War on Terrorism policies in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

War on Terrorism policies in America - Essay Example rn world, Guy Fawkes is seen as the first true terrorist with his effort to destroy English Parliament in 1605 by placing gunpowder beneath the building. In the American colonies, the Sons of Liberty attacked property of the British in the Americas because of their opposition to British rule and the Stamp Act. Through the rest of the 18th and 19th centuries, noteworthy accounts of terrorist tactics moved further East, through Eastern Europe and into the Middle East coming off centuries of relatively stable rule under the now defunct Ottoman Empire. With the Empire's collapse, armed political groups now vied for power through the vast expanses of the Middle East, which would lead to the political instability still in effect. Modern-day Islamic terrorist organizations oppose the Western world culturally and politically, and attempt to defend or promote Islamic culture by means of violent acts. This is characterized by many supporters as a "war" (or "Jihad"), whether as a means of retri bution or religious punishment for the West's aggression. The United States, in late 2001, responded to terrorist attacks by declaring a so-called "war on terrorism". Terrorism today, to most Westerners, refers to terrorism inspired by Islam. This radical shift to religious, or cultural, aspects of the terrorist act separates it from the 18th and 19th century traditions of strictly political acts of terror. Although Islamic terrorism certainly has political aspects to it, it is still ideologically justified in the language of the Islamic faith. Tokens like the Quran, Allah, and Jihad are used to create support for what are actually political goals. However, Islamic terrorism exists within many different countries in the Middle East, as opposed to past examples like IRA or the RAF, which... Terrorism today, to most Westerners, refers to terrorism inspired by Islam. This radical shift to religious, or cultural, aspects of the terrorist act separates it from the 18th and 19th-century traditions of strictly political acts of terror. Although Islamic terrorism certainly has political aspects to it, it is still ideologically justified in the language of the Islamic faith. Tokens like the Quran, Allah, and Jihad are used to create support for what are actually political goals. However, Islamic terrorism exists within many different countries in the Middle East, as opposed to past examples like IRA or the RAF, which existed strictly in Ireland and Germany respectively. The distribution of this new kind of terrorism makes it difficult to defend against, especially as they infiltrate Western societies to both learn from them and to attack them. The Patriot Act, a statute enabling the United States government additional surveillance tactics to â€Å"intercept and obstruct† terrorism, was enacted in October 2001. These privileges included eases on restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering, additional powers to regulate financial transactions, and increases in powers to conduct searches on the telephone and electronic communication without proper warrants (Chang). By expanding the official definition of domestic terrorism, the Patriot Act created a large umbrella of new powers for combating terrorism on American soil. However, these new powers were created only after severe terrorist attacks.