What causes people to conduct terrorism?

Answer 1

The simple answer would be hatred and religious intolerance. But there are many more factors that can play a key role.

Osama Bin Laden became a terrorist after fighting with the (future) taliban in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. He is said to have personally shot down 7 Russian attack helicopters and taken out enemy tanks. He did this with American supplied surface to air missiles and rocket launchers. We trained and funded Bin Laden and the Afghans, but for good reason. We were helping the Afghans fight the Soviets at the time since we were still in the "cold war", though near the end.

Anyway, Bin Laden began to see how a small group of devoted soldiers could defeat a superpower. A little later on there was Desert Storm, in which the Americans developed a permanent military base in Saudi Arabia. OBL saw this as a violation of the sacred Muslim holy land. He thought it was a crime against Allah to allow "infidels" to presently occupy his own country, and the birthplace of Islam.

He began to wonder how he could punish the "infidels" A short history lesson took him back to 1983, when an attack by a lone suicide bomber on the Marine barracks caused the United States to withdraw all forces from that region. He saw that the west did not like to see their own die, and he knew that according to his beliefs it would be an honor to die in the name of His god, and his prophet. It would also bring great honor to gather up a few hundred followers and instruct them in the glory of dying for Islam.

These people actually believed, and still do believe, that they will not only go to heaven if they commit murder, but that they will receive a bevy of virgins as an additional reward. I'm not talking about Islam; I'm talking about Fundamentalist Islam. Any religion is generally tolerant Until you stick the word "Fundamentalist" in front of it.

Anyway, to sum up I'll go back to my short answer and say Religious Intolerance is the #1 cause of terrorism. This does not only apply to Islam. It can be argued the Crusades were an early form of terrorism. And if you ask many Muslims, they will tell you the Crusades still causes hatred of the Christian countries and the west. Many terrorists use this alone as an excuse to murder us "infidels". It certainly didn't go over too well with the Muslim community when GW used the word "Crusade" to describe the War on Terror-the war without boundaries, the war without end.

Timothy McVeigh was also deeply religious, although he committed his act of terror for other reasons, namely hatred and distrust of his country. Hatred is the other main cause of terrorism.

HEY, HAND OF J OR WHATEVER just below me, notice I never blamed George Bush for terrorism. Why is it you use the word "liberal" to describe everything you don't understand? I suppose that's the path of least resistance. Or are you just Dubmm? Oh, and just for the record, Hezbollah did engage Israel like a convential army in many of the Israel incursions into southern Lebanon. And no, they did not get thier "butts" kicked.

Let's see, the Revolutionary war soldiers in America fought using as many guerilla tactics as convential battles. How'd that one turn out? I don't remember cause I'm a 'liberal.

Answer 2

There is only one answer to this question: feeling powerless.

Now the question is: 'What leads up to such an extreme feeling of powerlessness that a person conducts horrific acts against humanity?'

Take the American Revolution for example. We tried to take the British head to head on the battlefield but quickly learned they were better equipped and we were going to lose. At that point, we were powerless against our enemy in battling him on his own terms. So what did we do... did we lay down and surrender... did we say 'oh well forget it'... No, we created militias that did not wear uniforms and would hide them in trees, etc.. and attack the British troops when they least expected it.

We won that war using guerrilla methods that today would be called terrorism.

You see this same thing happening with the Palestinians, Hezbollah, The Taliban and Hamas. They are powerless against the technology, weaponry and troops levels of the West. Yet, they will not lay down and surrender, etc....

It is human nature to fight back and when you are losing, you find other means to fight.

Going back to the question I presented about what led up to such extreme feelings of powerlessness, that is where you will find varying answers. Powerlessness when referring to groups of ppl or nations as a whole on a global level, basically results from decades, if not centuries, of oppression, imperialistic influences and religious indifference.

Btw, this is the rational answer which does not cover the terrorists that are just simply madmen. For example, Hitler and Bush. In those two circumstances, their terrorist acts stem from their goal of global domination and to be the world's only superpower.

Answer 3

Usually, terrorists are people without power who seek to exert some in order to gain control over their own destinies.

Look into most types of terrorism, and you will find a disgruntled group that has been disenfranchised, and a dominant group (usually the target) that has taken undue advantage of the powerless group.

A restoration in the balance of power usually is sufficient to end the terrorism.

Answer 4

According to liberals: Bush.

What really causes terrorism?

The inate inability to fight a conventional war- everytime they get confident and engage Israel or our troops like a conventional army they get their BUTTS KICKED. Civilians make much better targets. Then if you are able to put enough civilians on your side in the line of fire and provoke Israel or the US to strike back, they will hit your civilians then you have a PR campaign to wage saying "Ohhhhh look at all the civilians you killlllled!" In the meantime they accomplish nothing but the violence makes them feel like theyre doing something.

Answer 5

That varies from group to group.Some are poorly armed and guerrilla attacks are all they can do these are usually politically motivated against their own or as they perceive unfair government.Some like Hamas or the KKK are motivated by hate.
Others like Al Queada and Hezbollah are religion motivated and power motivated and they are usually well moneyed and some times well trained.The only common factor is usually that they can not amass a large enough army to conquer a nation.This to though is changing.

Answer 6

19 of the 22 9-11 terrorists were saudi-arabian. Their expressed reason for 9-11 was the offensive presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia during Gulf War I.

Further more, Gulf War I was in response to Sadaam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. The US, as you may recall, trained and funded Sadaam, so that he would fight against the Iranians.

The Iranians were US enemies because they had take several hundred americans hostage in the US embassy in the late 70s and overthrown the Shah.

They did this because the Shah was supported by the US and was a brutal dictator who commited countless atrocieties and human rights violations of his people.

The legitimate democratic leader of Iran was replaced by the Shah by the CIA, in order to preserve the Iranian corridor to Russia, so the US could supply Russia in WW II.

Answer 7

Brainwashing maybe? I don't know what would convince a human being to take the life of another innocent human being. I remember an IRA bomb over here in Warrington. And one of the victims was a 2 year old boy. The fireman who found him said "he looked as if he was frozen in a deep sleep, but he was gone". How can any group justify the murder of children?

Answer 8

Hate... Fueled by Islam, Religion of Peace since 622

Answer 9

The belief that they are doing gods work by killing those that do not submit to their gods will... Or a simple hate for a government and/or its people and a desire to exact vengeance on them for a reason or cause.

Answer 10

In this case, religion ( the supposedly peaceful ), or more to the point man's perversion of it, for political not religious ends.