Do we really know how many terrorists are there in the world today? In the United States? How many terrorist incidents occurred last year? How do we know all the events qualified as terrorism fit the statutory framework?
As you have seen in this week’s readings, it may actually be very difficult to answer these questions. As a result, it’s also difficult to answer a simple question like ‘Are we winning or losing the war on terror?’
For this week’s discussion, please begin by visiting the START terrorist incidents database, found here: https://start.umd.edu/Links to an external site.
Read about the databaseLinks to an external site.
Now read about some of the METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES which researchers have faced in defining and measuring terrorismLinks to an external site.:
Spend some time exploring the database. Choose a country and look at some trends in that country regarding terrorist incidents over time.
Then respond to the following questions. But as you do, consider Josef Pieper’s “countless superficial information bits” in the absence of knowing the core of the matter while also pondering Brigadier S.K. Malik’s statement that the object of terror is the destruction of faith: