Page 30 - Only Love Can Defeat Terrorism

Only Love Can Defeat Terrorism

or at a movie theater, in a shopping center, riding a bus or at
their workplace. Naturally, terrorism's ability to enter
people's homes has led to considerable anxiety and alarm.

People are hesitant to enter crowded areas or use public
transport, and their daily lives are becoming intolerable. But
that is exactly what terrorism wants to see, whole
communities living in fear and alarm.
The evidence from terrible attacks throughout the world

certainly confirms that concern. In 1996, there were 296
incidents with 314 people killed and 2,912 injured. In 1997,
terrorism's scope began to expand. There were 439 attacks,
398 were aimed at workplaces or non-official premises,
leading to the loss of 139 civilian lives, 39 of them civil
servants or military personnel. 6
According to the U.S. State Department, the number of

terrorist attacks in 2000 saw an 8% rise over 1999, with 423
deaths and 791 injured. Between 1981 and 2000, the total
number of deaths resulting from terrorist attacks was 9,184. 7
These figures do not include all the people who died in all
terrorist attacks across the globe. The report considered only

attacks by international terrorist organizations, not those
inflicted by local terrorist groups. In Turkey alone there were
21,866 terrorist attacks between August 15, 1984 and October
31, 2001, costing the lives of 5,605 security personnel and
4,646 civilians. A further 16,562 members of the security
forces and 5,091 civilians were injured. 8
The physical damage and economic harm resulting from

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