Responding to Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Responding to Terrorism - Essay Example The threat of terrorism is unending, and will most likely increase as time goes by. However, the response to terrorism should not be focuses on the military way, instead, the government should try to uncover the root causes of terrorism and work with other countries using intelligence to avert terrorist acts before they occur. Introduction One of the biggest issues in British politics is centered on terrorism and the resources expended for it. Some individuals in politics are of the opinion that terrorism should not be given as much attention as is currently done since it does not cause as much destruction as other catastrophes. Other politicians state that the best way to curb terrorism is by destruction of the terrorists using force of war. Terrorist acts all round the world continue to appear in headlines continuously, and some quarters seem to indicate that the attention given to global terrorism is not warranted. Statistically, global terrorism seems to pose a smaller threat tha n other catastrophes, for example, floods and famines. An investigation by an American economist, Krueger, indicated that the average chance of an individual succumbing to a terrorist attack in the United States or United Kingdom is less than 1 in 5 million (Krueger, 2007). However, the probability of individuals dying from other factors like natural disasters is of a higher magnitude. However, despite the statistic mentioned above, the threat of terrorism, or the actual occurrence of terrorism will dominate headlines more than any other event. Even if a terrorist attack does not claim any lives or damage property of substantial value, the media coverage and outcry from the public will still be overwhelming (Perl, 2007). Additionally, the government’s response to such an occurrence will most likely be higher that the response to any other event. Comparing the time and resources spent on the response to terrorism to the spent to on other global issues shows a big divergence (P erl, 2007). The government will spend more time, resources and personnel in trying to avert the threat of terrorism than any other global occurrence. Some quarters of the political quadrant might argue that the government is spending too much on an event that might or might not occur, but the following analysis shows that the resources and attention spent by the government, media and individuals in response to the terrorism threat is viable. The analysis will show that the terrorism response mechanisms currently in place are possibly due to the uncertainty of the attacks, but also due to the real threat that they pose to society. The Threat of Terrorism One of the first reasons why terrorism is taken seriously around the world is because of the uncertainty of possible attacks from terrorists (English, 2012). Many individuals will state that they are concerned for the country, but perhaps a more satisfying answer is that everybody is concerned for themselves. Increasing media coverag e has gone to show that terrorists strike randomly, thus increasing the chance that anyone could be a victim. This fact, coupled with the ruthlessness of the attacks, serves to greatly increase the attention given to terrorism. The main reason why the response to terrorism should be taken seriously is because of the underlying factors or reasons in every terrorist insurgence (English, 2007). Despite the fact that most