Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Terrorism - Essay Example Terrorism There are various factors which motivate terrorist groups to embark on violent missions towards innocent civilians. To begin with, revenge is one of the key motivations especially by a community which has suffered real or perceived injustices under an administration or a dominant society. For example, the US foreign policy towards the Arab countries in the Middle East has been perceived by terrorists as harsh towards people of Islamic faith (Hoffman, 2003). The country, being a super power, has in the past engaged its military in violent warfare in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq among others which has been viewed by critics as a show of disrespect on the sovereignty of these Muslim nations. Consequently, movements such as the Al-Qaida are a culmination of such thought, which has planted the seed of hatred towards the Americans in general. It is for this reason among others that the US has continued to fall prey to terrorist attacks such as those of September 11, 2001, among others such as the twin bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 whereby more than 200 people lost their lives (Hoffman, 2003). It may be interesting to find that Osama bin Laden was once an ally of the US during the fight against the Soviet Union’s invasion in Afghanistan but the American government did the mistake of invading Iraq during its war with Kuwait instead of letting the Arab nations find a solution for themselves. According to Osama, this indicated that the US did not have respect for the Muslim community and therefore had to be punished by declaring Jihad against it (Abbas, 2004). The need for revenge has led to formation of other terrorist groups such as the Black September Organization. The motivation behind the formation of this organization was to punish the then King Hussein of Jordan, who commissioned the killing and forced eviction of Palestinians by his army in 1970. The organization conducted series of attacks including that of the Mun ich massacre in 1972, which was supposed to make the world know of the plight of the Palestinians. They also hijacked aero planes for example the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) flight in September 1970 from which they freed the hostages and then blew it up in the full glare of the media (David, 2007). From this perspective, it may also be true to say that terrorism may also arise as a violent way of communication. This is due to the fact that most of the terrorists after committing an attack, they usually send signals through the media indicating their involvement and the reasons as to why they have taken such an action. The Islamic Jihad Union for example has constantly made it clear through the media that they are opposed to American’s interference with the affairs of the Arab world and to drive the point home, series of attacks have been directed at the US both as a revenge and a show of discontent (National Counter Terrorism Center, 2011). Violent communicati on in this context has been as a result of under reporting or not reporting at all the plight of marginalized groups and communities. The media has been noted as always being ready to report events that are of great magnitude especially those involving violence and giving little attention to these