Dear Future President,

Terrorism is, according to the United States Department of Defense, “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate (imprint or implant) fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” However, this definition does not encompass the terror felt of the places that terrorism has struck. Terrorism threatens the liberty, security, and economy of our country, and should be neutralized as soon as possible.

It is no longer a single group in Islam, but a series of intricate networks by drug lords and terror groups that has it’s claws into practically every countries, including our own. On American soil was the deadly crash of 9/11, when four airliners were hijacked (by al-Qaeda) and two crashed into the World Trade Center, while the remaining two flew into the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing over 3,000 people. My parents were close to that attack. If any closer, they would have been killed, and I would never have been born to write this today. On April 15, 2013, four people lost their lives and 264 were injured by the pipe explosion at the Boston Marathon. Since then, the attacks have not ceased. Out of the 510 attacks in the United States, about 3,264 people were killed, and this is just in our country. In countries such as France, 87 people have died with 200 injured in 2016. In Turkey, 41 were killed with 230 injured also in the same year. Therefore, terrorism hits everywhere, and not just our grounds.

Deaths ands killings are not all that terrorists set out to invoke in their victims. According to “the Daily Beast,” some terrorist groups are said to be selling drugs such as heroin. The terrorists need the money to buy firearms, pay operatives, rent houses, travel, conduct surveillance, and plan operations, and drugs are money--easily acquired and sold for a lot of money. Islamic terrorists, including al Qaeda and ISIS, raise funds from trafficking South Asian heroin. If these groups were taken care of, we’d be able to come closer at resolving the drug problem that occurs in the United States. What makes it even worse is that some of these terrorists use the drugs themselves. According to the “Daily Star,” ISIS was found to be taking a drug called Captagon, which it’s original purpose was to treat hyperactive children, but when taken in large doses by adults, it neutralizes fear, pain, and hunger, leaving the troops feeling invincible and blood-thirsty. It was said that during the attack on Paris, France, the terrorists have taken that drug. Terrorists cannot be allowed to buy firearms used to attack ourselves nor drugs to mercilessly kill us off.

Terrorist groups such as ISIS are cruel to both their prisoners and even their own members. According to CNN, ISIS terrorists captured by the Kurdish fighters claim that they’ve been taken “advantage of [their] minds and [their] poverty” (says Suleiman, a prisoner of the Kurdish) by the groups. Another prisoner of war, Kareem, says that ISIS gives them a Hallucinogenic pill that makes its consumer uncaring about his or her life. He claims that ISIS promises people of all cultures, in addition to money, rewards such as wives, and that he’ve seen a fighter from even China before. Kareem also claims that he saw ISIS behead many of their captives or the residents of an area they occupy; “Whenever ISIS goes into an area...the people there who don’t adhere to their Islamic law are apostates,” he says. “Everything has to follow ISIS way. Even women who don’t cover their faces...women would get their heads chopped off.” What he’s saying is that ISIS is moving from places to places, territory to territory, forcing innocent civilians to follow their laws. If they do not, they get punished by death. The final prisoner that CNN interview is a man named Jaber, who says that people are often punished not just by a fast, clean death, but other “...different kinds of death--they would torture you for sure, they might decapitate you, or cut off your hands. They will not simply shoot a bullet in your head.” They will kill innocent civilians just to achieve their goal, and that is not adhering to the “Islamic faith.”

Some people believe that terrorism is not a threat to the United States and that the government should not focus so much on them. They believe that the attacks on the United States are not as deadly as other problems in the world, such as the lack of shelter and proper survival necessities in the Middle East, and therefore do not require as much attention, as CSI states. However as I’ve said before, terrorism can be defined as any action that creates fear and is an attempt in intimidating governments to give into the attacker’s beliefs. These attacks certainly do strike fear into the hearts of many citizens of our country and are an attempt to get what the terrorists want from the government. Therefore, any attack made against the United States or its citizens should not be dismissed, but be labeled as terrorism and be investigated as to find and capture those responsible for the attacks. If we do not increase attention in terrorism and it’s dangers, helping other countries improve will not help our country stay safe.

Terrorism is a growing threat to the United States. In just one year, deaths by the hands of terrorists have soared 80%, and deaths do not stop there. Worldwide, people continue to be killed, and in 2015, 28,328 people have died. In order to combat this threat we should stop supporting the dictators of the countries backing ISIS instead of building the wall some people have proposed. For example, we support Saudi Arabia even though it is a major asset to ISIS, and by withdrawing our support towards Saudi Arabia, we’d be able to undermine the main terrorist supporters and take away one of the main motivations for these terrorists. If we build a wall along the border of Mexico, it will prevent refugees of war torn countries because of terrorism to get to safety, and that will weaken our relationship with other countries.

Men are tortured by these terrorist groups, hung or crucified, and women are raped and then beheaded sometimes for show in front of live audiences. Children are kidnapped from their families and then used to blow up buildings. These heinous acts are being committed in the Middle East right now, slaughtering tens of thousands of men and their families. Do you think that these people will really ignore America and focus on Europe? Soon we will be their next target, and thousands of our neighbors will die if we do not stop them. I ask of you, future president. Please put more effort and attention into stopping these terrorists. If we do not ensure our safety outside of the United States, how will be ensure our safety inside our country?

Sincerely,

Nina J

Sources:

Us News: What is Terrorism, and is it Getting Worse?

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-20/what-is-terrorism-and-is-it-getting-worse

Washington Times: Terrorism most important problem facing U.S., Americans say: poll

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/14/terrorism-most-important-problem-facing-us-america/

Listverse: 10 Terrorist Organizations Operating In The US

http://listverse.com/2013/03/24/10-terrorist-organizations-operating-in-the-us/

The Week: A Brief History of ISIS

http://theweek.com/articles/589924/brief-history-isis

Think Progress: What’s The Real Root Cause Of Terrorism: Poverty Or Anger?

https://thinkprogress.org/whats-the-real-root-cause-of-terrorism-poverty-or-anger-d9d3f53324c5#.lvd696vkp

CNN: Here’s How ISIS was Really Founded

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/12/middleeast/here-is-how-isis-began/

START: American Deaths in Terrorist Attacks

https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_AmericanTerrorismDeaths_FactSheet_Oct2015.pdf

NY Times: How Many People Have Been Killed in ISIS Attacks Around the World

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/25/world/map-isis-attacks-around-the-world.html?_r=0

CNN: 'They would torture you': ISIS prisoners reveal life inside terror group

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/world/meast/syria-isis-prisoners-watson/

Statista: Number of casualties due to terrorism worldwide between 2006 and 2015

https://www.statista.com/statistics/202871/number-of-fatalities-by-terrorist-attacks-worldwide/

CSI: A Skeptical Look at September 11th

http://www.csicop.org/SI/show/skeptical_look_at_september_11th

Daily Mail: Revealed: Number of people killed by terrorists worldwide soars by 80% in just a year

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322308/Number-people-killed-terrorists-worldwide-soars-80-just-year.html

Security Intelligence: Why Organized Crime and Terror Groups Are Converging

https://securityintelligence.com/why-organized-crime-and-terror-groups-are-converging/

History: 9/11 Attacks

http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks

Global Research: How to Stop Terrorism: Seven Ways to “Drain the Swamp”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-to-stop-terrorism-seven-ways-to-drain-the-swamp/5424069