War On Terror

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States of America as a whole people do not feel nearly as secure as they used to. In light of the terrorist attacks, citizens have taken a much closer look at the tremendous vulnerabilities America has. Dams, chemical plants, malls, and stadiums are just a few of the numerous potential terrorist targets. Obviously these facilities need to be protected at a heightened state of alert. What can the United States do as a country to stop these threats? They must retaliate to put terrorist on the run, making them contemplate long and hard about attacking American civilians again. Many believe that if Osama bin Laden is killed the problem would be solved. This is not so, terrorism networks must be destroyed for the problem to be resolved. In order to do this the United States must form a global task force against terrorism. If the United States, with the support of the rest of the world does this, terrorism will be diminished and citizens everywhere can feel secure once again. In response to terrorism, the United States must retaliate against known terrorists, institute new precautions, and establish a global task force.

The first step in fighting against terrorism that the military must take is to collect information. They need to locate enemy training camps, facilities, aircraft runways, and underground caves. Caves, buried in mountainous terrain, house terrorists, their weapons, electricity, tanks, command centers, and sleeping quarters. Most information obtained on these positions come from satellites taking pictures from space. Another source of information comes from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). They acquire their knowledge through techniques in espionage, known most commonly as spying. By using satellites and espionage, the United States will gain the knowledge they need to strategically hit key terrorist training camps, weaponry, airports, and so on.

After the process of gathering information, the United States government must attack the terrorist through bombings and special operational unit strikes. Not only should the United States go against terrorists, retaliation must occur fronting the governments that harbor these terrorists. Airports are the first targets the military needs to destroy. By knocking out airstrip runways, the United States gains an enormous advantage against its enemies. Without aircraft ability the terrorist have no control over their own airspace. This gives the military complete freedom in flying over all enemy targets. Immediately after taking out runways, other important facilities should be destroyed before the enemy can rebuild their airstrips. Such important facilities include: terrorist training camps, ammunition bunkers, tanks, terrorist headquarters, surface to air missiles (SAM), and bunkers housing terrorist that are within the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan. Taking out such targets makes the objectives of troops on the ground much more difficult. It is quite clear why the United States military must bomb and do it significantly.

Thus far the best option the United States Department of Defense has, is to insert ground troops consisting of Special Operations Units. These units are Army Rangers, Green Berets, Commandos, Marines, and the Delta Force (though the Delta Force is not publicly confirmed to exist by the United States government, its existence is known of). These special units need to be flown in and parachuted at low-level altitudes by "special operations forces form the Army, Air Force, and units of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions." (Kelley, USA Today pg. 1) "These teams have been ordered to capture or kill bin Laden or, if this is not possible, pin him down in an area until United States air-strikes can be launched, the officials say." (Kelley, USA Today pg.1) This goes for all other major terrorists as well. These special forces are the pinnacle of the military, and soldiers of these units are specially trained in anti-terrorism, and are only the best our country has to offer. All Special Forces outfits are armed heavily with fully automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets, night-vision goggles, and a backpack consisting of over 100 pounds of gear (including weapons). By using this tactic, it would allow for a swift retaliation against terrorist, minimum civilian casualties, and minimum loss of military life for the United States. By far this is the optimum route in the fight against terrorism.

The next, most important way to minimize terrorist threat would be to institute new precautions for vulnerable areas in the United States. These areas include public places, nuclear power plants, and mass distribution services. Security in categories such as these must be beefed up so their potential losses do not become losses at all. All of the above have vulnerabilities, yet all can be protected against these vulnerabilities. An explanation is given on the procedures of doing this throughout the following paragraphs.

First of public places that absolutely need to have more precautions are malls. In the November 5, 2001 issue of "Newsweek", 49 percent of people think that malls are most vulnerable to terrorist attack. According to the study in "Newsweek", the potential loss for civilian life is very low in this area. In the case of a suicide bomber, only a limited number of people could be killed from the explosion. "Only a car bomb could cause mass casualties

." (Begley, Newsweek pg.31) What are the capabilities of a germ attack? This attack is likely to cause even fewer deaths than a suicide bombing. Security cautions need to be taken extremely serious for potential cases though. Security must begin inspecting all shipments that arrive for anything that looks suspicious. In large malls, trashcans must be removed to eliminate possible places to plant a bomb. As for anthrax being released into a closed space, the risk for contraction is also very low. Most malls are equipped with filters in their ventilation systems that remove 90 percent of airborne anthrax. In either case the motive to attack a mall seems quite small.

Next potential spots for terrorist attacks may be stadiums. In stadiums the expectancy in the case of an attack for casualties

is fairly large. If a bomber got inside the stadium, there are a few hundred people or so around him that could be killed. That is if he gets in with a bomb. The security in stadiums must be extensively heightened. Fans must pass through metal detectors at the gate, which alone could diminish the possibilities of any major happenings. Also, parking should not be allowed within a certain distance of any stadium. If parking restrictions are made law, the terrorists might as well cross of the use of a car bomb from their lists.