Modern Day Domestic Terrorism - Essay Example

Modern Day Domestic Terrorism The United s appeared to millions around the world as the “land of opportunity” in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Large swaths of immigrants flooded the United States given the better quality of life and the enhanced security situation. This influx of immigrants coincided with the expanding role of the United States on the world stage in the wake of the Second World War. The eventual collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the United States had to deal with many different forms of fallout. People backed by the United States to secure their freedom and liberty eventually turned against the United States after the threat of the Soviet Union subsided. Radical religious leaders began perpetrating notions of violence and intolerance in order to expand their power base (Stakelbeck). In these circumstances, the United States was projected as the “Great Satan” bent upon destabilizing the world while the only thing the United States was doing was securing its interests abroad. The struggle for the Middle East and the emergence of new threats in the Middle East such as Iran and Iraq required the United States to go ahead and defend its allies as per the Carter Doctrine. Even though the United States was acting in a defensive manner for its allies, but it was painted as an aggressor bent upon capturing the entire world. Religious opportunists grabbed this opportunity to declare the American presence as the casus belli against the United States. The attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 marked the beginning of a new regime of threats that threatened to dismantle the very foundations of the American dream. The need of the hour was to wake up to a new series of threats that had gone as far as an actual attack on American soil. While the United States was fighting different wars to defend its allies, it was itself placed in a very vulnerable position. The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center represent little more than a security lapse that should have been attended in time. The small leak in the base of the ship now threatened to sink it altogether. These new threats to national security are unlike those experienced in the Cold War because there are no active frontiers or troop movements on the ground to take action against. There is little threat of missile installations off the coast of Florida in Cuba. In the current scenario, the enemy is much closer to the American dream than one could possibly imagine. The influx of immigrants of various races, ethnicities, religious beliefs and the like provide a large and sustainable recruitment base for religious extremists. The underlying Islamist and Jihadist undertones mean that these extreme ideas to dismantle the United States are far more popular in Muslim ethnic and religious communities in the United States than in other immigrant populations. This problem is compounded by a desire of these groups to remain unassimilated to the mainstream culture that might have lowered the levels of aggression against the United States (Herridge). As it currently stands, there are generations of Muslims living in the United States with strong links to their countries of origin. The religious extremist elements at work have started to use these Muslims Diasporas based around the United States as fertile recruitment grounds for a corps of terrorists that “look like us but think like them”. The terrorists at work on September 11 and before it were largely of foreign origin (generally Arabs) but the more recent threats have all come from “home grown” terrorists. The more recent attempts against American targets on American soil such as the Times Square bombing, the “underwear bombing” on a flight over Detroit and the attack on a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon were all carried out by “home grown” terrorists. The people behind these attacks are tucked somewhere nicely in South East Afghanistan while their operatives roam the streets of the United States to demarcate targets and to take them out. The flawless communication link between these disparate parties has to be appreciated throughout these operations. These people are recruited using emerging social networking opportunities such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype by trainers who are located thousands of miles away. Once recruited, these elements typically leave for South Asia where they are trained either in Pakistan’s tribal agencies or in Afghanistan’s more pro-Taliban regions. After being trained and brainwashed for hitting targets, these “activated terrorists” are unleashed back in the United States often in the care of ringleaders. The terrorist is entrusted with identifying targets, planning to take them out and then finally taking them out once back in the United States (Larsen). Ringleaders on the other hand are supposed to maintain close contact with these terrorists and to supervise their activities including financial, technical and emotional support. It is surprising that these terrorist rings are operating inside the geographical limits of the United States while the government is more bent upon trying to remove terrorism from the rest of the world. It has often been argued that all new attempts to take down American targets on American soil have been foiled but the question is how long can we allow this to happen. The American people do not need another September 11 to indicate that terrorists are operating in the “land of opportunities” but it seems that the government will only take to action if another tragedy strikes American soil. The danger is that this new threat might have nuclear, biological or chemical weapons involved and the actual magnitude of destruction might be far greater than the amount of destruction on September 11. Currently there is little deniability that religious extremist terror rings are at work inside the United States. The presence of Islamic radical compounds and Jihadist training facilities in rural America have been brought into focus but the government is paying scant attention. It must also be pointed out that an overt disciple of the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini is already managing one of the largest mosques in the United States with suspected links to Middle Eastern terror networks. Similarly, there has been an increasing move to build mega mosques inside the Bible belt as part of an overall plan for Islamic domination of the region. These problems in themselves are compounded by the revelations of Raza Khalili, a CIA covert operative inside the Iranian regime. According to Khalili, the Iranian regime plans on “bringing the war back home to America” by recruiting Iranian Diaspora inside the United States who will be used to take down critical targets. Conclusively terror rings are operating within the United States and there is little deniability to this fact. These are more of a threat to national security that anything else that the American nation has faced before this point in time. The galvanization of Muslim Diaspora by religious elements present thousands of miles away is alarming to say the least. However, the government quarters are slow to take notice and subsequent action over this issue. The government’s complacent attitude over the current situation may lead to another harrowing terrorist act making it more difficult for the United States to recover from the stigma of terror. References Herridge, Catherine. The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaedas American Recruits. New York: Crown Forum, 2011. Larsen, Randall. Our Own Worst Enemy: Asking the Right Questions About Security to Protect You, Your Family, and America. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2007. Stakelbeck, Erick. The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You About the Islamist Threat . New York: Regnery Publishing, 2011. Read More