The Folly of the Empire by John Judis - Essay Example

The author contends that historically, America’s supposed invasion and liberation of countries such as the Philippines and Iraq often culminates in unsatisfactory outcomes. America’s attempts at creating overseas empires through the use of force have always been catastrophic as witnessed by the Spanish-American war. These attempts have always resulted in the creation of anti-American backlash that threatens the country’s security. The Bush administration scorned international institutions and the idea of a community of power, an approach taken by former President Wilson Woodrow. The administration’s invasion of Iraq bore resemblance to previous invasion attempts of the Philippines in 1900, Mexico in 1913, and South Vietnam in 1961. Bush’s Administration's disregard for the country’s historical experiences in the aforementioned countries resulted to generate an anti-America backlash and awaken a rather dormant Iraqi nationalism. The administration’s ‘war on terror saw the country engage itself in a bloody occupation of Iraq. It also served to fuel the stereotypical view of America as the perceived ‘savior’ of the world. This served to enable new recruits along enemy lines.

Terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon

            The September 11 2001 attack carried by Al-Qaeda on the US was carried out by 19 persons of non-US nationality via four hijacked US commercial passenger jets in Newark, Boston, and Washington (Murphy 239). The hijacked aircraft were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pennsylvania countryside, and the Pentagon in Northern Virginia.  The nineteen hijackers had worked as a single, integrated group for a period of eighteen months. The six leaders of the group were well educated and trained as pilots having entered the US earlier than the rest of the group. The others were younger and less educated and served to control passengers on the plane. The group was authorized and funded by Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Expatriate based in Afghanistan working through his terrorist network called Al-Qaeda. The justification for the Al-Qaeda attack was reportedly to oust pro-Western governments in the Middle East, remove U.S. military forces from the Middle East, and prevent an Arab-Israeli peace settlement. Following the attacks, the US treasury department’s power was expanded to target financial support for terrorist organizations worldwide (Murphy 247). A national emergency was declared by President Bush and he called into action the reserves of the US armed forces.  The country also prepared to take military action in Afghanistan against Taliban military operations and Al-Qaeda terrorist-training camps. Domestically, the president also signed a joint resolution of Congress that allowed for the creation of an office of Homeland security and a homeland security council. These got charged with developing and coordinating the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the US from terrorist attacks and threats.