Conflict+Management+in+Global+Politics+-+Terrorism

=Confronting Terrorism since 9/11 as Conflict Management= Anamjit - Qing - Aaron

Background
The origin of the word "terrorism" comes from the French //terrorisme//, used by the Jacobins to describe the Reign of Terror. After the Jacobins fell out of power, the term became one of abuse. (1) However, there is no agreed upon definition of the word. Definitions differ by country, and the international community has never agreed upon a single definition. (2) The first group to self-identify as "terrorist" in the modern sense of the word was the left-wing Russian organization People's Will, best known for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. (3) Left-wing, especially anarchist, terrorism was common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including multiple assassinations of prominent political figures including King Umberto I of Italy and Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin. Seperatist terrorism was also common, the most famous incident being, of course, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princep.

Examples of terrorism in the 20th century include the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, the Red Brigades in Italy, and Red Army Faction in Germany, the Japanese Red Army, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

There are a variety of cause of terrorism, the most common of which are seperatism and extremist political and religious ideologies. Eurpol found that, in Europe, over the period 2009-2011, there were 250-400 incidents of seperatist terrorism per year, 15-50 incidents of extreme left-wing or right-wing terror per year, less 5 incidents of Islamist terror per year, and 15-50 characterized as "other". (4)

About the 9/11 Attacks: In these attacks, the militant group Al Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden hijacked four domestic American airplanes over American airspace in order to crash them into major landmarks in the country. Two of these were crahed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, one into the Pentagon and the fourth one was crashed by the passengers into fields. About 4,000 people were killed, as per government estimates.

Sources:
 * 1) Campbell, Kim. "When Is "terrorist" a Subjective Term?". //Christian Science Monitor//. Christian Science Monitor, 20 Nov. 2009. Retrieved. 5 Oct. 2011. .
 * 2) Hoffman, Bruce, //Inside terrorism//, 2 ed., Columbia University Press, 2006, p. 34.
 * 3) Hoffman, Bruce. //Inside Terrorism//. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. p. 5
 * 4) [|"TE-SAT 2011 EU TERRORISM SITUATION AND TREND REPORT"]. [|Europol]. 2011 . [].

Current Efforts
After the 9/11 attacks there was a lot of anger and high emotion in American media and the public. Therefore, lawmakers were quick to pass legislation that would fight the terrorists and prevent any more attacks on the US. It was as a result of this emotionalism that the Congress handed over more and more powers to law enforcement agencies and to effectively infringe upon human rights of the citizens. (17)

President George W. Bush declared a "War on Terror". (1) Since then, global counter-terrorism efforts, especially by the United States and it's allies have dramatically increased. As part of this effort, the United States and it's allies have launched conventional wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, these countries passed their own anti-terrorism acts allowing their governments extraordinary powers to combat terrorism at home and abroad, including the Patriot Act in the United States (2) and the Anti-Terrorism Act in Canada. (3) The Transportation Security Administration was created on November 19, 2001 by Congress through the Aviation and Transportation Security Act in response to the 9/11 attack. Their main duty is to strengthen the security of the U.S transportation systems. In March 2003, the TSA moved from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security. The main responsibilities of the TSA is to provide 100% screening for all luggage’s and is responsible for security for all modes of transportation.  Currently the TSA body scanners cost between $130,000 to $170,000 each and the screening cost now estimates to $344 million per year. (4)

The Patriot Act
The main purpose of the Patriot Act in response to the 9/11 act is designed to protect themselves from terrorist attacks foreign and domestic which includes "To strengthen U.S. measures to prevent, detect and prosecute international money laundering and financing of terrorism. To require all appropriate elements of the financial services industry to report potential money laundering. " This act was signed into law on October 26, 2001. (5)

Sources:
 * 1) Bush, George W. [|"Presidential Address to the Nation"] (Press release). The White House. September 11, 2001.
 * 2) O'Harrow, Jr., Robert (November 27, 2002). [|"Six Weeks in Autumn"]. //The Washington Post//: pp. W06 . [] . Retrieved October 6, 2011.
 * 3) CBC News. "Anti-terrorism Act." CBC News. February 27, 2007. [] Retrieved October 6, 2011.
 * 4) TSA [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 5) Fincen. [] Retrieved October 14, 2011.

Evaluating Counter-Terrorism Effectiveness and Concerns
Since 9/11, the an amazing number of organizations have been created in the United States, dedicated to counter-terrorism. //Top Secret America//, a report from Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin examined these organizations and their effectiveness. Their key findings include:
 * The report states that in approximately 10,000 locations aross the United States, 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies are employed. Their work is related to homeland security, counterterrorism, and intelligence.
 * More than two-thirds of these locations "reside" in the [|Department of Defense], where "only a handful of senior officials — called Super Users — have the ability to even know about all the department's activities."
 * An estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances.
 * The publicly announced cost of the U.S. intelligence system is "$75 billion, 2½ times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic counterterrorism programs."
 * Since September, 2001, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are either under construction or have been built. The total area is approximately 17 million square feet, equivalent to about three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings.
 * Analysts within the agencies publish about 50,000 intelligence reports each year. (7)
 * Every day, the [|National Security Agency] intercepts and stores 1.7 billion phone calls, e-mails, and "other types of communications", but is able to sort only a "fraction" of these into 70 different databases. (8)

They also say that counter-terrorism organs have become "so large, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work." (9) The full content of their report can be found here: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/.

__The Patriots Act Extension__
Obama signed this act with an auto-pen while he was in France on May 2011. This Extension was highly critized by many goverment officials such as Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington legislative office who said "The Patriot Act has been used improperly again and again by law enforcement to invade Americans' privacy and violate their constitutional rights,"(10) This act was delayed due to Rand Paul's strong stance against it while asking a change in the bill which will diminish the government's ability to monitor the citizen's actions. This bill was also criticized by two senators on the intelligence committee those senators were Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado.(12) This Extension allows U.S government to target citizens even if they have no connection to terrorist organizations, collect business records and much more rights which inferences on the U.S Constitution. Such as the authority to conduct secret searches (section 213). (11)

__TSA__
In the US there is a growing hatred towards the TSA. Due to the fact that many people think the TSA is not doing it's job correctly. There is growing concern for the safety of the body scanners, some experts believe there is a much greater risk of getting cancer than what the TSA has claimed, perhaps 10x worse.(3) Especially The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Executive director Marc Rotenberg said the government "has not been forthcoming with the public about the true extent of radiation risk with the airport body scanners." (4) This happened after a cluster of TSA workers have been diagnosed with cancer. Another major point against the TSA is sexual harassment. The TSA currently does pat downs that is crossing the fine line between a pat down and sexual assault. This is because the new pat down include the touching of private parts which is extremely uncomfortable for many people.(5) Some people working in the government are fighting against the new TSA pat downs such as Congressmen Ron Paul who tried introduced new legislation that would make it clear that TSA agents are subject to sexual harassment laws. (6)

__**Human Rights Abuses**__
Ethnic Profiling: Ever since new measures were put into place, there have been several complaints of ethnic and behavioral profiling by airport authorities. Muslim and Arab passengers are frequently made to go through 'random checks' on ariports. They are frequently strip-searched and detained at airports for several hours just because of their ethnicity and appearance. (13) After 9/11 several Musilm and Arab citizens of the US were screened to mandatory interviews and searches. This is in direct conflict with the 14th amendment of the American Constitution. Over 80,000 Muslim men were required to appear for interrogation and give their fingerprints to the Homeland Security. (14)

Behavioral Profiling: Following Israel's example, law enforcement agencies also started screening passengers that seemed nervous or agitated. A number of people since have been unnecessarily detained. (15) Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: A number of law suits were followed in the US as people detained were forced to speak and testify. Techniques such as: “attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box, and the waterboard.” were commonly used in the States. (16)

__Bad cases of Counter-Terrorism at work__
There are many examples of countries who's workers has done major errors or abserd cases when putting people on the no fly list.

For example a six year old girl named Alyssa Thomas was discovered on the no fly list, (different that the terror watch list) maintained by the U.S Homeland Security when her parents are not and refused to take her off the no fly list, nor will the Federal Bureau of Investigations will discuss who is on the list or why.(1)

Furthermore, there is an insistence of an immigration officer in Britain who put his wife on the terror watch list after her trip to Pakistan. The sad this is only discovered during a vetting inquiry when the immigration officer was selected for promotion.(2)

Sources: > Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 1) Fox8. [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 2) Daily Mail. [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 3) HealthFreedoms. [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 4) Daily Mail [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 5) WeWontFly. [] Retrieved October 7, 2011.
 * 6) TechDirty. []
 * 1) Fischer, Max. [|"The Washington Post Reveals 'Top Secret America'"]. July 18, 2010. //The Atlantic Wire// . Retrieved October 8, 2011.
 * 2) [|"'Top Secret America': By the numbers"]. //The Week//. July 19, 2010 . Retrieved October 8, 2011.
 * 3) Priest, Dana and Arkin, William. [|"A hidden world, growing beyond control"]. July 19, 2010. //Washington Post// . Retrieved October 8, 2011.
 * 4) Epic. [] Retrieved October 14, 2011.
 * 5) Frwebgate. [] Retrieved October 14, 2011.
 * 6) NYTimes. [] Retrieved October 14, 2011.
 * 7) Adams, Nick, and Ted Nordhaus. "Counterterrorism Since 9/11." Web. 17 Oct. 2011. [].
 * 8) Adams, Nick, and Ted Nordhaus. "Counterterrorism Since 9/11." Web. 17 Oct. 2011. [].
 * 9) Adams, Nick, and Ted Nordhaus. "Counterterrorism Since 9/11." Web. 17 Oct. 2011. [].
 * 10) []
 * 11) Adams, Nick, and Ted Nordhaus. "Counterterrorism Since 9/11." Web. 17 Oct. 2011. [].