Is Terrorism Preventable?

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Rachel Burkey Mr. Arthur Honors American History II 17 February 2014 Is Terrorism Preventable? Terrorism is defined as “deliberate use of random violence, especially against civilians, to achieve political goals.” Terrorism has been a tactic for religious and nonreligious groups for thousands of years. This strategy involves the idea that the most effective and direct way to affect someone is to affect what they care about. Safety is a necessity of humans and terrorists target that need. This is why terrorism is unpreventable and unable to be alleviated. The term “terrorism” has been linked to certain groups in the Middle East, but it also pertains to a broader range. Terrorism can be traced back before Christ between the Jewish Zealots and Roman Empire. The Zealots killed Roman soldiers and destroyed their property with the goal of freedom from the Romans. The word terrorism comes from the French Reign of Terror when Robespierre’s political party targeted government rivals, murdering them with the guillotine. Terrorism has also been used in Soviet Union Revolution led by Lenin and then Stalin, controlling the entire population by instilling fear into the Russian people. From the Irish Rebellion to the Middle East, terrorism is a way to gain power by injecting horror to society, usually a public event. There are different types of terrorism: anarchist, state-sponsored, right wing, left wing, religious, and nationalist. Anarchist terrorism uses violence directed towards structured governments and advocates a stateless society. State-sponsored terrorism is when the government uses terrorism against its own people, such as Stalin in the Soviet Union. Right wing terrorism believes in a loosely structured organization and targets immigrants and other “unwanted” residents of that country or state. Left wing terrorism believes in targeting the existing
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