THE UNITED STATES AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

THE UNITED STATES AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Terrorism is a security problem that has plagued the world for centuries, states like USA just took a different softer approach towards it till it took a gruesome turn in the 20th century. Although attention to terrorism has increased sharply in recent years, it is by no means a new phenomenon. For decades terrorists have carried out attacks against non-combatant targets causing massive destruction by means of vicious assaults. The war on terror was the United States response to the eventsthat is popularly referred to as the 9/11 attack which made terrorism a top priority for the USgovernment. The 9/11 events ushered in a new type of military action for US. The global war on terror is one of the main combatants of the US new strategy by the government to ensure America's right to self defence and world's obligation to the defence of freedom. On September 11th, 2001, the strategic landscape of the world was altered instantly. The radical Islamic group, Al-Qaeda, challenged the global hegemon, the United States of America, by striking targets in New York City and Washington D.C., symbolizing thehegemon’s economic and military power. The shock and impact of that day on the U.S. foreign policy and strategy are often compared to those caused by the Pearl Harbour attacks of 1941. The difference is that the terrorist attacks struck at the heartland of the United States, and was broadcasted live across the entire world through the television and internet channels. It also caused the deaths of almost three thousand people, mostly civilians and billions of dollars of damage. However, the most unprecedented aspect of the challenge was that it stemmed not from another state, but from a non-state actor. The scale and ambition of the U.S. response are equally formidable. President George W. Bush declared a war which came to be known as the "global war on terrorism": the enemy was identified, the allies were mobilised, hesitant parties were warned, ideological parameters were established, police, and surveillance functions of the state were strengthened, the defence budget was substantially increased and military action was launched.

Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda's leader, had proved that it is sufficient to mix a dose of religious extremism and zeal, good planning, imagination, a few hundred thousand dollars with the right political, social and strategic context inorder to provoke a new global conflict. Almost everyone is in agreement that, this new conflict is different from the previous ones, just as the Cold War was different from the two world wars. Discussions regarding its nature still continue

The official report of the 9/11 Commission describes the attacks of 11 September 2001, resulting in the death of nearly 3,000 civilians as ‗a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States. On 12 September 2001, President Bush met with senior officials, as he said, ‗to assign tasks for the first wave of the war against terrorism. It starts today. A week later he explained, ‗Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. The 9/11 Commission considered the fatwa issued by the so-called ‗World Islamic Front‘ at the request of Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman al Zawahiri, calling for every Muslim who can to murder any American anywhere, to be a ‗declaration of war. The concept of a ‗war on terrorism‘ or ‗war on terror‘ has thus been taken literally rather than metaphorically in the sense of opposition to an idea, such as the war against fascism or the war on drugs.

Two weeks after the attacks of 9/11, the Security Council unanimously adopted anti-terrorism resolution 1373 (2001) on 28 September 2001, which reaffirmed the Council‘s unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist acts of 11 September and obligated all Member States to criminalize the wilful provision or collection of funds for terrorist acts and to freeze any financial assets and economic resources of those who commit or attempt to commit terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the commission of terrorist acts and of persons and entities acting on behalf of terrorists. Moreover, all States must refrain from providing any form of support to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts and prevent terrorism by denying safe

haven to those who finance, plan, support, commit terrorist acts and provide safe havens as well. They must prosecute anyone who has participated in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts and should also ensure that terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offences in domestic law and seriously punished. They also must intensify and accelerate the exchange of information regarding terrorist actions or movements, forged or falsified documents, traffic in arms and sensitive material, use of communications and technologies by terrorist groups, and the threat posed by the possession of weapons of mass destruction. Before granting refugee status, all States should take appropriate measures to ensure that the asylum seekers have not planned, facilitated or participated in terrorist acts. The Security Council also established a 15-member Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) to monitor the resolution‘s implementation, revitalized in 2004 to provide expert advice on all areas covered by resolution 1373, to facilitate technical assistance, and to promote closer cooperation and coordination with regional and intergovernmental bodies. Terrorism in the twentieth century tended to accompany political conflicts centred on nation-states, in struggles for national independence or liberation from oppression or occupation. In recent years international terrorism has taken new directions through the linkage between struggles in different places and the rise of groups motivated by transnational religious ideologies. As the Bishops‘ Working Group pointed out (Countering Terrorism, p. 5), Al-Qa‘eda has both highly specific aims (US withdrawal from Saudi Arabia and the destruction of Israel) and more generalised ones (the removal of Western influence in Islamic lands and the establishment of an international Muslim caliphate). This requires the maintenance of a state of enmity between authentic Islam, as understood in Osama bin Laden‘s purist strand of Wahhabism, and the United States and its allies throughout the world.

Terrorism is not a new challenge to international order, although the influence of the United States has resulted in significant rethinking of the international law and politics of terrorism since the attacks on the US of 11 September 2001, which has had ramifications in all regions, including the Asia Pacific. The “Global War on Terror” came to dominate US foreign policy in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The effort served as a guiding light for how the United States interacted withfriends, allies, and adversaries and deeply influenced US priorities around the globe, in general, and in the wider Middle East, in particular. While it will likely never be announced as concluded, the Global War on Terror is effectively over, due to fourseparate but related reasons: the killing of Osama bin Laden, the perceived failure of counterinsurgency as an effective policy instrument, the significant costs of the effort, and the Arab Awakening, this does not mean, however, that the United States will no longer pursue counter terrorists. Drones and Special Forces have emerged as the key tools in US counterterrorism, and the United States is likely to continue pursuing terrorist cells and high-value targets aggressively across the globe for decades tocome using these means. However, this practice should be viewed as one of many defence efforts that the United States carries out on a regular basis in order to guard the full range of US interests. Elements of the emerging US counterterrorism effort remain problematic, but the end of the Global War on Terror nevertheless presents Washington with a window of opportunity to reorder its relations with the nations and peoples of the Middle East and North Africa and frees up resources for the United States to tackle other emerging strategic priorities, such as the shift of global power to the Pacific, the revival of the US economy, and security challenges such as energy security and cyber defence.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Terrorism has formed a large part of history and the United States has had its share. Due to the effects of the 9/11 attack, terrorism and establishing counter terrorism attacks arenow a major priority of the United States. The United States has since experienced series of terrorist attacks that has threatened the security in this region.

The report of the UN High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change said in 2004 that terrorism ‘attacks the values that lie at the heart of the Charter of the United Nations: respect for human rights; the rule of law; rules of war that protect civilians; tolerance among peoples and nations; and the peaceful resolution of conflict. It also alluded to the fact that ‘terrorism flourishes in environments of despair, humiliation, poverty, political oppression, extremism and human rights abuse; it also flourishes in contexts of regional conflict and foreign occupation; and it profits from weak State capacity to maintain law and order. Terrorism is normally understood to refer to ‘...criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes ...’ It is the object of 13 multilateral and 7 regional treaties, which define and provide for criminalization of specific acts relating to such behaviour as hijacking, bombing, financing of terrorism and nuclear terrorism. Terrorism has been said to have been caused by so many reasons ranging from religious causes to just selfish need of individual non-state actors but none of the world's responses to terror has been as effective as the war on terror.

Terrorism has proven to be hard to eradicate as long as these non state actors have the resources, even cutting of the head has no effect since they just grow another. However, these attacks can be minimized and managed to a certain level. This study seeks to examine the role United States play in if not eradicating completelythe terrorists but minimizing their damages, and also try to establish and investigate the following problems:

TOPIC: THE UNITED STATES AND THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 75

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