9/11 and the Start of the War on Terror - Essay Example

The incident led to roughly 3,000 fatalities, majority of whom were innocent civilians. President Bush acted in response to these attacks with demands for the protection of liberty, and for the punishment of the terrorists (Lankford 420). The President was determined about the worldwide nature of the impending war, declaring that “This is not… just America’s fight. And what is at stake is not just America’s freedom. This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom” (Jackson 195).

The President even mentioned the responsibility of NATO members to help the U.S. government in its war against terrorists, considering their involvement as unavoidable (Robertson 174): Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America’s side… They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments.

Afterward, the President introduced the concept of ‘War on Terror’. By introducing this concept the President characterized terrorism as any action which the U.S. assumes endangers liberty, sovereignty, and the American way of life, further declaring that those who support such acts are terrorists themselves. But how one views or identifies terrorism has huge influence on the validity of such daring efforts at unilateral global disunion (Robertson 174-175). This essay discusses that due to constant threats posed by malicious terrorists and the following 9/11 incidence, the United States embarked on devising effective measures, for instance, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), in quest to combat terror both within its borders and in the world.

The War on Terror President George W. Bush acted in response to the September 11 incident by creating new objectives in foreign policy, and trying to expand presidential power. After 9/11, Bush started to develop a new foreign policy system, establishing new priorities for U.S. foreign affairs. Prior to 9/11, Bush continued almost all international commitments of the Clinton government, except the pulling out from involvement in the Middle East peace process (Buckley & Singh 12-13). Events on September 11 changed all of these, and motivated ingenious measures headed by the presidency.

Temporarily, the War on Terror has reformed almost all American foreign policy priorities and commitments. Bush specified a policy of resisting and fighting terrorist activities with military power everywhere they are present, and also using military force against foreign regimes that support and protect terrorists. This policy, known as the Bush Doctrine, also involves the killing of foreign and terrorist leaders linked to terrorist attacks against the U.S. This new policy was immediately realized through the war in Afghanistan (Buckley & Singh 13).

The Bush Doctrine greatly resembles the Truman Doctrine, promising American intervention anywhere in the world to fight a specific adversary. A large number of recent U.S. operations have currently been reshaped as anti-terrorism, and broadened to accommodate new priorities and objectives. A perfect case in point is Columbia, wherein the American support for the government in its fight against the revolutionaries who were financially supported by the drug trade industry has shifted into a battle against terrorists hostile to U.S. interests overseas (Svendsen 120).

Bush explained the vague idea of the War on