When the United States (U.S.) invaded Iraq in 2003 they thought they were eliminating a major terrorist organization from the earth. Little did they know the backlash of these attacks would create a resistance terrorist organization that would eventually be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The U.S. is now forced to make another decision on whether or not to initiate war with terrorists in the Middle East. The U.S. should not get militarily involved with ISIS because it will not come remotely close to ending all Islamic extremism, it will create an even more unstable Middle East, and it will also result in a surplus of new ISIS recruits . Those who contend that the U.S. should become militarily active in the Middle East argue that ISIS has become too big of a threat to ignore and must be wiped off the face of the earth. Although ISIS is dangerous, those in support of completely eliminating them fail to realize that ISIS is not the only Islamic terrorist organization and if they fall there will only be more to come. Yousef Munayyer, in the article There is Only One Way to Destroy ISIS, uses a very interesting metaphor to describe the war on terrorism and how the U.S. is currently handling it; …show more content…
You could attack each bubble on its way up. You could spot a bubble at the bottom of the pot and disrupt it before it has a chance to rise. Many bubbles might be eliminated in this way, but sooner or later, bubbles are going to get to the surface ..The other pathway is to turn down, or off, the flame beneath the pot—to address the conditions that help generate terrorism. When it comes to the question of ISIS in particular and broader terrorism in general, Western counter-terror strategy has focused on the bubbles and not the flame” (Munayyer n.pg.). The U.S. is quite
The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may reasonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or “holy wars.”
Events that capture the entire world’s attention are few and far between. Fighting wars normally occurs between acknowledged enemies. In the war against terrorism, most notably, the war against Al-Qaeda, the enemy is unknown. One is not the enemy of the United States of America by virtue of one’s ethnic heritage. A Muslim is not a hidden enemy simply because he is Muslim. A Muslim does however become the enemy when he targets the world as a member of Al-Qaeda, the vision of one man. He was an intelligent and educated man who came from wealth and high esteem, who, guided by his faith, through radicalization, exile from homeland, and anti-western sentiments, built the terrorist organization known as Al- Qaeda. His name was Osama bin Laden.
According to John Grenier, colonists used unlimited and employed irregular tactics, or The First Way of War, which Grenier describes as a small war tradition that nonprofessional soldiers to pursue unlimited objectives, using irregular means to obtain it. These tactics included ruthless warfare that included targeting elders, women and children, burning and raiding towns, destroying food sources and supply and assassinating enemy leaders. The arrival of colonists to America, did not introduce the concept of lethality in warfare; instead it introduced new technologies that changed the balance of offense and defense, making open battle more lethal and successful. The English’s mission was to exterminate the natives, in order to establish their
aims. This is because in most cases, it is the only way they can be
It’s astounding how easy it is to forget that we are at war. Just recently, the Obama administration has declared war against ISIS. During his ISIS war speech, he refers to the enemy as “barbarians, terrorists and monsters”. He also promised to defeat ISIS, without the use of ground troops (Winsor). We do not like to watch our fellow Americans deployed to dangerous oversea locations. The President bashes ISIS and promises not to get completely involved with the conflict in order to gain support for the war. Unfortunately, his tactics are ineffective. A survey conducted by CNN shows that about 57% of Americans disapprove of how Obama is conducting his war on ISIS (CNN). Additionally, about 40% of Americans don’t believe we should fight ISIS
There is an increasingly growing global controversy about whether the United States should intervene in the Syrian conflict, and whether this intervention should be military or strategic. The U.S. has recently avoided interfering militarily in Syria or providing the rebels with direct support, but admitted the presence of the Syrian opposition.
America is currently involved a conflict in the Middle East. The United States is trying to stop the terrorism problem in nonconforming nations. America is currently involved a conflict in the Middle East. The United States is trying to stop the terrorism problem in nonconforming nations. The tactics that the United States is using is hurting many civilians and is slowing the process of rebuilding their government.
every day there is something on the news about a terrorist attack somewhere in the world. The threat is real, but the biggest threat is ISIS. Countries all around the globe are preparing for, or fighting, a war against ISIS. In a world full of many terrorist groups and threats, ISIS is the most powerful. The world needs to better understand what it is, where they attack, and how to stop them.
What needs to be done to stop this new threat that is ISIS? Many have argued that President Obama is to blame for the rise of ISIS. Some say that President Obama’s administration has not done enough to stop this new chaos of terror. One is the pulling out of troops for Iraq. By the pulling out troop from Iraq allow ISIS to gain power and ran their reign of terror. With no troop in Iraq ISIS was free to do what they want.
There are seven billion people in the world, and out of those seven billion people there are those who live in anguish, who live in fear, who would rather be labeled as an ally, a friend, and an equal, not a terrorist. For one, the portrayal of the Arab and Muslim people has impacted citizens from the Middle East in a negative way. These offenses are what Naomi Shihab Nye speaks about in her writing “To Any Would Be Terrorist.” Nye is both disappointed and understanding towards the Americans and middle east. She takes both sides on the issue that offends her people and her family.
“Terrorism involves the use of violence by an organization other than a national government to cause intimidation or fear among a target audience;” at least, this is how Pape (2003) defines terrorism in his article “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism” (343). The goal of this article by Pape is to discuss suicide terrorism and how it “follows a strategic logic, one specifically designed to coerce modern liberal democracies to make significant territorial concessions” (343). Similar to Pape, Bloom (2004) and Horowitz (2010) also delve into the exponential increase of suicide terrorism and why it occurs. Although Pape, Bloom, and Horowitz concur that suicide terrorism is increasing, they disagree why it is so prominent. While the arguments presented from each of these researchers is powerful and certainly plausible, suicide terrorism is in fact not irrational, but strategic and is most often caused by state occupation and, when organized, aimed specifically at democracies.
Samuel Butler once said, “Look before you leap for as you sow, ye are like to reap.” This statement has never been so correct until this political cartoon, Escaped, by Petar Pismestrovic revealed the cause of the war against ISIS. If the United States did not meddle with the Middle East in the past, they would not have to “reap” the ISIS of today. Although people can say that if we had not intervened in the Middle East, it would have been more chaotic than it would currently. However, that is incorrect because ISIS was formed out of hate for other divisions of the religion and other religions in general. The United States entering the Middle East was the trigger that set the fires of war in the region. Providing weapons to the Iraqi military, the United States caused a chain of events that would later form ISIS. Petar Pismestrovic's political cartoon effectively shows that the United States was really the ones in the wrong and the Middle East is not fully responsible for this mess. Using symbolism and the emotions of a person, Petar successfully shows that the United States is currently facing the wrongs of their previous presidents.
Attention: According to an article by The New Yorker entitled Did George W. Bush Create ISIS written by Dexter Filkins on May 15th, states that after the overthrow of Saddam, the Iraq army was disbanded by the US which left over two hundred thousand people humiliated and without a job (Filkins). These angry young men decided to take up arms against the United States to get revenge. This is what caused start of the Iraqi insurgency; all this could have been avoided if the United States stayed out of Iraqi Politics (Filkins).
...ctual demand of terrorism will consummate the underlying issue ("International Affairs"). Though the United States cannot currently “win the hearts and minds of the Middle East in the short run”, we can take immediate action that will contribute to the end of terrorism and stabilization of the Middle East.
Terrorist organizations have been committing atrocities against innocent civilians throughout the world for hundreds of years. Terrorism has evolved in many different forms and from various motivations such as religious protest movements, political revolts, and social uprisings. Regardless of the motives for terror, the problem is the financing of terrorism and terrorist organizations themselves. Recent global terrorist attacks using high technology and extensive networks have shown that money is essential to provide the means behind all terrorist activities. Individual terrorists plan terrorist operations and require resources to live, prepare, and implement their plans. The use of money laundering and financial support schemes are the root of the cause. If money laundering were curtailed or even eliminated, and financial supporters of terrorism were identified terrorism would decrease dramatically. To achieve these goals would take monumental efforts. The United States, United Nations and all sovereign nations would need to take cooperative action that has never been accomplished. Terrorism, its' history, concepts, reasoning, methods, and financial roots are object of this research.