Too Little Too Late? (Terrorism)

Member Name: Brown_eyes1984

Product:	Terrorism
Date:	11/03/05 (153 review reads)
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I have to confess to knowing absolutely zip about politics and anything relating to politics, so my comments here on terrorism come from my own personal opinion and not based too much on facts and figures.

*** What is Terrorism? ***

Terrorism is a word I learned after the September 11th bombings in America. Until then I didn't have a clue terrorism even existed or what it was. I've never really listened that much to bombings going on in other countries and personally i feel it was never really publisised as much as the America bombings anyway.

Officially the word terrorism in a dictionary means

'The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.'

My own version of what terorism is, is extreme violence for usually religious reasons and most people behind it are greedy for power. That's what my conclusion has come to after watching it on Tv and constantly hearing about it over the past three or four years.

*** Is Religion To Blame? ***

More and more, religion seems to be a big issue in terrorism. Personally I aren't religious at all. I haven't been Christened, Baptised or anything else. I have my own view points and I'm more spiritual than anything else. However that's not to say that I don't respect anybody elses views or beliefs. So what really riles me up is when people get violent because someone elses beliefs aren't the same as theirs. How many times have we heard on the news about killings and suicide bombs caused by conficting religious beliefs? The answer: Too many times!

People in any religion tend to believe in good vs evil, though what they class as evil varies between them. Some religions class alcohol as the devils drink while others drink it without even batting an eyelid. Some are stricter than others in what they wear or do. But the variety in rules would be fine (even if they are confusing to a non religious person), if they didn't start attacking each other for what they believe.

It's when a group of people from one religion one day decide that a group from another religion is evil and that evil should be fought with evil, that violence and terrorism break out. I truly believe that the people carrying out the violence think that is what their God would want them to do. I can also say however that I believe no God that was good would ever want violence against other people for what they believe in and I think religion sometimes does get a bit messed up along the way. It may not seem very justified to us but to those particular people carrying out the violence, they have often asked themselves whether they should use force or not and when they do they truly think it is self defense and protecting their God and carrying out their God's wishes. I am in no way giving an excuse to those people but to defeat terrorism we have to understand what makes people become terrorists in the first place.

Of course it's not just the only form of terrorism but in my view religious terrorism is one battle that we may never win against as beliefs are always going to be there as are the religions and who knows when their God will stop telling them to kill. As long as they believe their God wants them to act out violence to please him, the violence and terrorism will carry on.

*** What About Political Terrorism? ***

Political Terrorism is the main variety of terrorism today and is generally people not agreeing with certain laws or decisions made by a government. The main example to give here is the terrorism following the war with Iraq. A lot of people didn't agree with the war or agree with taking Sudam out of power. Those people have shown their disapproval in various ways. Beheading people seemed to be the latest craze among terrorists trying to get different countries to retreat from Iraq. Other forms of terrorism include car bombing and suicide bombings. These people carrying out the terror attacks target innocent people to make the government take notice. They show absolutely no remorse and do things like beheadings just to prove how serious they are and how brutal they can be. They have no regard for human life, a lot of the time not even their own.

As I said earlier, I really don't know a lot about politics but I know plenty of people aren't happy with the way things are currently run. Some political terrorism is started because some countries may want more freedom than what they have at the moment. Others dislike new laws that come into place about freedom of speech or whatever. There are so many issues that cause people to rebel against the government that it is extremely hard to combat this type of terrorism.

Although there are different types of terrorism they all basically want the same thing; their own way.

*** Power And Greed ***

I think a lot of terrorism is to be blamed on the human beings growing need for power. As a species I think we have become extremely greedy and the more powerful we are the more respect we get and a lot of people seem to need that today. Certainly Osama Bin Laden seems to be a classic example of this. He has a lot of followers and has grown more and more popular over the years. I once saw a program of his life on TV and it was amazing how he moved around to gain more power. I am still left confused as to why he bombed America. I know it's been mentioned loads but to someone who doesn't follow politics and who is just your average Joe Bloggs, it is still quite confusing. To me it seems like he did only do it for power but there are also some political reasons thrown in as well from what I gather. However I feel his main reason was to show that he had power and could break the security of America, the biggest country economically. I'm sure I'll get loads of viewpoints on this and all will be greatfully received.

*** Can We Combat Terrorism?

I very much doubt that we will ever combat all terrorism. Religious reasons will always remain in my view. As I said everyone always has a different belif to the next person and there will always be people who believe their God want them to kill other religions for one reason or another. How can we ever combat that? Only the God they believe in could do that and can that ever happen?

Political terrorism may be controlled but again I personally feel it will never be stopped completely. We can take away the main leaders of terrorist groups but there will always be another man/woman willing to replace them and do their work for them. Again political terrorism is a wide range of issues and there will always be at least one issue a terrorist group will rebel against. We cannot control human minds. At the end of the day it just takes a few individuals to believe the same thing and start an attack on people they think aren't the same as them. Everyone is different and a terrorist sometimes is no better than a murderer and can we stop murderers? The answer is no and however scary it may be, we can only hope that security can be improved so that bombings like what happened on September the 11th, don't happen again.

*** Am I Scared About Terrorism Today? ***

To be honest yes. It's scary to think that some poeple don't have any regard for human rights and will include thousands of innocent people to prove a point or gain respect. With the government not backing down and the main terror groups not backing down, I feel eventually we will head towards another war. None of us know how safe we reallya re and the best wauy is to not think of things like that, though sometimes it's hard not to. As I said, I don't think we'll ever get a grip on terrorism now and that to me is a scary thought.

*** Is The GoveernMent Right Not To Back Down? ***

I completely agree with the government for not backing down. They have an extremely difficult job and there will always be people thinking things could be done better. But I personally think if the government backed down, terrorism would get completely out of control and we'd all be more scared than what we are now. The government have to keep control over terrorist attacks and if they gave in to every demand, the problem would only get worse and a classic example would be the Ken Bigley story.

What happened to Ken was extremely upsetting and unfair. He was an ordinary man just trying to live life and he was targetted by terrorists who were trying to get their own way. Because it had worked with other countries, they tried getting Britain to pull out of Iraq by using beheading as a weapon. They thought the British would back down and give them what they want but if Britain did that they would have won and would have done even more damage than what they did to Ken. It's an extremely messed up situation when one innocent man has to die to protect others. But I still feel that the government was right in their decision and even Kens family said that despite their grief. I know if it would have happened to me my emotions would have made me feel otherwise but it's easier to see what's right and wrong when it isn't happening directly to you.

*** My Overall Thoughts ***

I really do feel that the more human beings crave power and want their own way, the more wars will start and terrorism will continue. Terrosrism can never be stopped completely but it can be controlled. It is such a big topic we would be here all day if we mentioned every aspect of terrorism so I have tried to give my main views on it as much as possible. Any feedback is greatfully received.

Aimee xxx

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