Caught By Surprise.

Yep, that's me at the moment. Granted, I like to use this phrase while singing one of my favorite musical songs, but it works here, too. So, I'm taking this class on Terrorism. (I had no idea when I signed up for it!) The first class hour I attended, I HATED it! I disliked my professors, there were a bunch of old people in it, and it didn't sound very interesting. After deciding to stick with it and not transfer out, I am so glad I did! It's incredible! The whole course is centered around terrorism and defining it. Because the world does not agree on one definition (because if we did, then we would be held liable for labeling and being labeled ourselves, as terrorists) we have the task of studying and learning more about this world-wide social phenomenon and dedicating our final paper to our definition of what terrorism is, based on our research. Today we studied 9/11 and what led up to that tragic day in American History. I had no idea that plans and attempts were made many years before to lead  up to this attack. It was so intriguing and mind-blowing learning about these people who were so determined to destroy all aspects of Western Civilization. Osama Bin Laden started out his career being known as a "Samaritan" because of his efforts to aid those in need. He came from a very wealthy family and helped use his means to aid others. Who knew! Later on, he used that same wealth to help him become one of Afghanistan's most powerful leaders. With his families money he created a network throughout the world called "Jihad". There were 35 Jihad networks throughout the world and America was their main country they wanted their Jihad networks foundation to be. They felt that if they could get as many allies in America as possible, their plan to destroy American would become much easier. Everything I learned was so mind-blowing and finding out the the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 was not the first encounter with these men just blew my mind! I didn't know that in 1992, two men tried to bomb the World Trade Center by placing a bomb in the basement. The incident killed 6 people and that was a huge disappointment to these men so they began planning an even bigger attack. The hijacking of the planes was not a spur of the moment thing and was so well planned out, it's scary. It started in 1980! 1980!!!!!! Many of the masterminds behind the 9/11 attack went to school here in the United States and then returned home to Afghanistan, Pakistan, or wherever home was and joined the Jihad network. So, in a way we trained these men who destroyed us! I could go on, and on, but you would probably get bored but I LOVE this class! It's so fascinating and I think that if the general American population understood more about the international world and the grievances others have with out foreign policy, we would most likely not be in the mess today.