Terrorism
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
 |
The English used in this article may not be easy for everybody to understand. You can help Wikipedia by making this page or section simpler. |
Terrorism is the act of scaring people for a social or political reason using violence (or threat of violence). A person who uses terrorism is called a terrorist. Sometimes they do the things they say they will do, and sometimes they do not. Terrorists think that if others are afraid of them, they will have more power over other people.
Terrorists may also be trying to make their enemies into attacking the people whom the terrorists claim to represent. This will hopefully cause this population to be for the terrorists. For example, Palestinian Hamas terrorists killed Israeli civilians in bomb attacks, provoking Israel into carrying out revenge attacks against Palestinian civilians, thus increasing Palestinian hate for Israel and support for Hamas. An example of a well-known terrorist is Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
According to the National Counter Terrorism Center, terrorists killed 20,498 people in 2006. For comparison, the World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die each year from tuberculosis. The major effects of terrorism comes from the fear it generates.
Terrorists fund their activities with criminal programs, like identity theft.
