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Amie Mallette

Mrs. Palcko

English 112

10 May 2017

Maintaining the Peace: Dealing with Terrorism

Why must terrorism occur in such a world? Domestic and Global terrorisms goal is to

disrupt and destroy the fabric of a society. Terrorism is defined as, the unlawful use of violence

and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims. Since 9/11, which

was one of the biggest and most influential acts of terrorism in the United States, we have seen

both the military and financial costs involved in fighting terrorism. Every day people are

wondering, Are the strategies that we use effective in preventing acts of terrorism? Who are the

terrorists that we are dealing with? When will be our next possible attack? Terrorism must be

stopped. These are just a few questions that must be addressed if we hope to preserve our way of

life and end terrorism.

9/11 was a key factor that really sparked problems in the United States. On September

11, 2001, two hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center, Tower 1 and Tower 2. Another

hijacked plane flew into the Pentagon. Then the last invaded plane flew into Stonycreek

Township in Pennsylvania. 2,997 people died that day and injured over 6,000 people. This

terrorist attack, overall, costed about 10 billion dollars in property and infrastructure damage and

3 trillion dollars in total costs. The terrorist group that planned all of this was known as, the

Al-Qaeda. The Al-Qaeda is an Islamic group organized by Osama Bin Laden in the 1990s to

engage in terrorist activities. Suspicion towards who did the attack fell quickly on the Al-Qaeda
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and the United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror. They invaded

Afghanistan, which harbored Al-Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden officially came clean to being

responsible for the hijacking if the planes and creating this appalling terrorist attack in the year

2004, 3 years after the attack. Ever since the attacks, numerous memorials have been created.

These memorials include: the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York City, the

Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 Memorial in a field in

Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We could have tried to prevent this act of

terrorism by doing better security checks. Back then, we did not have the technology like we do

today, but the bombs should have been brought to attention or at least caught by the security

guards.

On April 15, 2013, two bombs went off at the annual Boston Marathon near the finish

line. This terrorist attack killed 3 spectators and wounded more than 260 people. Four days later

after the attack, they had found the two men that have caused this gruesome attack. During those

four days, they completely shut down all of Boston so that they could track down these people as

quick as possible. The two bombing suspects were brothers known as Dzhokhar and Tamerlan

Tsarnaev. The investigators later concluded that the two brothers were not part of any terrorist

group and that they had been planning this attack for a few years all on their own. Tamerlan

Tsarnaev, the oldest brother, had died during a shootout with the law enforcement that day that

he was found. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was scheduled to stand trial in November 2014 and was

arranged to face the death penalty shortly after. People in the area should have noticed suspicion

of these two men. They were wearing black outfits and were very secretive. These types of

warnings need to be brought to attention so that those two brothers could have been stopped.
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\ In November of 2015 there was a series of attacks held in Paris, France. These attacks

were coordinated and occurred on Friday the 13th. This was a plot of terror that had been

planned for 11 months in advance. Gunmen and suicide bombers had hit a concert hall, major

stadium, restaurants and bars. This eventually led up to 130 people dead, hundreds wounded, and

about 100 people in critical condition. The attacks were organized by the Islamic State militant

group. In the days that happened immediately after the attacks, French Police carried out

hundreds of raids across the country, so that they could come to terms with who did these ghastly

attacks. The first of the three explosions occurred outside of Stade de France stadium. A man

was wearing a suicide belt and was carrying several explosives with him. Just as he was about to

go through security, that was when he set off all of the explosives. The second attack was a gun

attack on Rue Alibert. The shooting was held at Le Carillon. The gunmen arrived at the scene in

a black Seat car, which police had later found out that it was abandoned. People initially thought

that it was a firecracker that they heard gone off, but after hearing semi-automatic rifles, they

knew that they were under fire. These attacks really sparked conflicts and there were numerous

gun attacks that had followed these previous attacks. Now, I can see where people are coming

from when they say that there is no way that this could be prevented, and I completely

understand that because the vehicle that drove into the buildings, there is basically no way that

you could prevent it because we can not control the person that is n the car. On this other hand,

the bombings in the stadium relates back to what I have stated. People need to be aware and be

looking for anybody that is disguised or looks somewhat sketchy.

To conclude, I believe that as a society there is much more improvement that needs to be

made in various areas. The first thing that we need to do is combat our terrorists. We need to find
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out who these people are and stop them immediately. We also need to find a way to restore a

sense of safety in our citizens. Every day Americans have some sense of fear that there might be

a possible terrorist attack. I feel that as a country we can all come together and stop this terrible

act of hatred against one another. It will take some time, but it is very much possible.
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Works Cited

History.com Staff. "Boston Marathon Bombings." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web.

14 May 2017.

"Paris Attacks: What Happened on the Night." BBC News. BBC, 09 Dec. 2015. Web. 14 May 2017.

"September 11, 2001: Background and Timeline of the Attacks." CNN. Cable News Network, 08

Sept. 2016. Web. 14 May 2017.