Terrorism

By Christian Nseka
September 25, 2014

When most people think of a terrorist, the image that comes in
mind is that of an Arab Muslim. The reality, however, is that not all
Arabs are terrorists. Neither are all Muslims terrorists. This
overgeneralization of Arabs and Muslims being terrorists does not help
in the fight again terrorism. It perpetuates the schism and, I think,
contributes to the growth of terrorist networks if not to the creation of
new terrorist organizations that are more sophisticated, more
determined, far reaching, and more resilient.
There are people who become terrorists simply because of how
they have been labeled and marginalized within their political
communities (Moscoe, 2013) based on their physical appearance,
ethnicity, and/or religion. These marginalized people might experience
less hesitation when called upon to fight again those the terrorist
networks consider to be the infidels. This calls for an objective
approach to the fight again terrorism.
Because it is looked at as if an ethnic problem, terrorism will
continue to be a major problem if nothing changes. Terrorism is not a
biological warfare for it is not driven by biological differences. Case in
point, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been killing Arabs as
well as westerners, Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Hence, terrorism is
rather an ideological warfare because it is driven by a distinguished
ideology (Friedman, 2014). The most effective way to combat terrorism
is to confront in all frontsmilitarily, politically, diplomatically, and
ideologically. So far, the ideological front has been overlooked. There
must be an ideology that should confront and overshadow any
terroristic ideology.
ISISs operations can be used as a testament to the fact that
terrorism is not a biological warfare. Those who do not abide by ISISs
ideology, be they Iraqis, Syrians, males, females, Muslims, or non-
Muslims, face an atrocious end (News Middle East, 2013). Again, there
must emerge an ideology that should help in the fight against
terrorism. Its time to find it.

References:
Friedman, T. (2014, September 16). Take a deep breath: ISIS and the
Arab world. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com
Moscoe, A. (2013, November 15). Why do people join terrorist groups?.
University of Ottawa. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu
News Middle East. (2013, December 19). Abuse 'rife in secret al-Qaeda
jails in Syria.' BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com