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Understanding the War on Terror 2^nd

            War on terror has come a long way from when it started to its current state. Currently, it is a global war involving many countries led by United States and United Kingdom with other allies. It has influenced the lives of many people with Americans being the most affected. Coaty in his book, understanding the war on terror 2^nd edition provides very detailed and opinionated information on the war on terror. From this book, one can understand the war from a wider picture and how it has evolved over the years as well as where it is headed in the future. War on terror can be traced in the 1980s in the regime of Ronald Reagan when they sought to sign in a legislation that would allow freezing of terrorist group assets. However, the war on terror changed after the September 11 2001 attack on American soil. From this point United States was directly hit by terror, and found itself in direct war. This marked a big change in the war on terror. After the realization of the magnitude of damage that can be caused by terrorists, as well as the fact it was conducted in one of the most secure nations, new strategies of fighting war on terror were required.

The September 11 attack on American soil changed the American understanding of terrorism. Prior to the attack, Americans never had any fear of being attacked by the terrorist groups. It was considered a foreign affair that did not have much to do with the domestic issues. From the attack, Americans got a better understanding of terrorism, which evoked the government to reevaluate the past strategies on war on terror in order to make plans for future combating of terror. War on terror changed tremendously after the attack where Americans entered into war with Afghanistan, making a new dawn in the history of war on terror. The strategy had to be changed to protect the people within the country, as well as abroad. Because the attack was carried out on American soil, the strategy did not only focus on foreign strategies, but also domestic strategies aimed at combating terrorism within the country. For instance, more security at entrance terminals such as airports was increased, while homeland security was enacted to ensure domestic security.

Many strategies changed after the attack with an aim of combating terror. Previously, terrorism was fought in much different strategies where intelligence agencies focused on investigating few rich people believed to be behind terror. However, with the attack coming from terrorist groups and without clear knowledge of the person behind the attack, the strategy changed. The intelligence focused on seeking all information available that could lead to the terrorist involved using all possible sources including databases. Strategies also included educating people about the war on terror as well as security precautions to take within the country as well as abroad. One of the strategies used was allowing wiretapping within America in order to capture the enemies within.

This has borne fruit, which is evidenced by reduced number of attacks within the western countries due to the difficulty of terrorists entering other countries. More so, the fact that most of the major terrorist groups are resulting to conducting attacks within their local areas illustrates the reduced rate of terrorism. Some of the terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda have been destroyed, leaving them with limited capability of conducting international operations. However, their ability within local areas is still considerably a threat to people traveling to these areas such as in hotels and likelihood of conducting air attacks on western aircrafts. More strategies continue to evolve with the aim of eliminating terrorism globally.

Additionally, after the attack, war on terror became a global issue involving many countries that were not involved before. The war on terror especially after the attack in United States was not only used to react to terrorism only. Rather, it was used to link some areas thought to pose a threat to western democrats such as Iraq. In responding to the attack, Saddam Hussein was said to have a link to the terrorist groups behind the attack. This was used by the United States to justify their war on Iraq. Although it was found that Hussein was not linked to the terrorist groups, the war persisted taking different turns where he was suspected in making weapon of mass destruction. War on terror in this case has evolved to become a justification for other operations that cannot be engaged without clear reason.

However, the world is changing and taking such issues more seriously with humanitarian agencies seeking to ensure such operations are stopped. Currently, entering into war for the United States would be highly criticized before any measure is taken. Thus, new strategies of fighting such wars are encouraged. Despite this awareness, it remains impossible to use any diplomacy with any terrorist group considering they are not interested in coming to an agreement. At a table, they do not mind blowing it to kill everybody present as well as themselves. Therefore, deterring them with imprisonment and punishment is just impossible since they are ready to die. It remains that the only way is considering such people as combatants and dealing with them appropriately through stopping them before they commit their attacks. Such realizations have also led to the evolvement of the war on terror, where strategies are changing to combat terror. One of the strategies left that is relevant to fighting terrorism is punishing the nation if it does not cooperate.

From the past, it has been clear that terrorist exist in countries with authoritarian rules or the despotic regimes. Such regimes do not allow freedom to its people or self-governance. Such regimes hinder people from practicing their rights and have to follow the leaders who have the power. This makes it ideal for such people to rule and conduct their operations as they wish. Thus, without a democratic government where people have the say, such rich and power ambitious people could easily influence others to join them in terrorist agendas. Thus, to fight and eliminate terrorism, there is need for eradicating such regimes for democratically elected government that can represent the will of the people. Such regimes lack personal liberty. Thus, to have an opinion one must have power, which is what most of the terrorists seek by inflicting fear to the innocent people.

This can be evidenced by the success in the war on terrorism up to date where some of the despotic countries have started embracing democracy bits by bits. For instance, with a changing regime in Afghanistan there is reduced threat of global security. However, this progress has to be safeguarded in order to avoid falling back to the despotic regimes that give rise to new adherents of terrorism. Therefore, the future of war on terrorism is likely to be dependent on the elimination of the despotic regimes and ensuring that such freedom offers solutions to economic problems that face most of these countries.

While considering where one should look in the future concerning the war on terror, one should consider what the key elements in eliminating terrorism in the way mentioned above, trough elimination of despotic regimes. More so, a strategy that can address the problems within countries that are giving rise to terrorists such as Somalia should be considered. Helping such countries make strong government ensures that they have the ability to deal with terrorism within their own country, which increases the chances of winning the war on terror. Otherwise, without self sufficient governments in such countries that can help in controlling terrorists, it would be too hard to fight terrorism since new adherents to terrorism will continues to rise.

The key elements that are crucial in fighting the war on terror in the current times, as well as future are within state powers. These state powers include diplomacy with other countries, economic resources, intelligence and information necessary for tracking and identifying terrorists, the military and enforcement of the law. States that have all the five elements are in a better position to fight the war on terror than those lacing. Most of the countries that produce terrorists such as Afghanistan and Somalia lack most of these elements, making the states incapable of stopping terrorist activities within their own borders. In addition to these elements, cooperation between all countries wishing to fight in the war against terrorism is very important to compliment each other as well as give help to countries that cannot fight against terror without help.

Conclusively, the war on terror has evolved over the time with a serious focus after the September 11 attack in United States when people came to understand what terrorism really meant, and the magnitude of destruction and insecurity it could cause to the whole world. since then, strategies on fighting the war on terror have continues to change rapidly, with many strategies focusing on identifying and stopping the terrorist as well as eliminating the terrorist groups such as al Qaeda amongst others. However, considering the intention of terrorist, negotiations are not possible. Thus, to fight terrorism requires cooperation from all nations in order to combat it. Additionally, states need to improve their powers on the five crucial factors necessary for fighting terror. Additionally, nations with despotic regimes need to shift to democracy to allow personal liberty and reduce the rise of new adherents of terrorism.