INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

International Terrorism

Introduction

International terrorism is delineated by three characteristics . First it encompasses an act which is essentially criminal taking the form of assassination or murder , kidnapping , extortion , arson , maiming , or other acts seen as criminal . Second , international terrorism is also basically politically motivated . Any political group that believes its cause can resort to violence in to make its cause known . Lastly international terrorism transcends national boundaries , choosing a foreign victim or target , or accomplishing the terrorist act in a foreign country . The international terrorist aims to strike abroad

towards a foreigner since he thinks that he can influence effectively another government or his own government about the causes he is advancing (Fearey as cited in Livingston et .al 1978 . International Terrorism in the Contemporary World

Policies

The goal of the United States is to empower its policy on the deterrence of acts of international terrorism . In to do this , it must first take into account the political factors of terrorism . These factors must be understood and acted upon so that American policy response to transnational terrorism will be properly implemented (Evans 1979 . It is suggested that the USA adapt a two-pronged strategy . The first is to manipulate all of the rewards of such incidents so that it does not simply point to the reward of prisoners and ransoms . The second one must be to delegitimize hostage-taking as a strategy for revolutionary movements (Evans , 1979 . These were a result of the observations that a usual goal of terrorists in political kidnappings is to aggravate state-to-state relations in a given region . For example Chapter 3 of Evans ' book , he illustrates the Palestinians who staged the Rome airport incident in December 1973 and who hoped to raise tensions in the Middle East in to sabotage the Geneva peace conference Thus , a more effective way to deny terrorists this goal is for American policy makers to become more aware of the tactical objectives of a terrorist campaign . The role played by the United States in world affairs makes nationals a natural target for any terrorist group raise tensions in a region (Evans , 1979 . It is noted that American policy makers must be able to deny the terrorists their desired overreaction This is a supposedly forewarned is forearmed ' advice which also applies to terrorist attacks designed to harass the governments of different nations . The reason for downplaying this reaction is so that the terrorists will not get the reactions they want . Americans must not be triggered to react unnecessarily or else the terrorists win (Evans 1979 . They must persuade foreign governments not to play into the hands of terrorists

Counterterrorism efforts

However , in to be effective , counterterrorism must be part of a larger strategy , aside from allowing the U .S . government to focus on the activities of its various agencies , there must be a general strategy to provide a scale which can weigh the risks and benefits of various initiatives undertaken . To illustrate , the general apprehension of terrorists overseas has...