The History of Terrorism

Most Americans, including our elected leaders, believe that Terrorism in the United States began with 9/11.  Before then, acts of Terrorism were often viewed as a criminal acts, rather than an act of War.   Of course, 9/11 finally changed all that; but the reality is that radical Islamists declared war on the United States, perhaps 40 years ago.  We just ignored them, kind of like GM ignoring the Japanese car companies, as competitors, until they took over the car industry.   The reality is that we have been dealing with Terrorism for more than 40 years. 

Terrorists backed by Islamic radicals in various Arab countries, Iran and Pakistan, in particular, have been attacking Western countries and Israel since the 70's and perhaps even before.  Each US President has faced Terrorists and Terrorism for years; but it has always been down played because of our relationships with these same countries.   Clearly, Iran has been an enemy of the United States since the hostage crisis during the Carter Presidency.  There have been airplane high jackings.  The Achille Lauro ship take over.   The bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.  Blowing up one of our ships while in the Middle East.  The first attempted bombing of the World Trade Center.  And, these things and many others all happened during the Carter, Reagan, Bush I and Clinton Administrations.  We saw them as isolated incidents rather than the concerted war on our nation that they really were. 

We were focused on ending Communism and the Cold War, which fortunately took place, rather than Terrorism until 9/11, when Bush II finally declared a War on Terror.   The murder of more than 3,000 people on our soil was a wake up call; but the reality is that our enemy, Islamic radicals have been at war with us for about 40 years.  Socialist President Obama has taken steps backwards at times.   Though he has wisely used drones to kill Terrorists overseas and eventually ordered the assault on Osama Bin Laden, there are times when he is hesitant to call an attack on our people, or country the Terrorism that it is.   Obama's recent focus on the school shootings is easier for him because it involves Domestic Terrorism of sorts; but mass murder of innocent people whether committed by an American citizen, or foreigner is Terrorism, to be sure. 

We are at war with Islamic Fanatics that want to destroy our country and way of life because they hate Freedom.  If they had nuclear or biological weapons they could deploy against a US city, they would do it in the minute.   This is one more reason, we must never let Iran develop these weapons.   They would give them to their Terrorist benefactors to fight a devastating proxy war with us.   We can never let that happen.  The Terrorist Threat, that is more than 40 years old, is real.  We have to hunt these fanatics down to prevent them from murdering our people.  It is just that simple.