Embassy Bombing

At approximate 10:35 a.m. on August 7, 1998 a pickup truck approached the back-security gate of the United States embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. When the truck was refused entry, the occupants of the vehicle discharged grenade. The noise of the grenade drew a crowd of people towards the location. Less than a minute later, nearly 1 ton of explosive material inside the truck was detonated (Driscoll). The United States Embassy bombing has since had a lasting impact on issues foreign to the American public, mainly political terrorism, introducing the significance contributed to many valuable lessons in emergency response and internal support. The significance of the United States Embassy bombing contributed to valuable lessons learned by the governments

With such a large-scale attack, a large media presence swarmed the area. For the local Kenyan press, it was "one of the largest, if not the largest" (Driscoll 75) news event in decades. With such a large presence of the press the words and actions of American personnel after the bombing spread like wildfire. This was the first impression the Kenyan public had to form a lasting opinion on the United States response to the disaster relief. First impressions, positive or negative, can influence long term relations. However, for many interviewed in this report, those opinions where "negative" (Driscoll 75). The bombings held great significance during this time period because it was the first time that American society was introduced to foreign terrorist operatives and their malicious acts of horror. Up until this incident, the largest terrorist attack suffered on U.S. soil was the Oklahoma City bombings carried out by homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bombing 20 Years Later). Now that the American public had witnessed an attack directed specifically at the U.S. government on foreign territory, attention was brought to the encroaching presence of America on the world stage, reminiscent of the USSR in Eastern Europe. Advocates of the Islamic jihad by the likes of Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, brought the perspective and sentiments of a radicalized segment

New terrorist organizations such as ISIS have raised from past conflicts that involved United States intervention in many of the Middle Eastern countries. Form the United States Kenyan Embassy bombing to 9/11 to the present day, the "war on terror" initiated by George W. Bush intended to dismantle and eliminate terrorism and countries that support terrorism. However, United Sates invasion in the middle east only brought more instability and more "negative" (Driscoll) options that the United States is the enemy. Dealing this rampant terrorism has been a controversial topic ever since the invasion of Afghanistan. American Counter Terrorism Operations was intended to deal and stop this issue, however, counter terrorism might not the