Aftermath of 9/11 in USA - Essay Example

Running Head: 9/11 in USA Aftermath of 9/11 in USA of Aftermath of 9/11 in USA IntroductionThe September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of suicide attacks on the United States, which were based on the hijacking of four commercial passenger jet liners. The planes were intentionally crashed into the twin towers of World Trade Centre and the pentagon.the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The two towers of the World Trade Center collapsed within hours after burning due to structural failures.As a result of the attacks, 2974 people died immediately and the number later increased even more. Most of the victims were civilian and included national from more than 80 different countries. To investigate the attacks, the American government formed the 9/11 commission which released its report in July 2004. The report concluded that members of al qaeda were behind the planning and carrying out of the attacks. The attacks were headed by osama bin laden and align with osama's declaration of a holy war against America. As a result of the attack, widespread confusion was created all over the United States. For 3 days, the US soil was closed to all international civilian air traffic, those already inflight were either turned back or redirected to Canadian or Mexican airports. Contingency plans were also implemented in order to secure the government and evacuate leaders. The 9/11 attacks caused major political ramifications globally and the media and government from all over the world denounced them. The world over feelings of sympathies existed and were denounced by mainstream media and governments worldwide. The attacks were condemned by leaders of many different countries specially from those of Middle Eastern countries. The attacks not only changed many things in America but also resulted in far and wide repurcussions for other countries including the introduction of "anti-terrorism" legislations and arresting of "terrorist suspects" (Wikipedia, 2008). Bush doctrine The attacks of September 11, 2001, shocked the whole world. As preventive measures to occurring of any such drastic event, different governments in different countries took various measures like increasing security checks, arresting suspected terrorists and passing different legislations. The government of USA, in order to prevent such incidents in the future, implemented a National Security Strategy referred preemptive or Bush doctrine. The man behind this doctrine was President George W. Bush and hence it earned its name. This doctrine has numerous goals and objectives, which were to be attained over both short term and long term period and one such important objective is the identification and destruction of threats before they reach American borders. The American government, at the time of creation of this doctrine was and still is incumbent on accomplishing the objectives whether they are supported by international community or not. The doctrine consisted of various broad measures as well as specific ones. The Broad measures were meant for the long term and included the waging of wars at any place from where supposed threats arise to the USA whereas the specific actions were meant to be implemented and have an impact on the short run. Some of the specific measures that were taken dealt with all kinds of objects crossing the US border, whether they were human or nonhuman. The doctrine suggests that all such objects are to be submitted to specific controls, preferably even before their arrival at the American borders ("TM", n.d.) War on terrorism The most imminent outcome of the bush doctrine was the announcement of "war on terror" by the Bush administration. The decision to start the war was portrayed as a chain reaction to the events of 9/11, whatever the actual reason might have been. Two major outcomes of this announcement were invasion of Afghanistan and invasion of Iraq. Barely within two months of the 9/11 attack, the Bush administration started its invasion of Afghanistan and justified the invasion on the ground that the Taliban government had provided sanctuary for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The second target of this war was Iraq, a country which had apparently no involvement in the 9/11 attacks. The attack on Afghanistan paved the way for the invasion of Iraq, on the fabricated links between the regime of Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. The main emphasis laid by the US government as a very valid reason of this invasion was Iraq's alleged possession of so-called weapons of mass destruction (North, 2006). 9/11 and Politics in America Today politics in USA is very discordant and it has always been like this. There are many bitter feeling and disagreements and many of the men from congressmen barely speak to each other. A body as important as The Senate Judiciary Committee can't work at its full potential as it is paralysed by Democratic filibusters. The most important thing which is responsible for driving Americans apart is the even balance of the political parties where even a slight shift in any direction can result in tilting the equilibrium of power. The Democrats redistricted away the seats of the Republicans and demonise them as wild-eyed extremists, thus keeping them at their wits ("Editorial", 2003). The Conservatives and the Liberals reacted to the attacks in their own way. If seen in the light of national security, Conservatives realized the gravity of 9/11 attacks and prepared for war whereas the Liberals, on the realizing the gravity, were more willing to reflect and offer therapy and understanding for the attackers (Blumenthal, 2005). Liberal Democrats oppose Bush because they believe that he has made America vulnerable to the starting of a war between radical Muslim terrorists and the free world. Most of the involved parties stick by Bush's decision of getting even with the enemies (Conason, 2005). Some of the politicians earned the favor of the American population by sympathizing with the victims of the grave incident, others promised to investigate into the details while still other agreed with Bush's idea of pay back time! In the wake of 9/11 the liberals grew conservative about their sentiments for the status quo whereas on the other hand, the neoconservatives and president Bush turned into "radicals" by carrying freedom and democracy to the repressive Middle East. Despite the disagreements, the liberal Democrats were found standing next to the Conservative Republicans to promise their support for the much necessary military action against al-Qaida and the Taliban. No disagreements arose at this moment and anything that would have caused discord at this moment of crisis was avoided. Patriot Act In the wake of 9/11, one of the most important legislations that were passed was USA PATRIOT Act on the notion that it would help in the detection and prosecution of terrorism and other crimes. According to President Bush: "The law allows our intelligence and law enforcement officials to continue to share information. It allows them to continue to use tools against terrorists that they used against -- that they use against drug dealers and other criminals. It will improve our nation's security while we safeguard the civil liberties of our people. The legislation strengthens the Justice Department so it can better detect and disrupt terrorist threats. And the bill gives law enforcement new tools to combat threats to our citizens from international terrorists to local drug dealers." The key features of this Act are: It authorizes information sharing so as to enable necessary cooperation that can help law enforcement and intelligence officials break down legal and bureaucratic walls separating criminal investigators from intelligence officers before an attack occurs.. The Act allows agents to use the tools that they employ for other criminals to track terrorists, thus removing double standards. Modern technology is encompassed in this act by necessitating disclosure of customer records by Internet service providers in case of emergencies involving an immediate risk of death or serious physical injury. The act also extends the help of law enforcement agencies to victims of hacking crimes on their request. This act is visibly in conflict with the fourth Amendment of the constitution which stipulates: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." No action has been taken against this because the Act claims to be successful at closing dangerous law enforcement and intelligence gaps by allowing law enforcement agenicies to invade the privacy of citizens and letting US government to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant, thus disregarding the need to have a judicial oversight of the agencies (Paul, 2008). Measures regarding security of trade Trading can also turn out to be a mean of carrying out terrorist attack and therefore the security for the transport of goods across borders via trade gained a vital importance since 9/11 in order to avoid terrorist attacks. The multilayered system adopted for the security involve both public authorities and private companies throughout the production, storage and transport and is meant to provide protection from products imported by USA and cargo arriving at US borders. In order to improve security, some of the measures taken with respect to trade activities include: Advance Electronic Information Manifest: Prior information can be a valuable asset when it comes to security measures regarding trading. Advance Electronic Information Manifest is a set of rules which requires transmission of electronic cargo information in advance to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The information is for both the arrival and departs of cargo and provision of various effective dates depending upon the mode of transportation whether it's by maritime, air, truck or rail. This rule is for the purpose helping U.S. Customs to decide on the loading/no loading status of the cargo in advance by enabling them to analyze information about container content before it is loaded ("TM", n.d.) Bioterrorism Act: This act establishes a group of procedures, registers and controls that are to be followed by all those companies which produce, process, pack or handle export of food and related product to the US markets ("TM", n.d.) Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Container Security Initiative (CSI): these are voluntary programs designed for action between the government, foreign ports and industry in order to promote security effectively through the entire global supply chain ("TM", n.d.) ISPS Code (International Ship and Port Facility Security) and MTSA (Maritime Transportation Security Act): in order to protect from terrorist attacks, the ISPS Code establishes different measures to be taken by ships and by port facilities to enhance their security. MTSA introduces similar measures to ISPS code but are meant for ships calling at US ports so as to lower the risk exposed by international maritime trade ("TM", n.d.). Aviation and Transportation Security Act The congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act on November 19, 2001 to ensure security in all modes of transportation. Since September 2001, security in transportation system became very important and therefore various measures have been taken in this regard, the measures include: Aviation security: the size of U.S airspace is huge and aviation security means protection of hundreds of airports, thousands of planes, and tens of thousands of daily flights. With regard to security measures in this domain, efforts have been made to make sure that bombs and other threat items are not carried aboard by passengers or through their luggage. As a part of security measures, explosives detection systems, thousands of passenger and baggage screeners and federal air have been employed for screening checked baggage for explosives (Dillingham, 2003). Transit agencies: The transit agencies are also important in framing security measures that are related to transport. Mass transit agencies have accelerated training for emergency preparedness and have started conducting emergency drills (Dillingham, 2003). Port security: There are more than 300 public and private U.S. seaports, with more than 3,700 cargo and passenger terminals. Risk assessments of ports, establishment of new guidelines for security, comprehensive assessment of security conditions at major ports are being done by the Coast guard. In order to strengthen port security, a database of known shippers was establish in October 2002 and a "known shipper" program has been implemented which allows only shippers that have established business histories with air carriers or freight forwarders to ship cargo on planes (Dillingham, 2003). Despite the various security measures, complete security can never be provided to any form of travel because of their huge numbers and different complexities and consequently air cargo shipments, general aviation airports, and mass transit systems still remain vulnerable to attacks. Post 9/11 and Immigrants All the citizens of the country felt the impact of the attacks but the measures that were taken had the most profound effect on the immigrants who had to face tough times as result of the government's security measures. Some of the measures that were taken against the immigrants included: Joint Congressional Resolution: This resolution authorizes the use of military force "to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States". As a result, more than 1,200 immigrants were round-up and detained as a part of the government's effort to get hold of terrorists. In this process, most of the immigrants were detained without any reason or crime and some of them were only illegal immigrants or those with ordinary crimes. Alien Registration Act : This Act was not framed after 9/11 but was already in place; the only major difference is that before the attacks, not much emphasis was placed on its implementation. In compliance with this Act, thousands of immigrants were registered and fingerprinted. US VISA program: This was an important measure to lower the security threat at ports of entry. This program is meant to match foreign visitors against lists of suspected or known terrorists by using inkless fingerprints to biometrically verify identities Immigration has been attempted to be used a proxy for anti-terrorism through many of the policies that were adopted after the attacks (Lobe, 2003). In the wake of 9/11, U.S. officials claim that they have succeeded in tightening immigration but there is insistence from congressional critics to do more in order to keep the country safe from terrorists.The idea of terrorists trying to enter the country by legal or illegal means is one of the major growing threats to security of USA.Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff emphasized on the need to balance security, keeping in mind that for immigrants from every part of the world, the United States remains a favored destination ("immigration", 2005). Conclusion The event of 9/11 led to a series of reactions in the USA that forced the government to take various measures, which were meant to prevent terrorist attacks and curtail suspicious activities. These measures originated from the Bush doctrine that was aimed at protecting the borders of America from the acts of terrorism even before they reached the land. The war on terrorism was the most visible of these measures, other measures taken were concerned with trade security, transportation security and immigrant threat. The political condition in America is dependant upon the two political parties. These parties are at conflicting ends but after the attacks of 9/11 both the parties stood by each other, showing the unity at the times of trouble. Security measures have in fact proved useful to a great extent but the over all threat to security can never be completely eliminated because of different contextual factors and related complexities. References Blumenthal, M. (2005). Demystifying the Science and Art of Political Polling, from http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2005/06/how_did_liberal.html Accessed April 26, 2008 Conason, J. (2005). Karl Rove is a liar, from http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/conason/2005/06/24/karl_rove/ Accessed April 26, 2008 Dillingham,G.L.(2003). Post-September 11th Initiatives and Long-Term Challenges, from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03616t.pdf Accessed April 26, 2008 "Editorial". (2003). Not the way to do it. Economist. Vol. 368 Issue 8337, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detailvid=6&hid=115&sid=f36631ef-8694-41bb-a4bf-53bca69737e3%40sessionmgr107 Accessed April 26, 2008 "immigration". (2005). US Continues to Tighten Immigration Following 9/11 Attacks, from http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-05/2005-05-03-voa45.cfm Accessed April 26, 2008 Lobe, J. (2003). Post-9/11 Immigrant Roundup Backfired - Report, from http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0627-03.htm Accessed April 26, 2008 North, D. (2006). Five years since 9/11: A political balance sheet, from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/sep2006/9112-s12.shtml Accessed April 26, 2008 Paul, R.P. Protect America from the Protect America Act, from http://www.antiwar.com/paul/articleid=12295 Accessed April 26, 2008 "TM". (n.d.). The impact of security measures adopted by the USA post-9/11 on international trade, from http://www.gwu.edu/ibi/minerva/Fall%202004/security%20measures.pdf Accessed April 26, 2008 Wikipedia. (2008). September 11, 2001 attacks, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks Accessed April 26, 2008 Read More