Preamble:

Spurts of anti-American terrorism seem to have occurred in response to periodic international activities of the United States. Explore the recent history (say, the past two decades) of terrorism to see if you can find connections between attack episodes and actions the United States was taking at the time. You'll find this to be the case, for example, around 1999, around 1990-92, around 1994-5, and in the early-mid-1980's. (There may be other occasions, too.)

Write:

Write a 4-5 page essay in which you either draw a connection or debunk one between terrorism and actions of the United States. Regardless of whether or not you believe the connection to be legitimate, explain why you think terrorists might have behaved the way they did. Use specific examples to illustrate your case. Come to a conclusion of your own about whether the United States should take the potential for spurring terrorism into account while deciding on a policy course.

Things to remember:

• This is a course about international terrorism
• Focus your paper on a single spate of terrorism &endash; even if it has multiple incidents (i.e. don't try to survey several such periods).
• You must cite your sources, either in the body of your paper or in a bibliography.