Review and reflect on the Modern Day and Historical Terrorism Discussion Board. Based on your review and reflection of new learning in this course, write at least 400–600 words on the following:
Using the below peer response please answer the below question
Terrorism originated in Roman times. Zealots of Judea were assassinating their Roman occupiers and Jews who were on the side of the Romans. The term terrorism did not come about until the French Revolution. It can be defined as “intentional acts of violence that are designed to harm or kill citizens in order to intimidate others” (Crime, 2015).
At the time of the 9/11 attacks I was living in Colorado Springs, CO. I was working for Wells Fargo Bank as a loan processor and worked the 0600 to 1500 shift. My region was the east coast. That morning was no different than any other morning getting up and getting ready for work. This was probably the norm across the country for millions of other people, except for maybe the terrorists getting ready to change the lives of so many. I was speaking to a loan officer in New York City about a client’s loan when all of a sudden she says “a plane just hit the World Trade Center”. I thought she meant a little personal type of aircraft. She then explained no, a big plane. I said a few expletives. I was thinking how tragic it was.
At that moment I am sure that neither one of us thought anything else but that it was some sort of accident. There were not many other employees in the building yet. As the loan officer and I was still on the phone she said “another plane just hit the other tower”. At that point we both knew this was something else going on. It seemed like time was standing still. We said our good-byes; there was nothing else to say. Employees started coming into work and we located a television to watch the tragedy unfold. Less than an hour later we heard that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon and then another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. A nightmare had begun.
It seemed that the whole week was just a blur. News of this terrorist attack was everywhere; it was every minute of every day. I can only imagine what was going on in the minds of the people who lost loved ones. At that time I did not know anyone in the New York area, so I could only grieve for the lost lives and families who were left behind. As other communities in the nation we were stunned that something like this could ever happen.
The goal of the terrorists was and is to get the attention of the world, which it did. Osama bin Laden attacked the United States because of our support of Israel. Since he could not defeat our military he wanted to instill fear and have the United States look weak.
My experiences make me believe that the terrorists did not succeed when they attacked this nation on 9/11. In a way it brought the nation together, at that time. People came together and helped each other out by volunteering and donating money. It also produced an anger that made people want to fight and get even.
The goals of terrorist were mostly the same. They all wanted to change a government structure that they were not happy with or they felt was interfering with their ideology. Al-Qaida’s “political agenda is to force the U.S. military to withdraw from the Middle East, they want to overthrow regimes that side with the West and fail to follow “true” Islam, and they seek to unite all Muslims”(Purpura, 2007).
Organizations have evolved over time by gaining more money through various sources for their cause and now through social media are able to attract more followers and supporters. Terrorists have been known do business with drug cartels and money laundering schemes.
References
Crime Museum. (2015). Origins of the term terrorism. Retrieved August 15, 2015 from
http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/origins-of-the-term-terrorism/
Purpura, P. (2007). Terrorism and Homeland Security. [VitalSource Bookshelf version].
Retrieved August 15, 2015 from
http://online.vitalsource.com/books/CSM19780750678438/page/9
What have you learned from others'' responses?
What were the most compelling points from the interaction with your fellow students?
How did participating in this discussion help in your understanding of the Discussion Board task?
What approaches could have yielded additional valuable information in the students'' networking?
What is still unclear after the discussion with your classmates that needs to be clarified?