Terrorism.

Terrorism is the greatest problem facing the world today .
It is the use of violence and intimidation in order to achieve political aims . Every day newspapers and TV news bombard us with reports of violence and terror . Terrorists kill for religious , political or nationalist reasons . They use various methods : plant bombs in public places ; release deadly poisonous gases in underground railways ; blow up buildings and cars ; hijack planes ; assassinate president , prime minister , high officials and diplomats . Among other famous politicians who lost their lives in terrorist attacks were , for instance , John F. Kennedy , Aldo Moro , Olof Palme , Indhira Gandhi or Yitzhak Rabin .

The question arises whether terrorism can be in any way justified . Most people doubt it since very often the victims are innocent children , women and defenceless civilians .

In 1995 , for example , a home-made bomb produced by two government-hating former American soldiers destroy a U.S. government office building in Oklahoma , killing 168 innocent people . Five hundred others were badly injured . In 1997 the explosion of the bomb planted by some Islamic terrorist at a bazaar in Jerusalem killed 12 people and hurt 170 . However , the worst terrorist strike in history happened on September 11 , 2001 in the United States . Two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York , and yet another struck the Pentagon . The terrorist attack was prepared by an America-hating Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden , the leader of a vast international terror network . The horrific co-ordinated assault on the economic and military symbols of America caused an enormous amount of damage and took a heavy tool on human life – about 6,500 innocent people were killed .

Probably the best know terrorist organisation in Europe is the IRA ( the Irish Republican Army ) . Its members are Irish nationalists aiming to establish a united Irish Republic by campaigns of terror . Since 1969 they have been increasingly active and in Northern Island , and this period of violence is known as the Troubles . During the Troubles more than 3000 people have died and 30,000 have been injured .

Terrorist often say by way of excuse that they are the ones who are oppressed and that they have to destroy “ the system “ because it cannot be reformed in any other way . They also claim that when they kill in war , it is an act that is praiseworthy . However , can they call themselves fighters for independence , religion or any other worthy cause having pushed a buss full of passengers into a precipice ? Isn’t it immoral to say that the end justifies the means or that the death of some innocent people is meaningless ?

Most of us condemn terrorists and wish to stop the wave of terror that is sweeping the world . However , it is very difficult to wage a fight against scattered terrorist groups which do not obey any conventional rules of conducting a war and without the slightest hesitation murder civilians or sacrifice their own lives in suicidal mission . Our bombes , rockets , launchers , tanks , commandos , special agents and the police seem powerless to defeat the insidious enemy . However , all freedom-loving nations around the globe should unite in combating the plague of terror because as long as terrorism threatens us , nobody can feel safe and each of us can become a victim . Let’s just imagine what may happen if terrorist gain access to nuclear weapons .

Only peaceful solution , not violence and terror , should be accepted in the contemporary world .