The War on Terror

Everyone realizes that the world changed dramatically on September 11, 2001. Terrorism had long existed, of course, not only around the world but also in the United States. Even the fact that the World Trade Center had been attacked was not new; a truck bombing, planned and executed by Islamist militants, had occurred there in 1993. But the scale of the 2001 attacks and the devastation they wrought motivated the United States to confront the danger of terrorism with a resolve and intensity that had not existed before.

By the end of the month, President George W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress, presenting the outline of a plan to combat terrorism.¹ The plan was further developed and refined over several months, culminating in the release of the "National Strategy for Combating Terrorism" in February 2003.² This final strategy included four goals.

Defeat terrorists and their organizations

This first and most obvious goal cannot be the first task chronologically, for the terrorist organizations are not states and do not have corporate headquarters in easily identifiable locations. The organizations are shadowy and dynamic. Thus, the plan calls for direct attacks only as such opportunities come to light. For example, in November 2002, a U.S. Predator drone fired a missile at a car in Yemen, killing al Qaeda leader Abu Ali al-Harithi and five of his colleagues. Al-Harithi was believed to be a key planner of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in October 2000. Similarly, on March 1, 2003, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan.

In the long run, however, this goal will be achieved only in close association with the others listed below.

Deny sponsorship, support, and sanctuary to terrorists

At the beginning of the War on Terror, the United States identified eight state sponsors of terrorism: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Of these, Afghanistan’s Taliban regime was clearly the most active sanctuary for al Qaeda, and the first major use of military force in the war occurred there. The Taliban fell quickly after the air war began on October 7, 2002; a new interim government under Hamid Karzai was installed on December 22. Combat operations continue, however, as U.S. troops search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.

Iraq was the second nation seen as an active threat. President Bush challenged the United Nations in September 2002 to enforce its existing resolutions against Iraq, which the nation was clearly violating. In October the U.S. Congress authorized the use of military force against Iraq. In November the U.N. Security Council unanimously threatened Iraq with "serious consequences" if it did not comply with demands to account for and destroy its existing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).³ In February 2003 the United States and other countries offered a new U.N. resolution demanding compliance and threatening the use of force, but the Security Council balked at passing it.⁴ On March 19, 2003, the United States began bombing Iraq. By early April, U.S. troops had occupied Baghdad and the Iraqi government had fled. By May a U.S administrator, Paul Bremer, was overseeing Iraqi affairs. Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein, was captured by U.S. troops in December, and the new Iraqi Governing Council ratified a new constitution for the country the following May.⁵ On June 28, 2004, two days ahead of schedule, Bremer turned over sovereignty of Iraq to the new prime minister, Iyad Allawi.

Libya, much to the surprise of the world, responded to these events by announcing its repudiation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and terrorism in December 2003, just a week after Hussein’s capture.

Diminish the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit

This goal is clearly the most difficult. Key conditions that terrorists exploit are poverty and tyranny, and eliminating these problems with mere human effort does not seem possible. The Bush administration hopes that establishing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, will encourage the growth of democracies across the Muslim world, which is clearly the key operating environment for terrorist groups for now.

Defend U.S. citizens and interests at home and abroad

The two key tactics for accomplishing this goal are (1) the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, a rearrangement and coordination of various law enforcement agencies with a view to ensuring that intelligence is widely shared and that responses are rapid, focused, and coordinated; and (2) the passage of the USA PATRIOT⁶ Act, designed to give law enforcement greater freedom to gather information, ostensibly to increase the likelihood of intercepting intelligence on terrorism.

Evaluation

Success in carrying out these goals has been incomplete and imperfect, of course, but has progressed far more quickly than even optimists had hoped. The fact that two major state sponsors of terrorism have been overthrown and a semblance of democracy put into place in both countries, with relatively small loss of life, and that a third state has apparently acquiesced without a fight is truly historic.⁷

The war does provide, as any teacher should expect, a number of opportunities for students to evaluate difficult moral, practical, and theological issues.

A few suggestions follow:

• What role should the United Nations play in decisions affecting U.S. national security?
• Is it morally justifiable to take preemptive military action against a threatening nation?
• Does the increase in law enforcement power represented by the USA PATRIOT Act represent a greater threat to U.S. citizens than the criminals the Act is intended to oppose?
• Is President Bush correct in distinguishing between the Islam of the terrorists and the Islam of its more peaceful practitioners?
• Is democracy an effective tool for bringing peace to the Muslim world?
• In what ways does freedom in the United States help the terrorists rather than discourage them?
• What kinds of force are appropriate in extracting information from captured enemy combatants?

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