Essay/Term paper: Terrorism

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Business

The Problem: Terrorism in the world

Terrorism, which has been around for as long as people can remember, has been on the rise for the past ten years. Terrorists use murder, kidnapping, hijacking, and bombings to almost always achieve a political purpose. These radicals are not just subject to the United States, terrorism is all over the world, in every way, shape and form.

There are many different types of terrorism, for many different purposes. The primary reason for terrorist acts are to force a change in their nation"s government. If terrorists are not satisfied with there government"s political positions, they may end up taking the matters into there own hands. Another reason for terrorist acts are because of hate towards a race, nationality, or religion. For example, in 1972 the Palestine Liberation Organization invaded Israeli dorms in the Munich Olympics, and held the Israeli athletes hostage until Israel would agree to release Palestinian terrorists that were captured in Israel. When Israel refused to comply with the terrorists demands, they blew up two helicopters which held the Israeli athletes, killing the whole team. This was one of the many cruel types of terrorism. In recent years, terrorism seems to be at a new high and attacks are more violent than in the past.

With terrorism being so secretive and having no forewarning, it has been a real problem to deal with. The governments of many countries have tried to stop these cowardly acts, but they just seem to be on the rise. I have a few ideas that might work

Solution:
Since there are no fool-proof ways to predict when a terrorist will strike next, there can really be no complete answer to this problem. Even though there is no way to totally eliminate terrorism, my solutions may still prove valid.

With the bombing of the World Trade Center, and the federal building in Oklahoma, rental moving trucks have been used to hold the bomb. An idea I have for this type of attack, would be to take a still photograph or a video tape of the people who rent the trucks, along with there Social Security numbers. I Would have installed in every rental truck an electronic fume detector that could be tied into a national satellite network, to let investigators know what kind of materials the truck is carrying. For example, if the truck was carrying dynamite, the sensor would relay the message to the satellite that this truck is carrying hazardous material. In turn, the dispatchers could send the message to the Federal Bureau of Investigations who then would send the bomb squad to the location of the truck, and arrest the individuals driving and defuse the bomb.
It seems as though terrorists choose to place the bombs in parking garages below or inside buildings. Another idea I have for this is to screen all vehicles entering government buildings that may be a target for an attack. This in itself might make terrorists more leery about entering a building carrying any type of explosive device. The use of metal detectors on people entering government buildings along with dogs that can sniff out bombs in vehicles can also help the situation.

One of the most lethal types of terrorist attack are hijackings on planes. There have been a number of hijackings, which then lead to a bombing of the plane in midair. In 1986, a Pan-American Boeing 747 airplane blew up in midair killing all passengers aboard. One of the leading terrorist groups took responsibility for this action. Again in the late 1980's a Transworld airline flight was hijacked and made several stops before commandos rushed the plane and killed some of the terrorists. Unfortunately, the terrorists had taken several lives on the plane and even dumped one of the passengers that they had killed, out of the plane onto the tarmac. One of the problems with these type of terrorists is that, it is too easy to get a bomb into the baggage section, under the plane. This is easy for them, because unlike carry-on luggage, the actual luggage is not X-rayed for contraband. Some of these bombs work off of a timer and ignite the bomb to blow up at a pre-determined time. Another type of bomb works off of the altitude of the plane. Once the plane reaches the set altitude, the bomb will explode. I suggest that the actual luggage should be scanned for explosives that would be dangerous to the passengers. Since the only luggage that is scanned at this time is the carry-on luggage, and individuals that go through the metal detectors. I recommend that all luggage being loaded in the belly of the aircraft, also go through a metal detector being scanned by trained eyes. This would prevent any bombs from being loaded onto the plane.

Another type of plane bombing is called the "Suicide Bomber", this is a terrorist who straps the bomb to his body, making it harder to stop them from boarding the plane, because you cant see it by the human eye. Unfortunately, metal detectors don"t pick up plastic explosives that a terrorist could carry on board. Another idea for this would be to have a bomb sniffing dogs at every metal detector, which could work in terms of stopping the bombs before they reach the plane.

Of course, there will always be terrorists who would like to make a change in the policy of the government. And you will always have radicals who will want to take out their anger towards a particular race, religion, or nationality. One of the best ways to stop terrorism is, of course, by monitoring these groups closely for signs of illegal activity. First of all, the United States of America should form coalition groups with all of the other nations to monitor terrorist organizations of other nations. The FBI can be the main organization to receive and filter out all potential terrorist groups. Once the United States is aware of all the terrorist groups throughout the world and knows the groups here in the United States, the government will be able to get a tighter handle on the terrorist group's activities. Now that we can identify all of these groups, we have to be able to take out the bullets and bomb making equipment from there hands. To start with, anyone who would like to buy a gun will have to prove there intent on using it. They would have to supply social security numbers, drivers license, fingerprints, ballistics of the gun, and, of course, a picture of themselves taken by the sellers of the gun. This would help ownership of the gun in case it is used it an attack. Ammunition would have to be kept under the same kind of scrutiny as a gun, and all the same information would have to be taken down, as if they were selling a gun.

Factories that produce chemicals, fertilizer, and anything else that could be used in the manufacturing of a bomb, would have to have a license to make these items. When any of these items are sold, all of the same precautions must be taken as if they were selling guns, or ammunition. In the case of someone buying mass quantities of any of these items, it must be reported and approved for sale by the FBI. As in the case of the Oklahoma bombing, the ammonia nitrate fertilizer, which was the main component in the bomb, that large quantity which would have first cleared with the FBI, before being sold. The FBI could have questioned the need for such a large quantity and made a final decision for the sale. If the buyers would have lied about the need of the fertilizer at least there would have been a picture tying the ammonia nitrate fertilizer to its buyer. We might not have been able to stop this bombing but all suspects would now be under arrest, preventing them from future bombings.

Since terrorist acts are so cowardly, and the loss of life is so great, stiff penalties should apply. If the person is convicted of the crime, and the crime is murder in any degree, of any amount. That person should be locked up for life. I don"t believe in the death penalty in this case, because it would just be putting them out of their misery. When they are sentenced, it will be in a four foot by four foot solitary confinement cell, with no visitors, and no exercise, ever.

In conclusion, this report has tried to explain a couple ideas that may prove valid, when put to the test. The only test being real life. If these ideas can make a difference, and keep one more person safe from a terrorist attack, or deters one more terrorist from blowing up a building, than this report has been worth the effort.






















Bibliography: Adams, James, The Financing of Terror: The PLO, IRA, Red Brigades, M-19 and Their Money Supply (1986); Alexander, Yonah, International Terrorism, rev. ed. (1981); Alexander, Yonah, and Myers, Kenneth, eds., Terrorism in Europe (1982); Crenshaw, Martha, ed., Terrorism, Legitimacy, and Power (1982); Dobson, Christopher, and Payne, Ronald, The Terrorists, rev. ed. (1982);