gone in Turkey, 292 gone in Iraq, then another 37, another 12, yet another 12.” It has been suspected that the attacks have been growing at a rapid speed since George W. Bush declared the “war on terror.” Also, using Statistics from University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, Freidman reveals that in 2015, there were terrorist attacks in 100 countries (it was 59 in 2013). Freidman also clarifies that a vast number of terrorist attacks were the home-grown in some of the countries, not the people from different countries. A lot of these terrorists are people who have turned hateful are the ones who feel they have been wronged by their country. Not all the attacks are from country to another, or one religion to another. Terrorism is a one of the biggest and most dangerous threats in today’s world. Hence, in order to figure out how widespread it is.

Terrorism is growing, quite particularly in the West. In the past few years, it has been observed that high-profile attacks in cities including Brussles, Paris, Orlando and San Bernardino, California have increased the public fears of terrorism. In 2016, Margot Sanger-Katz, one of the leading authors at The New York Times published an article “Is Terrorism Getting Worse? In the West, Yes. In the World, No.” This article explains in the detail the direction (increase or decrease) of terrorism over the past two decades. “If it feels as if terrorism deaths are rising in the West, it’s because they are. Yet the numbers remain relatively small, and globally, deaths from terrorism appear to be declining, not rising.” Through this article, Sanger-Katz explains that the terrorist attacks have been declining over the past two decades. In the 1970’s, the attacks were occurring all over the world, with the highest number of attacks in 2001. However, since then, the attacks have decreased comparatively. Not only that, but the terrorist attacks have been more condense in the West and moderate in the other parts of the world. “Increasingly these days, the operating assumption is it is likely to be terrorism, especially if the attacker fits a certain profile,” (Sanger-Katz).

In order to beware of the future attacks, it is important to know what made the previous attacks possible. The article “Why Terrorism is Apparently Increasing?” helps in shedding light on how cyber space, the place where everyone spends most of their time at, is the cause of terrorism. Studies in the past few years of the terrorists’ attacks have shown that the main channel of communication for the terrorists has been possible to pull off these attacks. These types of attacks have been possible by the help of internet not only for communicating but also provides information, knowledge and skills in cyber space. This is one aspect that facilitates the increased levels of terrorism by providing access to powerful tools such as internet and financing. Globalization has been a way to provide access to travel and cyberspace which makes life easier for everyone and everything. Moreover, the global media coverage has led to the outrageous attacks that made the terrorists attempt to a more and larger scale of terrorism. Blakemore, a professor at University of South Wales who specializes in cyber terror, cyber threat, etc. published this article to spread awareness about how terrorism has grown since 9/11 using cyber space.

All these attacks affecting the West resulted in the citizens of the United States doubt the Foreign Policy. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have had equal opportunities to make their own points. This has become an issue during the United Stated Presidential Campaign. Hence, President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump have highlighted the risk of terrorism in the United States of America. The article, “The Real Debate 2: Two Very Different Worldviews” was published in NPR. This article is based on a debate between the Democrats and the Republicans about the Foreign Policy of The United States. It mainly talks about sending troops to Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS. However, instead of having a clear opinion, both the parties ended up having a debate over the same. On one hand, Obama did not support the sending in troops to the Islamic States, his focus was to fight Worldwide Terrorism by building strategic alliances with other countries which were facing the same values and fighting the same threats. On the other hand, the Republicans believe in displaying military power to curb Terrorism. The author has efficiently provided enough material to support his claims (taking the excerpts from the Press conferences given by the party members). Generally, the author (and sometimes the media source, NPR) leans toward the left (based on his previous work). However, the debates reported by him seem to support both the sides well and are without any bias. The response on the audience depends upon their values and which party do they support. If they are in favor of calm and strategical planning, they could support Obama. Whereas, if they prefer displaying power, they would go with the Republicans. 

According to the “Republican views”, a website that is run by the Republican political party’s office.  The Republicans believed in “the right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” They want their enemies (and the country’s enemies) to know that they prefer dealing with issues by showing power (especially when it comes to National Security). They want to finish all the problems at once so that everybody can rest peacefully instead of being on alert all the time. Even though this method is a breach of values, people still believe it will be more effective than the Democrats views because, “as opposed to the Democrats’ diplomacy, the Republicans are at least decided on what they want to do”. Now that Donald Trump is the President of the U.S., it is important for the citizens to know how he would approach such an important topic. The source, “Democrats’ Biggest Vulnerability In 2016: National Security” talks about how Obama’s denial about the increasing rate of Terrorism affected the democrat’s credibility. Obama believed in not taking drastic measures in order to “keep the country safe”. This changed the views of the public towards the Democrats. However, the party insists that they are just focused on making a strategic move instead of a drastic one. However, this make not work out in their favor as the public only wants to be safe. If they don’t see the government working for it, they will not be happy about it.

There are several myths when it comes to religion and terrorism. However, the two most dominant myths are – a) All Muslims are terrorists, and b) Islam supports Jihad. Most of the time, the people who are found to be the reason behind the terrorist attacks are the people following Islam (the Muslims). This led to the world fearing the religion – Islamophobia. Islamophobia has been a big deal in the West, especially since the West has become the target of most of the attacks. However, it is important for people to know that no religion condones any such abhorrent deeds. It is a cover for people to save their face and blame the religion for the deeds they do. Even though most of the terrorists are Muslims, it doesn’t mean that all Muslims are terrorists. Also, because most of the terrorists follow Islam, all the Islamic countries such as Pakistan are labelled ‘terrorists’. However, what people don’t know is that Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for an extremely long. In the article, “Pakistan Is Winning Its Warr On Terror” Peter, a British journalist, reveals that Pakistan – a country known as one of the dangerous countries has been facing an extremely high rate of violence for the past few decades. However, in the past few weeks the country has seen an significant amount of downfall in terms of violence. The works of people like Major Bilal (the Lieutenant General of Pakistan army, who served 28 years for his country) and Altaf Hussain (a Pakistani Politician, who led the Muttahida Qaumi Movement) have helped on clearing out problems the country faced and made it quite clear that not everyone is cut out from the same cloth.  

It is important to keep understand all the aspects of terrorism – the meaning, reason, psyche its trends, the myths related to it. Also, the view of the government on this topic. It helps us understand our fear. For terrorism, it is important to know what it actually is to know what and who to fear. Understanding the psyche of these terrorists will help us to comprehend the motivation of these people to do such deeds. The trends will help us see the growth (or decline) of these attacks, help us figure out the area being targeted by these terrorists and what is it that is making it possible for the terrorists to be able to execute or even organize these attacks. In addition to this, in order to get a sense of safety, the citizens need to know the steps that are being taken by the government to ensure their safety. And lastly, pointing out the myths will assist in making people realize how often we blame Muslims and Islam, and make them realize how wrong they are. While working on this research project, I noticed how Muslims as a community and Islam as a religion was looked down upon by hundreds and thousands of people because it was noticed that terrorists were generally Muslims and, they also claimed do to what they did in the name of their religion. This led to Islamophobia almost everywhere in the world. However, majority of us didn’t realize that Muslims, people in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries where also being affected by all these attacks. Not only was their religion being frowned upon, people used to be scared when they saw them. This all must’ve been hard on people who had been innocent all along, to face the wrath of the world. Hence, this research project was a way to help me explain that we humans generalize a lot in our lives. We stereotype. However, this generalization often leads to innocent people taking the brunt of what others do. Moreover, this paper was a way to spread more awareness towards Terrorism and its aspects which sometimes, we tend to overlook.
