President Bushs Response to September 11 and Islamic...

On September 11, 2001, the United States witnessed its worst attack on U.S. soil since the bombings of Pearl Harbor in 1945. Members of the terrorist group Al Qaeda hijacked four aircraft and managed to crash two of them in to the Twin Towers in New York City. When the smoke cleared, there were 2,752 deaths. This day marked the beginning of a new type of war for the United States: the war on terror. These events left President George Bush with a complex and troublesome series of decisions to make. Afghanistan is the country harboring the terrorists who orchestrated their attack, yet Afghanistan did not commit the attacks. President Bush needed to make a decision and fast. Should the United States attack a country that harbors†¦show more content†¦Before diving into the changes, it is necessary to understand why Osama bin Laden orchestrated such an elaborate attack on the United States. Osama bin Laden, although once an American ally, turned enemy against the United States for several reasons. First and foremost, Bin Laden condemns American support for Israel and the billions it received in aid. Moreover, the United States being a foreign democratic power has no right to enter the House of Islam as it did during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 with a military presence in Egypt. Politically and socially, the United States is the diametric opposite of bin Laden’s beliefs and goals. It is bin Laden’s goal to remove the United States out of the Middle East by crippling it domestically. However, President Bush is in no position to acquiesce his wishes. Terrorism has no role in the modern world and on September 20, 2001, President Bush made his intentions clear when he stated, â€Å"We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest†¦Either you are with us or you are against us with the terrorists.† President Bush†™s bases his decision to use military actions because of the nature of the enemy. Al-Qaeda organizes itself across the world with a few governments openly harboring terrorism. He knew one cannot fight an enemy that has no political or geographical boundary; one must go after the sponsoringShow MoreRelated Don’t Shoot: A call for International Diplomacy Essay3319 Words   |  14 PagesWorldwide terrorism became the central focus of the United States’ foreign policy following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. At that time, the world saw the obvious hatred that other countries hold toward the U.S. and the extreme danger that came with it. Our eyes were opened to foreign issues that many of us were not previously aware of. President Bush’s initial response to the new danger was to overtake and reform two regimes, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as