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“America is at war. But who is the enemy that America is fighting? This enemy, known generally as terrorism, lives in a different world than the American superpower.”
Anonymous

The word terrorism came into use a couple of centuries ago. During the French Revolution it was used to describe a very violent and bloody period from 1793-1794 known as the ‘Reign of Terror’. Think of the word terrorism. What is the first thing that comes to mind? One might think of kidnapping, assassination, bombing, or even genocide and guerrilla warfare. Because it is such a broad and complex issue, an all-encompassing definition is hard to formulate. The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as… “The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological.”
Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim. The strategy of terrorists is to commit acts of violence that draws the attention of the local populace, the government, and the world to their cause. The terrorists plan their attack to obtain the greatest publicity, choosing targets that symbolize what they oppose. The effectiveness of the terrorist act lies not in the act itself, but in the public’s or government’s reaction to the act.
For example, in 1972 at the Munich Olympics, the Black September Organization killed 11 Israelis. The Israelis were the immediate victims. But the true target was the estimated 1 billion people watching the televised event. On March 7, 2006: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi kill 28 and injure more than 100. In Colombia, July 31, 2006: 16 soldiers die in an ambush in Tibu and a car bomb kills one and injures 22 in Bogotá. Both attacks are blamed on FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Terrorism exists everywhere, and had...