Post Cold War Challenges: Sept 11 and Terrorism

Lesson 25

Islamism

• As globalization spread, many Muslims became skeptical about European and American models of economic development and political and cultural norms

• Blamed the Western models for their own economic and political problems as well as for secularization and its attendant breakdown of traditional social and religious values

• Saw the Muslim world as slipping into a state of decline brought about by the abandonment of Islamic traditions and many blamed the US

The Saudi Arabian Mutaween, or religious police, enforce the Islamic dress code

Islamist Reaction• Many saw the solution to the

problems faced by Muslim societies as being a revival of Islamic identity, values, and power

• Most sought to bring about change through peaceful means, but an extremist minority has claimed a mandate from God that calls for violent transformations

Supporters of Hizbut Tahrir, a hardline Muslim group, protesting in front of the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia

Jihad

• Convinced that the Muslim world is under siege, extremists used the concept of the jihad to rationalize and legitimize terrorism and revolution

– Jihad is sometimes called the Sixth Pillar of Islam and is an exertion or struggle in achieving the ways of Allah

– It invokes the right and duty to defend Islam and the Islamic community from unjust attack

Members of the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, the Al-Quds Brigade, in Gaza

Extremist Rhetoric

• “God has blessed a group of vanguard Muslims, the forefront of Islam, to destroy America.” – Osama bin Laden in a videotaped statement broadcast by Al

Jazeera, October 7, 2001 • “We issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling

to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it....We -- with God’s help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.”– World Islamic Front Statement, February 23, 1998

Clash of Civilizations

• “On both sides the interaction between Islam and the West is seen as a clash of civilizations.” – Samuel Huntington

Huntington’s CivilizationsWestern

Latin American Islamic

Slavic- Orthodox Sinic

HinduAfrican

Japanese

Osama bin Laden

• Osama bin Laden began his militancy in response to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

• He helped found the Maktab al-Khadamāt (MAK) which recruited and funded mujahideen to fight the Soviets– Ironically, the US also

supported the mujahideen based on the Cold War philosophy that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”

al-Qaeda

• In 1988, bin Laden split from the MAK and formed a new group comprised of some of the most militant mujahideen that would become the al-Qaeda terrorist group

• With the US involvement in Desert Storm and its subsequent continued presence in Saudi Arabia, home of the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, bin Laden became irreconcilably infuriated by the Western influence

Part of the post-Desert Storm US military presence at Prince Sultan Air Base, 80 km south of Riyadh

Terrorism

• The deliberate and systematic use of violence against civilians with the aim of advancing political, religious, or ideological cause

• Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but its impact has been magnified in a globalized world distinguished by rapid technological advances in transportation, communications, and weapons development– Worldwide television coverage has transformed

terrorism by expanding its visibility and impact

September 11, 2001

• On Sept 11, 2001, 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and crashed two into the World Trade Towers in New York City and one into the Pentagon

• The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attacked the terrorists

al-Qaeda’s International Presence at the Time of the Sept 11 Attack

Global War on Terrorism

• On Sept 20, President Bush addressed the nation and declared “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… Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes.  Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.  It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success….

Global War on Terrorism

• … 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.  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.  Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.  From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

Operation Enduring Freedom• The attack was quickly traced to

Osama bin Laden who had been operating from Afghanistan since his 1996 expulsion from Saudi Arabia

• On Oct 7, 2001, the US led a coalition attack into Afghanistan to destroy terrorist training camps and infrastructure, capture al-Qaeda leaders, and eliminate terrorist activities in Afghanistan

• By mid-March 2002, the Taliban government had been removed from power and the al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan was thought to have been destroyed

CENTCOM Commander General Tommy Franks

explains Operation Enduring Freedom

Preemptive Action

• On Sept 17, 2002, President Bush issued a National Security Strategy which stated, “While the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self-defense by acting preemptively against such terrorists, to prevent them from doing harm against our people and our country.”

Axis of Evil• In his Jan 29, 2002 State of the Union

Address, Bush had labeled Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as comprising an “axis of evil” of “regimes that sponsor terror”

• In Sept 2002, the Director of Central Intelligence issued a report stating, “Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions.  Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.” 

• Bush felt reports such as this justified him to take preemptive action against Iraq

United Nations

• Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the US evidence of Iraqi WMD to the United Nations and the US proposed a resolution to the Security Council authorizing military force if Iraq refused to disarm

• France, Russia, Germany, and others opposed the US resolution and it failed to pass

• Nonetheless, the US, joined by Britain and a “coalition of the willing” launched Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 20, 2003

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

• “I would speculate that they very likely expected Gulf War II, a long air war that would give them time to do whatever they thought they wanted to do . . . followed, at some distance, by ground war. The ground war went so much faster that the opportunity for people to reorganize and to reconstitute forces, in areas where they could provide a more aggressive defense, didn't exist.”

Compare and Contrast

• Desert Storm– Objective to liberate

Kuwait– Deliberate build up– Mass (Powell)– Large coalition and

UN support– ONW/OSW and UN

monitoring– Beginning of

precision munitions– 500,000 troops

• Iraqi Freedom– Objective to change

regime– “Rolling start”– Speed (Rumsfeld)– Unable to repeat

consensus– Occupation– Increased precision

far outstripped Desert Storm

– 150,000 troops

Situation on Mar 21, 2003

Situation on Mar 26, 2003

Situation on Apr 4, 2003

April 9, 2003: US Troops help Iraqis Topple Statue of Saddam in Baghdad

Situation on Apr 10, 2003

May 2, 2003: President Bush visits the USS Abraham Lincoln: “Major combat

operations in Iraq have ended.”

USM in OIF• Major General Buford Blount,

USM 1971, commanded the 3rd Infantry Division that captured Baghdad

• Major General Thomas Miller, USM 1973, served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Multi-National Force Iraq

• Brigadier General Jeff Hammond, USM 1978, served as Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division

• Many others, to include members of the 155th Bde MSARNG

Tom Brokaw with Major General Blount in Iraq

Post Conflict Developments

Bombing of UN Building

Oil pipeline sabotage

Post Conflict Developments

Questioning of the WMD intelligence

Continued casualties

Post Conflict Developments

Iraqi electionsCapture of Saddam

Post Conflict Developments

Guantanamo Bay Detainee Camp Abu Ghraib

Post Conflict Developments

War ProtestsPolitical Dissent

Post Conflict Developments• An insurgency developed that

united Saddam-loyalists, anti-Americans, foreign agitators, and terrorists

• The lightning-fast strike on Baghdad that had been so successful in achieving decisive battlefield victory had by design bypassed terrain and not secured territory as it advanced

• The bypassed weapons caches became the source of countless IEDs that proved to be the insurgency’s most deadly weapons

• In addition to prolonging the war, these developments ignited a political controversy about the war’s planning and leadership

Unequal Playing Field

• “Al Qaeda’s members have passports and nationalities– and often more than one– but they are truly stateless. Their allegiance is to their cause, not to any nation. The same is also true of the criminal networks engaged in (illegal trade in drugs, arms, intellectual property, people, and money) The same, however, is patently not true of government employees– police officers, customs agents and judges– who fight them. This asymmetry is a crippling disadvantage for governments waging these wars.”– Moises Naim

Jill Carroll was one of several westerners taken hostage in Iraq

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Terrorist bombing on the train station at Madrid killed

200 people and led to Spain’s withdrawing its

forces from Iraq

Heightened security at events such as the Super Bowl has become a fact of

life

The Department of Homeland Security was established as a result of

September 11

Suicide bombings are a common part of the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Additional Terrorism Considerations

Jemaah Islamiyah, which is suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda, is dedicated to establishing an Islamic fundamentalist

state in Southeast Asia. With some 210 million Muslims, Indonesia has the

largest Muslim population of any country in the world.

The US Secretary of State considers Iran to be one of

the state sponsors of international terrorism.

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