The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful 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,” (Feith, 2004). Terrorism can be conducted by an individual or a formal organization. A terrorist organization usually initially begins as a special interest group with just a few members, and through recruitment, militia formation,
My analysis mainly focuses on semantic fields and syntax. A semantic field of fear runs throughout the discourses of both Blair and Bush. Bush began his speech with the following sentence; “Good evening… series of deliberate and deadly terrorist attacks”. Blair also opts to utilise the same method “it was the events of September 11 that marked a turning point in history, where we confront the dangers of mankind, it was tragedy, an act of evil”. Due to the semantic field of fear and terror running throughout the discourses of Bush and Blair their choice of lexis is crucial in conveying their political ideologies.
Policing Terrorism: Post 9/11 According to the Code of Federal Regulations, terrorism is defined as the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. The FBI goes even further with describing terrorism as either domestic or international, which depends on the origin, base, and objectives of the terrorist organization. Domestic terrorism is the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or Puerto Rico without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives. International terrorism involves violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any state, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States of any state. International terrorist acts occur outside the United States or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to coerce or intimidate, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum.
In any form, terrorism sends a message. Terrorists, governments, and the media see the function, roles and responsibilities of the media when covering terrorists’ events from differing and often competing perspectives. Such perspectives drive behavior during terrorist incidents, often resulting in both tactical and strategic gains to the terrorist operation and overall terrorist cause. The challenge to both the governmental and press communities is to understand the dynamics of terrorist enterprise and to develop policy options designed to serve the interests of government, the media, and the society. Terrorists must have publicity in some form if they are to gain attention, inspire fear and respect, and secure favorable understanding of their cause, if not their act.
Krystian Kotowski English 121 Dr. Wachtel Thesis: Domestic terrorism is a major concern in the United States and the government needs to focus more on this issue. 1. Domestic terrorism was defined as "the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group of two or more individuals, against persons or property. A. Between 1980 and 2000 consisted of 250, of the 335 incidents confirmed to be terrorist acts.
Due to the events of the 11th September 2001 the USA began its war on terror, and specifically targeted was George Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ which included; Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The USA used their war on terror so to legitimise their actions worldwide thus destroying any hopes for a post cold war collective international security, therefore basing their response to international aggression on protecting their own national interests. This is seen with the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. Together with Britain they acted unilaterally in order to remove the al-Qaeda and capture bin Laden, who was the prime suspect for the 9/11 attacks. The USA believed its actions were justified by labelling them as self defence under Article 51 of the UN charter.
Were the attacks of 911 a conspiracy theory? On Tuesday September 11th 2011, famously known as ‘911 the attacks by Al-Qaeda took place in the United States in New York City and in Washington, D.C. Al-Qaeda are a group of Islamic terrorists founded by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and several other militants whose individuals use Islamic motivations for their actions. 19 of these individuals hijacked four different American airliners which were later to be flown into the North and South tower of the World Trade Centre by American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, the Pentagon by American Airlines Flight 77 and attempted to crash into Washington DC by United Airlines Flight 93.-Inside 9/11: Zero Hour, National Geographic Channel documentary, 2005.” The attacks resulted in the death of 2,996 people 19 of which were the hijackers and caused at least $10 billion of economic damage to infrastructure of property. -How much did the September 11 terrorist attack cost America, Institute for the Analysis of Global security. Not only did the attacks leave behind sheer devastation it left behind lots of speculation between what really happened that day.
Today, al Qaeda is a de-centralized, compartmentalised organisation that has self-sufficient networks in many countries. Al Qaeda’s success and influence can be traced to its terrorist attack in New York City and Washington DC on 9/11. The scale of these attacks claiming some three thousand lives acted to galvanise support and unify elements of Muslim extremism in parts of the Middle East. Al-Qaeda seeks to unite Muslims in a caliphate and to fight the West, especially the US and Israel, as a means of overthrowing regimes it deems to be secular or unIslamic expelling western influence from Muslim countries, and removing Israel. On the one hand, its initial influence was quite profound; terrorist attacks in Spain, Indonesia (Bali) and the UK, amongst many others were carried out by groups inspired by or affiliated to al Qaeda.
About a month an a half after the tragic attacks the United States government passed a new law called the USA Patriot Act, signed by President at the time George W. Bush. The USA PATRIOT ACT is an acronym that stands for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act (gpo.gov). The PATRIOT ACT posses a greater threat to American liberty than terrorism itself. This is true because the PATRIOT ACT gives the government undemocratic power that is immoral to society, it directly violates amendments and there have been actual cases where the PATRIOT ACT harmed innocent people and was used unsuccessfully. Firstly, if the government of the United States tried to pass the PATRIOT ACT of 2001 today, they would have a much tougher time.
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as the "unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives (Terrorism, 2012). The Department of Homeland Security was created after the September 11 attacks mostly to protect the United States and U.S. Territories. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has been added to the Department of Homeland Security to enforce laws and regulations of persons entering the United States however after 9-11, two other enforcement agencies were created, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Homeland Security - Protecting our Borders U.S. Mexico border stretches approximately 1.954 miles with an estimated half a million people enter the U.S. illegally.