Mutually Assured Destruction By Terrorism Essay Research

Mutually Assured Destruction By Terrorism Essay, Research Paper

Mutually Assured Destruction by Terrorism

The year is 1999. The Cold War has been over for more than a decade and for the first time in a half-century, the world is free from the spectre of nuclear apocalypse. It should be a time of peace and prosperity, but all over the globe the embers of old animosities have been fanned to flame…. (Clancy 1).

Now the world must face a new fear. Not one of Armageddon or mutually assured destruction, but one of terror. Sane politicians no longer hold the key to the destruction of the world. We must now be wary of crazed lunatics with guns, bombs and religious fallacies filling their heads. They hold the key, and are very willing to use it. Increasing terrorist activity, the flourishing terrorist industry, the growth of the nuclear black market, and nuclear testing by rogue states have become the most prominent threat to our national security in the post-cold war global community. Our military faces many problems such as the inefficient use of funds, inadequate training of forces, and restricted international authority, which limit our ability to eliminate these threats effectively.

Between 1894 and 1901, five world leaders were killed by terrorists including the U.S. president, William McKinley. Terrorism had become the top priority to politicians, police chiefs, and writers. In the past century it should have become a top priority to every law-abiding citizen on the face of the earth (Laqueur 1).

Defense Secretary, William Cohen warns, New threats and dangers, harder to define and more difficult to track, have gathered on the horizon (Knight 32). Over the last fifty years, we have seen aggressive, terrorist-like movements grow at a very frightening rate. These groups include religious fundamentalists, fascists, and apocalyptic millenarians. Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Aum Shinrikyo, the Branch Davidians, and the Baader-Meinhof gang are examples of highly malicious terrorist groups. They have attacked hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Many of these groups are overlooked because they hide behind legitimate companies and associations and seem harmless (Laqueur 1). Then they come out of hiding to attack subways, schools, and offices because of their beliefs. They become so involved with their cause that they set aside their humanity. These so-called harmless terrorists are turning terrorism into the substitute for wars in this new world disorder (Hillen 1).

Terrorism has become such a problem that the United States State Department has a specific definition: premeditated, politically or religiously motivated violence that is perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or agents; usually intended to inflict fear of influence and audience (Global A1). There are many other sources that agree with the State Department s view. Most of these definitions do not show the extent of the problem (Laqueur 1). However, terrorism is not just a problem; it has become an international industry (Clancy 1).

One entrepreneur that has helped the industry to grow is the globally feared and hated, Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is claimed to be responsible for the World Trade Center bombing and the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He has followers around the world ready to help carry out his private jihad or holy war. Funding for his group comes from his family fortune. With most of the $200 million he controls lost in foreign accounts and bogus front organizations in the U. S., his financial transactions go virtually unnoticed (Vistica 1).

He operates training camps to prepare his elusive followers for their missions. In these training camps, his agents are taught the following: how to create fake passports and documents, the use of basic covert communication, and the use of small arms and explosives. These organizations and the multinational intelligence network that he has built up create an extensive shield for bin Laden (Smyth 2).

Though the CIA has been shadowing bin Laden for nearly four years and has his profile memorized, it still didn t receive the slightest warning about the attacks on Kenya and Tanzania, which killed over 250 people (Vistica 1). Bin Laden has supposedly spent $15 million on Semtex explosives from Czechoslovakia, which are thought to have been used in these bombings. Other weapons and munitions are imported or smuggled from China, Iran, and Russia (Smyth 2). Terrorists around the globe are able to access money and resources just as easily through front organizations, global access to the Internet, and the black market (Clancy 1). We can t allow this to go on.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, everyone felt safe because the cold war was over. Russian communist leaders no longer had the power to wipe out America. Russia was in the hands of sane people who wanted capitalism to flourish. The Doomsday Clock had supposedly stopped (Elliot 18). This couldn t be further from the truth. The chance of nuclear materials, information, conventional weapons, and military experts and engineers falling into the wrong hands has never been greater (Wilkie 1).

In the past years, over 1,000 documented reports of nuclear materials being smuggled out of Russia have surfaced. Although only six have been verified as actually being nuclear weapons material, it s sti