War on Terrorism in the United States

The term war on terrorism refers to the legal, military, and political fight /misunderstanding between some countries in the world (especially America) and the Islamic terrorism attackers. This has also been spelled out in the US Federal Criminal Code. The fight against terrorism has been an ongoing fight in the United States of America for quite some time now. It mainly started in 1993 when the World Trade Center was bombed by the Al-Qaeda group. In 1998 terror attacks were carried on in the US embassy in Kenya and Tanzania (Derian 32). This was made worse by the World Islamic Front statement issued on 23rd February 1998 that declared the Holy war called jihad against the Jews and the crusaders. It also revealed some actions of America that were contrary to their belief in Islam and Allah (Gambill 124). They saw this as a requirement for their religion. Led by Osama Bin Laden, some attacks at the New York City and Washington were made following such declaration on 11th September 2001. Osama’s operations were mainly based in Afghanistan where the Muslim extremists (Taliban group) have their territory. This kind of cruel act led to some instant measures to be administered by the US government. It has hence become a global concern with the increase of insecurity not only in the US but the world at large. Every nation is on the rise to increase the security of the people and any leader who does not deliver this, is considered to have failed in his leadership. The issue has raised concern on terrorism and the politicians are now having a key way in their manifestos on how to tackle the aspects of terrorism.

This made the US president by then Mr. Clinton to establish some bombings in Afghanistan and Sudan named the “operation infinite reach”. This was a response to the Kenya and Tanzania bombing of the US embassy. Although the claims to attack the largest Sudan pharmaceutical was thought to be the supplier of Osama with chemicals for his weapons was questioned by some people neither president Clinton nor Bush offered any apologies to the government of Sudan. This target did not get the aimed persons and spelled more war from the Islamic groups as well as other countries supporting Sudan and Osama. More terrorist attacks were established for example the USS Cole bombings and the July 2005 London bombings (Gary Gambill p. 126).

In an attempt to win the war on terrorism, the US president (George Bush) laid down some objectives in his fight against terrorism. The first objective was to demolish the terrorist organizations. This meant a total victory over them. The other objective was to trace the places where the terrorist was found and destroy both the places and the people. He also intended to ensure that they got no funding for their activities at all. The only way to achieve this was by ensuring there was no more state financial support to terrorist countries; the formation of an accountability system in the fight against terrorism through the international bodies; collaborate with other states in this fight either by supporting weaker states and persuading or compelling reluctant/ unwilling states and finally through interdicting the support for the terrorist as well as total destruction to their sanctuaries. The fourth objective that Bush established was to bring down the conditions of exploitation by strengthening the weaker states via the international community. Finally, his main goal was to ensure that the citizens of UHS are protected and their interests secured. This was achieved by means of acting on the National Security for Homeland Security; enhance integrity and availability of infrastructure here and abroad. Providence of an incident management capability was also a method to ensure that the interests of the US citizens are catered for.

There are more measures in place to curb terrorism in the US as more groups join in the efforts of eliminating terrorism. One of the groups is the FBI. They have sort in looking out for both the external and homegrown terrorist groups and other groups affiliated to the terrorists like the Salafist group. The mandate of the FBI is to track the people associated with terrorism in the US who include both the homegrown and the international terrorists who pose great threats to the government. Some groups such as the Narseal Batiste’s were in the organization to wage the jihad war in America through the 200 established networks and internal wars by taking orders from Afghanistan as they provide information of the situation on the ground. They are been sort by the FBI and some progress has been made as most of the leaders arrested. The networks operating on the internet basis as the linkage and communication for the purposes of planning attacks have also been cut off. Iranians in the US also pose some threats as they have become a major contact point with Iran which seeks to promote Iran extremists of the Muslim faith in the states. The country is well known for funding the Shiia militia and terrorist groups. They result in threat issues within the law enforcement agencies like the judiciary. Through threats to judges and prosecutors, their actions extend to the use of chemicals, radiological, biological, and nuclear weapons to carry out the terrorist operations. The operations are aimed at causing a large panic to a large population as well as causing massive casualties. This aspect leads to economic disruption hence calls for quick government responses. The responsibility of the FBI, therefore, is to ensure neutralization in terrorist cells and operations in the US as well as destroy their networks worldwide. It is on this note that the Iraq war was justified.

Another body in the US involved with the dismantling of the terrorist operations is the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). This seeks to give security to key US policymakers. This agency has stood up to issue statements and ways of action concerning terrorism in America. Collaboration with other bodies is of key-value in achieving their goals. Their main aim is to ensure the safety of the Americans. There are claims that the Agency might have warned president Bush on the possibility of the Al Qaeda attacks of the September 11th, 2001 way back in the month of August.

The Amnesty International body has also been concerned with the issue of terrorism and war against terrorism. It out rules that some bodies and governments use the issue of war against terrorism to commit human rights violations as well as keep up to violence and ethnic, religious, and race discrimination. The body does not only focus on the US but rather the whole world at large and this is why it called for the opening of the borders for the refugees leading to the attacks of Afghanistan by the US. As a neutral body, the amnesty international called for a better and peaceful way of handling terrorist issues that start with the change of the laws involving security matters. There were some elements of ignorance on the international law and protecting the governments from thorough checks on their operations and observance of these laws.

This, therefore, brought in the aspect of the fight against terrorism in America to a failed project. Even though many measures have been put in place concerning the issue of terrorism, the true meaning of war against terrorism has been eroded to mare revenge and increase violence. This is clearly portrayed by the several attacks and attempts to attack the US after President Bush attacked Afghanistan following the attack of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. It is after this attack that the September bombing of the Pentagon and the International Trade Towers followed. The attacks over Iraq have led to a new breed of Islamic radicals who have indeed increased the terrorist threats. New tricks of indirect influence on the sprouting Islamic Jihad groups by Osama have been implemented hence his influence is still great and worse still, the groups are right in America as stated by the US intelligence.

More attacks have been witnessed in the entire world an example is the London, Kabul, Red sea, and Madrid terrorist attacks. Suicide bombings have also been on the rise especially in Afghanistan. The term war on terror is now been used by other countries to perpetuate war in fellow countries a good example is the Russian Chechnya war and the Al Qaeda attacks on Kashmir, India, and Pakistan.

Other following attacks are the 9th October 2001 anthrax attacks in New York City, the same year in Camembert 13th the parliament of India was attacked by the jihadists. In October the following year, an attack was mounted on the Bali city of Indonesia. Iraq war began then later in March 2002 and brought more havoc than the terrorist bombing, as more wars and attacks were escalated. In 2004 and 2005 there was an approximation of 6 terrorist attacks and wars while the two subsequent years that followed the attacks increased to 10 and 25 respectively. So far this year 9 attacks have been reported (Kenneth McKenzie p. 98). This shows a very chaotic situation where violence is used to end violence and in the long run, no peace is achieved.

In conclusion, it is my hope that the next government will put a stop to this madness through dialog and proper observation of human rights. Winning a war and the aspect of fighting a certain nation is not as important as the lives of innocent citizens and children killed in hundreds and thousands. This is a fact that all the authorities in the world should observe.

Works cited

Gary Gambill, Jumpstarting Arab Reform: The Bush Administration’s Greater Middle East Initiative, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin (Vol. 6, No. 6–7, 2004).pp. 124-125.

James Der Derian, The Illusion of a Grand Strategy, (2001) The New York Times p. 32.

Kenneth McKenzie, The Revenge of the Melians: Asymmetric Threats and the next QDR, National Defense University, (2000). p. 98.

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