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Introduction:

What is terror? 
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The word terror was first used in politics during the French Revolution in 1793, when a revolutionary party in power for a few months carried out a great many killings and executions. 
According to a dictionary terror means &ldquo;illegitimate use of power or violence&rdquo;. If on the other hand a government uses violence in accordance with the law such as waging war or executing a convicted prisoner this is called &ldquo;legitimate use of power or violence&rdquo;, and therefore it is not terror. 
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In reality the distinction is often quite muddy. Many rightwing governments break their own rules when dealing with political opponents putting people in prison or even torturing them. Such government will never admit to this being terror, because they themselves feel they are &ldquo;legitimate&rdquo; even when hated by the people. 
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The USA detains terror suspects at Guantanamo prison in Cuba under miserable conditions but would never agree that this is terror. When peaceful protesters during the last presidential election campaign in the USA were beaten by the police because they protested against the Republican Party of George W. Bush this was not &ldquo;terrorism&rdquo; but so-called &ldquo;law enforcement&rdquo;. 
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Liberation fighters are usually called terrorist by the power they are fighting. When Frelimo fought Portuguese colonialism, ZANU fought the Rhodesian and ANC the Apartheid regime they were all called terrorists. Though the people saw them as freedom fighters. 
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Sometimes, however, only a few people support a terrorist action carried out by a small group that kill many ordinary people. It can in such cases be difficult to know who these terrorists really are, even if they send an anonymous letter to a newspaper claiming responsibility. We might never know if the terrorists are not who they say they are. 
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In 1933, fire broke out in the German parliament shortly after Adolf Hitler had formed a Nazi government. The police captured a communist, blamed him for the fire, executed him and used the occasion to arrest socialists and communists all over Germany. Later evidence indicate that the fire was probably started by a group of Nazi agents so that they could blame it on German communists, who were soon to be arrested and put into concentration camps by the Nazis. 
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In the beginning of the Vietnam War there was little support for war in USA. But then a US ship was attacked near the Tonkin Bay in Vietnam. The incident was used as a reason to send many more troops to fight the liberation fighters in Vietnam. It was later revealed that the information about the events was doctored by the military. 
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When terrorism is secretly directed by a government against its people but blamed on an &ldquo;enemy&rdquo; this is called &ldquo;false flag terrorism&rdquo;, because a false claim is made as to who did it. Because terrorist acts are often made by unknown masked people you will have to remain skeptical about, who were behind any such event. 
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Fighting terrorism is really difficult, when you do not know who the people are and must rely on the words from intelligence agents, who might even themselves have some involvement in the events. 
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The age of the war on terror 
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During World War II, the USA built the largest military machinery in history at enormous costs; they even invested in building a nuclear bomb. This production was kept a secret even though 100,000 were working on the project. 
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After the war most Americans wanted the military to be dismantled so that soldiers could go home, but only two years later the US president was talking about a Cold War with the Soviet Union and instead of stopping the military the USA continued to invest in warfare, bombs and military bases. 
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When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Cold War ended, and many thought that now was the time to reduce the US military, but 10 years later in 2001, after the attack on the World Trade Center, the US president was talking about a long term War on Terror, and the military budget was again growing. 
A big military is a good thing for companies that produce weapons, airplanes and equipment for the army and for military personnel that has great job security when there are wars going on. 
We are no longer living in the age of the Cold War but in the age of War on Terror.

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