September 11, 2001 Essay Example for Free

September 11, 2001 Essay On September 11, 2001 before 9:58am Eastern Central Time, the world changed forever. It is not overly dramatic to state this. America and the West is now faced with a new and highly dangerous enemy who hijacked planes and a religion in order to spread their blurred message of a new Islam in which all who do not believe as they do, are meant to meet a cruel death. It does not matter to these hijackers that 99% of Muslims do not adhere to these principles and who have openly condemned the actions of the violent minority. What only matters is the idea that America supports Israel and therefore is evil. America yields too much freedom to their people and as a result, is seen as a threat to Muslim countries. On September 11, 2001 in New York City, The Pentagon in Washington and in a field in Pennsylvania, the terrorists added to their long list of attacks on the West. There have been multiple attacks by Islamic terrorists before 9/11 and many more in the years since. Many of these attacks have been attributed to, either by various factions of the American government, or by the terrorists themselves who call themselves Al-Qaeda. The history of this terrorist group is relatively new in the history of Islamic terrorists but which have contributed a great deal to the West’s perception that Muslims sponsor terrorists in its many forms and that the Qu’ran supports it. What also is not in doubt is the way in which life in America has been changed while this society is at war. In every war, America has tightened its civil liberties in one form or another in order to put the successful completion of the war at the top of its list of proprieties. There has been a segment of the population that has decried these actions of the government. This is not a debate as to which sides are right and what, if any measures need to be taken in order that the war meets its swift and successful completion. This report is to analysis the ways in which the attacks on 9/11 have affected America, the justification that Al-Qaeda gave for their attacks and the response that America has given, both in the Middle East and here in America. The war continues and as long as it continues and American seeks to end Islamic extremists from their quest to entice a holy war through their murder of innocent people in Madrid, London, New York, Yemen, various parts of Africa and Bali as well as failed attempts recently at JFK airport where five African nationalists sought to blow up the airport but which was fortunately stopped. (Pearson, 2007 pg. A4) It seems like a necessary aspect of future life in America as the dangers of terrorists, both home grown and abroad who seek to disrupt and kill Americans which has prompted a tightening of the civil liberties in this country. As a result, in a time of war, certain changes to the way in which we live, are imposed on the general public by the government. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the country wanted to know the: who, what, where and why of this most tragic event. Not since the bombing of Pearl Harbor had America been hit with such a blow from an overseas source. In the coming days, it was presumed by the government that Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist group Al Qaeda was responsible for the attacks. Despite the initial refusal to take credit or blame for the attacks by Bin Laden who stated in the immediate days following the attacks: â€Å"I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation,† soon changed into a proud proclamation of the responsibility which the government had known all along, belonged to Osama Bin Laden and the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Michaels, 2002 pg 108) It them fell upon the CIA and other various governmental groups who were part of the 7,000 member terrorist reaction force of the government to gather as much information about the above mentioned in order to help orchestrate a response, as well as being able to tell the public some important background information about a group, which before 9/11, few people had really known much about. (Page 2005 pg. A16) The origins of Al Qaeda date back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. (Michaels, 2002 pg. 339) This was a highly controversial action on the part of the Soviet Union which eventually prompted President Carter to boycott the 1980 Olympics which were to be taking place in Moscow that summer. After the invasion, a young Osama Bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan in order to join forces with the Afghan troops in dispelling the Soviets from their lands. After a very expensive war which took more than nine years, the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan and the force which was credited with this surprise victory, was soon labeled Al Qaeda. The mission statement of Al Qaeda consisted of three main points. They were their disapproval of what they considered to be US aggression towards the Iraqi people during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the US military occupation of the Arabian Peninsula and most of all, America’s support for Israel. Due to the fact that at that time, America regarded the Soviet Union as being by far, the worse and more powerful of possible aggressors to the United States that Afghanistan or Al Qaeda could ever be, it is believed that support was given to Bin Laden in the form of guns and other supplies. Peter Bergan, the celebrated CNN journalist and one of the first in the West to interview Osama Bin Laden, commented on the idea that America was somehow to blame for the aggression which Bin Laden showed to America on September 11 and other terrorist attacks on America during the 1990’s. â€Å"The story about bin Laden and the CIA- that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden- is simply a folk myth Bin Laden has his own money, he was anti-American and he was operating secretly and independently. The real story here is the CIA did not understand who Osama bin Laden was until 1996, when they set up a unit to really start tracking him. † (CNN, 2003) The latter part of this statement is definitely true. One of the fundamental flaws of both the Clinton and now Bush administrations was the inability of the government to understand that region of the world: the Middle East and how it operates, thinks and functions. In failing to do so, the war in Iraq as well as other factions of the war on terror, are at a severe disadvantage. The real hatred that bin Laden had for America came during the Gulf War of 1991. â€Å"When Saudi Arabia allowed the American military to work from their air and land space against Iraq, despite the fact that bin Laden was no friend of Iraq at that time and even offered his services to Saudi Arabia in the event of an attack by Iraq, bin Laden vowed to carry out strikes towards the United States and relations both the Saudi Arabia government, its royal family, as well as his own family who would soon come to disowned him. (CNN, 2003) What was clear and unmistakable was the fact that in the years leading up to 9/11, Al Qaeda would make itself known to the United States to such a degree that in the immediate days after 9/11 there was little doubt as to who was responsible for the attacks. The government and others around the world was able to support their first impressions only days after the attack with a plethora of proof of past attacks and harmful and hateful rhetoric towards the United States of America. One of the earliest attacks after the Gulf War was the bombing of the World Trade Centers in January of 1993. Ramzi Yousef used a truck bomb housed in the basement of the World Trade Center in an attempt to bring the massive structure down. Six people were killed and another 1,042 were injured. $300 million in damage had occurred but luckily, the structure was not destroyed. (Michaels, 2002 pg. 145) Yousef was eventually captured in Pakistan. In 1996, bin Laden, despite the lack of credentials within Islam to give such an edict, gave a fatwa or a religious edict which amounted to a declaration of war against the United States and all of its allies. Another fatwa was given on February 23, 1998 which stated: â€Å"The ruling to kill Americans and their allies-civilians and military- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the holy mosque in Makka from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all of the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim†(CNN 2003) This was not the official stance of Islam because bin Laden did not possess the necessary credentials within Islam to give such an edict. In October 2000, Al Qaeda militants in Yemen bombed the missile destroyer the USS Cole in a suicide attack in which 17 servicemen and women were killed. The ship was damaged a great deal and the success of the attacks helped to embolden Al Qaeda for an attack on an even larger scale in the following year to occur. 9/11 was now being planned for a specific date to be fulfilled as soon as possible. After the attack on September 11, 2001, on September 27, 2001, the names and faces of the 19 hijackers were sent to the press, released by the FBI as part of their massive 7000 member force. The United States and soon to follow the United Kingdom placed their blame squarely upon the hands of bin Laden and Al Qaeda. This quick assertion as to who was to blame for the attacks stemmed in part to the various fatwas that bin Laden had sent to the United States as well, specifically the 1998 fatwa which called for the killing of American civilians on a large scale. Also, despite the fact that bin Laden originally rejected the idea that he was behind the attacks, in November 201, the US forces recovered a videotape which was retrieved from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in which it records bin Laden admits foreknowledge of the attacks. On December 27, 2001, a second bin Laden tape was released to the press in which he stated: â€Å"Terrorism against America deserved to be praised because it was a response to injustice aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel which kills our people. (Dobbs 2005) In other video tapes messages, some dated as recently as 2005, bin Laden confessed that he had personally directed the 19 hijackers and encouraged similar and future attacks to take place on not only America but in the West. This would soon come to fruition when a train bomb in Madrid killed 200 innocent commuters and over 190 were killed in Bali, an island off the coast of Indonesia in 2002. Other attacks in London and further attempts to attack America in multiple plans which have since been stopped has convinced many in America, as well as the American government, that new and strong measures must be taken in order to ensure the future safety of all American citizens. This increased protection has come in the form of the Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act as being the most famous and self encompassing laws which the government has passed since the attacks on September 11th. One of the direct results of September 11 came in the form of governmental reaction and a desire to tighten the laws which had not functioned properly in the pursuit of keeping Americans safe which it states in the Constitution, is one of the most important functions of the government. The Patriot Act was passed only forty five days after the attacks on 9/11 which in comparison to the length of time it takes to pass any type of bill in Congress, this was done at lightening speed. The Patriot Act increases the ability of the federal government to enforce laws and to search telephone and email conservations and to spy on any that are deemed to be of a suspicious nature which may be harmful to the security of the United States and its allies. As a result, communication, financial, medical and other records; any records which are of a private nature are at the disposal of the American government when it is believed that its owner is either directly involved in or which contributes to any terrorist activity which puts the safety of America in jeopardy. Despite the controversial aspects of the bill, it was renewed on December 31, 2005. The Patriot Act is divided up into ten different titles or areas of interest which the newly formed Department of Homeland Security now has jurisdiction over these additions. They include terrorism, strengthening the borders, to crack down on international money laundering, strengthen the laws against terrorism, and enhance surveillance procedures and to improve intelligence and to provide for victims of terrorism and to promote the public safety of officers and their families. The last title, Title X states only: Miscellaneous. It is the vagueness of this and other aspects of the Patriot Act which has many at the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and others who are weary of government’s role in the lives of average Americans, which prompts outrage towards such expansions of the government’s power and control. The sheer majority of those who would criticize the government is no friends of terrorism and wants terrorism to be kept away from America’s shores. However, they are highly critical of the Patriot Act as they believe that when given additional power, more power from the government at the expense of the freedoms of the people, will be compromised. One example of this was the highly controversial surveillance program which President Bush used to spy on the email and phone conversations of hundreds of suspected terrorists or advocates of terrorism who were either making calls from or to America. Before the Patriot Act, any such surveillance programs would first require a court order. â€Å"During the Clinton Administration, more than a thousand such court orders were given to legally spy on the conversations of suspicious people. † (Michaels, 2002 pg. 87) President Bush felt that, and there were many to disagree, that under the increased powers which the Patriot Act gives the President, such court orders are unnecessary and only hamper the business of the government’s desire to keep America safe. Upon hearing this, many in Congress as well as their constitutions called for formal charges to be presented against the President. To date, no such charges which has been forthcoming? The Patriot Act falls under the large r government post called the Department of Homeland Security. Under this newly formed governmental organization, additional organizations were added to the government. The criticisms which are levied towards the Department of Homeland Security are two fold: One, it is seen by many as an intrusion on the average American’s civil liberties. Second, it is seen as simply an extension of ineffective governmental autocracy with their dealing of Hurricane Katrina being one of the worst examples. Since its formation only three short years ago, the Department of Homeland Security has been blamed for putting into practice, the surveillance of hundreds, if not thousands of individuals who 99% of the time, end up having no possible connection to terrorism of any kind. These operations cost the government billions of dollars and serves as a further fleecing of America as viewed by many. Also, despite its ability to foil plans of numerous plots to bring damage to the United States through the form of another terrorist attacks, new reports often emerge about the incompetence of the Department of Homeland Security. In August 2006, a bipartisan group of senators on the Appropriations Committee described the Sciences and Technology Directorate, the department which is in charge of the research for the Department of Homeland Security, as â€Å"a rudderless ship without a clear way to get back on course†. Michaels, 2002 pg. 199) However, this has not stopped the Department of Homeland Security from making public, the successes of the government who, by the end of 2004, had captured 368 individuals who were formally charged in criminal terrorist activities. The chief critics of Homeland Security, the ACLU, has stated that in these arrests, the gover nment has overstepped its boundaries and that such search and seizures tactics are unconstitutional as well as not being in the best interest of the American people. Since the war in Iraq not going as swiftly as promised, public support for the Patriot Act has faltered. In January of 2002, 47% of Americans were in favor of added measures by the government to stop terrorism, even if it meant the suspension of civil liberties. Two years later, in February of 2004, that number has dropped to 31% and is expected to further decrease. ( Page 2005 pg. A16) On September 11, 2001, the world as we know it changed forever. All those who were alive on that day will forever be able to tell their children and grandchildren where they were when they heard the news that America has come under attack by extremists as an attempt to bring America into subjugation towards their ideologies about the world. In the immediate months after the 9/11 the country was united against those who would seek to impose their ideology upon a democratic nation by way of terrorist attacks. In that surge of patriotism, the Patriot Act was passed which gave far reaching powers to the federal government in the form of increased power to regulate phone and email conversations as well as impose their will upon whomever the federal government felt was in league with terrorists in any way. These increased measures by the government has brought a lot of criticism from average Americans who are weary about this sudden and dramatic increase in the power of the federal government and see a furthering of the fleecing and ineffective use of the taxpayers’ money in the pursuit of these terrorists. Some derive this feeling from a disbelief in the severe motivations of the terrorists who have struck all around the world. Others derive these feelings because they so intensely hate the current administration and feel that nothing that they do is ever right or good enough. However, the majority who criticize the rapid increase in the government in this way, know all too well that the government runs like a highly ineffective and inefficient machine and that any efforts to stop the spread of terrorism to America, will come at a price of billions of wasted dollars, millions of hours of wasted time and to date, hundreds of people who have been sent to prison without the benefit of being formally charged, come to this new war on terror in the form of collateral damage. Some say that this is to be expected in a time of war. Others say that the federal government has gone too far in the expansion of their power in order to combat terrorism which it is felt, is not entirely true but that the spying of average Americans is the government’s true aim. Whatever the truth, all agree that another terrorist attack, similar to 9/11 must be avoided and that what happened on that day, which is still fresh in the minds of those who refuse to forget those who perished on that Tuesday morning; some jumping 1000 feet to their death, that those people should not have died in vain. To do nothing and hope that another attack will not come to American soil, does do a disservice to those who died and the pain that comes from the loss of a loved one. Al Qaeda is still alive and despite taking a major hit in Afghanistan, have since regrouped and have come back with a redoubled vigor as the troubles that America is having in Iraq seems to only embolden their cause. Whatever one believes about America’s roll in inviting these attacks or if such brutal hatred towards 3200 innocent men, women and children can have no justification as well as the more than 20 bombings accredited to Al Qaeda around the world or if the Patriot Act is seen as necessary or an intrusion of an ineffective and dishonest government, one must recognize that after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the world is a different and scarier place than it once was and it seems that in this new war on global Islamic terror, nobody is safe.