The terrorist attack of September 11 launched against the United States was one of the most significant events in the history of the United States. The attacks in the heart of the United States’ most industrialized and commercialized city proved that United States, despite being considered as the most powerful country in this era can still be vulnerable to terrorist threats. Thus, the September 11 attack in 2001 against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was considered as an aggression against the United States’ leadership, in terms of political, economic and military supremacy.
As such, the Bush administration was quick in responding to the attacks launched against the United States. Immediately prompting the terrorist attacks, Bush and his advisers came up with new set of policies and laws that were directed towards minimizing the possible new threats that the country may come across. In addition, certain measures were implemented to undermine the strength of terrorist movements within the United States borders and within the territory of their allies as well.
And as such, the measures that the Bush administration initiated clearly redefined the role that United States has to partake within the international community (“The War Behind Closed Doors,” 2003).
The Bush Doctrine, which was later adopted as the America’s official national security strategy was one of the most important and influential documents that was implemented in the United States.
The Essay on Is It Terrorism To Attack Terrorists
Is it Terrorism to Attack Terrorists Terrorism is politically motivated violence intended to intimidate and terrify. When U. S. embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania, Washington decided to retaliate. On Aug. 20, 1998, the U. S. launched military strikes at what they believed were terrorist-related bases in Afghanistan and Sudan. They believed these groups played a key role in the embassy ...
The policies and strategies that were sought to be implemented were focused on strengthening and ensuring international economic, political and military ties, which the Bush Doctrine has believed can lessen terrorist threats and in turn, strengthen international defense against “enemies” (“The National Security Strategy of the United States of America,” 2002).
However, as the Bush administration progresses in implementing the policies set forth within the Bush Doctrine, such actions incited a number of negative publicities and controversies for the Bush administration.
Critics have seen the Bush Doctrine as a foreign policy that undermines the freedom and liberty of smaller countries to choose their own destiny. Bush statement which said: “you’re either with us or against us” implied that it there was no any choice but to take side with the American government regardless of what other governments believe will benefit their people (Browne, 2004).
As such, the drastic measures carried out by the American government through the Bush Doctrine were found to be quite unnecessary according to international critics. Most of the critics have found the threats against United States as unjustified and therefore, the United States retaliation as irrational and unprovoked (Donnelly, 2003).
References Browne, H. (2004).
The Bush Doctrine: Selective Bullying. LewRockwell. Retrieved August 24, 2008, from http://www. lewrockwell. com/browne/browne9. html
Donnelly, T. (2003).
The Underpinnings of the Bush Doctrine. American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved August 24, 2008, from http://www. aei. org/publications/pubID. 15845/pub_detail. asp The National Security Strategy of the United States of America. (2002).
The White House. Retrieved August 24, 2008, from http://www. whitehouse. gov/nsc/nss2. html The War Behind Closed Doors. (2003).
Frontline. Retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/synopsis. html
