The United States Response to 9/11 - Research Paper Example

The United States Response to 9/11 Preamble: Extensive reports have been published regarding the truth behind the bombing of The Twin Towers on September, 11th, 2001. In all honesty, there is as much criticism regarding the security lapse on part of the American Government as there is evidence regarding Al-Qaeda mastering the entire plot. Had former British Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill lived long enough to witness the 9/11 fiasco, he would have seen another dimension to his statement which said, “I must place on record my regret that Human race ever learned to fly.” This paper will further explain the impact the 9/11 had and the multidimensional response of the United States to the 9/11 attacks. Some Facts Regarding 9/ 11: In very simple but meaningful terms, what happened on September, 11th, 2011 was an act of terrorism, done primarily to instill in the masses a feeling of horror regarding their security and of those around them (Hess and Stoddard , 232). What actually happened that caused these feelings to arise was a series of planned terrorist attacks, all of which had aircraft hijacking in common. Two American Airlines Aircrafts crashed into the Twin Towers in New York; one hit the Pentagon and one crashed in Pennsylvania. The latest figures of the reported casualties is between 4620 and 5756, one of the highest figures of total casualties in American history (House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section , 12). The Aftermath: It has almost been a decade since the horrific attacks took place, yet the traumatic memories which they have left with the citizens of America have not been forgotten and will not be for the many years to come. Apart from the psychological impact, the 9/11 had a destructive impact on the U. S economy; the stock market trading declined sharply, New York’s economy faced a direct impact, both in the private and public sectors, the Foreign Direct Investment in the United States declined sharply, budgetary constraints followed since now the United States had to play a pivotal role in fighting the war on terror, the United States Military Expenditure was approximately increased by 5% from the figures of 1999 (Jackson , 8-19). The Response: The most salient responses of the United States to the 9/11 were undoubtedly fighting the War on Terror and strengthening the air defense. The most immediate response was the creation of a $40 billion emergency fund, of which $10 billion were immediately made available for emergency rescue and rebuilding (House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section , 16). A Joint Congressional Resolution was passed which supported the use of force against terrorist groups. An executive order, freezing the terrorist assets in the United States was passed on the 24th of September. The Executive Order was precisely passed to block all operations of the terrorists in the United States, along with those of their supporters and sponsors. To ease the process of freezing transactions with terrorist groups, a multi-agency Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT) was established to track the terrorist networks and their transactions. The Executive Order was a smart and powerful move on part of the United States. The Executive Order identified a list of terrorist organizations and terrorist leaders, so any country which transacted with these identified organizations or people would not be allowed to transact with the United States. Moreover, the United States applied sanctions to such countries which prohibited them from receiving US Economic and military Assistance (Perl , 8-9). The Counter-Terrorism Committee created by the Unite Nations under Resolution 1373, acts as another surveillance check on the countries in the Pacific Region and their compliance with the Anti-Terrorism Legislation (Pearson and Busst , 21). This obviously would not be in the interest of any country, the United States being the most powerful economy of the world (House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section , 17-19). An Anti-Terrorism Legislation was also passed which rendered harboring terrorist a crime, along with making the fight against terrorism a matter of national priority. This Anti- Terrorism Legislation formed the basis of the many arrests of the foreign citizens residing in the United States, particularly the Muslims. Since this legislation allowed arrests of those under the slightest suspicion of having terrorist links and the detention of those foreign citizens who had violated immigration laws, hundreds of people were arrested in the aftermath of the 9/11. The airlines were compensated for the losses they incurred and as a step towards increasing aviation security measures; the federal government was made responsible for airport security and screening services. A $500 million fund was established to reduce the chances of access to the cockpit area of an airplane during a flight. (House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section , 19-20). The treatment of the detained terrorists, post 9/11 has been in the center of the spotlight. In the War against Terror, the detainees of the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq were taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which became the center of much criticism by the International Community. The main reason for this criticism was that the detainees did not qualify for the status of Prisoners of War, which gave protection to war prisoners under the Geneva Convention (Ayres , 37-40). The 9/11 was followed by the Chief Legal Advisor to the United States engaging in discussions regarding the relevance of certain laws regarding the War on Terror, the difference between an unlawful combatant and an offensive civilian (Vöneky , 747). The Central Intelligence Agency: The focus of the CIA in the aftermath of the 9/11 became the terrorist travel information, something policy guidance had failed to do. A Passport Analysis Program was set in place by CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology. The program is able to detect terrorist affiliations, issues regarding legal citizenship and fraudulent passports, with the help of the documents submitted by the applicant. However, the implementation of the Passport Analysis Program at airports has still not been done. The Terrorist Mobility Branch (TMB) was also created by the CIA which specifically focused on the larger trends and the methodologies of terrorist travel. The TMB had the responsibility of tracking all the facilitators of the terrorist groups from the vendors who provide fraudulent documents to corrupt government officials and so forth (House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section , 150). Building Intergroup Relations: In the aftermath of the 9/11, a realization that strongly hit the American policy makers was that maybe they had to re-think their international relations strategy. It was not only the American government but also the American citizens who took some time to reflect and build lasting intergroup relationships with those of foreign nationalities. The 9/11 was a tragic event in the history of the United States, which mean that trust would now take time to develop. A total of 785 incidents were reported to the Council on American-Islamic relations regarding racial violence taking place against Muslims, Indians, Sikhs and other people of Middle Eastern nationalities. In order to help ease the grief of all the victims, the Educators of Social Responsibility prepared guides that aimed at providing counseling to the children and help them cope with the effects of the 9/11. Along with counseling guides, many school teachers encourage the intermingling of students from different cultures and plan visits to sacred places of the foreign children (e.g. mosques). These efforts have not been limited to educational institutions; rather their reach has been community wide from vigils, discussion groups and various other community gatherings (Lee , 132-134). Conclusion: The paper shows that drastic measures were taken post 9/11 to increase the security of the American people as well as to eradicate the threat of terrorism from the world. A total of $1,121 billion have been spent in the War on Terror, with 67% of the allocation to the War in Iraq, 30% in Afghanistan, 3% for enhanced United States security (Belasco , 1). However, in spite of the efforts of the United States, the threats from terrorist groups keep looming above us, especially with the ever increasing suicide bombings and target killings. Terrorist groups belong to no nation and are the enemies of peace on earth. I hope the world never sees a terrorist plot as massive as the 9/11again. Works Cited Ayres, Thomas E. "“Six Floors” of Detainee Operations in the Post-9/11World." Parameter (Autumn 2005): 37 - 40. Web. 24 Apr. 2011 Belasco, Amy. “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11.” On War Expenditure, prepared for the Congress. Washington D.C.: Congressional Research Service, September 2, 2010: 1. Web. 21 Apr. 2011 Hess, Diana and Jeremy Stoddard. "9/11 and Terrorism:”The Ultimate Teachable Moment” in Textbooks and Supplemental Curricula." Journal of Social Education (September 2007, 71(5), ): pp 231–236. Web. 21 Apr. 2011 House of Commons Library Committee; International Affairs and Defence Section. 11 September 2001: "The Response." Research Paper. London, United Kingdom: House of Commons Library, 3 October 2001: 16-150. Web. 24 Apr. 2011 Jackson, Olivia A. "The Impact of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the US Economy." The Journal of 911Studies (March 3, 2008): 8 - 19. Web. 24 Apr. 2011 Lee, Kien S. "Building Intergroup Relations After September 11." Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (2002): pp. 131–141. Web. 22 Apr. 2011 Pearson, Mark and Naomi Busst. "Anti-terror laws and the media after 9/11: Three models in Australia, NZ and the Pacific." Pacific Journalism Review 12 (2) (2006): 9 - 27. Web. 21 Apr. 2011 Perl, Raphael. "Terrorism and National Security:Issues and Trends." Report fron the Congress on National Security. Washington D.C: Congressional Research Service, February 2, 2006: 8-9. Web. 24 Apr. 2011 Vöneky, Silja N. U. "Response – The Fight against Terrorism and the Rules of International Law." German Law Journal (2007, Volume 08, Issue 07): 747. Web. 24 Apr. 2011 Read More