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Valentina Montes de Oca

Farnaz Karimian
Pathway 3/ILAC
20 March 2015

Beyond the 9/11 attack

For centuries, many people have died defending their beliefs, their Gods; in other
words, their religion. For many countries, it is not only part of their culture and history,
but also a very important part of their daily lives. It is the case of Middle East and Islam,
that not only forms part of their culture and history, but also their daily lives is strictly
related to the religion in many aspects such as politics, economics and society. Since
the 7th Century C.E, people have been practicing this religion, following its leader
Muhammad, obeying Allah and the Quran. Moreover, there are people who follow these
rules by thinking that to be a better person they need to take some actions and most of
the times these people end up killing people. These groups of people are called
religious terrorists and according to Heather S. Gregg, religious terrorism is typically
characterized as acts of unrestrained, irrational and indiscriminant violence, thus
offering few if any policy options for counterterrorism measures (Gregg). From the
beginning of the 1970s, a group of people have become extremists with their religion,
called Jihad, and their main purpose is to do a new Holy War in the name of Allah.
These groups have done terrible acts to protect and defend their religion. For example,
on September 11th 2001, an Islamic and suicide terrorist group called Al-Qaeda crashed
3 airplanes in New York City (World Trade Center) and Washington DC (The Pentagon),

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causing 2996 murders (L.) and thousand of injured people. Since that accident, many
people around the world are not only afraid of what might happen, but also it has
created hate and more racism between countries and cultures, especially USA, given
the fact that they are the first target of these terrorist groups. It is very important to keep
in mind that this problem is not only United Nations responsibility, but also for all of the
people that want to end up with this terrifying problem. Taking into consideration every
element of this problem and verifying it from every perspective, it is important to end up
with it within the many organizations that are now fighting against it. This essay will
provide three solutions that will reduce this problem, which are related with education,
security and social facts.

During the 7th Century C.E, an important religious fact was being developed in
the Middle East. Called Islam, the messenger Muhammad taught many people about
this religion and its traditions, and stated that the only God that people need to believe
in is Allah, the creator of the world. All of his teachings are contained in the holy book of
Islam called The Quran (Library). For Muslim people, the Islam is not only a belief; it is
also a fact that is present in every aspect of their daily life. For example, many facts
such as how to apply the law, how to bank, how to dress, how and what to eat and more
facts are based on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, following Allah traditions.
In other words, all Muslims live to worship Allah and every aspect of their life must follow
his orders. As any other religion, many people have misunderstood and misused the
main purpose of this religion. An illustrative example of this misunderstood is the new
Holy War some extreme Muslims have been doing this past century. For Islamic terms,

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Holy War (Jihad) is the struggle Muslims have with non-Muslims people and how they
spread Allahs word to follow him. This struggle has changed from a pacific form of
convincing people to form part of the Islamic world, to force non-Muslims people to
become Muslims, and most of the times in a non-pacific way. This extremist Muslims try
to change people from their religion to Islam by terrorizing them, stating that Allah
ordered them to do it. In the past few years, this new Holy War have become a serious
problem, causing the death of many, not only in the Middle East, but also in all over the
world; and now it is not only a matter of different religion, but also different gender, age,
sexual orientation, color of the skin, country and so on.

(INTRODUCTION SOLUTIONS)
The first solution suggested is related with social terms. This problem should be
treated not only in national terms but also international, which requires not only the
support from people directly involved in this conflict, but also people from all over the
world. It is important to recognize that is responsibility of everybody to control this issue
and support the many organizations that are dealing with it in this moment. It is also
important to embrace this issue and not reject it because it is affecting in a direct way
many people and as human beings we should connect to this group of people affected
and give them support. In many cases, people would say that is the United Nations
responsibility to take care of this problem and that it is also their responsibility the many
deaths religious terrorism has caused. Among the many subsidiary organs the Security
Council (part of The United Nations) possesses, the Counter-Terrorism Committee
works to bolster the ability of United Nations Member States to prevent terrorist acts

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both within their borders and across regions. (Directorate). For many years, this
committee has been working against terrorist attacks in all over the world, but it has
been a difficult task to accomplish for not only this committee but also the entire United
Nations organization. In order to reduce or eradicate this problem completely, it is
necessary to stop thinking that it is only a matter of importance for the United Nations
and start being involved in this cause to reduce it faster. Also, it is importance as human
being to create connection between people, to be empathetic, be conscious and aware
of this issue, and the most important one: to give support in many ways such as
volunteering, donations and so on.
As reviewing this suggested solution, it is important to know that there are some
disadvantages that may make it less likely to occur. For example, the fact that there are
many selfish people around the world reduces the chances of achieving this solution
and reducing terrorist groups and attacks. Besides the selfishness, racism is present all
over the world and this fact prevents people from making connection with the victims,
reducing the probabilities of this solution to work. Also, the facts money and time may
slow down the effectiveness of the solution because it would take a significant amount
of money and it will create good results in a long period of time.
The second suggested solution is related with security facts. In terrorist terms,
the Holy War must be done no matter the cost of it, and most of the time they use
violence to create fear among the people and manipulate them. Some of the activities
they do to scare people or even murder them are bombings, kidnappings, hostageTakings, armed attacks, assassinations, arsons, firebombings, hijackings,
skyjackings (Terrorism Research) and so on. The most common places were attacks

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are done are mainly public areas such as schools, hospitals, streets; in other words,
places were innocent people are. Also, the main target of these terrorist groups are
most of the times women, children, different religion and so on. Given the fact that an
attack can occur at any moment without previous notice, we should avoid any
temptation for terrorists to attack. To solve this problem, new policies should be created
in order to reduce or eliminate this problem. As a regulation for Middle East countries,
governments should create new policies related to the creation of special security
bodies to increase the safety of public spaces and the creation of special shelters (such
as hospitals, orphanage and so on) for the victims of these violent attacks. Also, another
fact that can collaborate on the process of reducing or eliminating this conflict is the
elimination of US army intervention in Middle Eastern territory, given the fact that it has
only increased the hate among countries and the attacks in all over the world.
By evaluating this solution, there are some disadvantages that have to be taken into
consideration when analyzing this suggestion. First of all, the main problem that
reduces the chances of the solution to succeed is the governments in the Middle East
because most of them are corrupted or they are afraid of being attacked by one of these
terrorist groups. It would also be a long-term project because it would require the
training of hundreds of people, and it would also take a lot of money to do this project.

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The third and last solution is related with educational facts. The future of our
society relies on how children are educated these days and the environment they are
growing up. According to Dr. Jack Lewis, Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to
adapt to the specific demands of the environments in which a person spends their
waking hours [] This is primarily why kids seem to be able to absorb information like a
sponge and pick up new skills so effortlessly. (How Teens Learn So Much So Quickly
by Dr Jack Lewis), In other words, children take the information that surrounds and
process it, and if the kid is exposed for several times to a specific kind of environment,
he will adopt the same behavior. Terrorist groups take this fact in their favor and
manipulate children to make them believe that what they do is correct. Children should
be free of this environment that may cause them many negative effects, involving their
future. Now more than ever, it is important for our societies to give the real value to
education for children and provide them the right tools so they can build strong minds
and avoid terrorist manipulation. Also, one of the most common places for terrorist to
attack is schools because they want to destroy innocent and vulnerable minds in order
to have more control. Many schools in Middle East have been destroyed, especially in
Syria and Pakistan, causing the deaths of many students and professors. In fact,
Education is now one of the deadliest pursuits for children and teachers inside Syria,
as the country's schools are increasingly being damaged and destroyed in the conflict.
(Education Has Never Been Deadlier for Syria's Children). This issue have left many
injured people, both physical and psychologically, but there is one exceptional case of a
victim who took a terrorist attack as an experience to value her education.

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The victims name is called Malala Yousafzai, from Pakistan. After being shot by a
Taliban terrorist, Malala realized the importance of her education. According to an
interview from The Daily Show, Malala stated that education is the power for women,
and that is why terrorists are afraid of education, they do not want women to get
education because then women will become more powerful. (The Daily Show Extended Interview - Malala Yousafzai)
Taking this example of this victim and how education saved her life, my solution in
educational terms has to do with changing the educational system to avoid any kind of
misuse or misunderstood of the Islam. First, governments should create new policies in
educational terms to provide the correct tools for children to form a straight mindset, and
taking the fact that Islam is also related with the educational system and take advantage
of it, by enhancing Muhammad teachings.
By evaluating this possible solution, it seems to be the most likely to solve this problem,
but it also has it disadvantages. Same as the security solution, the government it is also
another element that reduces the chances of solving this problem by applying this
solution, based on corruption terms or fear of being attacked.
In conclusion, for many years people have died fighting for their religion but most
recently, it is the contrary: people have died because they have different beliefs
compared to some religious terrorist groups. In the last century, the most common
religious terrorism it is based on Islam, creating fear and manipulating the people to join
this cause and worship Allah. Nowadays it a fact that is affecting not only people from
Middle East, but also the entire world, and to solve this issue, international solutions

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should be done. From the three solutions proposed in this work, the educational one
seems to be the most likely to occur in terms of period of time, money and government
fact. As Malala said in my opinion, the solution that would work to fight all these wars
and all these problems that people are facing now is only education (Yousafzai). In all
over the world, it is necessary to start thinking about the importance of education for
children and the impact that it would cause in both short and long-term of time. But the
most important aspect to consider when reviewing solutions to eliminate this problem is
looking into ourselves and asks: what is the best I can do to solve this problem from my
current situation?

Works Cited

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Directorate, Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive. The United Nations. n.d. 12 04
2015.
Gregg, Heather S. "Defining and Distinguishing Secular and Religious Terrorism."
Perspectives of Terrorism VIII.2 (2014): 6.
L., Harman D. A State of Nine One One. Author House, 2010.
Yousafzai, Malala. Nobel Prize Winner 2014. 10 December 2014. Web. 12 April 2015.
"Terrorism Research." Common Terrorist Incidents and Techniques. N.p., n.d. Web.
12 Apr. 2015.
Jack Lewis. "How Teens Learn So Much So Quickly by Dr Jack Lewis." How Kids Can
Learn So Much So Quickly by Dr Jack Lewis. N.p., 11 June 2011. Web.
12 Apr.

2015.

"Library." Islam Origins, Islam History, Islam Beliefs. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Francine Uenuma. "Education Has Never Been Deadlier for Syria's Children." Save the
Children. N.p., 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
The Daily Show - Extended Interview - Malala Yousafzai. Perf. Malala Yousafzai.
YouTube. YouTube, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.