the meaning of terrorism

The author of "Terrorism" stephen sloan, gave a more delibrate meaning to what terrorism is. when we think "terrorism", we think of hijacking, suicide bombers, assasssinations and other forms of evil carnage. he tells us that there are many definitions for terrorism and shows us how the meaning and use of terrorism has evolved. A terrorist's main goal is to frighten people and set panic amongst a society. therefore, anybody can be a terrorist and scare people. terrorism can have a physical or emotional effect on a person or a community. The media is an example of terrorism because in every news hour there has to be some kind of warning or causion to the public, this is some form of terrorism because it alarmed the people. Terrorism can be from an individual or from a group of people who want to send a message to the people they are terrorizing, and will not stop the terror untill their needs have been accomplished. some people might think that people in terrorist groups are insane and just plain crazy, but in fact terrorists groups only choose smart, brave people that are confident to do the job right; why would you hire an idiot to do a very serious job for you?.. some people might say that al-qa'ida is the world's number one terrorist group, and some people might say that George w. Bush is the number one terrorist in the world. some people have different opinions on the views of terrorism.

who to blame?

"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events"(WC). the purpose of sanctions is to isolate a nation economically and politically as a disciplinary measure short of war. the sanctions on iraq are in force untill it complies with all terms of surrender listed in the UN security council resolution. the united nations ordered these sanctions to cripple iraq's economy, which relies mostly on the export of oil. As saddam Hussien is to blame for the disasters that erupted during and after the gulf war, the coalition forces; mostly American should have the same amount of blame. American forces led major air strikes that blew up some oil fields and fired depleted uranium from tanks that later started oil fires and led to mostly civilian casualties. on top of that, they are trying to starve the iraqi people by setting sanctions that should be a violation to human rights.

redundant deaths in Gulf war

No matter how one feels about the gulf war, its brutality should be a matter of some reflection for the governments of both the coalition countries and Iraq. the coalition armies did not suffer many casualties in the gulf war. Of the nearly two million coalition troops, only 355 died and 343 out of the 355 deaaths resulted from noncombat accidents. The iraqi government claimed that around 8,000 civilian lives were lost and around 100,000 military casualties due to the coalition air bombing. The Iraqi ministry of health attributed 41,000 deaths, including 13,000 children to direct impact of sanctions in the first four months of 1992, after the war had ended. The post-war casualties were greater than those during the war because of the economic and cultural sanctions that the united states have placed on the Iraqi people.

hidden casualties of the gulf war

In the past, wars were fought without regard to their potential environmental effects. Then nuclear power shocked us into realizing that we have the technological ability to destroy our planet. wars have always harmed the environment and killed or wounded noncombatants. The gulf war has endangered the environment and and set a long term affect on the atmosphere and the people living in that atmosphere. the Iraqi troops set fire to over six hundred kuwaiti wells. researchers have hypothesized that rising smoke to the atmosphere might cause some changes in the earth's weather pattern. The Kuwaiti land were mostly abused from the movemnet of heavy artillery and movement of troops across the lands.