Are we at war with terrorists? What about the “Global War on Terrorism”? That sure was a catch phrase in the early 2000s. Don’t we currently have troops in Iraq and Syria? Aren’t we at war with ISIL? All of the answers to these questions are very complicated. We are not currently, legally, at war with ISIL. But why aren’t we? I thought we were dropping tens of thousands of bombs on Raqqa? On September 18th, 2001, Congress enacted the “AUMF”, Authorization for the use of Military Force. The AUMF was at the request of President Bush, in response to the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. The AUMF granted the President the authority “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those… he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, or harbored [those who did].” (www.acslaw.org) Al Qaeda was identified as the terrorist group that was responsible for the attack and thus was targeted by the United States Military for the next fourteen years. The AUMF has been referred to as the global war on terror, but that would be an untrue nickname, as the AUMF only authorizes force against those responsible for the September 11th attacks. Osama Bin Laden was identified as the leader of Al Qaeda and subsequently was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2nd, 2011. So far, conflict in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Djibouti
A month after the terrorist attack in the US, a war was launched by the United States. This war was known as the “fight back” war. It was the beginning of George Bush administration’s war on terrorism. The main theme of this war was to stop terrorism and catch Osama Bin Laden. He was the main person who planned this evil attack on September 11, 2001. Bin Laden’s trained groups that were
On September 11th 2001, the United States was hit with a devastating blow when four commercial airplanes were hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorist who deliberately crashed two of the planes into the World Trade Center complex, and a third plane into the Pentagon. The fourth plane, headed for Washington D.C., instead crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost on this egregious day. In response, President George W. Bush waged the controversial “Global War on Terrorism” which turned out to be a self-inflicted wound for America, bleeding still today. Bush’s highly-criticized decision was inconsistent with the strategic principles of war.
1. Is the "war on terrorism" truly a war? In your opinion, how has the New Terrorism affected and redefined how nations pursue warlike options?
The war on terror is an American-led international campaign to stop terrorism and terrorist groups because of 9/11. America has had a multidimensional approach with a widespread war effort on terror. “The U.S. spent 3.3 trillion fighting Al-Qaeda alone” New York Times author David E. Sanger reported in his article The Price of the Last Chances. America will always continue to fight the war on
Congress intended the War Powers Resolution to halt the diluted ability of Congress to participate in war-making decisions. The terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, however, created new complications for the separation of powers within the war powers sphere. After September 11, the United States Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Terrorists (AUMF). President George W. Bush began offensive campaigns against Afghanistan to neutralize the Taliban government, which controlled Afghanistan and permitted the Al Qaeda terrorist network to conduct terrorist training within the country 's borders.
Comprehending the underlying authority for the President of the United States to authorize the international use of military operations in order to respond to an attack or as a counter-terrorism strategy, may be difficult to fathom for those who are not familiar with practices and philosophies associated in this realm. Conducting military operations against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, detaining suspected terrorists, both indefinitely domestically and abroad, and the use of unmanned drones to disrupt and destroy suspected terrorists and those aiding them in areas such as Pakistan fall under the umbrella of what the US has been able to accomplish in our last 12 years during the Global War on Terror.
After the September 11 attacks, George W. Bush called for a war against Afghanistan in an effort to destroy terrorist organizations. In his statement on Military Order from 2001, Bush explains that if the United States did not use military action against these groups, then terrorists would continue to attack America or other countries and take even more lives (Bush). For Bush, war was the only answer in order to protect his country. Similarly, Vice President Richard Cheney advocated war in the Middle East. He remarked that the American government would target states that assisted terrorists or supported them, as well as individual terrorists. He also claimed that the war was effective as of 2003, and that the military had destroyed certain
The United States’ War on Terror following the attacks on 9/11 began with the invasion of Afghanistan and an attempt to to overthrow the Taliban government for harboring Osama bin Laden, the one responsible for the devastating attacks, led to devastating casualties of American and Taliban soldiers, as well as countless civilians. The United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7, 2001 and began a ground and air attack in Afghanistan. In the first year of the war, it is reported that between 1537 to 2490 civilians were killed in the air assault led by U.S. forces (Guilliard 66). The U.S. swiftly defeated the Taliban but failed to capture Bin Laden before he escaped to Pakistan. It is reported that roughly 13,000 Talibani soldiers were killed in the first year of the war Guilliard 74). This led to very poor relations with Afghan “rebels” in which there were many sporadic battles with that led to Afghanistan becoming a
After 9/11 the war of terrorism was declared and has lasted for more than a decade. Troops invaded Afghanistan along with Iraq. Many years were spent trying to capture Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. Today troops are still hold a presence in these parts of the world and will not give up.
The United States declared war on the Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization who was involved in the 9/11 attacks. The country also listed the leaders of the group to be terminated on their campaign to end terrorism, including Osama bin Laden, founder and head of the Al-Qaeda, who was recently killed in May 2, 2011 during an operation carried out by Navy SEAL Team Six. However, it is realistically impossible to eradicate terrorism due to the widespread of countless recruitments in the Middle East to fight against the United States and its ' allies. In regards to Larry Diamond’s “Winning The New Cold War on Terrorism”, he believed that the United States and the West were the source of this problem because of the corruption in government and that continents, including
Although, it did not take long before America realized that the Al Qaeda group was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. In addition, the organization was led by Osama bin Laden. Besides, the Al Qaeda group had declared war openly on the States of America (Capone, 2011). As a result, the group was ready to terminate lives of innocents’ lives in America and the entire world. Therefore, America started war against Al Qaeda with the aim of protecting the citizens, friends as well as allies. However, after 10 years of the heroic and tireless effort of American military with the tireless support of the counter-terrorism professionals American had yielded some fruits. In addition, America had strengthened its homeland defense and disrupted attacks by the
When the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred the United States responded in a manner which was seen as a traditional reaction to such an attack; it used its overwhelming superior military to invade the nation of Afghanistan. As Afghanistan was the operating base of the terrorist group responsible for the attacks, Al Qaeda, the invasion all but destroyed the group's operating capacity. But in response to the United States' apparent victory the terrorists have re-organized themselves into a looser confederation and turned to alternative methods of finance and operation. One could say that the success of the American military's answer to the September 11th attacks have created a new environment in which terrorists currently operate. This includes the use of the internet, unconventional alliances with international criminal organizations, as well the inception of the "lone wolf" terrorist. Faced with these new type of threats, the United States and its allies must find a way to identify and deal with them.
The world has been changed forever since the tragic attack on September 11, 2001. An observer described the atrocity by saying, "It just went 'bam,' like a bomb went off. It was like holy hell (CNN 1). " The new world will be different from what any American has known before. A new war has arisen, not against a foreign country or a major region of the world, but rather against a select group of people who have the capabilities to destroy the lives of so many. The war against terrorism which the United States is now forced to wage will not be an easily won battle. This war will not be fought solely on scattered battlefields in certain countries. It will instead permeate through every aspect of life as we
The Global War on Terror is a military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom and supported by other NATO members. It was originally against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations with the purpose of eliminating them. This paper discusses how the Bush Administration handled the War on Terror as well as different aspects of it, including its terminology, its objectives, its military operations and criticism against it.
The world is at war. You ask with who? Terrorism, to be more specific though they are called The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). They have a few other names as well, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Daesh. I will choose to call them Daesh in this piece because these terrorists find it insulting. The reason for this is that Daesh an acronym for ISIS in Arabic. This acronym though sounds exactly like the Arabic word dais, which means something that crushes or tramples. “In recent months many Arabs and Western leaders, including Secretary of State John Kerry, prefer to call it Daesh, the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. But Islamic State members hate the term because in Arabic, the pronunciation is close to a word that can be variously translated as "to crush" or "bigot who imposes his will on others" (Reid, 2). Daesh do not want this title and have threatened to cut out the tongues of people who use it. Daesh are a product of instability in the Syrian and Iraq region plus a Syrian civil war. Unfortunately, America is greatly at fault for the instability in Iraq and helped fund the Syrian rebels, so you could say the U.S. helped create them. Daesh’s goal is to start a religious war. They want the world to fear Islam and want them to hate it. They showed us exactly what they were capable of in Paris France. The world needs to realize that this