Category: Warfare

Core Capabilities of the Response Mission Area

When a disaster happens, the time to react is usually limited, and the preparedness level is critical for the success of the response mission. There are several critical components of preparedness that include planning and guidelines, staffing, and infrastructure. According to Kunz et al. (2014), such activities as supply pre-positioning can be challenging to predict. Thus the focus should be on the development of core capabilities that ensure flexibility. TheOverview of the national planning Framework (2014) emphasizes flexibility as the most significant aspect of preparedness. Among the capabilities listed in the National Response Framework (2019), those that engage with all community lifelines are of utmost importance. Although none of them can be excluded, the priority list would look as follows:

1. Operational Coordination. This capability is essential for the success of incident management as it entails the coordination of multiple stakeholders. According to NRF (2019), the incident command should focus on the “cooperation of multiple jurisdictions, levels of government, functional agencies, NGOs and emergency responder disciplines, and the private sector” (p. 15). The knowledge of the area, inter-agency communication, and the ability to engage all the local jurisdictions are crucial for time-efficiency and success of the response.
2. Planning. Once the disaster happens, there is no time to seek the information, develop strategies, or delegate staff. The quick reaction to the incident, therefore, depends on pre-planning capability. Although it is impossible to prepare for all types of disasters, operational planning should provide generalized instructions based on the understanding of the area and risk assessment. The plans should comprise all the knowledge about the population at risk, geographical specificity, and resource availability.
3. Situational Assessment. This capability is the most critical in terms of time efficiency as it includes a quick understanding of the nature of the incident, its casualties, and threats. Once an IC arrives at the scene, he/she has to understand whether the danger to the population remains, what casualties are there. A quick understanding of what has happened and what has been done already is essential in decision-making. Other capabilities are also crucial and will follow according to the priority:
4. Environmental Response/Health and Safety
5. Operational Communications
6. Mass Search and Rescue Operations
7. Mass Care Services
8. Public Health and Medical Services
9. Critical Transportation
10. Public Information and Warning
11. On-Scene Security and Protection
12. Public and Private Services and Resources
13. Fatality Management Services
14. Infrastructure Systems

An All-Hazards Response in the Five Preparedness Mission Areas

It is impossible and ineffective to try to prepare for all possible types of disasters. Therefore, the mentioned above skills are essential in ensuring flexibility of all-hazards response preparedness. Gregory (2015) emphasizes the need for “a single, clear all-hazards plan in place that everyone is aware of.” Therefore, instead of delivering instructions for specific cases, NIMS (2017) provides core concepts used in all types of disasters. According to NIMS (2017, p. 2), the core mission areas are “prevention, protection, mitigation, response, recovery” (p. 2). The response in all of these areas should comply with the federal regulations assigned by FEMA.

Prevention is the most desired outcome of disaster management, as there are no material losses and victims. Efficient preventive practices imply inter-agency cooperation in “collecting, analyzing, and sharing information” (NIMS, 2017, p. 35). Additionally, threat recognition strategies should be designed with a focus on specific risks. The protection of the population is essential to minimize victims. For this area, the evacuation plan should be prepared for any incident. It is also necessary to identify vulnerable populations to provide primary protection for them.

Mitigation is lessening the disaster’s impact on the population and reduction of losses. This aim is achieved through resource management, which includes assessment of the resource vulnerability and design of resupplying strategies (NIMS, 2017). The primary purpose of the response is to save human lives through rescue missions and healthcare mobilization. The preparedness should include planning on how to deliver humanitarian, medical, informational, and psychological help. Recovery is the final stage of disaster management that means assistance to the community in getting back to regular life. Generally, humanitarian aid can be prolonged, and local actors should be provided with the instruments for disaster recovery.

The Role of Deputy Incident Commanders

Often, a Deputy IC is assigned to the Incident Commander to assist in response management. The officer’s main requirement is to be fully qualified to perform the commander position, as he/she can function as a relief. There can be either one or several Deputies assigned usually from the same organization as the Incident Commander. According to NIMS (2017), a Deputy “can be delegated the authority to manage a functional operation or to perform a specific task” (p. 63). NIMS (2017) identifies three reasons for the designation of a Deputy IC:

• Performance of the assignments delegated by the Incident Commander. An example of this situation can be when the Deputy IC visits a press conference or a meeting as commissioned by the CommanderCommander. Such actions are often necessary when there is a need for a commander to perform many tasks simultaneously.
• Acting in a relief capacity. For example, a deputy can take over the following stage of the response.
• Representation of another agency if there is a shared jurisdiction. When two organizations have authority over the response management, a deputy from one of them can be assigned to the Commander from another to establish mutual work.

Five Tenets of Working in Chaos

Although some disasters fall into the category of known and understandable, others can develop in chaos where guidelines are of little help, and the Commander has to have skills to restore order. According to Renaud (2012), NIMS is efficient when the order has been restored, but the onset of the disaster can be non-linear and chaotic. Therefore five principles ensure effective work on the edge of chaos.

1. Finding the right person to do the job. The role of the IC, who is the first on the scene, is essential in restoring order. This person should “set the initial tone, pace, and direction of the response efforts” (Renaud, 2012, p. 7). The point is that the person should not only be trained for this role but also should possess natural qualities for working under stress.
2. The importance of adaptive thinking. Often, incidents do not go according to the guidelines; therefore, sense-making is essential. This tenet concerns those incidents that are both complex and chaotic.
3. Creativity and control over people. Manipulation should not be feared in disaster response management. During inter-agency cooperation, there is no possibility to distribute orders, and people can be manipulated to work together. Additionally, improvisation is essential as ordered checklists do not work in chaos.
4. Finding core connections. As establishing cooperation takes time, it is essential to find primary social links in the community and utilize them. This approach helps to restore order and save “golden hours.”
5. There is no timely arrival. Any incident commander should realize and accept the fact that he/she cannot arrive directly at the moment of disaster onset. As the response operation begins, some chaotic rescuing activity can already be going on. Therefore, it is vital to assess the stage of the incident and what has been done already.

References

Gregory, P. A. (2015). Reassessing the effectiveness of all-hazards planning in emergency management. Inquiries Journal, 7(6).

Kunz, N., Reiner, G., & Gold, S. (2014). Investing in disaster management capabilities versus pre-positioning inventory: A new approach to disaster preparedness. International Journal of Production Economics, 157, 261-272.

National Incident Management System (NIMS). (2017). FEMA.

National Response Framework (NRF). (2019). Homeland Security.

Overview of the national planning frameworks. (2014). Homeland Security.

Renaud, C. (2012). The missing piece of NIMS: Teaching incident commanders how to function at the edge of chaos. The Journal of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defence and Security, 8(8), 1-18.

Terrorist attacks are serious events that can happen anywhere and anytime and require an immediate response from emergency teams. The Boston Marathon bombings is one example of an attack that caused death and severe injuries of American citizens and showed how professionals’ work could help minimize negative consequences. Therefore, the following response will analyze the phases of emergency management and Public Health Preparedness Capabilities used in this case and discuss a personal reaction to the video.

The four stages of emergency management create a continuous cycle of operations undertaken by the emergency department to ensure the safety of the population and the prevention of adverse outcomes. During the first stage, which is called mitigation, the team has to perform all the necessary actions to reduce the impact of possible disasters (Bullock et al., 2017). As mentioned in the video, the Boston Marathon evolved over the years, and this experience helped the team complete the necessary activities to support the spectators and the runners (Harvard University, 2013). Nevertheless, since such a huge event cannot be secured with the use of mitigation techniques, the emergency group had to implement the phase of preparedness. The event attracted medical volunteers prepared to perform on-site treatment for patients who had to be delivered to emergency rooms (Harvard University, 2013). Moreover, the team assigned 13 additional ambulances, which meant it had a more significant number of medical specialists (Harvard University, 2013). Thus, it can be stated that the emergency department was ready for any complications that can happen during the marathon.

Once the disaster occurred, the emergency team had to enter the response stage. This phase of emergency management has to occur immediately after an event and ensure the safety of the population (Bullock et al., 2017). The team’s first actions were communication through the radio which allowed a quick gathering of information regarding the explosions (Harvard University, 2013). After that, the goal was to notify all Boston hospitals about the situation and transfer all critical patients to emergency rooms (Harvard University, 2013). Specialists had to act quickly since they did not have time to evaluate the seriousness of the disaster (Harvard University, 2013). During the recovery period, the team of professionals had to engage in various activities, such as the restoration of damaged areas, psychological help, and prevention of financial burdens (Bullock et al., 2017). As indicated in the video, two weeks after the explosions, businesses in the area were already operating, and the community returned to life (Harvard University, 2013). Thus, an exceptional preparedness and immediate response helped the emergency team to ensure a quick recovery.

One of the public health preparedness capabilities that can be applied to this scenario is emergency operations coordination. This concept is defined as emergency teams’ ability to coordinate, support, and direct an incident through consistent organization and supervision (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The example of the Boston Marathon bombings shows how this capability contributes to the positive outcomes of emergency activities. The team proved that they could perform all the necessary functions of the discussed capability, such as preliminary assessment, active public health operations, immediate response, and evaluation of applied emergency practices (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Hence, emergency operations coordination is a critical capability that played a vital role in the case.

Another public health preparedness capability that can be analyzed with the help of the discussed situation is medical surge. This concept can be described as the possibility of conducting appropriate medical evaluation and identifying the impact of the incident on the health of the population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). In addition, this capability supports the delivery of the necessary medical care and additional public health services (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Regarding this particular scenario, the emergency team was able to correctly evaluate the situation and divide patients into groups according to their medical needs (Harvard University, 2013). This strategy allowed to transfer the most critical patients to the hospital within a short period and ensure the delivery of immediate professional treatment.

In my opinion, the emergency team that participated in the discussed scenario did an excellent job of responding to the explosions and providing medical support for the victims. Professional training and preparedness helped them to be ready for any complications that might happen during the event. Even though no one expected that such a disaster could occur, specialists made immediate decisions and prevented the appearance of massive panic and other adverse outcomes. As mentioned by the first interviewee, the first response to the explosions was communication which, I believe, was critical for the organization of operations and a positive outcome of the situation. In addition, it should be noted that medical agencies did everything possible to provide psychological support to people to help them recover for the incident. It is essential to ensure that both the physical and mental well-being of people is supported; therefore, health services performed proper operations.

Overall, on the example of the Boston Marathon, Bombings individuals can indicate how a professional emergency team can minimize the harmful influence of the terrorist attack quickly. The specialists’ team was able to apply various techniques and capabilities that contributed to a quick recovery from the disaster. Hence, this essay discussed how the team moved through emergency management phases and used two Public Health Capabilities and provided an individual reflection on the video.

References

Bullock, J. A., Haddow, G. D., & Coppola, D. P. (2017). Introduction to emergency management (6^th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Public health emergency preparedness and response capabilities: National standards for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health. Web.

Harvard University. (2013). The Boston Marathon bombings: Lessons learned for saving lives | the forum at HSPH [Video]. YouTube. Web.

Introduction

Highly dangerous agents either in the form of naturally acquired or artificially introduced, have the perspective of infecting a large number of vulnerable individuals and in some cases resulting in a chain of infection. The potential of bioweapon (BW) can be comparable to that of Nuclear Weapons and this is the reason for these agents to be included in the category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). What makes them even more popular among the antisocial elements are their low cost and widespread accessibility of twin technology of low complexity.

Bioweapons are mainly attractive to terrorist groups as their production is simple and their cost is low. They have been termed “the poor man’s nuclear bomb” (Lesleor and Koran, 1993). In fact, studies have proven that BW agents are more efficient in terms of exposure per kilogram of goods than any other weapons system. The recent developments of technology in the field of biotechnology have helped in production and have also improved the capability to produce more diverse, tailor-made agents.

Though there are several steps taken in the past to control or stop the production of these destructive weapons, not much is done in this field. For instance, excluding countries that have dismantled their BW programs, e.g. USA, UK, France etc., it is anticipated that there are about 11 other countries that are believed to have developed the capability to produce biological weapons (US Committee on Armed Services, 1993).

Biological weapons differ from the other WMD as their effects manifest after an incubation period. This allows the person/people involved in the antisocial activity to move away from the site of attack before the infection catches them.

The agents used in BW are mainly natural pathogens and the illnesses they cause simulate existing diseases (Dudley and Woodford, 2002). Tracing back or identifying the culprit will be much difficult as the diagnosis and treatment would be carried out by the medical team, rather than by a specialized agency as in the case of WMDs. Thus bioterrorism is defined by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as, “the deliberate release of bacteria, viruses or toxin for the intention of harming or killing civilians” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). History records several attempts at bioterrorism. In spite of widespread programmes and stockpiling of BWs, there have been not much done in the field of lay enforcement. This paper intends to present a case study on the Aum Shinrikyo that occurred in the year 1995 in Japan.

Case Study – Aum Shinrikyo

Aum Shinrikyo has been known for creating threat from the 1990s and is known to uses biological agents such as anthrax, botulinum toxin, Q fever Ebola virus and chemical agents such as sarin, VX, hydrogen cyanide (Tucker, 1999). It was on March 20, 1995, members of the Japanese cult group Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme truth) attacked the Tokyo channel or the subway structure and uncovered a fatal nerve agent called the sarin (Pate and Cameron, 2001). This attack killed 12 and injured more than 1,000 passerby and required hospitalization. In fact this was not the first time that this cult group is linked with several incidences of terror attack (Monterey Institute of International Studies, 2001).

The main aim of this group was to get rid of opponents and enemys, stop the progress of an unfavorable court declaration, and take hold of Japanese government. The ideology of this group is as follows: “to establish a theocratic state in Japan, with a charismatic, power-hungry leader”. The main targets were common public and individuals who opposed the ideology of the cult and also the judges whose verdict were against then and police (Tucker, 1999). Since 1995 many of their active members were arrested and from then on their activities decreased.

Aum Shinrikyo group targeted its own members who failed to agree on issues but also it affected each and every one in Japanese society. The main person or the leader of this group was the aggressive founder — Shoko Asahara. It was in the mid-1980’s, Asahara developed a divine message based on achievement of total spiritual consciousness. Besides, he also had chain of inauspicious enlightenment that persuaded him he would show the way to the God’s army to win against the United States in a final battle (Kaplan, 1999). Soon he began to spread his views and increase the members in his group. People who joined the group thought that Asahara would help them to lead to happiness.

In most of the cases of WMD used by Asahara, it was directed against Japanese society. They intended to bring about a disastrous social breakdown in the society and thought that among the consequential death and confusion, people of Japan would hold responsible the United States. Asahara would then take the advantage of the confusion in various ways to achieve his objectives. Aum Shinrikyo was strong-minded to obtain any type of useful WMD.

For instance, there are records that point out that the cult purchased a green laser priced about $400,000. The aim of this purchase was to develop a weapon which is competent enough to affect the eyesight of masses of people. The cult had appointed efficient scientists who researched on particle beam weapons which was again very destructive (Kaplan, 1999).

Once there were a large number of people who joined the cult it acquired a property that was secure and close to the base of Mt Fuji. They constructed a building and complex that had the greater part of its WMD work. In fact it is reported that in this place they had all types of WMD facilities including biological, chemical and nuclear research along with high-tech equipment and expert technicians.

It was in this compound that Aum Shinrikyo established a biological toxin laboratory intended to create clostridium botulinum that is a causative agent of botulism. It is said that it is 16 million times comparatively highly poisonous than strychnine. It is also claimed to be 10,000 times more poisonous than cobra venom (Kaplan, 1999). Botulism is having a capacity to kill masses of people. It was also known to produce another lethal BW the Anthrax spores. In fact they intended to use both botulism and anthrax spores to attack Tokyo. The cult realized the fact that, the biological weapons program only gave them partial success. As a result they found that biological agents are comparatively effortless to make but also need to be delicately handled (Clinehens, 2000).

The cult miscalculated the delicacy of the BW that resulted in loss of several Japanese lives. Later when they realized this fact they began to concentrate on manufacturing chemical weapons. Over a period of time their chemical weapon expertise gained prosperity than any other WMD methods. Their scientist learned that chemical agents were easier to manufacture and more predictable when compared to biological agents. Additionally Asahara’s confidence on chemical agents amplified with the reports of by success in Gulf War. There are reports that the cult managed to produce quantities of Sarin and the nerve agents VX, tabun and soman (Clinehens, 2000).

Bioweapon attacks of Aum Shinrikyo

The cult group Aum Shinrikyo was firm in destroying Japanese society so as to hasten the approaching destruction. Asahara was believed that by executing his plans to eradicate the Japanese Diet, they would destroy a society that is almost equivalent of the U.S. Congress. Among the biological weapons they planned to the use of botulinus toxin. They transported the toxin for cult members to spray into the air around the Diet building.

The members of the cult who were in the truck protected themselves by wearing biohazard suits. However, their attempt failed as the spraying device that was designed to transfer the toxin instead of performing its duty killed the biological agent. The reason behind this is that these biological agents are very delicate and cannot tolerate adverse conditions and these biotoxins can merely live in a narrow band of ecological parameters. The cult had surpassed these parameters in the groundwork and conduct of the attack and hence the biotoxin was absolutely unproductive (Kaplan, 1999).

This failure however did not prevent further attacks. Despite this failure, the cult sustained to plan further attacks against the Japanese society and the government. For instance, they again planned a biological attack on the world dignitaries who were there to attend the wedding of Prince Naruhito. As per the plan of Asahara, during the wedding, cult scientists were to again introduce botulinus toxin into downtown Tokyo that is very close to the venue of the wedding.

The scientist worked on the spraying device after their failure in the Japanese Diet attack. They thought that this attempt would be a great success and Asahara himself drove the truck that was loaded with botulinus toxin. However, this attempt was again a failure as the spraying devise was unable to spray the toxin as intended (Kaplan, 1999). In fact they had planned to drive through downtown Tokyo close to the royal wedding and spray the killer toxin into the air in order to kill as many delegates and common people as possible.

Though the toxins worked as expected in the laboratory using the modified device, it was a failure again in reality. The reason behind the failure was analyzed later and was found that as the toxin had to pass through a chain of steps intended to vaporize so as to mix with the air in the form of fine mist during this process the toxin had again been exposed to environmental stresses that exceeded parameters (Clinehens, 2000). This failure made Asahara to think of new innovations in the field of bioweapon and as a result he instructed the scientists to find better bioattack agents that are more reliable.

^{The next time the} scientists determined to use anthrax. They found the anthrax spores to be much more stable when compared to botulinus toxin and hence they believed it to be a more reliable weapon. Additionally, the scientists further improved the delivering device. As an alternative to a transportable delivery truck, they determined to spread anthrax spores from a stationary point that was situated in their own building in downtown Tokyo.

In fact they had blown the anthrax-saturated steam for 4 consecutive days but did not produce the expected result. It could only create some sickness and no fatalities (Kaplan, 1999). The reason for the failure is still not known, however it is predicted that the scientists miscalculated the incubation period of anthrax spores or it might also be possible that Tokyo is still host to billions of anthrax spores that might be dormant. Probably under the right conditions it could germinate and harm the human population.

Conclusion

Until 1995 attack of the Tokyo subway by sarin a chemical weapon, neither the Japanese nor the American intelligence could track the antisocial activities of the cult Aum Shinrikyo. They were active for years as a terrorist/WMD threat until subsequent to the Tokyo subway attack. In fact several factors supported their growth and execution of WMD and other terrorist activities. For instance, they had good financial support from the members, they could develop a good infrastructure for manufacturing and storing the chemical and biological weapon, and they are able to continue to spread their ideology through seminars and publications. It is only possible by stringent law enforcements that each and every nation can be safe from the attack of biological weapons (Tucker, 1999).

There are many nations that do not have any preparedness in case of any nuclear, biological or chemical attack. Hence it is essential that in addition to the law enforcement, all nations are well prepared to face these problems with complete preparedness. Further research and technology development can only help to face these threats. Preparedness and capability in the area of bioweapon attack is a serious concern for most of the nations. The environment is changing rapidly and many unknown fears have been surfacing in different parts of the world and it is essential to stay abreast of events.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2001) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The public health response to biological and chemical terrorism, interim planning guidance for state public health officials. Web.

Clinehens, N.A. (2000) Aum Shinrikyo And Weapons Of Mass Destruction A Case Study, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Web.

Dudley, J.P. and Woodford, M.H (2002) Bioweapons, Bioterrorism and Biodiversity: Potential Impact of Biological Weapons Attacks on Agricultural and Biological Diversity. Rev. Sci. tech. Off.int.Epiz. 21(1) 125-137.

Kaplan, D.E. (1999) Chapter 12: Aum Shinrikyo In: (Ed) Tucker J.B. Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons. PP 207-225.

Lesleor S, Koran V, trans (1993). Military bacteriological programs in Russia and USA are strictly secretive and represent terrible threat to the world. Izvestiya, June 26, p 15.

Monterey Institute of International Studies, (2001) Chronology of Aum Shinrikyo’s CBW Activities. Web.

Pate,J. and Cameron, G. (2001) Covert Biological Weapons Attacks against Agricultural Targets: Assessing the Impact against U.S. Agriculture, BCSIA Discussion Paper 2001-9, ESDP Discussion Paper ESDP-2001-05, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Tucker,J.B. (1999) Historical Trends Related to Bioterrorism: An Empirical Analysis, Special Issue, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 5, No. 4. Web.

U S Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (1998) Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook.

Introduction

The concern of the security of infrastructure following the September 2001 terrorist attacks brought to the forefront the safety matters in all government facilities, including water plants. In that regard, bringing security concerns in protecting vital resources became a concern for La Verne, California water treatment plant as well. Such concern specifically increased after the plant was among 37 plants listed nationwide as susceptible to a terrorist attack. This paper is focused on discussing security concerns of L a Verne water plant, the way an attack may be carried out, the best time that the terrorists are most likely to choose, the chemicals that are likely to be used and the means that might be used in preventing the attack.

Analysis of La Verne Water Treatment Plant

There are several aspects that can go wrong involving a terrorist attack on such a huge water catchment. To begin with, the reason why the Water Plant was listed as susceptible to terrorist attack at first place should be mentioned. The reason is based on the fact that the plant uses “deadly chlorine gas that is transported in unprotected rail cars”, which in case of an attack can “jeopardize millions of nearby residents” (2). Accordingly, in case of the failure of plant, the terrorist can affect the water supply quantities making it difficult for the plant to satisfy the demands of the residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties (6).

Although Weymouth Treatment Plant at La Verne is one of five filtration plants serving the Metropolitan water system, the plant is among the largest in the United States, and thus the consequences for water supply shortage, where terrorists attack might affect water pressure in the plant so that storage and distribution can be impossible, might affect many sectors such as health, agriculture and economics

Weymouth Treatment Plant at La Verne has strived to improve their security immensely since September 11, 2001. However, up until 2007, when the plant was added to the list of targets susceptible to terrorism, the security concerns might not have been fully addressed. Therefore, when speculating a possible attack, it would be most likely occur in the less secured areas (Osterholm & Schwartz p.14).

La Verne physical layout

The first factor to consider for La Verne water treatment plan can be seen in its strategic importance. The plant delivers up to 520 million gallons per day (6). Accordingly, the level of impact implies all the areas which are dependant on such great reserve of water. The location of the water plant is an additional factor, where “A fairly small number of large drinking water and wastewater utilities located primarily in urban areas (about 15% of the systems) provide water services to more than 75% of the U.S. population” (4). In that regard, such facilities represent the greatest target for terrorist, although small systems cannot be excluded (4).

Additionally, as previously stated, the fact of transporting chlorine adds up to the risk and the damage that can be caused, in case the facility is attacked. In that regard, it can be assumed that in the case of a water plant such as the located in La Verne, the terrorist has more options to implement, where in case of a failure of one option, e.g. cutting the water supply, another option might work out, gas spread to the nearby areas. These are some factors that need to be considered when analyzing a terrorist attack La Verne Water Treatment Plant (Osterholm & Schwartz p.61).

Terrorist attack process

A terrorist attack can concentrate on making the water unsafe for use either using chemicals to poison the water or interfering with the plant’s infrastructure. Additionally, taking the perspective of gas transportation, the attack might be directed toward destroying the transport rails. These three possible types of terrorist attack on the water treatment plant can further be analyzed using the possible ways of implanting; meaning that they can be physical destruction, chemical contamination, and backflow and cyber attack.

Physical destruction is believed to be the most possible attack when compared to contamination event. Terrorist view that physical destruction would cause more harmful consequent and it would be prolonged. As an example interfering with water flow and pressure will affect the efficiency of firefighters and water consumers. Physical destruction can be in many forms; in La Verne plant bacteria infection and water pollution can be classified as physical destruction as they affect water flow and freshness which are essential for domestic water consumption. Destruction of vital equipments using explosives and infrastructure supporters such as arson, power sources and injury of personnel can also be expected.

In most cases guns and explosives are easier to use as they can easily interfere with efficiently of large machines. Thus, physical destruction which has a higher rate of occurrence relates to affecting system component operations, power sources or interdependent infrastructure, supervisory control and data systems and also containers essential for water treatments (Krouse p.36).

Another major concern brought about physical destruction is that terrorists can develop a wide water hammer that dictates the opening and closing of major control valve too rapidly. Changing the cycle of opening and closing of water valves may cause water over flow to the plant or to the consumers. This act can be a major crisis not only to the plant but also other departments such as the fire fighters. Closing water valves using the hammer will affect pressure of water further, reducing its supply causing the government to incur losses due to tax reduction; several taxable industries require water for them to operate therefore, by affecting their production their tax level with consequently decline.

Water shortage will also affect utility of staff and public works personnel which will be cause disaster such as unemployment and staff handling situations over time. Terrorists can also use Chlorine and other hazardous chemicals that are used in water treatment process to implement their attack, this can be possible during transportation or on unsecured areas of the plant. Terrorists can decide to release chlorine gas into the residential water supplies or reduce chlorine essential for water treatment; this will cause undermining disinfection process, as well as the consequences implied by the spread of gas to nearby areas.

Chemical contamination or bioterrorism is defined as massive contamination by microbiological agent. But chemical contamination can also be by toxic chemical which is also considered as a mass destruction. Though the US Air Force has implemented policies to inspect disinfection in water and testing contamination it is not possible to monitor all water valve exists and sewage reservoir. This therefore, may be used by terrorists to attack specific industries and institutions such as animal farms. Chemical contamination may also be in form of WMD which is a biological agent produced mass casualties, it arises aerosol form of damage.

This WMD related contamination may be structured to occur through air interior space, this is the kind of contamination that terrorist attack in Tokyo subway in 1995. After the Tokyo subway attack FBI’s designed a system for checking water toxicity and other common malicious acts by terrorists, but this system still has major loop holes as stated b y University Hygienic Laboratory, the university stated that the FBI check system fails to monitor waterborne agent of bioterrorism or low infectious dose. This is an easy target for terrorists who would like to impose a gastrointestinal disease to a population.

Centers for disease Control and Prevention are now focusing their research on waterborne viability and resistance to disinfection such as hemorrhagic fever viruses and anthrax. This excessive concentration has made it possible to make attacks based on drinking water systems, interference with quality required and cultural activities relating to water preparation. Chemical contamination is mainly in “dilution of solutions” advance detection techniques and equipments are required, but they are not available at all water storage and distribution areas.

Most of these chemical contamination related diseases are prevented through vaccines and antidotes, terrorists can decide to attack by ensuring these vaccines are not useful any more such that they are either too weak to suppress or prevent the diseases or they are not available at all. For instance, La Verne water treatment plant assists health centers and hospitals in acquiring the proper vaccines to prevent disease, by coming up with a strategy to hinder their efforts of providing adequate and sufficient vaccines the public and all water consumers will be at a risk.

Backflow is another possible attack that terrorists can use to attack the La Verne Water Treatment Plant, where it refers to foam that reduces pressure in distribution systems. Back flow system is installed in every public water system to assist in preventing hydraulics and access to any harmful chemicals or toxic contamination which could cause serious damage to both human health and ozone. Terrorists can also affect the laid down backflow systems by interfering with distribution reservoirs and fire hydrants.

Damages relating to backflow have been noted in fire truck pump where malicious opening of aqueous fire fighting foam is released while the fire truck pump is still closed. According to Charlotte Mecklenburg the case in United States where fire fighting foam caused more damage than the actual fire since 60 gallons of foam where released to a small neighborhood apartment was related to a terrorist attack. This proves that terrorist can easily interfere with water pressure to cause an attack.

Why night is the best time

Cyber attack is a terrorist attack that affects infrastructure network. According to US Environmental Protection Agency inferring with water infrastructure network will jeopardize water storage, disinfecting and distribution. However, terrorist can still find a way of hacking into the system and these could result in theft of essential information, corruption of information, disclosure and perhaps worse extreme such as service denial. It may be argued that this important information relating to water treatment and supply is safe as it is not connected to the internet, but truth is that terrorists can use disgruntled employees or databases in personal computers (Berger p.29).

With September 2001 attack occurring at day, it can be assumed that for that attack of the Water treatment pant the terrorist will choose night for such attack, due to the fact that the intended consequences would be harmful the most after the attack itself. Accordingly, making a parallel with 2001 attack, a major part of damage was inflicted by the attack itself, while in the case of a water plant attack the damage will be done afterwards, and thus, the later the news will spread the more damage can be caused.

In such way, considering that the news of the incident along with the precautions for the citizens regarding the water, will be known only by morning in the surrounding areas. Additionally, categorizing terrorists the type of damage that can be caused that such terrorist might be state sponsored, or as in Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization, where for instance, United States enemies may desire to impose a terrorist attack on United States due to the existing grudge (Hughes p.112).

Possible ways to prevent such an attack

To prevent such an attack in to the La Verne Water treatment, plant several factors have already been put to place, but also other improvements to the existing measures should be done. The National Security Council in 1998 improved infrastructure protection for water supply all over the country by providing funding to develop vulnerability assessment of different methodology. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Advisory Group (CIPAG) held meeting on January 2001 and improved technical support for water associations and federal agencies. The group believed that by encouraging unity and open discussions will reduce tension and desire for revenge which would consequently reduce the desire for terrorist attacks.

The government in general, different groupings and federations have taken measures to prevent terrorist attacks on water plants in general these measures can easily be categorized in five major forms. The first category relates to information sharing where assistance centers have been established to investigate and also hold open discussions on water supply sector. Information sharing has also been improved through developing secure transmission of threat information and any other delicate data. The second category is providing guidance documents that provide the process of how to protect a facility against attack.

The government and other security related firms have ensured these reading materials are available to all firms that need them but most of them have not paid any attention to them. The guidance documents provide information to firms on how to prevent an attack, how to respond and overcome attack consequences. Further, cooperative meetings are organized by US chamber and critical Infrastructure Assurance Office the Water Treatment Plant can begin with attending these meetings since they assist in assessing how well a firm’s infrastructure can handle a terrorist attack.

It should be mentioned that the security plan should pay attention to the physical protection, as mentioned in the Water treatment operator handbook, where the terrorists might take actions “to damage or contaminate the water supply or sabotage system infrastructure and the electric transmission system” (10). In that regard, controlling the physical ace to the facility is a major concern that should be taken care of.

The fourth category that the National Security Council and federal government have implemented to reduce terrorist attacks are on national infrastructure. Improving national infrastructure such as assurance plan for water sector has assisted different plants to improve their security systems; however, La Verne Plant not fully taken this advantage into full use since it has not recruited enough security infrastructure and labor force on matter of security.

Training activities have also been adequately provided on how to prevent, handle and cope with a terrorist attack. The plant attended several training seminars and classes organized by the countries security council, but when analyzing how well it can cope with a chemical and physical attack we can clearly see that the plants personnel is not equipped with the right skills to cope with an actual attack. Actually, we can easily assume that the training activities where not practical enough for the plant’s employee to learn from.

To prevent the attack in La Verne Water Treatment Plant ensuring information confidentiality would be another factor to consider as an addition to utilizing what the National Security Council outlined. Information confidentiality will mean that the plant should ensure the public and employees who are not trusted do not get access to confidential information. Further, the plant should prevent the attack by ensuring its database is in accordance with the state Freedom of Information Act laws which allows agencies to withhold information that could endanger the physical safety or life of any individual, protecting water supply is clearly in accordance with the laws since it assists protecting the thousands of people who are water consumers.

To assist in limiting access of information the plant can use codes or passwords and besides ensure they browse specific data. Thus, combining the factors of physical security with confidentiality, the establishment of access system based on privileges should ensure that not only the access would be controlled, but also this access can be personified for identification of people entering certain areas in the facility.

La Verne Water Treatment Plants can prevent the attack by preparing proper strategies on redundancy of operations, public notification, proper communication channel, media response and emergency water supply that could assist in providing supply incase of chemical contamination. These plans if laid down and understood by all plants departments can assist in preventing an attack since it becomes easier to detect an attack on time before it’s actually implemented or before serious consequences result.

Conclusion and summary

There is a raised concern for the security of the infrastructure, specifically such strategic facilities as water treatment systems. The way the terrorist might inflict damage can be dependant on the characteristics of the water plant. The factors of related to La Verne water plant make it an ideal target for such attack. Such factors include the location, the output of the facility and the transportation of hazardous gas.

Accordingly, the physical attack can be seen as the most dangerous, and the most possible compared to other attacks. In the case of such attack, night can be chosen as a possible time for attack, as the consequences can be greatly increased. In terms, of protection, it can be stated that the physical protection of the facility is a major priority for the plant, in addition to maintaining confidentiality on the information.

It can be concluded that it is essential to revise security related issues one in a while. This makes it difficult to plan a completely successful attack against a plant. In addition, changing security personnel can also be a good step to take. Humans can at times be easily compromised; changing personnel will assist in bringing to light any hidden activities to the table. However, when doing a reshuffle, it is also essential to avoid making delicate information known to too many persons, therefore, changing codes and passwords may be highly advised.

Bibliography

1. Berger, and Stevenson. Feasibility of Biological Warfare Against Public. New York: Water Supplies Jour. (1995).
2. “California Water Treatment Plant among Terrorist Risks“. 2007. Water & Wastes Digest. Web.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Worksheet”. Journal of Critical Biological Agents for Public Health Preparedness (1999).142:3-6.
4. Copeland, Claudia. “Terrorism and Security Issues Facing the Water Infrastructure Sector“. 2009. Congressional Research Service. Web.
5. Cox, Roberts. Vandals Pollute Grass Valley Water Supply. Two Teens Held. London: The Sacramento Bee (1999).
6. “F.E. Weymouth Treatment Plant”. 2009. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Web.
7. Hughes, Hadgraft. “Statement before the Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information Subcommittee on Youth Violence Committee on the Judiciary US Senate” (1999).
8. Krouse, Winer. “Backflow Incident Sparks Improvements”. Opflow. Vol. 27, No. 2.(2001).
9. Osterholm, and Schwartz. Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe. New York: Delacorte Press. (2000).
10. Pizzi, Nicholas G. Water Treatment Operator Handbook. Denver, CO: American Water Works, 2005.

Introduction

Hamas is an acronym of Harakat al-Muqawamat al-Islamiyyah which also meant Islamic Movement. It is a socio-political organization found in Islamic Palestine and includes a paramilitary unit known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. This organization has been the authoritative power of Gaza, a location of Palestinian Territories (Nasrawi, p. 30).

Hamas’ origins can be officially traced back to the year 1987 when it was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Mohammad Taha and Abdel Aziz al Rantissi who were from an organization called The Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt. This was after the First Intifada which was precipitated by the Arab world’s intense uprising against Israel which was assumed to be the ruler of Palestine. Israel had started occupying Palestine after Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967. The Hamas was founded between the years 1967 to 1987 and during this period there was a Social Institution Building whereby there was a marked increase in the number of mosques from 200 to 600 in Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt played a very important role because Hamas was established as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (Abuza, p. 456).

The main objective of Hamas was to gain direct control of the Intifada, and most of all gain an upper hand on the Palestinian demonstrations and align it with the fundamentalism of the Islam movement. In reality, it is one among the many Palestinian resistance groups; for example the PLO that was formed in order to gain control of the Palestinian movement as well as endorse Islamic view (Hider, p. 100).

Hamas was founded between 1967 and 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al Rantisi and Mohammed Taha and they came from an organization named Muslim Brotherhood which originated from Egypt. There was another military branch of Hamas named the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades that was established in 1992 and mostly conducted numerous attacks against the Israeli occupation of the Palestine territory (Fighel, p. 121).

The Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004 declared that Hamas would restore the Palestinian historical rights by ending the armed resistance but in exchange for a Palestinian territory in the Gaza strip and the West Bank as well as east Jerusalem. In January 2004, the Hamas most senior official, Abdel Aziz-al Rantisi presented ‘hudna’ (10-year ceasefire) in return for the Palestinian establishment and a complete pull out of the Israeli Army from the regions captured in 1967. Israel totally rejected this statement by Abdel Aziz and termed it hypocritical. Abdel Aziz and his counterparts were later killed by the Israeli airstrikes (Wolfson, p. 72).

In August 2004, a ceasefire was observed in Be’er Sheva, southern Israeli town where fifteen people succumbed to death and close to 130 were wounded. Nonetheless, in 2005 a group closely linked to Hamas claimed six people on several attacks against the Israelis on West Bank (Nasrawi, p. 45).

Although Hamas did not participate in the 2005 presidential elections, it took part in the municipal elections and managed to take control of the Rafah and Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip as well a territory in the West bank called Qalqilyah. Later in 2006, Hamas achieved majority seats in the Palestinian legislative election, the election was termed as free and fair by expert observers. The ruling party Fatah was defeated because it was alleged to be corrupt and ineffective (Sarraj, p. 96).

After the Hamas victory of the parliamentary elections, it restated that it was ending its suicidal attacks against the Israelis and it was offering a ten-year truce in exchange with complete Israeli military withdrawal on its territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem as well as the Gaza Strip. A road map for peace was established in 2003 and it anticipated a Palestinian establishment by 2005. But this was never to be. Mashal added that he was not stopping any Palestinian groups or any armed operations against the Israelis. This triggered the U.S. and other international governments to impose sanctions on the Palestinian states. In response to this, Hassan al-Safi, a most senior Hamas leader threatened a new Intifada against all those who were against their voices (Nasraw, p. 49).

Immediately after Hamas formed the cabinet, there were increased tensions between the Hamas and the Fatah that led to a number of demonstrations and violence in parts of the Gaza Strip. This led the Hamas-led government to sign a peace deal that involved forming a unity government with Fatah to end the factional warfare that ended up killing close to 200 Palestinians (Sarraj, p. 99).

Conflicts between Hamas and Israel erupted on 9^th June 2006 where Israeli artillery operation killed eight Palestinian civilians. Israel later denied their involvement in the attack. Hamas in response to this launched rocket attacks into Israel from Qassam a region on the Gaza Strip (Gary, p. 90).

Renewed fighting erupted in June 2007 between Hamas and Fatah. Thereafter, Hamas controlled the Gaza Strip and Fatah took over the West Bank. The Hamas-led government was later dismissed as a militia group and was outlawed by President Mahmoud Abbas (Wolfson, p. 74).

Main Body

Hamas is mainly funded by Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States who term themselves as charity organizations of Islam. It is estimated that Hamas has an annual budget of $70 million with close to $50 million from charitable organizations but with $12 million directly supplied by the Gulf States and an additional $3 million from Iran (Levitt, p. 323).

According to Hamas, funds for political or any other activities are different from the funds intended for the military use. Iran is the main supplier of military-intended funds amounting to $3 million annually. Saudi Arabia as well as other Gulf States supply funds intended for political, social and other activities (Nasrawi, p. 29).

Mostly Hamas is funded by Iran, Saudi Arabia and other funds come from charitable organizations like charitable trust Holy Land foundation for Relief and Development. Various sources claim Hamas growth is linked to Mossad, a counterbalance to PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) (Nasrawi, p. 25).

When Hamas took control of the government, it received support from the Gulf States primarily Saudi Arabia. Their funding support grew to $70 million. But now they have been outlawed however non-governmental organizations continue to provide financial support (Paz, p. 64).

Hamas also raises some of its funding from as far as Western Europe and North America where it extensively uses propaganda as the means to get support from its sympathizers. According to various intelligence sources from the US, as per 2003, Hamas had an estimated budget of $50 million, with so much of this money coming from well-wishers who believed it to be a charitable entity. Indeed many citizens of Palestine are on the belief that the organization is a charitable organization that builds schools, hospitals and other important infrastructural facilities that the government is incapable of setting up. Thus to them, Hamas is not a terrorist entity that is renown across the globe (Global Security.org).

Therefore most of its funding that emanates from European countries and the US is mainly raised from the populations from Palestine through Dawa activities i.e. charity activities. Because of the lack of adequate accountability facilities within the setup, some of the money finds its way to financing terrorism activities towards Israel while some are directed towards funding the civilian activities. The US government has realized this has undertaken serious measures to ensure that the funding through charity is frustrated thus undermining the whole process (Global Security.org).

The Hamas organization also gets backing from Syria which provides the base from where the Hamas leadership operates from. Thus the political, information and operative aspects of the organization have Syria as its backbone. More particularly the Hamas political office is here and is headed by Khaled Mashal. The Syrian government offers a conducive environment from which the Hamas can operate because it enables the leaders of Hamas to formulate and carry out strategies to make the organization stronger including training some of the Hamas operatives and assisting in the purchasing of arms and ammunition. Apart from Syria Hamas also gets such operation and monetary support from various countries in the Middle East (Global Security.org)

The U.S. terms Hamas as a terrorist organization. On the other hand, Canada terms Hams as a Sunni Muslim terrorist group. The European community lists Hamas as among the territories it will apply restrictions on in order to combat terrorism. According to the Israeli government, Hamas is the group that continues to maintain a terrorist network on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and it is the group that is involved in terrorist attacks against the Israeli territory. Japan also terms Hamas as a terrorist organization and it claimed that in 2005, it had frozen terrorist assets which included those of the Hamas. Australia and the UK list the military wing of Hamas as a terrorist group. Hamas is viewed differently by Egypt and Kuwait but negatively viewed in Lebanon and Turkey. In 1999, Jordan abolished Hamas (Matthew, p. 323).

The federal court in the U.S. found Hamas liable for the murder of Efrat Ungar and Yaron. Hamas was ordered to pay $116 million to Ungar’s families. In 2004, three Palestinians alleged to be Hamas were charged with providing money for terrorist acts in Israel (Gary, p. 89).

Hamas has targeted attacks on Israeli civilians and Israeli forces as well the Fatah rivals. Hamas has been accused of torturing and killing Fatah supporters who it links to providing the sensitive information to the Israeli authorities. In 2003, Hamas confiscated humanitarian supplies to civilians claiming to be destined to Fatah members. Hamas also engaged in human rights violation by throwing to death a presidential guard from a 15-storied building while his legs and arms were tied (Hider, p. 100).

Hamas has adopted guerilla war tactics in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It is claimed that more than 1,300 tons of rockets and other weapons have been smuggled into the Gaza region. This was observed during the Israeli-Hezbollah war in 2006. It has also been noted that Hamas is using anti-rocket tanks, home-made rockets such as Al-Batar and the IEDs in the Gaza (Graham, p. 120).

Hamas is linked to extrajudicial activities against the rival Fatah groups. Additionally, it is involved in killing Israeli civilians as well as the army forces. Even those linked to providing information to Israeli intelligence have been killed mercilessly (Van Biema, p. 80).

The relation between the U.S. and Hamas is sour. According to the Department of Justice, Hamas has the capability of acting outside the Israeli territory given the extensive operations from fundraising to political support. The group according to the FBI has coordinated terrorist activities targeted on the Israelis and its allies (Nasrawi, p. 46).

In 2005, Hamas declared a ceasefire with Israel however, it was ended with Israeli attacks on the tunnels that were built to smuggle weaponry from Egypt. In 2008, another ceasefire threatened to start but the Israeli government declined to comment on the agreement. Later on November 2008, Israeli air attacks killed six Hamas gunmen. Hamas responded with rocket attacks against the Israelis. In December 2008, there was another operation that was led against the Hamas. In January 2009, Hamas declared a ceasefire in attempt to make Israeli pull out of the Gaza strip (Paz, p. 60).

Hamas is considered one of the most serious threats to the fragile world peace. This was greatly increased especially after 9/11 when the war on terrorism was drastically stepped up across the world. The threat to the US has continued to elicit much concern amongst the security agents who believe that it is a disaster in waiting. Various terrorism experts including other security officials are in admittance that America is facing greater threat especially when taking into consideration that Hamas has some cells on the American soil. These cells have the capacity to launch devastating attacks inside the US. Indeed according to an FBI counterterrorism agent in New York was quoted admitting that Hamas agents had their presence in the US and approximately 100 agents were presently active within the borders of America (Klein). This information is quite threatening given the devastation of 9/11.

This fact was reaffirmed earlier on by none other than the Director of FBI Robert Mueller who was quoted as saying that Hamas’ US network had the capability of perpetrating acts of terrorism in the country. According to the director, the network that exists mainly is in place for the purposes of fundraising. The fundraising is normally done through various methods including the Charity linked programs that have led to the closure of some of the non-governmental organizations that have been suspected to act on behalf of Hamas. Such organization includes the National Holy Land Foundation that was shut down in these regards, with many more still in operation (Klein).

The national Holy Land Foundation was regarded amongst US’s largest Islamic charitable organizations. The establishment was closed with the help of a research carried out by Steve Emerson a Terrorism expert who was on the opinion that Hamas possesses an extensive infrastructural program in the US for the main purposes of fundraising, recruiting new supporters and training the various members, strategizing anti-Israeli operations, mobilizing for political support and using human rights groups as fronts. It is should be noted that even though Hamas does not operate out of Israel, it has the capacity and the wherewithal to make attempt attacks against America (Klein).

The Hamas network in the US is a more difficult challenge to contain because of its covert operations and memberships that exist amongst the American citizenry and includes trained Jihadists with suspected links to the al-Qaeda and some evidence has continued to reveal that indeed Hamas has its presence in the US. For example a man by the name of Ismail Selim Elbarasse considered one of Hamas’ financiers was arrested following the videotaping of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge to bomb it (Klein).

The presence of such operatives has dramatically increased following the increased pressure of the existence of security agents following the 9/11 attack. This has come about because of the renewed emphasis by al-Qaeda to enlist new American jihadist supporters from such groups as Hamas. Mohammed Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar are some of the high-level members of Hamas that were also arrested in August 2004 and were later charged with among other things money laundering, material support for the Hamas, and racketeering. In 2003 a Canadian immigrant under the name Jamal Aqal who had his roots in Gaza was detained in Israel suspected of being of weapon and explosive training in anticipation of attacks in Canada and New York. He was jailed at his plea of guilty of having a plan to kill various Jewish leaders from America and Canada, including Israeli officials on their way to America (Klein).

From the aforementioned, it is quite clear that Hamas has continued to harbor ill motives towards America because of the involvement of the US in the politics of this part of the world. The Hamas members were greatly aggravated by the American support of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who was calling for an early election in 2006. They believed that Abbas received promises from America of substantial military and political support. They accused the US of initiating the Palestinian civil War (Klein) and wanted to prove to the Americans that they had chosen a wrong policy. It is noteworthy that Hamas had won the January elections and thus was angered by Abbas’ move to call for an early election which they considered as illegitimate (Klein).

The call for a new election elicited so much emotion because it was seen as a mechanization process to dismantle the Hamas-led government. This led to violent clashes and riots between the Fatah Party of Abbas and the Hamas in the Gaza strip. Within 6 days the clashes led to the death of more than 16 Palestinians. Behind the scenes, America was accused of orchestrating the new elections and arming the Fatah militants including training them (Klein).

Conclusion

The Hamas groups and the Israeli forces are likely to continue to fight each other, with heavy losses being realized from both extremes. Much life has been lost leading to one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes. International mediation does not seem to be making any headway because the terrorist groups are now heavily polarized and tightly networked.

Works Cited

1. Aaron Klein (WorldNetDaily): Hamas threatens attacks on US.
2. Abuza, Zachary. Learning by Doing: Al Qaeda’s Allies in Southeast Asia. Current History, 2004, p. 456
3. Beyler, Clara. Messengers of Death: Female Suicide Bombers International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism 2003, pp. 45-50.
4. Fighel, Jonathan. Top Muslim Clerics Endorse Suicide Attacks – A Challenge to the United States? International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism 200,2 pp. 100-123.
5. Graham Usher: The New Hamas: Between Resistance and Participation 2005, pp. 101-120
6. Gary C. Gambill.Sponsoring Terrorism: Syria and Hamas 2002, pp. 89-101
7. Global Security.org: HAMAS Funding.
8. Hider, James (2007)Transnational and non state armed groups. Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research Harvard University 2008 pp98-102.
9. Kimhi, Shaul and Even, Shmuel. Who are the Palestinian Suicide Terrorists? Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies 2003, pp. 76-80.
10. Paz, Reuven. The Saudi Fatwah Against Suicide Terrorism. International Policy Institute for Counter 2001, pp. 58-90.
11. Sarraj, Eyad. Why We Have Become Suicide Bombers: Understanding Palestinian Terror. Mission Islam 2003, pp. 89-98
12. Nasrawi, Salak. Hamas Reconciliation Breaks Down.’ Associated Press,1993, pp. 23-45.
13. Matthew Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Yale University Press. 2006, pp. 323
14. Matthew A. Levitt Hamas from Cradle to Grave: 2004, p. 216
15. Khaled Abu Toameh Quotations from Hamas memorandum “This is what we struggle for,” reprinted in Tamimi, Azzam, Hamas, A History from Within, Olive Branch Press, 2007, pp. 265-270.
16. Van Biema, David. Why the Bombers Keep Coming. Time Atlantic 2001, pp. 78-90.
17. Wolfson, Adam. Demystify It: How to Defeat Suicide Terrorism National Review Online 2003, pp. 56- 78.

The United States being the super power is under constant threat of terrorism from various groups. It is with this in mind that a task force was formed to help the Department of homeland security (DHS) to address these threats. For DHS to effectively counter future threats they need to develop strategies that are targeted at specific groups and programs (Homeland security advisory council, 2007). Some of the critical recommendations in the report were the establishment of Office of Net Assessment (ONA). This office is tasked with providing accurate researched information on future threats and response measures to counter those threats (Homeland security advisory council 2007). For example, al-Qaeda group is widely known for its ideology towards the destruction of American interests both domestically and internationally (Chalk, Hoffman, et al 2005). It is therefore the mandate of DHS to review existing counter terrorism measures in order to identify existing gaps and filling up those gaps (Chalk, Hoffman et al, 2005).

The second critical recommendation is the recruitment of professionals with diverse cultural and educational background. The DHS should place a higher premium on professionals with diverse cultural, religious and language background. The diverse cultural difference between the Muslims and the American culture needs to be seen as an opportunity for religious tolerance and unity and not a source of conflict. Therefore, for DHS to be effective, it must recruit personnel from diverse background to inject into the organization different perspectives on terrorism and on how it can be tackled. The department needs to develop communication strategies and programs that do not promote the radicalization of the Muslim community in America by adopting policies that promote religious tolerance and dialogue (Homeland security advisory council 2007).

An example of a Muslim Outreach program that has been established to promote greater understanding between Muslims communities and other American communities is the Islamic Centre of Charlotte (ICC). It was established in 1993 to serve as a source of encouragement to Muslim communities living around Charlotte and surrounding areas. Its main objective was identification of sources of misunderstanding between Muslims and the west, identification of terms of co-existence and building of bridges between the two civilizations (Islamic Center Charlotte, 2009). The main goal of the outreach program is to bring together Muslims and non Muslims in an effort to promote greater mutual understanding and cooperation between the public and Muslim communities. The ICC in its programs has tried to emphasize the common shared values that Islam has with the west such as respect for justice, peace, equality, human rights and freedom for all. ICC believes that, through these programs, Muslims and Non-Muslims can get to know, appreciate and respect each other cultures. (Islamic Center Charlotte, 2009).

The ICC in its outreach program participates in inter faith activities that involves round table discussions and seminars that aim to promote unity among members of different faiths. The ICC has worked towards promoting a positive image of Islam by opening its doors to the general public by inviting them in social events such as Open House, Campus Dawah, Special Event Booths, Prison Dawah. and participating in volunteer activities in the local community (Islamic Center Charlotte, 2009). The outreach program has also established a school that offers comprehensive education to deserving students from all faiths, nationalities and gender. The outreach program has also invited non Muslims to mosques they run to promote greater understanding of the Islamic faith (Islamic Center Charlotte, 2009).

References

Chalk, P., Hoffman, B., Reville, R. & Kasupski, A. (2005). Trends in Terrorism: Threats to the United States and the Future of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy. Web.

Homeland Security Advisory Council. (2007). Report of the Future of Terrorism Task Force. From the Department of Homeland Security. Web.

Islamic Center Charlotte. (2009). Guide to Islam. Web.

It is notable that past experiences in an individual’s life are an important determinant of who one is and how one perceives the world thus the term generational personality. Matures are persons who were born and lived between 1922 and 1945 and the events and conditions that were present in this time-period shaped their personality a lot. Despite the fact that one may not incline to the collective mind set of a given generation, one is bound to be influenced by the mind set and hence the personality is shaped by the mindset. For matures, previous experiences like the Great Depression, WWII and the influence of the older generation made them adaptive, hardworking, patriotic, conformist and conservative.

Matures appear to be less adventurous as evidenced by their comfort with the idea of retiring. Such a personality is likely shaped by being born of parents who were conformists. In as much as they try to adapt to changes such as technology, they only do so slowly still holding to their conformist ideas and they are often referred to as the Silent Generation. However, perhaps their weakness in adventure has made them to prepare enough for their old age, e.g. by looking forward to retiring, and thus they have social security to secure a comfortable life at old age.

The defining moments of the 1920s through 1940s had a great role in shaping the personality of the Matures. Major occurrences during this time period include 1930s Great Depression, the uprising WWII, evolution of the radio and Polaroid cameras, and industrial revolution among others. The WWII was fought when this generation was too young to take part in (Generation Model, n.d) but the experience cultured a great sense of patriotism. They admired the older generation that took part in the war, hence cultivating a sense of self-sacrifice in them. The experience of the Great Depression taught the Matures the virtues of discipline and safety, more so in their economic statuses. This generation values having security for old age and they are disciplined in their economic endeavors, all in pursuit for stability. Their yearning for stability, political and economic, is also cultivated by the experience of the Great Depression and WWII (Web Generation, n.d). This generation also went through the Great Depression successfully thus molding a character of optimism about the future on this generation.

The 1920s through 1940s was a period when radio and Polaroid camera came up in addition to the influence of the Industrial Revolution (Generation Model, n.d). The past orientations and conformity of the Matures is therefore likely shaped by the fact that this era did not witness many sophisticated technologies. As such, these individuals tend to be reluctant to fast changing technology. Being the era when democracy was greatly encouraged, this generation was influenced to be loyal, respect authority and be honest and straightforward. It is a loyal generation since it was brought up in a time when the country needed protection from the more powerful nations and thus it called for self-sacrifice to safeguard the nation.

Indeed, an individual’s life course is a product of experiences when one is born and experiences during developmental years. Matures were born and brought up in the 1920s and 1940s when the world economy was wavering, in an industrial revolution era and the world politics were volatile. As such, this generation witnessed the older people go through such experiences and in the end cultivated values such as loyalty, self-sacrifice, patriotism, patience and need for discipline and safety. Having been influenced by the past generation, the Matures have ended up being conformists as well as conservatives.

References

Generation Model. (n.d). Generation culture. Web.

Web Generation. (n.d). 1940’s. Web.

Introduction

In a time of conflict and bloodshed, it is essential to make sure that as many lives as possible could be saved. Therefore, the design of transportation devices, including land, water and air transportation, should be aimed at increasing the chances of people’s survival. Despite having a rather basic design, A-10 has proven to be one of the aircraft that promote the pilot’s safety in the most efficient manner. Therefore, keeping the A-10 is crucial for saving as many lives as possible in combat environments.

Hypothesis

The necessity of retaining the A-10 model as a means of saving people during a battle or an air attack is predetermined by the specifics of the aircraft’s design, particularly, the horizontal stabilizer. The choice of the specified course of action is both ethically adequate and economically reasonable, since caring about the safety of people is the key priority of any authority and since revamping an already existing and nearly impeccable aircraft is cheaper than promoting the production of new and non-tested concepts.

Methodology

In order to prove the significance of keeping the A-10 as a tool for reducing the number of victims during wartime or in any other environment involving combat, a qualitative study will be carried out. General research with an overview of several essential sources will be conducted. The data collected in the course of the research will be analyzed with the help of the analytic induction method. Although the specified approach is comparatively old, it allows for a detailed analysis of the existing sources and a better understanding of the subject matter. Only trustworthy peer-reviewed academic sources were chosen for the review. However, seeing that the subject matter can be defined as an aircraft with a comparatively old design, the use of sources that date back to the 20^th century was considered as an option. As far as the use of theory is concerned, the study will view the issue from the perspective of two key theories, i.e., the Utilitarianism theory of ethics as a means to address the safety issue and the cost-benefit theory as the framework for analyzing the economic implications of reconsidering the current safety measures.

Literature Review

Researches show that the so-called “Warthog” and its 21^st-century colleague, “Thunderbird,” are among the safest aircraft that has ever been designed for carrying out war missions (Beaumont, 1997). The history of the aircraft is rather basic; originally designed to counter the Soviet tanks, the A-10 aircraft over the years established itself to be amongst the most proficient fleets for asymmetrical warfare and the most efficient aircraft in accomplishing Close-Air-Support (CAS) missions (Lomberg, 2014).

When it comes to defining the properties of the aircraft, which allow it to facilitate the safety of the pilot, one must mention the fact that the aircraft has been designed in a way that provides close-air support. The specified characteristics of the plane have been tested successfully in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan (Lomberg, 2014). Unfortunately, the above-mentioned advantages of the plane have been questioned after superficial scrutiny. Despite the obvious significance of the use of A-10 for military missions, the question concerning the reasonability of the A-10 use was raised in 1976 and has been supported ever since (Warwick, 2007).

Nevertheless, evidence shows that the aircraft is required for facilitating the safety of war pilots. While passing an amendment thwarting Obama Administration’s A-10 retirement proposal, Representative Candice Miller expressed his concern for what is happening in Iraq and the Middle East, eliminating the A-10 fleet will be the absolute wrong move (Trimble, 2014). On the one hand, the idea of abrogating the use of the specified vehicle seems absurd seeing that it helps improve the efficacy of the U.S. military forces’ responses towards the threats of an international level (Bruce, 2003). On the other hand, several pieces of evidence have shown that the “warthog” could use a significant update. Particularly, the costs for maintaining the aircraft in good shape are truly ample (Drew, 2015). In his column ‘House Votes to Block A-10 Retirement,’ Stephen Trimble reported that the overall annual cost of A-10 fleet operation amounts to $ 900 million (Trimble, 2014). Presenting the USAF’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal, Gen Mark Welsh said that it made perfect sense to retire the A-10 fleet for an estimated saving of $ 4.2 billion through FY 2019 (Hammerdinger, 2014). The average cost of one A-10 Thunderbolt is $ 13 million in 1994 dollars; under the same benchmark, an F-35 jet already scaled a cost of $ 28-38 million in 2012. Recent estimates show F-35’s cost further escalating to $ 110-150 million per plane excluding weapons systems and $ 300-350 million per plane including its weapons systems (Weinstein, 2012).

In fact, most of the assumptions regarding A-10 made by the U.S. Air Force seem to be rather inconsistent (Lamothe, 2015). For instance, the USAF’s claim about phasing out older planes and getting rid of inventory lacks logic, as the places in question only need minor updates. Air Force wants to retire the capable A-10 fleet including some F-22 and F-16 fighters but it somehow finds sense in not retiring the older 59 McDonnell Douglas KC-10 tankers (Everstine, 2015). At a National Press Club interview, Gen. Mark Welsh conceded that the “Air Force can do the job without KC-10 but would do it in an ugly way” (Hammerdinger, 2015). Without A-10, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can assume aerial superiority and can perform CAS duties, yet it cannot perform the same functions as F-10 Warthog does in a manner as efficient (Starosta, 2013).

Following the same logic, one may assume that KC-10 stands out to be a fit case for retirement but USAF seems to be inclined to promote KC-10 as the prime choice for safety and efficacy in an air battle (Drew, 2014). Schogol reports in his article that ‘A-10 provides the type of close-air support that ground-pounders love and the Taliban dread’ (Schogol, 2012). The army knows that they do not have anything close to A-10 for close-air operations but they still prefer to cut the budget by grounding the A-10 fleet. Adm. James Winnfield, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reported in a personal interview that A-10 is very good at providing close-air support but the Air Force needs an aircraft that can do more than one mission (Schogol, 2012). As Lt. General Christopher Bogda said in his attempt to support the F-35 program, “the Joint Strike Fighter will consolidate several magic bullet mission requirements into one of the three variants- (i) conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) (ii) short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) and (iii) the carrier-based CATOBAR” (Lomberg, 2014, par. 1). Highlighting all the positive aspects of the F-35 program, the Air Force Officials themselves retreated on several occasions stating that A-10 is practically the best available option for CAS operations (Lomberg, 2014). The F-35’s only defense is that there may be a need in near future to strike distant targets and return to safety, which A-10 cannot do. Furthermore, the Air Force went on to convince the stakeholders involved that, while the US was busy fighting the Iraq, Afghanistan and other counterinsurgency battles, other countries developed capabilities to counter US’s long-range air attack, which could reduce its supremacy in air-to-air combat, thereby triggering an urgent need for long-range aircraft like the F-35s. However, the chances of the U.S. to face the need to engage in air-to-air combat are rather low; therefore, the specified goal is no more urgent than the war against terrorism that the US is already engaged in (). The battle at hand is an asymmetrical one, which needs better utilization of the already available A-10 fighter planes. Given that the insurgency of ISIS and the war against terrorism expanding at a rapid pace, there remains no sense in retiring the A-10 Warthog, which represents an opportunity for the U.S. military.

Finally, the outlook of the politicians, Governors and the House Panel on the A-10 Warthog needs to be considered. As reported by Stephen Trimble, the House Armed Services Committee has already blocked the A-10’s retirement until Comptroller General certifies the CAS abilities of the F-35 aircraft (Trimble, 2014). The US House Representatives have also voted to block USAF’s A-10 retirement proposal and the Amendment was approved by 300-114 votes (Trimble, 2014). The house Panel overseeing combat aircraft also blocked the immediate retirement of A-10 directing the Defence Department to review the F-035 program following a fire in the F-35 trial (Mehta, 2015). Recently, the House and Senate negotiators have approved $ 334 million through a compromise defense authorization bill to keep the A-10 warthog flying through the fiscal year 2015 (Albon, 2014). A-10 Team received a $ 48 million sanction to produce 107 precision engagement modification kits to transform the A-10 aircraft from the analog mode to the digital one, thereby transforming it from clean weather, visual only attack aircraft to an all-weather multi-mission precision delivery platform (Fabey, 2006). Earlier, realizing that A-10 is going to stay, the USAF sought sanction of about $ 2 million and ordered 242 replacement wing kits from Boeing for the existing fleet. Overall, the politicians also seem to be in favor of continuing the production of the A-10 Warthog.

Discussion

The “Warthog,” therefore, can be deemed as an essential tool in reducing the number of accidents in the course of a military conflict. Numerous characteristics of the plane, such as the opportunities for integrating the latest tools for night vision, a more adequate design of the cockpit, etc., make it rather evident that the dismissal of the aircraft as one of the most efficient and, which is even more important, safest tools for attacking during combat is highly unreasonable.

It would be wrong to assume that the “Warthog” has an impeccable design; like many other aircraft, it has several disadvantages in its properties, yet it still proves to be by far the safest vehicle in terms of protecting the pilot from dying in an accident. Therefore, a-10 must not be rejected as a supposedly old vehicle; instead; it should be updated according to the latest technological advances so that the safety of the aircraft should be comparable to other technical properties, such as its maneuvering ability, its speed, the apartment, ability to carry low and high drag bombs, etc.

Moreover, the fact that the A-10 Thunderbird can be enhanced with the latest technology and at the same time retain its basic properties shows that once remodeled, the aircraft may become the ultimate means of performing a certain mission and keeping the pilot safe. The opportunities, which will be opened once the state authorities allow engineers to “change the A-10 from a clear weather, visual only attack aircraft into an all-weather, multimission precision weapons delivery platform” (Schogol, 2012, p. 1), are truly ample. The redesign of the aircraft is likely to make the U.S. Air Force practically undefeatable; therefore, it must be considered immediately, permitted and encouraged as the key tool for enhancing the military power of the United States.

Conclusion

The specifics of the A-10 aircraft allow for reducing the number of victims during air combat significantly, which is why the aircraft should be retained as one of the means for keeping safe as many denizens of the population as possible. A detailed study of the existing sources has shown that retiring the cheapest and most successful legacy system like the A-10 to save $ 4.2 billion and introduce the costliest fifth-generation F-35 fighter in its place is unreasonable, especially with the existing budgetary constraints. War is not just killing and eliminating enemies, supporting fellow soldiers and saving lives is also an important, if not most important, aspect of war (Bruce, 2003). Thus, A-10 warthog deserves to live because it can save lives.

Reference list

Albon, C. (2014). Conference bill provides $334m to keep a-10 flying through FY-12. Inside the Pentagon, 30(49), 1–2.

Beaumont, J. (1997). A-10. Flying Safety, 52/53(11), 17-20.

Bruce, R. T. (2003). The article claims death of A-10, but units live on. Air Force Times, 26, 1–3.

Drew, J. (2014). Secretary: Opponents of A-10 retirement should avoid cutting readiness. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest.

Drew, J. (2015). ACC shifting A-10 warthog talent to close-air-support fighter squadrons. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest.

Everstine, B. (2015). House panel blocks A-10 retirement. Air Force Times. Web.

Fabey, M. (2006). Air force committed to A-10, but funding concerns remain. Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, 219(33), 1.

Hammerdinger, J. (2014). A-10 retirement plan ‘perfect sense’ – USAF chief. Flight International, 185(14), 1–2.

Lamothe, D. (2015). Close-air support mission to get new scrutiny by the air force as A-10 jet retires. Washington, DC: WP Company LLC.

Lomberg, J. (2014). Should we retire the A-10 Warthog? Web.

Mehta, A. (2015). House panel punts on A-10, wants F-35 engine study. Air Force Times. Web.

Schogol, J. (2012). A-10 squadrons cut. Air Force Times. Web.

Starosta, G. (2013). ACC chief is wary of political sensitivity tied to A-10’s retirement. Inside the Pentagon’s Inside the Air Force, 24(38), 1–2.

Trimble, S. (2014). House votes to block A-10 retirement. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest.

Warwick, G. (2007). A-10 deal wings its way to Boeing. Flight International, 172(1), 24.

Weinstein, A. (2012). A-10 vs. F-35: The Air Force’s latest budget bungle. Web.

A Strategic Thinker

The book “Vietnam: An American Ordeal” offers some of the best ideas towards better organizational management and performance. The book examines how the American soldiers dedicated themselves in order to stopping the spread of communism. I have gained new competencies and skills that can make me successful. Many organizations have their unique missions and visions. Every employee should focus on such missions. According to Moss (2010, p. 39), “personal orientation to cooperative work is something critical in an organization”. Such orientations are common in the armed forces. Employees and managers “should support cooperative work because it is the first path towards improved organizational performance” (Moss, 2010, p. 48). The above book offers the best strategies towards achieving every organizational goal.

I have always worked hard as a strategic thinker. Strategic thinking is an informed approach towards addressing challenges in our lives. Strategic thinkers focus on every issue encountered in their organizations. They use this approach to make accurate decisions. A “strategic thinker will also examine the issues that might promote or affect business performance” (Cruz, 2008, p. 37). I always use strategic thinking to address the issues affecting me. I have also interacted with my workmates and friends in order to make good decisions. I always think deeply before making my decisions. I always identify and implement new strategies in my workplace. Employees should embrace teamwork to realize their potential. Some of my biggest duties are mentoring and supporting others. I have always embraced the best skills whenever communicating with different individuals in my organization. My current obligation is to promote the best practices through continued mentorship and support. The above practices define my daily work and life.

Cooperation and Support from Others

Cooperation and interaction are two important practices in many organizations. Individuals can use the above practices to exchange their views and ideas. Every person or employee requires a mentor in order to succeed. Mentors are important because they guide us. Mentors also equip us with the best concepts or ideas. I am ready to “increase my competencies in communication, problem-solving, and decision-making” (Cruz, 2008, p. 53). I will embrace new ideas from my managers and supervisors. I need “guidance, mentorship, and encouragement from others in order to accomplish my work successfully” (Cruz, 2008, p. 63). I will borrow “new concepts such as teamwork, critical thinking, strategic planning, and management in order to improve my competencies” (Cruz, 2008, p. 69). Managers, supervisors, and administrators can offer the best concepts to their employees. I will embrace the above practices in order to achieve my professional goals.

I will also interact with my fellow employees to improve my communication abilities. My goal is to make the best decisions that can promote organizational performance. Many leaders offer appropriate mentorship programs to their employees. This practice will improve the level of organizational performance. A good leader focuses on the missions and goals of his or her organization. Individuals cannot realize their leadership objectives without collaborating with their mentors and teammates. I will also seek feedback and responses from different managers and leaders. These managers will also equip me with new strengths and competencies that can make me successful. Students and employees can learn a lot from Moss’ book. The “concepts of cooperation and interaction can promote the best organizational practices” (Cruz, 2008, p. 103). This scenario explains why I am focusing on the best organizational skills and ideas in order to realize my personal goals.

Military Lessons from the Course

The book by George Moss offers the best ideas towards promoting both personal and professional performance. The first military lesson gained from this course is the importance of teamwork. Soldiers always work as teams in order to achieve their military goals. I will embrace the concept of teamwork because it promotes the best organizational practices. Teams will solve their problems much easier. Many teams will achieve their goals within the shortest time possible. Employees should commit themselves to their organizations’ goals and objectives. Commitment is also a relevant lesson gained from this course. I will always commit myself to my duties and goals. According to Moss (2010, p. 89), “honor and duty are two powerful attributes of soldiers”. Every person should be happy with his or her job. The practice will promote the level of business performance.

Some meaningful skills have emerged from this course. One of these skills is the ability to think critically. Critical thinkers engage their workmates and friends whenever addressing various organizational challenges. Critical thinking “helps employees examine every challenge affecting their organization” (Moss, 2010, p. 106). A critical thinker will make swift decisions without leaving any stone untouched. My dream is to improve my skills as a critical thinker. Communication skills and problem-solving abilities are critical towards realizing my personal goals. The course has equipped me with various leadership concepts such as “responsibility, honesty, passion, and commitment” (Cruz, 2008, p. 85). I have become self-motivated, charismatic, and optimistic. I will use these competencies to address every challenge in my life. I am planning to use the above lessons in order to achieve my career objectives. I will also read more articles, magazines, publications, blogs, and books to increase my skills. I will use the ideas obtained from this course to improve my leadership competencies.

Reference List

Cruz, C. (2008). The Big Book on Achieving Large Goals. New York: Book Surge Publishing.

Moss, G. (2010). Vietnam: An American Ordeal. New York: Pearson Education Inc.

The Rise of the State System, 1914-1950 is a chapter that reflects on the events defining the emergence of various states within the Middle East and parts of Northern Africa that were largely dominated by Arabs. It is a chapter that indicates the dominance of the European powers in trying to dominate the world at the expense of local populations. These historic events give insight into the struggles that nations had to go through in order to gain independence. The struggles were not in vain because most of the Middle East States gained their independence by the end of the Second World War, (in the 1950s) as discussed in this paper.

This chapter indicates the events preceding and following the First World War. Apparently, it highlights that the World War 1 marked an end of subjugation of the Asian world by the Western countries (Andersen, Seibert, and Wagner 60). But, this was entirely not the case as the Ottoman Empire was the main power that fell apart because it was deemed a potential threat by Britain (Smart 301). Hence, in an attempt to remove the threat, Britain took advantage of the already strained relationships between the Ottoman Empire and the Arabs to sever all ties and fight against this empire. As new threats emerged, the Western countries found themselves adopting new strategies to increase their hegemony; hence, they signed beneficial treaties with their colonies.

Britain was the most influential European power because it had a hand in Japan’s victory over Russia (Andersen et al. 60). This situation displays an ironic twist owing to the fact that Russia was part of the Allied forces (Chant 6). Nonetheless, the Turkish revolution and Egyptian nationalist movement were influential factors for the emergence of the First World War. The Muslims united and national boundaries had little significant to defining their identity; they were unified. In addition, the Allied forces signed a treaty with Husein to liberate some of the continents, and this was a frontier in the unison of the Arabs towards liberation (Andersen et al. 61-62). The reading clearly indicates the rebellion of the Asian and associated colonies of the Western powers. Hence, these suppressed states agreed to get into treaties with the European powers as ways of gradually gaining power and forming unions, for example, the World Zionist Organization (Andersen et al. 63).

As the European powers sought to gain more areas over which to dominate, they got into disagreements leading to division, for example, the postwar division between Britain and France (Perry et al. 791). The two European powers had differing interests that steered subsequent liberations of the various states. In addition, growing hostility from the locals stimulated the process. Despite the fact that the Zionist argument was not influential and the Arabs’ nationalist idea was weak, the flame to achieve these causes drove these two nations to join the Allied forces in an attempt to gain some form of independence such as that associated with the Balfour declaration. After the First World War and with the segregation of the European powers, the local population resorted to joining forces in order to eliminate the enemies, who at this time were vulnerable. The local populations vehemently rebelled against the European powers. Salient figures such as Faisal rose to demand independence; aware of this, the British made Faisal the king of Iraq and his brother the emir of Transjordan. The increased rebellion and hostility from local populations and the desire for more power led to World War II that was associated with political independence of most states.

This chapter indicates the growing lenient policies of the British against the French, whose main concentration was power. As a result, indigenous populations had the freedom to gain education and embrace technological change. The British were wary of the financial stresses associated with the direct rule of a continuously rebelling nation. To a large extent, the invasion of the European powers and marked division that was largely felt during this period led to the rise in military regimes that continue to destruct the peace of the Middles East (Osman par. 10).

A call for nationalism in Egypt was relentlessly sought and slogans based on the sentimental reactions against the Western influences governed the push for Egyptian sovereignty. Deprivation and oppression of the areas’ indigenous population led to formations of hostile movements like the Muslim Brotherhood that aimed to protect Egypt from further invasion and subsequently strengthen the Arabian frontier. During this time (1948), part of the Palestinian region was taken over by the Jewish to become the present day Israel (Sullivan and Jones 6-7). It was the defeat of the Arabs to the Israelis that accelerated the activities of opposition movements in Egypt. Saudi Arabia, unlike Egypt was able to gain its sovereignty through the magnanimous nature of Ibn Saud. Unfortunately, Kind Ibn Saud failed to lay strong national rules to guide the Saudi Arabian kingdom. Hence, these issues of subtle leadership prevail due to a lack of a clear demarcation between local and national power.

References

Andersen, Roy R., Robert F. Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and Change in the Middle East. 10^th Ed. Illinois: Longman, 2012. Print.

Chant, Christopher. Austro-Hungarian Aces of World War 1. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002. Print.

Osman, Tarek. Why Border Lines Drawn with a Ruler in WW1 still Rock the Middle East. 2013. Web.

Perry, Marvin, Myrna Chase, James R. Jacob, Margaret C. Jacob, Jonathan W. Daly, Theodore h. Von Laue. Western Civilization since 1400: Ideas, Politics, and Society. 11^th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Smart, Ninian. World Philosophies. London: Routledge, 1999.

Sullivan, Denis J., and Kimberly Jones. Global Security Watch-Egypt: A Reference Handbook. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc, 2008.