Annotated Bibliography

Is Terrorism Getting Worse?

Rocio Safont

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

10/15/2017
 Annotated Bibliography

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Nathaniel Barr, The Myth of Lone-Wolf Terrorism, Foreign

Affairs, July 26, 2016.

This popular article explains the different attacks that occurred in Nice, France on July

14th and 26th and in Ansbach, Germany on July 24th, 2016. The authors position is

that ISIS was responsible for these attacks. He explains that although experts begin to

believe that each time these attacks are caused by "solitary wolves" who are not directly

related to ISIS. These "solitary wolves" perform their operations without help from any-

one. He thinks that is just a myth, since many times they are not alone, but they com-

municate with other militants in a difficult way to decipher. At first it seemed that the

two attacks were not related and that they were two "solitary wolves" but thanks to re-

search and social media could be discredited the idea that they work alone. The infor-

mation presented in this article is supported by numerous studies and trusted sources.

The authors purpose is to inform readers about the danger we face before the terrorists.

The audience is each and every one of us because we run the risk of being the victim of

a terrorist attack.

In conclusion, social media is a way to communicated used by terrorists, but at the same

time it is a way of making the world aware of what is happening today. This article has

helped me to know how the terrorists are and what is their modus operandi. As opposed

os other sources this contains relevant information about who are the terrorist and the

myth of the solitary wolves. This source acknowledges human errors about an

unknown topic that is solitary wolves and can be used to stop the future terrorism at-

tacks.
Michael German, Counter Terror Smarter, U.S. News and World Report, October 26, 2016.

This popular article serves to explain the antiterrorist debate that everyone has and pro-

vides 4 strategies to be able to end it, or at least stop it as much as possible.

The author shows a critical view of the American government in the face of terrorist at-

tacks, saying that they should forget the failed strategies so far and should focus on new

ones such as the ones he provides: Stop sensationalising terrorism, according the author,

social media increase fear of todays society. Stop pretending increased surveillance

will result in fewer attacks, the author expresses the government frustration and the

problem of security forces in predicting attacks and looking for suspects. Stop focus-

ing on so-called ideological radicalization as the primary driver of terrorist violence, the

investigation has made that there is no predictive profile of terrorist.

Stop treating so-called lone wolves as soldiers in a global war, the author talks about

solitary wolves but he states that the does not exist, they are a myth, and are orga-

nized groups of people prepared to carry out the attack. The article shows how for ex-

ample Al Qaeda and the Islamic group makes calls to Muslim Americans to act on their

behalf but does not consider it relevant.

The author explains the information of the article of objective form but making it clear

that a change is needed so that the terrorist attacks are not repeated, criticizes the way in

which the government has acted and shows them some guidelines to follow. I think this

information is relievable and the intention of the author is to draw the attention of the

government for a change and thus end terrorism. I also think that the audience are each

and every one of us and especially the government who are the ones who have to take

the next step. The contents of this essay are very useful to my research, especially to me

to understand more about terrorism and how to combat it with these new four strategies
Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Rise of Complex Terrorism, Foreign Policy, November 16,

2009.

This article explains the rise of complex terrorism. This author explains why we are tar-

gets of terrorists: one is because of the technological capacity of small groups to destroy

things and people and the second one is because of our vulnerability to these attacks.

The author also explains how the development of weapons has progressed and how the

development of the media and the internet has been able to help the terrorists to facili-

tate their work by hiding and deciphering the messages they sent so no one could stop

them. This information relies on reliable data and with examples such as New York,

11S, World Trade Center, NADASQ. These are examples of vulnerable infrastructure

damaged by terrorists. Eventually this caused panic and chaos in the world with each

attack and caused and continues to cause horror, anger and fear in society.

The author is having an objective point of view using findings from studies that coin-

cide with his arguments. Although this articles is from 2009 it has important current in-

formation that explains todays terrorism and the need to change this if we want to end

terrorism forever.

The audience is each and every one of us. This is the article that more detailed infor-

mation contains and that best explains what happened in the 11S and the problems that

were and what happens now and the problems of today. All the information is argued

with studied examples.

This is a very useful source to my research because it shows how terrorism was in the

past explaining the reasons that we could not stop them and shows us how to end this

war forever
Sam Meredith Spain terror attacks 'totally different' to other deadly incidents in Europe,

CNBC, Europe News, August 18, 2017

This article from this relievable website explains one of the islamist attacks. This one

was in Barcelona, Spain, the place that I come from. The author defines the attack as

different from the rest despite being provoked by the Islamists with a vehicle such as the

example of Germany, Francia, Great Britain and Sweden. The author tells how was the

terrorist attack on Las Ramblas, Barcelona when at 5:30 pm a driver of a van began to

run over people and then fled. The author explains the differences between the attacks

from Madrid and Barcelona, since in Madrid Al Qaeda, a terrorist group, put a bomb in

commuter trains causing the death of 192 people in 2004.

The article contains specific and visual findings that demonstrate and explain in detail

how the terrorist attack was and how the police acted to prevent it from spreading

throughout the rest of Spain. The author gives examples which demonstrates that is a

relievable source and he is explaining objectively what happened in Barcelona. In addi-

tion, the article provide video content about the attack in Las Ramblas.

The purpose of the author is to inform about what happened in Barcelona, Spain and

what islamic terrorism is affecting in Europe today. The audience is everyone because

nobody knows which country is going to be next. This source is different from the rest

of the other sources because it is an example of the islamic terrorism in Europe and the

author is talking about my country, Spain.

In conclusion, I think that this source was helpful for my research because it explains in

detail how was one of the islamist attacks in Europe and the consequences of it. I consi-

der that this example have to be on my project because it affects directly to me because

the attack was in the country that I come from.