Terrorism in the US Criminal Investigation Paper Example

An ideology is a set of principles, beliefs, and ideas that form the basis for political transformation. Rightist and Leftist ideologies both support social and economic change to uplift the lives of people but the strategies and implementation used differ in many ways. More often, both ideologies employ armed revolution to attain the objectives. Rightist prefers an authoritarian or hierarchal form of government like fascism that accepts the existence of inequalities in the present political structure.

This philosophy promotes patriotism and order as well as stresses a sense of duty to every citizen that he/she has a place and responsibility to the state. On the other hand, leftist seeks to eliminate social and economic inequalities wherein properties should be owned by the community and that every citizen contributes and receives accordingly to his needs and capacity. This form of social organization is called communism or socialism. Unlike capitalism wherein trade and industry are controlled by individuals and not by the state, leftist wants to limit ownership of lands and inheritance of wealth by rich people.

Terrorism in America. As the Unites States stretches out its influence around the world through its economic and military dominance, it has likewise found enemies at every side who do not welcome its presence. Furthermore, America has involved itself in overthrowing other governments. To strike back, other countries resorted to terrorism hitting the country hard, its interests worldwide, and its allies. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), terrorism was first used in the U. S. with the assassination attempt of Pres. Harry S.

Truman in 1950 by Puerto Rican nationalists killing one police officer. The same group attacked with gunfire the U. S. Congress in 1954 wounding five congressmen and bombed New York’s Fraunces Tavern killing four people in 1972. Political assassinations and bombing were carried in America by nations like Croatia, Chile, Puerto Rico, left and right wing radicals. In 1993, Islamic radicals blew up New York’s World Trade Center killing six people and wounding over 1,000. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and two others bombed the Alfred P.

Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma killing 169 people. The latest attack was the 2001 attacked on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and on Flight 93 killing 2,973 people. Today, domestic terrorism is perpetuated mostly by right wing extremists that are white supremacists and members of the militia movements. Then, there are the special interest groups that advocate animal rights and environmental protection. With the fall of communism in Russia, threats from the left wing extremists were neutralized with the arrests of the key members.

In the world, the use of terrorism is evident in the conflict between the Arab nations and Israel over land dispute. The Arabs do not recognize Israel as a state but a symbol of imperialism like America. When Israel gained independence in 1948, the war intensified even today where suicide bombings and killings are already part of Jewish and Palestinian lifestyles. In 1983, the Lebanese Hezbollah launched a suicide attack on the barracks of U. S. Marines in Beirut killing 241 soldiers and 58 French servicemen as well as bombed the Jewish embassy (1992) and the Jewish Community Center (1994) in Buenos Aires.

Global terrorism is directed mostly against American and Israel interests. U. S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq face daily bombings and attacks the same way with Israel as Israeli soldiers continue to occupy some Arab territories like the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Islamist and non-Islamist terrorist groups are now driven by the same desire and terrorism activities to stop globalization of their nations. Over 14,000 international terrorist attacks have taken place worldwide since 1968. These attacks have resulted in more than 10,000 deaths. (FBI, 1999, p. 15).

Ideology of Terrorism. The basic ideology of terrorism stems from the point that Islam is under attack and that all Muslims must fight until every country in the Middle East is ruled by Islamic laws according to the Qur’an and on the words and deeds of Muhammad as exemplified by the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which was overthrown by the U. S. Jihadis contend that the violence they do to their own people, governments, and resources are 1) necessary, 2) religiously sanctioned, and 3) really the fault of the West, Israel, and apostate regimes. (McCants, 2006, p. 9).

Terrorists and Organized Crimes. Recent developments have shown the convergence of organized crimes and terrorist groups operating worldwide. Despite different beliefs the two parties try to complement each in executing their unlawful activities against the state and society. Criminals seek economic gains through illegal business deals such as gunrunning, drug trafficking, smuggling, kidnapping, and prostitution. Terrorists pursue political aspirations using criminal means to achieve those goals like independence, change in leadership, social, and economic structure of a country.

The connections between the two networks exist on a variety of levels — from purely tactical to strategic — including logistical support in weapons procurement, shared routes, training and some ideological overlap. As a result, in some areas it may be impossible to destroy the logistical network supporting terrorist groups without striking major blows at supporting criminal networks. (Lal, 2005, ¶9). Investigating Terrorism. The FBI is the lead agency in investigating terrorist activities in the U.

S. Under the Joint Terrorism Task Forces set up across the state, all information and intelligence relating to terrorism are coordinated and given to the FBI. The agency also maintains a Terrorist Information System, an online database of suspected terrorist organizations and individuals. The enactment of the USA Patriotic Act has enhanced law enforcement to conduct effective investigations on incidences of terrorist and suspected terrorist at the same time terrorist incidents.

The act enables the FBI and its Intelligence Community partners to address all aspects of the threats posed by terrorist organizations by using both information and the tools of intelligence and criminal investigators to maximize the impact on terrorist organizations and their supporters. ((FBI, 2004, p. 28, ¶3). The act also enhances surveillance procedures, examines bank records, strengthens criminal laws, and protects the borders of America. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, electronic surveillance such as wiretapping will help authorities to apprehend easily suspected terrorists.

These initiatives will deny terrorists and their supporters the ability to organize and plan terrorism. Terrorist Groups. The U. S. Department of State has listed 80 foreign terrorist organizations and some have known to be operating in America. The Al-Qaeda of Usama bin Laden has 5,000 sympathizers and seven support centers. Founded in 1988, the group targets Westerners and wants to unite Muslims in fighting the U. S. Other active terrorist cells include the Hezbollah, the notorious Islamic militant group that uses terrorism aggressively but not connected with Al-Qaeda.

Set up in 1982, its primary objective is to remove Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Formed in 1987, the Hamas is the Islamic Resistance Movement whose campaign for violence is solely directed towards Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state. Originated in Egypt, Jemaah Islamiya operates in Asia receiving funding from Al-Qaeda. The group was responsible for the Bali bombing in 2002 and the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta as well as suspected of attacking several embassies in Singapore and Thailand.

Active since 1970s, Al-Jihad merged in 2001 with Al-Qaeda. This Islamic extremist group from Egypt assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981 and carried out the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad. The identified terrorist groups have been classified as Islamist, non-Islamist, and Anti-Globalization Movement. Reference FBI. (1999). Terrorism in the United States 1999. Counterterrorism Threat Assessment and Warning Unit Counterterrorism Division. U. S. Department of Justice. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www. fbi. gov/publications/terror/terror99.

pdf McCants, W. PhD. (2006). Militant Ideology Atlas. Executive Report. Combating Terrorism Center, U. S. Military Academy. Retrieved March 10, 207, from http://www. ctc. usma. edu/atlas/Atlas-ExecutiveReport. pdf Lal, R. (2005). Terrorists and Organized Crime Join Forces. RAND Corporation. Commentary. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www. rand. org/commentary/052405IHT. html FBI. (2004). Strategic Plan 2004 to 2009. Counterterrorism: Strategic Goal. Retrieved March 10, 2007, from http://www. fbi. gov/publications/strategicplan/strategicplanfull. pdf