September 11, 2001
The September 11 attacks were a series of four suicide attacks that were committed in the United States on September 11, 2001, coordinated to strike the areas of New York City and Washington, D.C. On that Tuesday morning, 19 members of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally piloted two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours. The hijackers also intentionally crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and intended to pilot the fourth hijacked jet, United Airlines Flight 93, into a target in Washington, D.C.; however, the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers attempted to take control of the jet. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes.
Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda, and in 2004, the group's leader Osama bin Laden, who had initially denied involvement, claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited the United States's support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives for the attacks. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the "War on Terror" and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who were accused of harboring al-Qaeda. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. In May of 2011, after years at large, bin Laden was found and killed. In the United States and elsewhere, the aftermath of the attacks saw tensions increase between Muslims and non-Muslim.
Events
At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC), and at 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC). Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
9/11 Attacks on the World Trade Center
The north face of Two World Trade Center (south tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175.
A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, under the control of four hijackers, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House. Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers attempting to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning. Once it became evident to the hijackers that the passengers might regain control of the plane, the hijackers rolled the plane and intentionally crashed it.
America's "War on Terror"
The Bush Doctrine
Following the attacks, President Bush's approval rating soared to 90%. In the subsequent nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's highly visible role won him high praise in New York and nationally. The evening of the attacks, President Bush promised the nation that those responsible for the attacks would be brought to justice. Three days later, Congress issued a joint resolution authorizing the president to use all means necessary against the individuals, organizations, or nations involved in the attacks. On September 20, in an address to a joint session of Congress, Bush declared war on terrorism, blamed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for the attacks, and demanded that the radical Islamic fundamentalists who ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban, turn bin Laden over or face attack by the United States. This speech encapsulated what became known as the Bush Doctrine, the belief that the United States has the right to protect itself from terrorist acts by engaging in pre-emptive wars or ousting governments deemed hostile to the United States in favor of more supportive, preferably democratic, regimes.
Preemptive War
A preemptive war is a war that is commenced in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (allegedly unavoidable) war before that threat materializes. It is a war that preemptively 'breaks the peace.' Internationally, the U.S. government's War on Terror was used to justify an invasion of Afghanistan in October of 2001, under the expressed purpose of ousting the Taliban. Claiming that Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction, perhaps with the intent of attacking the United States, the president sent U.S. troops to Iraq as well in 2003, beginning the Iraq War. The Bush administration stated the Iraq War was part of the War on Terror, something that was later contested. Thousands were killed, and many of the men captured by the United States were imprisoned and sometimes tortured for information.
The doctrine of preemption gained renewed reputation following the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The Bush administration mainly claimed for the necessity to intervene to prevent Saddam Hussein from deploying weapons of mass destruction prior to launching an armed attack . However, it has since been confirmed that no weapons of mass destruction were found, and that the suspicions of the Bush administration were mistaken. Some question the true intention of the U.S. government for invading Iraq, based on possibility of retaliation on the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. It is still unclear whether the U.S. invasion of Iraq is legally justifiable.
The Department of Homeland Security
In the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history, the United States enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002, creating the Department of Homeland Security. This Department centralized control over a number of different government functions in order to better control threats at home; it has many duties, including guarding U.S. borders and wielding control over the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, and a multitude of other law enforcement agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security has many duties, including guarding U.S. borders and, as this organizational chart shows, wielding control over the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, and a multitude of other law enforcement agencies.
Increasing Domestic Surveillance
Congress also passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which enabled law enforcement agencies to monitor citizens’ e-mails and phone conversations without a warrant. The government defended that this would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes. Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying it allows law enforcement to invade the privacy of citizens and eliminates judicial oversight of law enforcement and domestic intelligence.
The Bush administration was fiercely committed to rooting out threats to the United States wherever they originated, and in the weeks after September 11, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) scoured the globe, sweeping up thousands of young Muslim men. Because U.S. law prohibits the use of torture, the CIA transferred some of these prisoners to other nations—a practice known as rendition or extraordinary rendition—where the local authorities can use methods of interrogation not allowed in the United States.
While the CIA operates overseas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the chief federal law enforcement agency within U.S. national borders. Its activities are limited by, among other things, the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. Beginning in 2002, however, the Bush administration implemented a wide-ranging program of warrantless domestic wiretapping, known as the Terrorist Surveillance Program, by the National Security Agency (NSA), giving the agency broad powers. The shaky constitutional basis for this program was ultimately revealed in August 2006, when a federal judge in Detroit ordered the program ended immediately.
Guantanamo Bay
The use of unconstitutional wire taps to prosecute the war on terrorism was only one way the new threat challenged authorities in the United States. Another problem was deciding what to do with foreign terrorists captured on the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq. In traditional conflicts, where both sides are uniformed combatants, the rules of engagement and the treatment of prisoners of war are clear. In the new War on Terror, however, extracting intelligence about upcoming attacks became a top priority that superseded human rights and constitutional concerns. For that purpose, the United States began transporting men suspected of being members of al-Qaeda to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for questioning. The Bush administration labeled the detainees “unlawful combatants,” in an effort to avoid affording them the rights guaranteed to prisoners of war, such as protection from torture, by international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions. Furthermore, the Justice Department argued that the prisoners were unable to sue for their rights in U.S. courts on the grounds that the constitution did not apply to U.S. territories. It was only in 2006 that the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the military tribunals that tried Guantanamo prisoners violated both U.S. federal law and the Geneva Conventions.
Criticism
Criticism of the War on Terror addresses the issues, morals, ethics, efficiency, economics, and other questions surrounding the War on Terror and made against the phrase itself, calling it a misnomer. The notion of a "war" against "terrorism" has proven highly contentious, with critics charging that it has been exploited by participating governments to pursue long-standing policy/military objectives, reduce civil liberties, and infringe upon human rights. It is argued that the term "war" is not appropriate in this context (as in "War on Drugs"), since there is no identifiable enemy, and that it is unlikely for international terrorism to be brought to an end by military means.