Hsm433 Counter Terrorism | Attack Assessment Answers
Select one terrorist attack from the following list and address the elements listed below that are specific to your chosen attack:
- 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon
- 1993 attack on the World Trade Center
- 1996 Bombing of Khobar Towers
- 1998 attack on U. S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya
- 2000 attack on the USS Cole
- 2009 attack on U. S. Army Post, Ft. Hood
The essay should include the following elements:
- Describe describe the attack (where, when, what was used to conduct the attack, casualties, injuries, structural damage, etc.)
- Explain why your chosen attack classifies as a terrorist attack
- Identify the group responsible for this attack and analyzes their motives behind the attack, detailing what the group hoped to achieve
- Analyze the United States’ response to this attack (If there was no response provide suggestions for appropriate responses)
Answer:
Introduction
Counter terrorism can be defined as a whole gamut of strategies, techniques applied by the intelligence agencies, business, law enforcement, government and the military in order to prevent and combat terrorism. Counter terrorism also includes the techniques and strategies that counters the terrorism funding (Falk & Morgenstern, 2009). This study deals with the attack on US Army Post, Ft. Hood in the year 2009. This study will also be based on the description of the attack, rationale for choosing the terrorist attack, and identification of the group responsible for the attack, motives behind the attack, details on what the terrorist hoped to achieve, and a final analysis of the response of United States towards this attack.
Thesis statement: Terrorism has long been a part of this world and the people it has affected many nations irrespective of their internal and external development. Terrorist organizations consider if they can strike the most developed nations, it can strike fear into the minds of the people. Similarly, it is the duty of the developed nations to take radical actions against the ones that are in the act of terrorism.
Description of the attack
In the incident of Fort Hood shooting, Major Nidal Malik Hasan (US Army officer) was held responsible for injuring more than 30 people and killing 13 people in a mass shooting that took place in the military base of Texas. Major Hasan (military psychiatrist) is accused of allegedly calling the Muslims to attack the Americans that are under guard and are critically ill. CCTV footages showed that the Major Hasan was wearing a Muslim cloth and a prayer cap and was in the shop which was located near the base before the incident occurred. The Fort Hood base is one of the largest military base of America. it has been that the soldiers were arguing among themselves regarding posting in Afghanistan or Iraq and were arguing about the wars. As per the video footages and evidences, Major Hasan was armed with two handguns. He then walked into the training centre and started to fire on the fellow soldiers that were having some medical check before their posting to Afghanistan (Fernandez & Blinder, 2018).
Rationale
The chosen attack is considered as a terrorist attack because reports suggested that the Major Hasan had connections with the Imam Anwar al-Awlaki (Yemen based), he was designated as a security and was actively monitored by NSA. The colleagues of Major Hasan have mentioned that lately he was showing signs of radicalisation. Although it is important to mention that the US government declined the request of considering the act as a terrorist. However, it can be seen that the incident has string connections with terrorism which was motivated by the militant Islamic motives (Carter & Carter, 2012).
Responsibility of the attack and the intention of the attack
Major Hasan was held responsible of the attack and the possible motive behind the attack is that Major Hasan made a request to his superiors regarding the prosecution of some of his patients due to war crimes. While, Hasan also revealed his motives in one of the interviews to Fox News in the year 2013. Hasan said that he considered himself as the “soldier of Allah”. He even mentioned that he was against the rules and constitution created by humans rather he is a believer of the mandates mentioned in Islam. He said that he had issues with the Islamic governance (Bates, 2012).
United States’ response towards the attack
After the attack, The United States Army placed restricted on carrying personal weapon to the army bases and Fort Hood. The weapons are used only for the base security and training purposes. The other steps that were taken include: the personnel that are interested in buying weapons from the base needs to register their weapons with the Provost Marshal. The then President Barack Obama along with the several senators condemned the attack and termed it as a terrorist attack (Wild et al., 2012).
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that in the incident of Fort Hood shooting, Major Nidal Malik Hasan (US Army officer) was held responsible for injuring more than 30 people and killing 13 people in a mass shooting that took place in the military base of Texas. the thesis statement of the study revealed that Terrorism has long been a part of this world and the people it has affected many nations irrespective of their internal and external development. Terrorist organizations consider if they can strike the most developed nations, it can strike fear into the minds of the people. Similarly, it is the duty of the developed nations to take radical actions against the ones that are in the act of terrorism.
References
Bates, R. A. (2012). Dancing with wolves: Today's lone wolf terrorists. The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology, 4(1), 1.
Carter, J. G., & Carter, D. L. (2012). Law enforcement intelligence: implications for self-radicalized terrorism. Police practice and research, 13(2), 138-154.
Falk, O., & Morgenstern, H. (Eds.). (2009). Suicide terror: understanding and confronting the threat. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Fernandez, M., & Blinder, A. (2018). At Fort Hood, Wrestling With Label of Terrorism. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/at-fort-hood-wrestling-with-label-of-terrorism.html
Wild, J., Maher, J., Frazee, R. C., Craun, M. L., Davis, M. L., Childs, E. W., & Smith, R. W. (2012). The Fort Hood Massacre: lessons learned from a high profile mass casualty. Journal of trauma and acute care surgery, 72(6), 1709-1713.
