Should the United States Adopt a More Aggressive Strategy to Combat International Terrorism

摘要

This paper examines whether or not the United States should adopt a more aggressive strategy to combat international terrorism. Although the United States has been virtually immune from international terrorist attacks on the homeland, the recent attacks on the USS Cole and the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania have served as stark reminders that terrorism is a very real threat to US citizens at home and abroad. This paper highlights the level of public concern over the terrorist threat and examines what the past terrorist attack trends against US interests have been. The paper then discusses possible reasons terrorists attack US interests. Given the terrorist attack trends and possible reasons terrorists attack US interests, the paper offers a critique of the current US policy for combating terrorism. The paper concludes that the United States is not using all the means available to it to combat terrorism and should adopt more proactive policy options.