Essay --

When 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airlines (two Boeings 757 and two Boeings 767) and crashing them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, some would say they never thought about terrorism. Today when you the word terrorism and immediately we think of al-Qaeda or other Islamic extremists. While Islamic extremism does contribute to certain types of terrorism, there are many other forms as well, all with their own characteristics and challenges for policy makers. These types commonly overlap to describe single terrorist organizations but are useful in providing a way of differentiating what these groups will target and what motivates them. The commonly accepted meaning of the word terrorism is any use of terror in the form of violence or threats meant to coerce an individual, group, or entity to act in a manner in which any person or group could not otherwise lawfully force them to act. There is no true definition of terrorism; the world community has struggled with creating a legal definition of terrorism that is globally accepted. Defining these groups helps us to understand necessary responses to each form of terrorism. Here are three (state, religious, and international) of the several of the most common types of terrorism, and examples of each. Scholar Gus Martin describes state terrorism as terrorism "committed by governments and quasi-governmental agencies and personnel against perceived threats", which can be directed against both domestic and foreign targets (Martin, 2013). State terrorism is the systematic use of terror by a government in order to control its population. Not to be confused with state sponsored terrorism, where states sponsor terrorist groups, state terrorism is entirely carried out ... ...lians had â€Å"been victims of incidents claimed by or attributed to the ANC. There were reports claiming significant links between the ANC and Communist countries, noting that the ANC "receives support from the Soviet bloc, Cuba and a number of African nations in addition to contributions from the West." After the Cold War the State and Defense departments back off their dire characterization of the ANC, it called the group "a politically diverse organization, representing a range of views. Mandela and other ANC officials remained on the terror watch list even as President Bush welcomed Mandela, newly released from prison, to the White House in 1990. Because of what was described as a "bureaucratic snafu," their names were kept on the list until 2008; 14 years after Mandela had been elected president and nine years after he had left power. He was 90 at the time.