Before the September 11th, 2001 attacks, many in the United States underestimated the threat terrorism posed to the country. Now, 13 years later, we find ourselves in the middle of the War on Terror, fighting groups that don’t approve of the free, western way of life we live. We live every day with fear, waiting for the next plane to crash into the next building, the next car bomb to go off, or for the next US citizen to be beheaded. The United States is sitting quietly in the palm of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, waiting for them to take us over, while we should be fighting for the freedom for which we fought so many years ago. The main reasons why the US is not safe is because we don’t acknowledge the act of terrorism, we aren’t taking any steps to
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This is something that everyone in the United States accepts, except the government. The government, politically, is unwilling to acknowledge the true threat of terrorists and terrorism because doing so would both acknowledge a failure or weakness in combatting the issue and is also perceived to be a judgmental label that could alienate our enemies. For example, instead of calling the Oklahoma beheading ‘terrorism,’ which many commentators believe this event to be, the government instead refers to this as ‘workplace violence.’ Rick Perry said “[a]t some point in time, I think the [Obama] administration does have to address this as what it appears to many people that it is: an act of violence that is associated with terrorism.” Another example would be the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 in which Nidal Malik Hasan, former army psychiatrist, walked into a public space and shot and wounded many US soldiers. He is a self-proclaimed “soldier of Allah” and has written many letters to Religious leaders around the world, recently including the Pope. He has also written to ISIS asking for citizenship and asking to join their forces. However, instead of naming this situation as ‘terrorism,’ it was again labeled ‘workplace violence.’ Alonzo Lunsford, one of the many injured at Fort Hood, said “[h]ow much more does this administration have to let this man do before they see that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck?” The government …show more content…
This is another reason why the US isn’t safe from terrorism. In addition to trouble taking place in Iraq and Syria, we are also having trouble enforcing security in the US. One thing that is considered offensive by our government is racial and religious profiling; however, this is something from which the US could greatly benefit. The government, however, continues to make it harder for us to stay safe by banning racial and religious profiling because “Racial profiling disproportionately targets people of color for investigation and enforcement, alienating communities from law enforcement, hindering community policing efforts, and causing law enforcement to lose credibility and trust among the people they are sworn to protect and serve,” said the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Yet, countries like Israel, which employ racial and religious profiling, have kept themselves secure from Terrorist attacks. In addition to trouble over seas, we are also having trouble across our own borders. Terrorists have easy access into the United States through our borders between Mexico and Canada. ISIS, over social media, has been talking about entering into the US through the southern border. Texas Department of Public Safety "situational awareness" bulletin said “A review of ISIS social media messaging during the week ending August 26 shows that militants are
This is something that everyone in the United States accepts, except the government. The government, politically, is unwilling to acknowledge the true threat of terrorists and terrorism because doing so would both acknowledge a failure or weakness in combatting the issue and is also perceived to be a judgmental label that could alienate our enemies. For example, instead of calling the Oklahoma beheading ‘terrorism,’ which many commentators believe this event to be, the government instead refers to this as ‘workplace violence.’ Rick Perry said “[a]t some point in time, I think the [Obama] administration does have to address this as what it appears to many people that it is: an act of violence that is associated with terrorism.” Another example would be the Fort Hood shooting in 2009 in which Nidal Malik Hasan, former army psychiatrist, walked into a public space and shot and wounded many US soldiers. He is a self-proclaimed “soldier of Allah” and has written many letters to Religious leaders around the world, recently including the Pope. He has also written to ISIS asking for citizenship and asking to join their forces. However, instead of naming this situation as ‘terrorism,’ it was again labeled ‘workplace violence.’ Alonzo Lunsford, one of the many injured at Fort Hood, said “[h]ow much more does this administration have to let this man do before they see that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck?” The government …show more content…
This is another reason why the US isn’t safe from terrorism. In addition to trouble taking place in Iraq and Syria, we are also having trouble enforcing security in the US. One thing that is considered offensive by our government is racial and religious profiling; however, this is something from which the US could greatly benefit. The government, however, continues to make it harder for us to stay safe by banning racial and religious profiling because “Racial profiling disproportionately targets people of color for investigation and enforcement, alienating communities from law enforcement, hindering community policing efforts, and causing law enforcement to lose credibility and trust among the people they are sworn to protect and serve,” said the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). Yet, countries like Israel, which employ racial and religious profiling, have kept themselves secure from Terrorist attacks. In addition to trouble over seas, we are also having trouble across our own borders. Terrorists have easy access into the United States through our borders between Mexico and Canada. ISIS, over social media, has been talking about entering into the US through the southern border. Texas Department of Public Safety "situational awareness" bulletin said “A review of ISIS social media messaging during the week ending August 26 shows that militants are