Sociology of Crime Primarily Using Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 3045 words ( 10 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 10



FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

A similar crime was witnessed on September 11, 2001. The United States of America saw the sad death of thousands of innocent people just because some people wanted to acquire their goals. This followed an economic crisis and many innocent civilians faced unnecessary loss of jobs. The political environment has ever since been changing constantly and the United States went into war against Afghanistan. After Afghanistan there was a pre-emptive action on Iraq against the regime of Saddam Hussein who was accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction.

With terrorism becoming more organized, the law enforcement bodies try to formulate more laws to provide security to their citizens. There have been many congressional debates on the Antiterrorism and the Immigration policies of the United States. The immigration laws have been made stricter with a better screening of who comes in and who does not. Recently the citizens of some countries working in the United States were also asked to register themselves. This was a step to collect data about the people living and working in the United States.

When the government of the United States wanted to go to war with Afghanistan, it began its propaganda via the media instilling fear in the hearts of the Americans. People were told that they are under constant threat by the Muslim terrorists; different states were put under different colors denoting the level of danger. With such steps, psychologically the Americans developed a negative view of Muslims in totality rather than understanding that terrorists belong to no religion whether their goals are religious or not. To gain support for their war on terror, the government should be given the complete credit of successfully causing a racial problem in the United States once again. A considerable portion of the population of the United States feels that the Muslims should be thrown out or that the Arabs should have special identity cards and should be under observation at all times.

They formulated laws against terrorism like increased screening at airports which have led to further racial and ethnic profiling. Such laws have been the cause of increased racial profiling in the United States. Law enforcement agencies have been given complete authority to deal with "suspects" in any way they feel necessary and thus they have interrogated, detained, verbally and physically abused many Muslim immigrants for unspecified reasons. Giving such autonomy to law enforcement bodies will only prove hazardous to the United States itself in the long run.

The government has authorized the monitoring of mosques even without any indication of criminal activities. They detain some as material witnesses due to the lack of evidence to indict them. Such actions and steps damage the role of the United States that otherwise advocates democracy and freedom.

THE BENEFICIARIES

The war on terror has proved good for the business of industries. The Texas-based Lockheed Martin received the biggest military contract in the history of the United States of America. It was a $20 billion contract to build 3000 stealth super sonic fighter jets for the military. President George Bush in his January 30, 2002 state of the union address labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the "axis of evil" and only a couple of days later he purported a $48 billion increase in the military budget. This act by President Bush gives him a reason to increase the military spending which will enrich the military contractors from whom enormous purchases will be made.

Also interesting is how the interim President installed in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai was previously a consultant to UNOCAL, the same United States oil company that is to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan.

An important component of the growing political crisis within the United States is the relationship between Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton Corp., the Fortune 500 oil services and construction company Cheney headed between 1995 and 2000. In addition to accusations of accounting fraud, recent reports have detailed the lucrative relationship between Halliburton and the American military. Cheney's old firm has been a major beneficiary of the expansion of U.S. military operations around the world in the aftermath of September 11.

Over the past several months, the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) has been involved in a $16 million project to construct cells at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters captured in Afghanistan. In Uzbekistan, KBR has a contract to run camps at the Khanabad air base, which has been used extensively in the Central Asian war. Within Afghanistan, the company has been hired to provide services at the Force Provider military camp. [Joseph Kay]

After the war in Iraq was over, American corporate involved in rebuilding Iraq have been the major beneficiaries as a result of this war.

Stuck Writing Your "Sociology of Crime Primarily Using" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Sociology of Crime Primarily Using Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

This rebuilding includes things like reconstructing schools, hospitals, road networks, water systems and bridges. Major companies given the contract to rebuild Iraq include Bechtel Group Inc., Halliburton Co., Stevedoring Services of America, Abt Associates Inc., SkyLink Air and Logistic Support (USA) Inc., International Resources Group, Research Triangle Institute and Creative Associates International Inc.

The world's second largest source of oil is Iraq with the majority of subterranean oil untapped. The United States' oil corporations are to develop the oil industry to such an extent where it can become a major source of oil for the world. It will be a major rival to Saudi Arabia.

War was waged against two countries. The people who died were soldiers and innocent civilians and the ones who will benefit from this are not the American citizens but the corporations. They will mend money while families weep over their lost ones. The theory of capitalism is put to practical use here. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has spent $600,000 of the taxpayers' money and the Bush administration has sought $8million through 2005.

THE DISADVANTAGEOUS GROUP

Ever since the United States went to war there has been a severe case of racial profiling. The authorities have been targeting people of specific races. Although the law enforcing bodies should look for strange behavior, they just look for skin color. If a person is a Muslim, the authorities have started to target and harass them. They can interrogate and harass any Arab or Muslim at their own leisure thus violating any human rights that the victim would otherwise have. It has also been seen that Muslim women are changing the dress which their religion recommends them to wear because they fear harassment. Such behavior by the authorities installs hatred in the heart of the victim for the government which can in turn be the cause and increases the chances of the victim to become a criminal.

Further, actions like war on terror that have a hidden agenda eventually lead to a situation where the upper class gets an eventual domination over the lower class. This can be seen from the facts presented above. The corporations and industrialists have been the main beneficiaries at the expense of the trouble that normal civilians are put through. All the hardships are faced by the common man and profits are made by the corporations. This is a classical example of the Marxist theory of capitalism. The rich become the richer while the poor becomes poorer. One can divide the population to two extremes of a spectrum: the rich and the poor or the upper and the lower class. This is nothing but a trigger to increased crime rate.

CONCLUSION

A similar trend of capitalism was seen in the war on terrorism where the United States advocating for an increased safety for its citizens invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. The war on Iraq was a pre-emptive strike with the reason of presence of weapons of mass destruction. However to date no weapons of mass destruction were found. Obviously the reason for such wars is not for better security but has other motives. American companies will make maximum profits by utilizing the cheapest labor. The hard work of the labor will yield luxuries for the capitalists whereas the labor themselves will be paid only a fraction as compared to the actual worth of what they will produce shall be. To secure their own needs and desires, the capitalists by force invaded countries, violated their sovereignty, killed innocent civilians and have now secured their interests. Such an imbalance in the economic standing of common man where financial benefits are only for the rich, terrorism can never be fought instead this will in turn give rise to more crime and terrorism.

REFERENCES:

(1) The History Guide -- Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History [http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html] Accessed on 27/08/2005

(2) Frank Elwell - The Sociology of Karl Marx [http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Marx/#Printable%20Version] Accessed on 27/08/2005

(3) Conflict Theories [http://www.sociology.org.uk/p2t3.htm] Accessed on 27/08/2005

(4) Council on Foreign Relations [http://cfrterrorism.org/home/] Accessed on 27/08/2005

(5) John M. Deutch - Article Title: Terrorism. Magazine Title: Foreign Policy. Issue: 108. Publication Date: Fall 1997. Page Number: 10+.

(6) Joseph Kay -….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Sociology Of Crime Primarily Using" (2005, August 28) Retrieved April 29, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/sociology-crime-primarily-using-67170

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Sociology Of Crime Primarily Using" 28 August 2005. Web.29 April. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/sociology-crime-primarily-using-67170>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Sociology Of Crime Primarily Using", 28 August 2005, Accessed.29 April. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/sociology-crime-primarily-using-67170
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example