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35624922

Religion, Terrorism

Terrorism has long plagued the existence of peace and security in society, wherever secular teams have resorted to assault against non-combatant targets in order to influence the policies of any governmental or non-governmental organisation. The concept of terrorism, whilst evasive and obscure in definition has been categorised into several forms of terrorism, these being dissident, state-sponsored, and spiritual terrorism to name a few.

This conventional paper will believe the most dangerous form of terrorism is religious terrorism.

To offer an effective debate this paper has been broken into three areas, the initially will argue that the most hazardous form of terrorism is religious terrorism simply by examining what it is, how it truly is dangerous, and why it is more hazardous than other varieties of terrorism.

Second, this paper will believe the most risky proponent of spiritual terrorism may be the organisation of the Taliban, to back up this claim, an research of the group will be given, which includes background information, information concerning the Taliban’s policies and up to date activities, and the threat this kind of groups positions on the worldwide community. Lastly, this daily news will examine and critique the current government policies combating terrorism, and can then provide plan recommendations that could be applied by government authorities, militaries or NGO’s.

The justification for this paper is simply that the validation of religious terrorism as the most dangerous form of terrorism will allow for successful international dexterity towards fighting terrorism. Different parameters of study were encountered at the same time of this conventional paper as there may be much the law on which is considered the most dangerous kind of terrorism, which usually gave method to prejudiced opinions and misleading estimates regarding factual information on various organisations employing terrorist strategies, namely the Taliban.

Although the concept of terrorism has no explanation which is generally agreed upon, the notion of religious terrorism has been defined by Bruce Hoffman (1999), where faith based terrorism need to have three factors, “the perpetrators must make use of religious scripture to justify their chaotic acts or gains employees, clerical characters must be associated with leadership functions, and apocalyptic images of destruction are seen by the perpetrators as necessary.

Religious terrorism has debatably been a continuous occurrence in contentious spiritual areas for years and years, where religious groups have got resorted to violence against noncombatants in order to combat real or identified threats to their own ideology (Alexander, 1994). Debate within the original terrorist aside, terrorism is quite a modern concept coming from the French Revolution plus the Reign of Terror prompted by Maxmilien Robespierre whom targeted the “enemies of liberty indiscriminately in the ideology of the “greater good (Cooper, 2004).

Faith based terrorism is usually thought to be caused by the misinterpretation (or fundamentalist belief) of spiritual scripture, though the belief in religious bible verses is not really the problem, it is only when these types of fundamentalist people act on their particular beliefs through violent means and rationalize their activities using religious scripture we encounter the potential threat of terrorist tactics (Mendelsohn, 2009). Furthermore, this fundamentalist conduct is only made worse when a menace to the spiritual ideology can be perceived (Mendelsohn, 2009).

Faith based terrorism is fairly widespread throughout the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, naturally this may be because of the religious zeal in these parts (Alexander, 1994). A Un report (August, 2010) showed that 76% of all casualties (in the first 6 months) in Afghanistan and Pakistan were attributed to the actions in the Taliban and the associate organisations, showing the danger associated with faith based terrorism.

Although religious terrorism has “become the main model pertaining to political physical violence in the modern world (Martin, p 171, 2010) it is nonetheless not the only medium to get extremist assault, as nationalism and ideology still continue to be strong motivators for significant violence (Martin, 2010). However , religious terrorism still is still a more dangerous form of terrorism when compared to other forms, such as state-sponsored or dissident terrorism. The factors which can make this form of terrorism dangerous is the probably apocalyptic ideology of religion, and in addition the assurance of an ethereal paradise anticipating those who adhere to this trust completely.

This kind of factor seems to provide a motivation arguably even more influential to violent conduct then other forms of terrorism. Bruce Hoffman (p ninety two, 1998) mentioned that “it is perhaps not surprising that faith should turn into a far more well-known motivation for terrorism inside the post-Cold War era since old ideologies lie discredited by the failure of the Soviet Union and communist ideology, while the guarantee of munificent benefits from the liberal-democratic, capitalist state, fails to materialise in many countries throughout the world. A more powerful motivation pertaining to terrorism indicates that more violent activity, with a higher requency, is to be anticipated from spiritual terrorism than state-sponsored or perhaps dissident terrorism. In recent times, the frequency, scale of assault, and global reach of religious terrorism continues to be increasing, while at the same time a decrease in secular, nonreligious terrorism has been occurring (Martin, 2010). The fact that faith based terrorism provides a stronger inspiration is more wide-spread, causes more casualties than any other form of terrorism, and is increasing in frequency, level of violence, and global reach, is reason enough to argue that religious terrorism is the most hazardous form of terrorism.

Evidence of faith based terrorism might be seen in the various attacks done on noncombatants throughout 2011. For example , within the 13th of May 2011, two committing suicide bombers were responsible for 70 deaths in Shabqadar, Pakistan, the problems were believed by the Taliban and were labelled an answer to the death of Osama bin Stuffed on the 3rd of Might 2011 (The Guardian, 13/5/11). Another example may be observed in the terrorist attacks in Somalia on the 4th of October 2011, claiming over 70 lives and wounding many more, the Islamic partisan terrorist group Al-Shabaab quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attacks classified as spiritual terrorism traditionally occur over the Middle-East and Southeast Asia, with the most contentious areas being Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India (Mendelsohn, 2009). To measure Pakistan separately, this area has become a trouble-spot for terrorism resulting in a largely contentious area. The terrorism occurring in Pakistan can be predominately spiritual, resulting in more than 350000 Pakistaner civilians killed as of 2010 (New You are able to Review of Ebooks, 2011).

Pakistan has a very long history involving religious turmoil, and although a lot of attempts have been completely made by the Pakistani federal government to resolve these kinds of conflicts, there is not any sign with the conflict coming to an end. The fact that Pakistan is not an overly wealthy land has contributed to the effectiveness of faith based terrorist recruiting, as the moment individuals have nothing to reduce they buy religious ideology (Mendelsohn, 2009). Although there are many religiously based terrorist organisations, the Taliban is arguably the most dangerous advocatte for religious terrorism.

It is important to comprehend the roots, policies, strategies, and other information about the enterprise before powerful policies may be implemented to combat the Taliban’s terrorist tactics. The Taliban is usually an Islamist militant business which has acquired rule from the majority of Afghanistan from September 1996, nevertheless the Taliban-formed express called the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ only received political identification as a point out from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE (Mockaitis, 2007).

However , the disorders on the UNITED STATES on the 11th of Sept 2001 saw the Taliban overthrown through the conflict in Afghanistan. The Taliban regrouped and drawn up an insurgency movement to oppose the newly formed ‘Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’, and achieve all their motives the application of guerrilla and terrorist methods were utilized (Mockaitis, 2007). Whilst in power the Taliban forced an extremely stringent interpretation with their holy scripture, becoming notorious in the intercontinental community pertaining to the poor take care of women (Mockaitis, 2007).

This kind of fundamental subsequent of Holy Scripture and Islam law has found the Taliban use Ay Scripture to justify all their violent actions. Whilst not much will known regarding the leader of the Taliban, Mohammed Omar, a 25 big reward continues to be issued by US department of protection for his capture. The policies with the Taliban were initially to disarm Afghanistan, end the lawlessness and heavily put in force the Islamic or Sharia law around the entirety of Afghanistan (Mendelsohn, 2009).

The Taliban have been completely relatively successful in delivering law and order to about 85% with the country in their control, primarily by disarming or conscripting the tribes of Afghanistan (Mockaitis, 2007). Some of the Taliban’s relentless procedures and unremitting nature upon issues like the treatment of Osama bin Filled have remote them internationally resulting in non-recognition by the Un regarding their particular legitimacy, as well as the imposition of political calamité aimed at denying the Taliban any funding or aid (Mendelsohn, 2009).

As of yet, the Taliban have failed to develop any strategy or plan to revive your Afghanistan should they retake political control. The techniques or tactics utilised by simply Taliban forces has predominately been a guerrilla have difficulty against American forces, however the use of terrorism has brought very much notoriety to the organisation itself. However the problem of funding is important, how does the Taliban receive it is funding? 14 percent of Afghanistan lives off the opium trade, which usually constitutes 30 % of it is gross home-based product (Schmidt, 2010).

Even though the Taliban gain finance through the sale of opium and poppy, the decrease in development of poppy would not function against the Taliban, through simple economics this kind of organisation is able to manipulate opium prices which may have seen a downward spiral in the last 5 years due to a great over-supply of poppy and opium (Schmidt, 2010). Quotes show the fact that Taliban provides stockpiled above eight thousand tonnes of opium in the event poppy production is eliminated by the US government.

However the eradication of poppy in Afghanistan might for a temporary aid the Taliban since prices will increase tremendously in the face of low supplies, simple economics staying exploited by the Taliban (Schmidt, 2010), (UN World Drug Report, 2009). A report given in 2006 examining the Taliban likened the organisation to a starfish (decentralised organisation) in contrast to a spider organisation (centralised) (Brafman, Beckstrom, 2006). “The spider as well as the starfish equally appear to have got a number of lower limbs coming out of one particular body, but that is in which the similarity ends.

In the case of the spider, whatever you see is a clear “head’s head and a leg’s leg.  However , a starfish is usually entirely unlike a index because the brain is not even in charge of anything at all. In fact , a starfish does not even have a head. If a starfish can be cut by 50 %, it does not expire. Instead, everything you get will be two starfish. The long-armed Linckia starfish can even replicate itself coming from just one part of an equip. Unlike the spider, having no human brain to give the endorsement on anything at all, the starfish functions as a decentralized network. (Schmidt, s 72, 2010). A desk from this report gives a description of the assessment: (See below) The events which in turn occurred within the 8th of August 1998 are data to show the risk and lethality of the Taliban and its guidelines. On the 24th of May possibly 1997 the Taliban busy the north town of Mazar-i-Sharif and the eighth of Aug 1998 were responsible for an attack which will killed above 8000 persons of different ethnicities including Uzbekistani, and Shiite Iranian (Kelling, Saludin, Von-Feigenblatt, Alis, Shuib, 2010).

From this attack the Taliban also attacked the consulate of Iran eliminating 10 Iranian diplomats, which usually incidentally generated Iran’s resistance on the politics legitimacy from the Taliban (Kelling, Saludin, Von-Feigenblatt, Alis, Shuib, 2010). The Taliban provides taken responsibility for many attacks about both combatant and noncombatant targets, without having signs of a decrease in the frequency of attacks, the Taliban is an extremely dangerous counsel of religious terrorism.

The inability of sibling forces to subdue the Taliban right now has left Afghanistan coloured with destruction, fatality and poverty. An article in the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences accused america of “ignoring the desire and prospective client of Afghanistan, by being unaware and advertising victory over the Taliban in order to justify the war on Afghanistan (Kelling, Saludin, Von-Feigenblatt, Alis, Shuib, 2010).

The US coverage to use armed forces power against the Taliban and also other terror organisations has made it more difficult to discover a conclusive strategy to the violence in Afghanistan, additionally the some weakness of the Combined States’ fresh government in Afghanistan failed to bring stability and therefore enhanced the terrorism from the Taliban (Kelling, Saludin, Von-Feigenblatt, Alis, Shuib, 2010). The question kept is how we stop the terrorism?

Through government, army and NGO policy expansion, political, administration, financial and administrative “mechanisms arranged to get to explicit desired goals. This newspaper will therefore examine various responses to terrorism, and the policies applied by major international actors. Following September 2001, the part of the Security Authorities (UN) used a set of extensive measures to combat terrorism, they did therefore under Chapter 7 from the UN rental, thereby producing all decisions compulsory for any members (Boulden, Weiss, 2004).

Two resolutions were specifically important, these kinds of being “Resolution 1368 of September 12, which legitimised all military action against a terrorist organisation, and “Resolution 1373 of Sept. 2010 28 2001 which broadened the range of foreign responses (Boulden, Weiss, 2004). Resolution 1373 stated that “all says should prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism, as well as criminalize the willful provision or collection of cash for such acts.

The goal of this resolution was to lessen the funding of terrorism and to motivate member states to deny safe haven to known terrorists, assist claims in need of anti-terrorism measures, and accelerate the exchange of information regarding terrorist activity, basically this image resolution deeply motivated international cooperation in combating terrorism. Even though the resolve in the Security Council (UN) shall be commended, 4 problems are nonetheless to be addressed.

First, though member declares of the ALGUN agree on the importance of dealing with terrorism, affiliate states carry on and have different views on the precise characteristics of these hazards, and different opinions on the suitable responses to threats (Boulden, Weiss, 2004). The US is going to take responsibility and forge a consensus within the nature from the terrorist menace and what an appropriate response would be.

In the event the US requires consideration of other states and develops a true international response effort, in that case this should encourage other states that the US is not just concerned to get itself however for the foreign community in general (Boulden, Weiss, 2004). Subsequently, the long term significance for the Security Council’s resolution regarding the legitimization of pressure against terrorist organizations are problematic. Agreement to use army force without a proper standards for reason has been known as handing a “blank check to the UNITED STATES.

Although the US argues preemptive action and covert armed service action is important to fight terrorism, the absence of a global agreement over a definition for terrorism can cause the possibility of misuse of this “blank check (Boulden, Weiss, 2004). To solve this issue, the UN should engage member says in a dialogue to answer quite questions, “when are terrorist acts the equivalent of armed problems? , “Do imminent risks of attack always justify a army response?  (Boulden, Weiss, 2004).

Third, the issue of fund always generally seems to plague efforts at fighting terrorism. The implementation with the UN’s counterterrorist measures can therefore continue being difficult except if financial assonance is given by simply member states. A solution for this problem is the investment of funds into the Counter-terrorism committee (CTC), this kind of committee will thereby commit funding into state countertop terrorism firms who shortage the financial capacity to effectively fight terrorism (Boulden, Weiss, 2004).

4th, the war against terrorism has been defined as the “long war, in fact it is true the effort against terrorism will require time and financing, however there has to also be an effort against the main causes of terrorism, poverty, disease, social disorder, unstable government authorities, etc (Boulden, Weiss, 2004). The ESTE has a appealing track record when dealing with these problems, which means investment in social development programs will allow for significant developments in the work against terrorism (Boulden, Weiss, 2004).

This kind of paper will offer a set of policy advice. In order to battle terrorism efficiently, Thomas Mockaitis (2007) suggests there should be aspects of four broad tasks present. 1 . Anti-terrorism to protect military forces, installs and employees and to assist member nataions in safeguarding their citizens and system from terrorist attack. 2 . Consequence management to assist member says in mitigating the effects of a real terrorist assault. 3. Counterterrorism to take attacking action against terrorist companies, personnel and facilities. some.

Military assistance with civilian institutions, federal government and private, to protect against terrorism. Evidently this product of counter-terrorism has been drafted as a armed service doctrine labeled the CONNATURAL Concept, which gives an excellent framework for organising an effective response against terrorism (Mockaitis, 2007). Below is a chart which usually illustrates the three core steps of fighting terrorism. ‘Consequence management’ refers to the actions taken by regional, state, and national departments to prepare intended for and if required respond to a terrorist harm (Mockaitis, 2007). Counterterrorism’ and ‘Antiterrorism’ may be the offensive armed forces enforcement of operations against terrorists (organisations, networks, and individuals), as well as the economic, interpersonal, and diplomatic measures to combat the root causes of terrorism (poverty, city unrest, etc) (Mockaitis, 2007). All three responsibilities require effective cooperation and rely on the intelligence which usually lies with the centre from the three and helps organise the effort (Mockaitis, 2007). This conventional paper has contended that the most risky form of terrorism is religious terrorism.

In order to deliver an effective argument, this kind of paper was divided into three sections, initially, it was asserted that faith based terrorism is considered the most dangerous form of terrorism by simply examining identifying it, analyzing how it really is dangerous, and discussing why it is even more dangerous than other forms of terrorism. Secondly, this paper contended that the most dangerous proponent of terrorism is the business of the Taliban, supporting this kind of claim was an examination of the group, providing background information, information about the Taliban’s policies and recent activities, plus the threat this organisation creates on the intercontinental community.

Lastly this conventional paper analysed and critiqued the anti-terrorism policy of the UN, and offered policy recommendations for all member states to implement, particularly the procedures currently implemented by NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION forces. This kind of paper was written in order to legitimise religious terrorism as the utmost dangerous sort of terrorism, thereby allowing for far better international cooperation towards fighting terrorism. This paper may therefore conclude that the most harmful form of terrorism is Religious Terrorism. Recommendations: Alexander, Sumado a. (1994).

Middle east terrorism: Current Hazards and Long term Prospects. Foreign library of Terrorism. Great britain: Dartmouth Submitting Co. Brafman, O., & Beckstrom, L. (2006). The Starfish plus the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. New York: Penguin Group Hoffman, B. (1998). Inside terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press. Kelling, M., Saludin, Meters., Von-Feigenblatt, Um. F., Alis, M., &Shuib, M. (2010). Taliban: Just how it Emerged and why the U. S and Pakistan Failed? International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. Martin, G. (2010).

Understanding terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues. (3rd Ed). UK: Sage Publications Mendelsohn, B. (2009). Combating Jihadism. Birmingham: University of Chicago Press. Mockaitis, T. (2007). The “new terrorism: Myths and Reality. USA: Greenwood Posting Group Incorporation. Schmidt, Farrenheit. (2010). Coming from Islamic warriors to medication lords: The evolution in the Taliban Insurgency. Mediterranean Quarterly, 21(2), 61-1. doi: 15. 1215/10474552-2010-005 The Guardian. (May 13, 2011). Pakistan suicide bomb eliminates 80 since Taliban seeks revenge intended for Bin Laden. Retrieved November 20, 2011 from http://www. uardian. co. uk/world/2011/may/13/suicide-bombing-revenge-osama The New York Review of Books. (2011). Why they will get Pakistan wrong. Gathered from http://www. nybooks. com/articles/archives/2011/sep/29/why-they-get-pakistan-wrong/ United Nations. (August, 2010). Cover civilian casualties rise 31 per cent in first 6 months of 2010. Retrieved via http://unama. unmissions. org/Default. aspx? tabid=1741&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=9955 Un Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2009). Community Drug Statement. Received from www. unodc. org/unodc/data-and-analysis/WDR. code

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