Free Essays on Terrorism: The Threat of Usamah Bin-Ladin :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

The Threat of Usamah Bin-Ladin This essay was written in 1999 when I was a student at the University of Kentucky. My college roommate and I often debated our opposing views on foreign affairs. My roommate, animatedly felt that ridding the world of nuclear weapons would gradually end all violence between states. Although idealistically I would have liked to agree, I had to contend that war would never end as long as religion was central to the beliefs of the soldiers fighting. Sheikh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin personifies and embodies my argument . He has founded organizations and formed coalitions amongst known terrorist groups which "advocate the destruction of the United States" . Furthermore, Bin-Ladin desires that: The ruling to kill Americans and their allies--civilians and military--is a duty for every Muslim. We--with God's help--call on every Muslim to kill Americans . The justification that Bin-Ladin submits is that Allah "orders us to carry out the holy struggle 'jihad' to raise the word of Allah above the words of the unbelievers." Bin-Ladin believes that "...Americans impose themselves on everyone who believes in his religion and his rights." Furthermore, he warns of the consequence that America will face whereas "...every day the Americans delay their departure, for every day they delay, they will receive a new corpse from Muslim countries" . Bin-Ladin is a man whose religious beliefs, along with his financial resources, provide him with the power necessary to create wars and terrorist violence. If there were an absence of heavenly decree in his actions, perhaps he would have no power, for he would lack a justifiable motive. Hence, this demonstrates the impact of religion on violence. In this specific instance, the violence is portrayed as a justifiable mean towards reaching the end of furthering religious beliefs. As a viable threat to America, the United States government must find avenues of deterrence to terminate the current and future terrorist activities of Bin-Ladin. Moreover, prior towards discussing options of deterrence, the threat of Bin-Ladin will first be expanded upon. It only seems logical to state that when someone is fighting for a cause on behalf of his religious beliefs, he is a greater threat then someone who is not. It would seem that the individual who is defending his religious beliefs would be more willing to lay down his life for his cause, because he is operating in a domain of loss.