The USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut are some of the examples of historical attacks on United States citizens that occurred in foreign countries. For many years, radical Islamist terrorism has been a significant threat to United States citizens at home or abroad. Based on past attacks on Americans, the attackers originate from the greater Middle East and are coordinated by radical Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, and in the recent past the Islamic State (IS). Although the United States has destroyed al-Qaeda through military actions such as the killing of its influential leader Osama bin Laden, terrorism has evolved in the past decade. As much as other groups share the same al-Qaeda ideologies and beliefs, contemporary Islamist terrorist groups have changed their attack strategies due to emerging interests and local conflicts. For example, IS comprises of Sunni Muslims who have adopted the radical Islamist ideologies. This paper explores issues of Homeland Security and terrorism by analyzing the USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut as case studies.
Analysis of the Barracks bombing in Beirut
The 1983 Beirut barracks bombings is a terrorist attack that targeted American and French military peacekeeping operation service members. The incident involved a truck bomb that destroyed the U.S embassy in Beirut, and led to the demise of 307 people. A terrorist group named Islamist Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Initially, the group wanted the removal of international peacekeeping operatives from Lebanon. The attack occurred during the Lebanese Civil War resulting in the removal of peacekeeping forces in the country ( Geraghty, 2009) . Such a move is inconvenient to the mission, but it is done for the purposes of protecting the lives of American servicemen and women. On the other hand, it gives the terrorists an impression of success and a win against the United States.
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Over the years, there have been many theories of success and failure in the interpretations of the 1983 Beirut barracks. Most of these divergent theories revolved around efficacy, purpose, and value of the United States intervention in the Lebanese Civil War. Unlike other Bayesian theories, the resulting success and failure theories associated with attacks involved interpretations of diverse views and developments that occurred after the incident ( Geraghty, 2009) . Those supporting the theory of success indicated that the United States needed to reinforce its peacekeeping mission including expanding the mission. Conversely, those who supported the theory of failure saw the impact on casualties as a significant reason to keep off from other countries issues.
Policymakers and decision-makers agreed that the mission was tragic, but not everyone agreed that the United States had faced a significant setback. Then again, the decision to withdraw peacekeeping forces from Lebanon suggested that the country was ready to disengage from such missions. Until the very end of the development of the incident events, optimist like Ronal Reagan believed in the importance of maintaining peacekeeping missions ( Wills, 2003) . The collapse of the Lebanon forces illustrated the theory of success that supports the idea that a collaboration of the Lebanese forces with the United States forces and other international forces such as those from France and Italy could have prevented further damage.
Some scholars indicate that Reagan’s decision not to retaliate was as an attempt to back down as evidenced through the choice to withdraw forces. The Reagan administration in some instances appeared indecisive; it was later evident that Reagan himself overruled some decisions from his advisors (Wills, 2003). This is attributed to the fact that he believed in aggressive defense ( Wills, 2003) . However, his decisions were tested when Syrian anti-aircraft personnel fired at United States’ reconnaissance planes. His immediate reaction was a plan for instant retaliation. This highlights the complexity of the United States decision-making process in testing times, where settling on one decision is perceived differently by members of the public and political commentators.
Analysis of the USS Cole Bombing
The USS Cole Bombing occurred on 12th, October 2000 leading to the loss of lives of 17 Navy sailors and injuries to 39 others. The attack was carried out by two al-Qaeda suicide bombers at Aden Port in Yemen. This incident preceded the September 11 attacks in the United States soil in 2001; thus demystifying the nature and prevalence of terrorist attacks at the time. For instance, in March 2001, the Al-Jazeera broadcasted Osama bin Laden bragging of the USS Cole bombing through a poem. The act portrays how the terrorist groups show contempt for their targets by proclaiming responsibility for inhumane attacks on innocent people. Then again, the Yemeni government indicated three days after the attack that it had information the United States that USS Cole was a terrorist attack target even though it had initially considered the attack to be accidental ( Gartner, 2004; Langworthy, Sabra & Gould, 2004) .
On the other hand, the fact that Yemeni and Pakistani governments cooperated in the investigation and arrest of the USS Cole attack suspects including Jamal al-Badawi, Fahd al-Quso, and Walid bin Attash shows lukewarm efforts by some governments in the fight against terrorism. In another development, family members of the sailors sued the Sudanese government for the attack alleging that the government supported the attack. These developments lead to many questions regarding the support or negligence demonstrated by certain governments when it comes to planning, mitigation, and the management of terrorist attacks.
The United States security agencies have been at the forefront in the process of cracking terrorism not only locally but also internationally. For instance, the process of arresting or killing of terrorists has resulted in the increase in profiling procedures by the FBI and the CIA in the course of the past two decades. Consequentially, justice has been served to the families of the terrorist attack victims. As an example, the United States government stated this year that Jamal Al-Badawi had been killed in an airstrike in Yemen. This shows the commitment of the country towards cracking down on terrorists.
Implications of the USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut on United States’ International Relations and Homeland Security
The USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut acted as critical security analysis and evaluation points of reference. For example, the United States has been hunting down the suspects and fugitive convicts of the Barracks bombing in Beirut for almost two decades as demonstrated by the killing of Jamal Al-Badawi 19 years after the incident happened. This shows the commitment of the country’s security agencies to protect the nation and collaborate with other nations to deal with the menace of international terrorists. Through the Department of Homeland Security, the United States has improved internal security by cooperating with other agencies such as FBI and CIA in investing and dealing with threats to national security. The FBI has mainly evolved after the September, 11 attacks as evidenced by its effectiveness in law-enforcement and domestic intelligence.
Some critics argue that the attacks that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s should have signaled a wakeup call to the United States government to deal with terrorism better. This is on the grounds that the United States portrayed much seriousness on national security and terrorism after the September, 11 attacks. Others could argue that the years between 1998 and 2001 included many terrorist attacks targeting United States citizens; thus justifying the quick reaction after the onset of the new millennium ( Fox, Binstock & Minutas, 2013) . However, there is the general idea that one is never a hundred percent secure or safe. According to Dahl (2005), t his occurs in light of the ever-evolving terrorism strategies with the advancement of security and intelligence services.
As a result of the USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut, the United States has reviewed its stance on international relations. The reforms include the public stance that it will never negotiate with terrorists. However, White (2017) argues that most terrorism activities do not begin with planned violence. Instead, terrorists turn to violence when they are not given a chance to negotiate. Still on negotiations, the United States has been involved in several negotiations in the last three decades ( White, 2017) . The negotiations were aimed at improving international relations where the United States opts to engage other nations on issues relating to international or bilateral matters. These negotiatetions are popularly known as “deals” sanctioned by the president.
Based on the findings presented in this paper, it is evident that the USS Cole Bombing and the Barracks bombing in Beirut had many implications on the United States’ international relations and Homeland Security. The impacts include improved law-enforcement and intelligence strategies as well as advancement of international relations strategies. As a result, the United States has been able to mitigate terrorist activities such as through the destruction of groups like al-Qaeda. From that perspective, it is conspicuous that the issues of national security, terrorism, and international relations remain critical and should be continuously modified to warrant efficiency in the war against terrorism.
References
Dahl, E. J. (January 01, 2005). Warning of Terror: Explaining the Failure of Intelligence Against Terrorism. Journal of Strategic Studies, 28, 1, 31-55.
Fox, W. P., Binstock, J. P., & Minutas, M. P. (July 01, 2013). Modeling and Methodology for Incorporating Existing Technologies to Produce Higher Probabilities of Detecting Suicide Bombers. International Journal of Operations Research and Information Systems (ijoris), 4, 3, 1-18.
Gartner, S. (April 01, 2004). Making the International Local: The Terrorist Attack on the USS Cole, Local Casualties, and Media Coverage. Political Communication, 21, 2, 139-159.
Geraghty, T. J. (2009). Peacekeepers at war: Beirut 1983-the Marine commander tells his story . Washington, D.C: Potomac Books.
Langworthy, M. J., Sabra, J., & Gould, M. (January 01, 2004). Terrorism and blast phenomena: lessons learned from the attack on the USS Cole (DDG67). Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 422, 82-7.
White, J. (2017). Terrorism and homeland security . Belmont: Wadsworth.
Wills, D. C. (2003). The first war on terrorism: Counter-terrorism policy during the Reagan administration . Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Pub.
