| Terrorism Essay, Research Paper
Lee Blumenfeld
Anti Terrorism
Ever since the United States has emerged as superior to fellow countries,
oppositions have found it necessary to test the ability and the integrity of our national
security. In the past, organizations and disgruntled countries have attempted to test the
quality of our nation s vast resources by breaking treaties and subsequently starting
conflicts. The NSA (National Service Agency) has found it imperative to acquire
information for the use of finding and hopefully preventing these conflicts from arising.
Terrorism has become a very serious issue for our nation. Our country has developed in-
depth organizations, agencies and administrations that handle certain aspects of activities
that occur outside of the country. However, recent incidents are proving that the FBI,
CIA, NSA, US MARSHALS, etc. are either not enough or are functioning under par.
The first and most recent incident of the lack of ability to control or curb terrorism
is the bombing on the USS Cole of the coast of Yemen. The joint US-Yemeni
investigation concluded that it was an apparent suicide bombing of the USS Cole, which
killed 11 sailors and wounded 39, leaving six sailors remaining missing and, or presumed
dead. The blast blew a 40-by-40-foot hole in the midsection of the ship at the waterline.
The detonation destroyed an engine room and nearby mess area where sailors were eating
lunch. The FBI crime laboratory further discovered that bomb-making material and that it
was a “quantum leap” forward in the investigation. Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh
further contributed to the labeling of this as a terrorist act by saying he had “important
evidence” showing that the explosion was a criminal act. The blowing up of one of the
world’s most sophisticated guided missile destroyers not only shows a sign of weakness
but a lack of prepared anti-terrorism tactics. For the bombers to know what time food
was being served and where to attack the boat is an alarming factor. To get such
explosives strong enough and to move them along side of a military ship requires massive
planning and a big well funded, organized, and large operation. Something that should be
big enough to find by the current major anti-terrorism organizations. In fact, witnesses
described two men aboard the boat with explosives in it standing to attention just before it
exploded, another point that they were feasibly detectable. “Speculation by the media and
others who point to Osama bin Laden as having a hand in perpetrating the terrorist attack
in the port of Aden,” another failure by the US forces to try and stop this well known
terrorist.
Another major event signaling the ineffectiveness of the anti-terrorism groups was
the domestic terrorism on April 1999, in a suburban high school in Jefferson
County, Colorado. Columbine High School found itself under attack less than fifteen
minutes into the first-lunch period on that Tuesday. Two student gunmen killed 13 and
wounded 21 before they turned the guns on themselves – the most devastating school
shooting in US history. The two student gunmen’s plans for attacking the school,
recovered by investigators after the tragedy had taken place, evolved over one year’s time,
thus giving agencies plenty of time to prevent this tragedy. In those plans, Klebold and
Harris outlined a mission to kill as many students and faculty as possible. They would set
off destructive bombs inside the school and then shoot any survivors trying to run out.
Bombs inside their cars would explode later, killing law enforcement, fire or medical
personnel responding to the scene. Such extensive planning should not go unnoticed and
therefore should have been picked up by local anti-terrorism departments. While there was
no specific reference made in their writings to this date being an important anniversary, it
must be noted that April 19, 1999, a day before the mission, it in fact was the fourth
anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, another instance of failure by these organizations to control
the situation. Furthermore, it was the sixth anniversary of the Branch Davidian
standoff in Waco, Texas. The main slogan coming from this terrible tragedy was the
slogan of “We can’t solve those problems by using the same kind of thinking we used at
the time we created them.” A clear implication that suggests the terrorists tactics have
improved and need a new “guide book” in dealing with this kind of, now being mocked
and copied epidemic as kid see this as a joke. But it is not a prank. Not when two hate-
filled students, heavily armed with firearms and bombs, chose April 20, 1999, as the day to
attack and kill students and faculty at their school.
The third instance which arguably can be drawn as a parallel reason for children,
terrorists, and other organizations to copycat and prove to be a sufficient source to get the
message across due to the anti terrorists organizations failure to control the situation was
Waco, Texas. The Oklahoma City Bombing was conducted on this same day and was the
first episode to mark this new apparent Achilles heal in the governments armor. On April
19th, 1993, the Branch Davidian religious community of Waco, Texas was the victim of
an attack by a paramilitary unit of the United States Federal government. All the Davidians
died as a result of this attack. The deaths of 86 Davidians — including at least 17 children
was due to government agencies old play book of plans which lead to stupidity and
irresponsibility, later leading to copy cat groups imitating and avenging this disaster. The
FBI and ATF calculations were entirely off and warranted the death of the entire religious
community. The Davidians were not on a “suicidal hair-trigger,” for if they were they
surely would have committed suicide earlier in the siege. For example the attack by a
100-strong officials squad on February 28th would have lead to a suicide, but instead there
was a defense of themselves against harm with what was heard of as regular fire arms
contrary to the “beliefs of the agents on the ground. The time length also presented a
reason for self illumination for why would you endure a 51-day siege during which they
were deprived of water, sewage, and drainage – a siege during which they were
bombarded by bright electric lights and the ear-splitting sounds of slaughter-house
recordings intended to deprive them of sleep or 6 hours of poisonous CS gas on the 52nd
day of the siege only to then execute themselves? The misjudgments by those agents cost
the lives of many on both sides (86 members dead in the fire) and the injury of others for
nothing. Of course it is not correct to assume that the Waco, Texas scenario was a
“dream come true” for the FBI who attacked the compound, smashing walls and spraying
tear-gas in order to kill “cultists.” But the Feds were looking for evidence of child-abuse
despite the fact that child-abuse is under state, rather than Federal jurisdiction.
Furthermore, an armed assault had not been necessary a year earlier when a sex-abuse
investigation was conducted (Koresh escorted Texas deputies and child-abuse
investigators through the compound), but this time resulted in a raid although “the
purpose of the was to rescue people believed to be held against their will.” The raid also
did the very thing it was supposed to protect for the ATF subjected the compound to a
barrage of bullets which some of those bullets could have easily killed anyone inside. It
was all about the children inside and their safety but it was fumbled by the forces there.
It is therefore clear that the tactics used by the agencies for anti-terrorism are
dwindling in effectiveness and prevention. Whether it be recent or a few years ago a slow
steady progression of terrorists activities are not only going unchecked but are going un
unanswered. It is therefore a must to re-evaluate the current agencies and draw them a
new play book to better handle situations and prevent others from accruing.
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