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Question 4: War on Terror
Terror has become a serious threat to countries all over the world. The United States is particularly vulnerable to these attacks, the worst being the September 2001. Terrorists hijacked passenger planes and proceeded to crash them into the World Trade Center. About 2996 people died including passengers on the aircraft, response teams as well as law enforcement officers. That day also marked the beginning of concerted efforts to fight terror by the US government which was later joined by other countries such as Canada and Australia (Gardner). Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, was behind the attacks but Afghanistan would not give him up. US troops were dispatched into Afghanistan at the beginning of October 2001.
The sustained attacks on terrorists in Afghanistan have had many repercussions. Many threats have been foiled because the masterminds including bin Laden were captured or killed during raids. National security has been improved because of this. On the other hand, there have been attacks in retaliation for the war in Afghanistan. The Department of Homeland Security was established on the 25th of November 2002 to protect the public from threats including terror attacks (Sauter & Carafano). There is more that needs to be done at the local levels. Surveillance needs to be stepped up, but this also comes with concerns of privacy for citizens. There have also been complaints of profiling and stereotyping of innocent people based on country of origin, religion and immigrant status.
The debate on whether to protect privacy at the cost of our security is a delicate one. Intelligence gathering bodies such as the Central Intelligence Agency have many surveillance programs (Gardner). Information from these programs should be used responsibly with the sole purpose of protecting people against threats. Terror has become a global phenomenon with radicalized individuals coming from different countries; therefore security efforts should be stepped up.
Works Cited
Gardner, Hall. American Global Strategy and the war on Terrorism’. Routledge, 2017.
Sauter, Mark, and James Jay Carafano. Homeland security: A complete guide to understanding, preventing, and surviving terrorism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
