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Analysis Of The Three Us National Strategies For Combating Terrorism

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ANALYSIS OF THE THREE US NATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR COMBATING TERRORISM (2003, 2006 and 2011)
Introduction
The US response to terrorism after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, marked a major departure in its policy since before then, terrorism was handled as a law enforcement issue with hardly a strategy in place. The aftermath shock still determines the forging of policies for counterterrorism. By 2003 the official position of the United States was set by framing the threat as a war against ‘terrorism of global reach. The implications of which was clear: The United States could not lose. Though US had declared war on social problems such as poverty and drugs in the past, for the first time terrorism became the major threat to national security and therefore the solution involved the use of military force with victory as the outcome. It should be noted that the word ‘war’ was both a diagnostic and a prescription. This paper summarizes and assesses the US Strategy for combating terrorism as it has evolved over the years from 2003 to 2011, focusing on the changes in the US approach to and understanding of counterterrorism within both the domestic and international environment. In order to fully assess the changes, the following shall be discussed below: nature of war and the enemy, the ends, ways and means of the strategies.
The nature of war and the enemy
All the three strategies are in agreement that the struggle against terrorism is war, however, the 2003 strategy

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