Section 5-The War on Terrorism

Chapter ObjectivesSection 5: The War on Terrorism

• Describe the development of Middle East terrorism.

• Explain the response of the United States to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Todd Beamer

September 11, 2001• On September 11, 2001, hijackers seized four

passenger jets in the United States.

• Two of the jets were deliberately crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

• Another jet crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

• A fourth jet crashed when some of the passengers resisted the hijacking, causing the jet to crash in western Pennsylvania.

• Thousands of people died in these acts of terrorism–the use of violence by nongovernmental groups against civilians to achieve a political goal.

September 11, 2001 (cont.)

Middle East Terrorism and the United States

• Middle Eastern groups have carried out most terrorist attacks on the United States.

• Oil became important to the American economy in the 1920s, so the United States invested in the oil industry in the Middle East.

• Some Middle Easterners became angry at the United States for helping ruling families in some Middle Eastern kingdoms to become very wealthy, while most of the people remained poor.

• The growth of the oil industry increased the Middle East’s contact with Western society.

• Western ideas spread through the region, and devout Muslims feared their traditional values and beliefs were being weakened.

• Throughout the Middle East, new movements arose calling for a return to traditional Muslim religious laws and a strict interpretation of the Quran–the Muslim holy book.

Middle East Terrorism and the United States (cont.)

• The movements also sought to overthrow pro-Western governments in the Middle East and to establish a pure Islamic society.

• Muslims who support these movements are called fundamentalist militants.

• Most Muslims believe terrorism is against their faith.

Middle East Terrorism and the United States (cont.)

• American support of Israel angered many in the Middle East.

• In 1947 the UN divided Palestine into two territories–one part became Israel, the other part was supposed to be a Palestinian state.

• Instead, fighting between Israel and Arab states left this territory under control of Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.

Middle East Terrorism and the United States (cont.)

• In the 1950s, Palestinians began holding guerrilla raids and terrorist attacks against Israel.

• The United States became a target because it gave military and economic aid to Israel.

• The governments of Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Iran have secretly supported state-sponsored terrorism.

Middle East Terrorism and the United States (cont.)

A New Terrorist Threat• In 1979 Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi

Arabian, joined the struggle in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union’s invasion of the country.

• He used his wealth to support the Afghani resistance, and in 1988 he founded al-Qaeda, or “the Base.”

• This organization recruited Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and channeled money and arms to the Afghani resistance.

• Bin Laden believed Western ideas had contaminated Muslim society.

• He was outraged when Saudi Arabia allowed American troops on Saudi soil when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

• Bin Laden changed al-Qaeda into a terrorist organization.

• In 1998 he issued a statement calling on Muslims to kill Americans anywhere in the world.

A New Terrorist Threat (cont.)

• In 1998, after simultaneous bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the United States began air strikes against training bases connected with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Sudan.

• In October 2000, terrorists attacked the USS Cole, an American warship, while it was docked in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen.

A New Terrorist Threat (cont.)

America Unites• When terrorists attacked the United States on

September 11, 2001, Americans responded rapidly to the crisis by donating money, blood, and supplies.

• Across the nation, flags were flown to show unity and resolve.

• The American government put the armed forces on high alert. Airport security greatly increased.

• The FBI began a massive investigation, which soon identified the attacks as the work of Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network.

• On September 14, President Bush declared a national emergency, and Congress voted to use force to fight the terrorists.

• Secretary of State Colin Powell built an international coalition to support the United States’s fight against terrorism.

• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld deployed American troops, aircraft, and warships to the Middle East.

America Unites (cont.)

• President Bush announced that the war on terrorism would start against al-Qaeda, but would also be waged against every terrorist group around the globe, including states that aided or harbored terrorists.

America Unites (cont.)

A New War Begins• Several major challenges faced the United States

as it began its war against terrorism.

• President Bush issued an executive order freezing the financial assets of several individuals and organizations suspected of terrorism.

• The president also announced the creation of a new federal agency–the Office of Homeland Security–to coordinate the dozens of federal agencies and departments working to prevent terrorism.

• Congress drafted a new antiterrorist law in late October 2001.

• It permitted secret searches and allowed authorities to obtain a single nationwide search warrant.

• It also made it easier to wiretap suspects, and allowed authorities to track Internet communications and seize voice mail.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• As the Office of Homeland Security struggled to coordinate all of the federal agencies fighting terrorism, President Bush asked Congress to combine all the agencies into the Department of Homeland Security.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• Terrorists posed a new threat when they began to use the mail to spread anthrax, a type of bacteria that can become lethal if left undetected.

• Several occurrences of anthrax were found, but no suspects were publicly recognized.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• On October 7, 2001, the United States launched the first military operations of the war on terrorism.

• Warplanes began bombing targets in Afghanistan. • The U.S. also began sending military aid to a

coalition of Afghan groups known as the Northern Alliance, who had been fighting the Taliban for several years.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• By early December, the Taliban government had collapsed, and the United States and its allies worked with Afghan leaders to create a new government.

• The September 11, 2001, attacks led to fears that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups could acquire weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons), which could kill tens of thousands of people all at once.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• In January 2002, President Bush warned of the grave threat to the world posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

• All three countries had sponsored terrorists and were suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.

A New War Begins (cont.)

• In October 2002 North Korea announced that it had resumed its nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration was not able to persuade North Korea to stop the program.

• President Bush considered Iraq a more immediate threat than North Korea in developing and distributing weapons of mass destruction.

• Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, had used chemical weapons twice in the 1980s, and after the Gulf War, UN inspectors had found evidence that Iraq had biological weapons and was working on a nuclear bomb.

Confronting Iraq

• In the summer of 2002, President Bush pressured Iraq for a regime change, asking the United Nations to demand that Iraq give up its weapons of mass destruction.

• While the UN was still debating the issue, in mid-October Congress authorized the use of force against Iraq.

Confronting Iraq (cont.)

• A new UN resolution threatened “serious consequences” if Iraq did not declare all of its weapons of mass destruction, stop supporting terrorism, and stop oppressing its people.

• Weapons inspectors returned to Iraq. The Bush administration pushed for a war resolution in the UN Security Council.

• France and Russia refused to back it, but the United States and about 30 other countries prepared for war as many antiwar protests took place around the world.

Confronting Iraq (cont.)

• On March 20, 2003, the U.S.-led coalition forces attacked Iraq and quickly seized control. On May 1 President Bush declared that the major combat was over.

• However, the fighting and controversy continued. During the first six months of the occupation of Iraq, Americans found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but bombings, sniper attacks, and battles plagued American troops, and American deaths and expenses were mounting.

Confronting Iraq (cont.)

• President Bush began to seek support from the UN to help stabilize and rebuild Iraq. The path toward a free, stable Iraq was proving to be long and difficult.

Chapter Summary

William Jefferson Blythe IV was born in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father died in a traffic accident. While in high school, Blythe took his stepfather’s last name of Clinton. Bill Clinton graduated from Georgetown University and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. At Yale University, he earned a law degree and met his future wife, law school classmate Hilary Rodham. After serving as the attorney general and governor of Arkansas, Clinton ran for president. His 1992 campaign video was titled “A Man from Hope.”

Madeleine Albright, appointed by President Clinton, was the first woman to serve as secretary of state. This appointment made her the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the federal government–fourth in line for presidential succession. Interestingly, she would not have been able to assume the presidency because she was not born a citizen of the United States.

Construction on the Pentagon began on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before terrorists attacked.

The American Red Cross, one of the leading relief agencies assisting victims of the terrorist attacks, came under fire when it announced that some of the money donated to the Liberty Fund would not be used for the relief effort surrounding the 2001 terrorist attacks. Criticized for misleading the public, the Red Cross launched a public relations campaign to reassure the public that all the money donated to the Liberty Fund would be used to help victims of the September 11 attacks.

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Name Game Traditionally former presidents retain the title of “president.” George W. Bush and his father, however, are both called President Bush. Some Bush family members affectionately call the men “41” and “43,” because George Bush was the forty-first president elected and George W. Bush was the forty-third president elected.

Tailban The Taliban claimed to be Allah’s followers desiring to bring pure Islamic government to Afghanistan. Some of their earlier successes in ending corruption and in dealing with cruel warlords won them much support in Afghanistan. However, as their control of the country became more complete, their repressive regime greatly burdened the people of Afghanistan, who were already weary from nearly 20 years of war.