Terrorism is a problem seen in almost every part of our world. Even though most people may associate terrorism with the Muslim religion and the Middle East region, terrorists are not bound to any one ethnic, religious, or political group. Indeed, the only thing most terrorists have in common may be the tactics they use to reach their objective. In Ireland, the terrorist group known as the Irish Republican Army or the I.R.A, used terror tactics against British troops to try to force the British government to recognize the sovereignty of the Irish Republic.
In Israel, a place where terrorism occurs on a daily basis, several different Palestinian terrorist groups such Infadeh, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad conduct terror operations against the Israeli people in an effort to force the Israelis out of the areas of West Bank and The Gaza Strip. In the early 1980s, terrorists unhappy with the presence of American troops in Lebanon bombed a U.S. Marine barrack near the city of Beirut in an effort to persuade the American government to remove the troops from the area. Terrorists believe that their cause is greater than the lives that are sacrificed in the process.
Islamic terrorists believe that to give their lives for Islam makes them a martyr. And, according to the Islamic faith, to die as a martyr carries the greatest reward in Heaven-Ten Virgins. Terror may be the only tactic some groups feel they have when things do not go their way. Such groups may have become frustrated in their nations leaders failure to resolve a conflict and resort to violence to force their will upon the leaders. They may be so distraught over one nations policies that in order to force that nation to change the offending policy, they resort to acts of terror.
The terror attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001, were in response to American foreign policy regarding Israel. Thousands of lives were taken in an effort to force the United States to abandon their support of Israel. Much to the disappointment of the terrorist, however, the end results of those attacks were a galvanizing of the American people and a resolve to bring those responsible for the attacks to justice.
Terrorism is a childish act of desperation that occurs whenever a certain group realizes that it is not going to get its way through legitimate means and try to force their will by causing more damage and human loss and suffering than their opposition is willing to accept, and so surrender to the will of the terrorists. Of course, this only inspires other desperate groups to employ the same terror tactics to achieve their objectives.
