I. September 11, 2001

A. Causes Some Muslim groups are frustrated by the US involvement in the Middle East. Why was the US there? Muslim Fundamentalists – wants countries to put in an Islamic government: no separation of church and state; the church runs the country. Western influence gets in the way of their goals being accomplished. Help some Muslim leaders during the Cold War because there are anti-communists, but we cut off resources from them after the Cold War ends. Example: Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan These groups of people merge to form terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda.

B. Terrorist Attacks Location of attacks: Buildings attacked: Death toll: Groups of people affected:

C. US Response Bush Doctrine: began the “War on Terror” - America is committed fully to defeating terrorism. Major foreign policy shift because of its expansion of US foreign power: the right of the U.S. to launch “pre-emptive strikes” against nations that might threaten it; the right of the U.S. to act unilaterally, that is alone; the right to depose foreign governments that might be a threat to the U.S. the encouragement of democracy, especially in the Middle East, as a way to protect American security and defeat terrorism. Stopping terrorism just isn’t that easy. Why not? In a further speech delivered in 2002, President Bush narrowed the targets to declaring to the “Axis of Evil”, naming the countries of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as supporting terrorist organizations..

D. Afghanistan Invasion Invasion of Afghanistan (2001): called Operation Enduring Freedom; supported by a large coalition of countries. Afghanistan, led by its government known as the “Taliban”, permitted Osama Bin Laden to use that nation as a base for Al-Qaeda training and operations. Purpose: secure Osama Bin Laden and others involved in the plotting and execution of the 911 attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Captured several Taliban leaders, including Bin Laden in 2011. Still have troops there today.

E. Iraq Invasion Invasion of Iraq (2003): the US claimed that Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, supported international terrorism and had “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD). Saddam Hussein was eventually captured, put on trial, and hanged. President Bush claimed that this war was necessary as part of the War on Terror. HOWEVER, no WMDs were discovered in Iraq, and no evidence was found that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11 -- created a significant amount of international anger directed toward the U.S. American forces. US troops continued to stay in Iraq to be “peacekeeeprs” until 2011, 8 years after the war ended. Impact: the war became very unpopular in the U.S.

F. Domestic Changes The War on Terror has led to two significant changes within the United States: The Patriot Act- increased the ability of law enforcement to conduct searches of all types in order to discover information related to terrorist activity within the U.S. What does this actually mean? Creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - a new agency charged with protecting American territory from terrorist attacks. As result of the DHS, American air travel has been significantly altered with new standards for airport security.