After browsing through Stephen E. Atkins's book Terrorism, I soon learned many interesting things regarding the history of terrorism. It seems this form of protest has been around since Biblical times. Also, the main goal of a terrorist is not to do damage to one particular person or place, but to gain
             publicity for an idea they support. Evidence of this can be found by looking at the recent past of the United States. The Oklahoma bombing was one man's way of expressing his dislike of the government. The exact definition of terrorism is not a solid line, it is a very wide line that isn't defined. The
             general definition of terrorism is an attack of some sort against a person or place that involves violence and/or destruction of property and is usually politically motivated.
             Our fight against terrorism became something the terrorists might fear in 1970, at the Hague Convention. This United Nations convention basically defined "hijacking" as a crime and required contracting states either to allow the
             extradition of hijackers to their country of origin, or to prosecute them in the
             state where they were arrested. (The Terrorists 146) Atkins states that one of
             the reasons it took so long to do anything about terrorism is that it is so hard
             to define, and therefore just as hard to enforce. He also says Declarations and
             conventions from the UN have lacked effective enforcement mechanisms, so they
             have been ignored by member states and have been characterized as 'largely
             cosmetic. Basically, the UN is doing this to satisfy the public and little
             else. This lack of understanding of the meaning of terrorism has also been a
             hindrance when law 8:56 PM 12/14/96enforcement was actually implemented. Police
             aren't trained to handle terrorist type attacks, instead they handle them like
             ordinary criminal attacks. (Terrorism 26-27) This gives the terrorists exactly
             what they wanted, publicity for their cause.
             The m...