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6 Purposes of Terrorism

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6 Purposes of Terrorism

The textbook says it best. The primary purpose, direction, and focus of terrorism is fear. It goes on to break it down into different functions by several authors, Crenshaw being one of them. He states the first purpose is to seize political power. This has been practiced through the centuries and still exists today. From Roman emperors to terrorist leaders like Saddam Hussein, their purpose has been to be the political leaders of their countries. The problem with this is someone usually has the political aspirations they did and will use the same methods to overthrow the government to fulfill their own desires. The second purpose is to affect public opinion and seize the media. We can see this best by what happened on 9/11. It’s ten years since the attack and it still burns brightly in the media and people’s opinions. Look at the controversy that came about when it was announced a mosque was going to be built near Ground Zero. People lost their minds, protested and threatened to burn a Quran. You can’t blame them for still feeling the pain, but look at what the terrorists accomplished with the attack, even ten years later. The third purpose is to maintain discipline within the terrorist organization and enforce obedience and conformity. The power and control that Osama Bin Laden had over his minions is best represented with this purpose. A number of his people could have taken control by killing him. He was sick, on dialysis and constantly in hiding for years, but the control that he had over his troops was amazing. The power his people felt, just from watching a recording of the leader giving them hope and instruction, was almost god-like. The military definition of leadership is as follows, “Leadership is influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the

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