Terrorism

Terrorism is the unlawful use of force against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in the furtherance of political or social objectives". This definition includes three elements: (1) Terrorist activities are illegal and involve the use of force. (2) The actions are intended to intimidate or coerce. (3) The actions are committed in support of political or social objectives.

The main topic here is Terrorism and Foreign Policy. The two terms that are going to be discussed is how the war against terrorism is expanding and how American President George W. Bush misnamed his National Security Strategy.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush threatened to expand the war on terrorism to countries that are developing weapons of mass destruction and nations that are "timid in the face of terror." The president singled out three nations, North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as the "axis of evil" and that he might take military action to pre-empt the threat from their weapons of mass destruction.

Although such rhetoric may simply be sabre rattling to intimidate those nations, the possibility of an expansion of the war is a real and dangerous possibility. But those three countries hardly constitute an organized alliance against the United States, as did the much more dangerous collaboration among Japan, Germany, and Italy during World War II. In fact, Iran and Iraq hate each other. And despite North Korea's continued harbouring of a few