IS IT POSSIBLE TO PREVENT IMMINENT TERROR ATTACKS? THE U.S. INTERVENTION CASE AGAINST KHORASAN TERROR GROUP
IS IT POSSIBLE TO PREVENT IMMINENT TERROR ATTACKS? THE U.S. INTERVENTION CASE AGAINST KHORASAN TERROR GROUP

Author(s): Luiza Maria Filimon
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: terrorism; imminence; terror group Khorasan; critical discourse analysis; foreign military intervention; internationalized civil war; ISIL; Syria
Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims to analyze the context that led to the start of the American intervention in Syria, in September 2014. As a result of Iraqi forces being unable to face the armed offensive of the Islamic State (ISIL) organization coming from the civil war devastated Syria and taking into account the potential risk of a collapse of the Iraqi state, the United States and its partner nations in the region (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar) launched airstrikes against ISIL positions on 22 September 2014. In the weeks prior to the intervention, sources in the American government revealed that an even more dangerous terrorist actor was present in Syria, namely the Khorasan Group, which was allegedly plotting a series of imminent attacks against the territory of the United States. This article applies critical discourse analysis to a series of official and media positions in order to highlight that the imminence requirements posed by terror threats are met, even when the available data is inaccurate or outright missing.

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