Terrorism is explained as the active or threatened use of violence to cause fear to a particular population leading to political, social, and ideological disruptions. Terrorism groups are rare unlawfully formed gangs that indulge in violence and intimidation against governments by harming civilians. Globally many terrorist groups plan and execute attacks on various countries. Mainly the groups are located in Arabic countries and those in sub-Saharan Africa. In many incidents, they associate themselves with the Islamic religions, which has led to the serotyping of all Muslims as terrorists (Bellutta et al., 2020). These groups’ primary forms of violence include lynching, hate crimes, killings by shootings, and bombing. Some of the terror groups that attack the United States of America have their origin in other countries, while others are based in America.
Al Qaeda and the ISIS terror group are the two leading groups that pause significant challenges to the United States of America. Al Qaeda was formed and led by the late Osama Bin Laden, which is the greatest threat to the security of the United States. Before the US Government killed him in 2011, they had organized significant attacks on American soil and various USA embassies across the globe, such as the attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam in 1998 (Bellutta et al., 2020). In 2001, the group organized what is considered the most destructive attack in the USA.
Four commercial jets were skyjacked and redirected to the twin’s tower that collapsed and killed many in the attack. The ISIS terrorist is the second source of terror attacks on the United States of America. In 2015, two married people, Syed Rizwan and Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by ISIS to lead an attack in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015 (Semati & Szpunar, 2018). The attack consisted of massive shooting and an attempted bombing at the inland Regional Center.
Besides the external terror attacks, the United States faces significant threats from groups within America from external groups. Such terror groups have their origin and headquarters within the borders of the USA. However, their existence has not caused much attention for a long time as the governments focused on the Islamic groups that were considered a global threat (Lockhart, 2019). The two major American groups within America include the Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The Ku Klux Klan is considered a white supremacist terror group that has other minor branches. It is the first and the most dangerous group in the USA. KKK was established in 1915 by Nathan Bedford Forrest (Lockhart, 2019). The main focus was on terrorism, white supremacy, and hate crimes. Its main agenda is to promote the dominance of the non-Hispanic in all states in America. The government laid policies and strategies to destroy it, but in the 1920s, they emerged again with a membership of more than four million nationally.
In the 1930s, however, it became weak members withdrew. The KKK was empowered again in the 1960s and continued to promote its agenda (Scrivens & Conway, 2019). The group’s superiority is associated with their strong, influential, and determined leaders. In 1964, for instance, they launched an attack against civil workers in Birmingham by bombing the 16th street Baptism Church (Scrivens & Conway, 2019). Further, the terrorists organize attacks through robberies, and they at some point attempt blowing a natural gas processing plant. Most episodes are focused on African Americans as they try to intimidate black Americans.
The Aryan Nations is a terrorist group that is oriented in a Christiania way. It is associated with Wesley Swift’s teachings of British Israelism, antisemitism, and politically based militancy. It has its headquarters in Idaho, north of Hayden. Richard Butler founded it in southern California after the second world war. The group used counterfeit money to finance their efforts before gaining financial stability. It engaged in criminal activities right from its prime age.
In 1998, one of the group’s guards attacked a Jewish community center located in Los Angeles and fired over 70 rounds of amnion from a submachine gun (Scrivens & Conway, 2019). During the incident, one person was killed and five more injured. The group attacked an innocent mother driving with her son; they damaged the car and assaulted them. However, the activities of the groups have been disrupted over the period following the constant change of leadership and government intervention.
In conclusion, the United States of America has faced both international and local terrorism for the most prolonged period. The country has been on the lead to counter-terrorism groups both within its boundaries and globally. Most terror groups in Arabic countries are associated with the Islamic religion and their primary target. Osama Bin Laden had been the leader of Al Quade, a gang that has caused the most devastating effects. Local terror groups with America include KKK and Aryan Nations, whose main agenda is to promote white supremacy by terrorism. The government has, however, laid down major strategies to counter both internal and external terror groups.
References
Bellutta, D., Chen, Y., Gartenstein-Ross, D., Pulice, C., Subasic, A., & Subrahmanian, V. S. (2020). Understanding Shifting Triadic Relationships in the Al-Qaeda/ISIS Faction Ecosystem. IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 7(6), 1423-1434. Web.
Lockhart, J. (2019). White terrorism in the US-through the lens of Dayton, Ohio. Green Left Weekly, (1234), 14.
Scrivens, R., & Conway, M. (2019). The roles of ‘old’and ‘new’media tools and technologies in the facilitation of violent extremism and terrorism. In The human factor of cybercrime. Taylor & Francis.
Semati, M., & Szpunar, P. M. (2018). ISIS beyond the spectacle: communication media, networked publics, terrorism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 35(1), 1-7. Web.