...Hand-in on Bush’s declaration of war. Sept. 20, 2001 - Bush Declares War on Terror Analytical Essay ”On September the eleventh, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country.” This is how former president George Walker Bush initiated his speech and declared war on terror. He identifies terrorists as enemies of freedom, but are they? Some people would characterize the word “terrorist” as an emotive. Some people would not know what the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is. That makes me petrified. In 1989, USA won the cold war. Many historians and sociologist expeditiously agreed that there now was brought an end to the century of extremes, and the new world order could begin. One of them was Eric Hobsbawn, who stated USA as the, now only, superpower in the world. From 1989-2001, USA transformed the western values such as market economy and democracy to the rest of the world. In this period, USA solved many international conflicts and orderly made the world a better place. I sat down and thought about, why anyone would start this war against terror, who started it, and who was to blame for it? In this analytical essay, I will go through the main points in Bush’s speech. For instance, what does he mean, when he says: “The terrorists are traitors to their own faith”? Furthermore, I will go deeply into the consequences of the war on terror. Can the war on terror have had an effect on the globalization? If so, how big an impact has it played...
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...Terror from the Air Luftebeben: An den Qullen des Terrors, initially a book first written in German by author Peter Sloterdijk. However, the English translation of the book was published by Semiotext(e) in 2009, which we now know of as Terror from the Air. Sloterdijk wrote this book based around terriosm and our atmosphere, he calls this Atmoterrorism. Peter Sloterdijk defined the 20th century as these three things “the practice of terrorism, the concept of product design, and environmental thinking” (reference p.9). And for him, there was one day in particular that marked the beginning of the 20th century; it was on April the 22nd of 1915. On that epoch, the unexpected happened at Ypres in Northern France during World War 1, when the army of Germany attacked using chlorine gas, making this the first act of gas warfare in history. It was this event in which modernity arose, no longer would attacking involve death to only the enemies, but now to their environment and the air they breathe. The evolution of using poisonous gas would cause harm and destruction to everything essential for living, it was also a sign that traditional war was no longer, but more so classed as terrorism. The first one of the three themes that outlines the 20th century is the practice of terrorism, which was when enemy interaction was established on a post- militaristic basis (Sloterdijk, 2009, p.29REFERENCE). During this time of war is when the discovery of the atmosphere and ecosystem transpired...
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...In this essay I will argue that the ‘war on terror’ declared by the Bush administration and so assessed for the US; is not a just war. It fails in the central interrelated criteria of just cause and last resort for jus ad bellum, which I detail first through assessment of the Bush administration’s self-proclaimed just reasoning behind resorting to war against a concept, and the alternatives available to it, I will then detail its failure in the jus in bello criteria of discrimination and proportionality, reasoning through the case of drone warfare. Jus ad bellum I shall firstly focus on the crucial jus ad bellum principle of just cause, holding the only just cause for war to be self-defence . The USA and its allies suffered unjust, unprovoked terror attacks, notably to embassies and battleships, as well as ultimately the 9/11 disaster, and further possessed reputable evidence of other failed attacks. Thus this essay acknowledges that they were under-attack from a powerful and effective enemy, which could be reliably pinpointed as Al Qaeda. These attacks were focused on non-combatants in landmark locations; deliberate targeting for maximum terror spreading effect, which further represented an attack on western freedoms. Hence the assailant satisfied neither jus ad bellum, nor jus in bello, and without immediate and effective action there existed great potential for further unjust attacks. This was the Bush administration’s argument for sufficient reason to declare war in self-defence...
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...HISTORY 1500 WINTER 2014 RESEARCH ESSAY TOPICS 1. Select a crusade and discuss the extent to which it accomplished its objectives. Why did it succeed or fail? Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A Short History; Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives; Christopher Tyerman, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades 2. How did anti-Semitism manifest itself in medieval Europe? Kenneth R. Stow, Alienated Minority: The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe; Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages; Solomon Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century 3. What was the position of prostitutes in medieval society? Ruth Mazo Karras, Common Women; Leah Otis, Prostitution in Medieval Society; Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life 4. Why did the French choose to follow Joan of Arc during the the Hundred Years War? Kelly DeVries, Joan of Arc: A Military Leader; Bonnie Wheeler, ed., Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc; Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life 5. Discuss the significance of siege warfare during the crusades. You may narrow this question down to a single crusade if you wish. Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Siege; Randall Rogers, Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century; John France, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade 6. Why did the persecution...
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...Media and Socio-Cultural Change The 2003 Iraq War Did Not Take Place Did the 2003 Iraq War take place? This question derived from Jean Baudrillard’s essay with the title ‘The Gulf War did not take place’ written in 1991 in response to the Gulf War (August 2, 1990 - February 28, 1991). Baudrillard began his essay with a provocative statement “Since this war was won in advance, we will never know what it would have been like had it existed. We will never know what an Iraqi taking part with a chance of fighting would have been like. We will never know what an American taking part with a chance of being beaten would have been like” (Baudrillard, 2004). This bold paragraph prompts us re-think whether the war actually occurred as what we saw, read or heard from the news and the media, however we are not supposed to consider this literary. Baudrillard’s argument was to demonstrate the war perceived by the world was not the “actual” war rather it was a media spectacle. According to Kellner, “Media Spectacles are those phenomena of media culture which embody contemporary society's basic values, serve to enculturate individuals into its way of life, and dramatize it's controversies and struggles, as well as its modes of conflict resolution." (Kellner, 2005) In Kellner’s essay ‘September 11, Spectacles of Terror, and Media Manipulation: A Critique of Jihadist and Bush Media Politics’, he implied how media spectacles have been used by terrorists and the Bush government to promote...
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...Theories 3/13/2016 Marxist theory: War on Terror Marxist theories of international politics are commonly dismissed out of hand as being outdated, preoccupied with economics rather than politics, and concerning itself more with domestic rather than international social relations. Viewed from the perspective of Marxism however, both liberalism and realism are profoundly limited, for each takes as its premise a world of pre-constituted social actors (whether self-interested individuals or security-seeking states). These theories are therefore unable to consider the social processes through which these kinds of actors have been historically constructed. Thus in analyzing the so-called war on terror, Marxism forces us to understand the development of the structures of global capitalism and the ideologies and agents situated within these structures. This essay therefore evaluates whether Marxist theories of international politics offer convincing explanations of the war on terror. I start with the Marxist understanding of capitalism as a historically particular way of organizing social life that entails political, cultural and economic aspects that need to be understood as a dynamic ensemble of social relations not necessarily contained within the territorial boundaries of nation states. I then apply this understanding to frame the war on terror through the context of economic security which has animated US policy-makers from the Second World War to the Bush administration, and in...
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...In what ways, if any, has globalization transformed the phenomenon of terrorism? Introduction The idea of terrorism has not always been as it is today. The word “terror” originated after the French Revolution and the word “terrorism” was subsequently recorded by the Académie Française in 1798 (Roberts 2002). The regime of “la Terreur” was one of force and bloody repression against opponents to the newly born French Republic, but since the 19th century, terrorism has come to designate a method of opposition used by small groups (Tilly 2004, 8-9) “against the legitimacy of the prevailing sovereign power” (Scruton 2002, 126). As Barkawi (2006, 129) aptly puts across “‘terror’ is often used as a weapon by those who lack sufficient weapons to fight a military war, who believe their voices are not being heard and their desires bear no fruit”. Contrary to the French “terror”, “terrorism” is then no longer a practice of the State; it is that of radical groups opposing the State, and it is mainly the State that gives them this name (Townshend 2002, 3); the names these groups give themselves are in relation to a cause they see as legitimate. Such causes have arisen in numerous places, prompting some to take extreme but in their minds justified action, and Europe has faced terrorist threats long before the 9/11 attacks, incarnated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Basque Fatherland and Liberty group (ETA) in Spain or the Red Brigades in Italy, to name only a few (Barkawi...
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...State terrorism is often a neglected phenomenon in terrorism studies. Discuss how terrorism has been used as a weapon by states over the past 50 years. Is state terrorism fundamentally different from non-state terrorism? Introduction Within this essay I will discuss how states have used terrorism as a weapon over the past 50 to achieve strategic goals. I will then go on to discuss whether it is fundamentally different from non-state terrorism. To start with we must understand what is meant by a weapon. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a weapon as “An instrument used in combat for the purpose of killing, injuring, or defeating an enemy.” (Britannica 2013). The Oxford English dictionary defines weapon as “An instrument of any kind used in warfare or in combat to attack and overcome an enemy.” (OED 2013). It is clear from both definitions that a weapon is used in combat against an enemy to overcome them. The act is deliberate in such that it is intentional, not by accident. Therefore this essay will examine cases that terrorism is used by the state deliberately, there must be “mens rea” present. Some states can also be defined as a failed state “A state that is failing has several attributes. One of the most common is the loss of physical control of its territory or a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other attributes of state failure include the erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services...
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...Using two or three examples, critically examine the roles the USA and Southeast Asian states have played in Australia's security. Australia’s security has been shaped through an alliance with the US and the collective strategy towards the war on terror. Australian security policy has been further developed following the international response after the events of September 11, 2001. The implementation of anti-terror laws provided Australian Security Agencies with extra powers need to investigate and detain those who threaten Australia, its people or interests. These Security Agencies experienced substantial budget increases to further develop capabilities in the fight against terrorism. Regional stability throughout South East Asia provides a challenge for Australian foreign security policy. Australia’s geographical proximity to Southeast means Australia has an invested interest in maintaining stability through strong ties with states such as Indonesia. This essay will critically state how the US and South East Asia have shaped Australian security with an international response against terrorism. Over the past 60 years Australia and the US have formed an alliance to combat those who pose threat to global security. The alliance was constitutionally formalized in 1951 with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty (US Department of State, 2011). The signing of the treaty binds Australia and the United States to consult on mutual threats and act upon common dangers. The agreement...
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...Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror POL 201 American National Government The recent War on Terror has caused quite a stir. Many patriotic Americans are now on guard even though the main character in the War on Terror, Osama Bin Laden, has been caught and executed. Many other “terrorists” have been arrested and detained at a prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. This raises the question of whether they are being detained legally or not. One issue is the concept of habeus corpus. This essay will briefly outline the war on terror and demonstrate the concept of habeus corpus and what it means for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The War on Terror may have begun with the bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in the countries of Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. At the time, it was uncertain who caused the attack or why it happened. “Two bombs with a single message: don't forget the world's superpower still has enemies, secret, violent and determined. America is ever a target, its embassies and installations abroad inviting symbols of its power See, say the bombers, despite your enormous wealth and strength, we can still inflict a great hurt” (McGreary, 1998). This message suggested that there was more terror on the horizon. The author remembers this well as he went to Kenya in 1998 and returned from his trip two days before the US Embassy was bombed there. Many Americans may have forgotten about these attacks when, three years later, the United States was attacked on its...
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...Short Essay on War and Terror The United States is known as a Super Power in the world today for two particular reasons and they are one, the outcome of World War II and two, how the President at that time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt handled conflicts at home as well as conflicts overseas. During that time the United States was going through some challenges dealing with the Great Depression and the difficulties of Germany beginning to start conflicts in Europe where there was nothing being done about it. World War II was a situation America had stayed out of for about three years, but when the U.S. finally did get involved the balance was then tipped in the favor of the allies due to the U.S. involvement. Also, as it was shown in World War I, when the United States gets involved with conflicts dealing with issues overseas we are very effective and are resolute on becoming triumphant. This resolve continued with a Reaganite point of view, it was president Regan who responded to the Soviet proxies with a proxy war built on the Nixon doctrine of preparing to wage low-intensity conflicts against military nationalist regimes in the Third World. Although by 9/11 the methods changed drastically from low-intensity proxy war to high-intensity direct warfare. [1] No different than the conflict the U.S. has dealt with and continues to deal with today in Iraq and Afghanistan. The era of proxy wars began with America’s defeat in Vietnam and closed with the invasion of Iraq...
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...other nations in the terrorism fight and promise and vow to bring those who were involved to justice. That was when men who were 19 in number colluded and worked together to highjack four airplanes that were heading for California. The essay below looks into the various aspects of the speech that the president presented mainly to comfort as well as encourage the Americans despite the attack, in the speech. It looks at the impacts of the address, his resent on the incident, his personality, in addition to his efforts to assure American citizens of the government’s industrious steps to protect them as well as the impacts that the speech had after the proposed counterterrorism measures that involved developing a robust national security as discussed in the paper. The President of America, George Bush addressed upon the unfortunate events of 9-11 that had unfolded in 2011 the month of September according to the article “George W. Bush - Address to the Nation on 9-11-01. He begins by expressing profound and bitter sentiments upon the deadly terrorist attack that claimed thousands of innocent lives including passengers who had boarded the plane and business people who were in the building. He uses words such as “lives ended suddenly by evil, acts of terror that are despicable. Bush...
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...HABEAS CORPUS AND THE WAR ON TERROR POL 201 AMERICAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT JEFFREY LONG JANUARY 27, 2014 September 11, 2001 has brought about many changes in the form of how the country protects itself from terrorists. In particular, how we handle individuals captured and labeled as enemy combatants. The United States Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba(GITMO) is land leased to the United States under the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903 for the use of coaling and a Naval station. Since 2002, the naval base has operated a detention camp for alleged enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. Legal issues surrounding the imprisonment without due process is an argument that has continued since the opening of this facility. This essay will argue why the rights afforded by the Constitution should be afforded to detainees at GITMO in terms of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is a demand by a court to a jailer to produce the prisoner and announce the charges(Levin-Waldman, 2012). Derived from English common law, habeas corpus first appeared in the Magna Carta of 1215 and is the oldest human right in the history of English-speaking civilization. The doctrine of habeas corpus stems from the requirement that a government must either charge a person or let him go free. The Bush administration’s decision to incarcerate enemy combatants at GITMO without habeas corpus has tested the scope and commitment of this constitutional right(Schultz, 2011). This right is...
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...and the War on Terror POL201: American National Government Instructor: Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror This paper will talk about the right of habeas corpus in the context of the war on terror. I will explain the historical evolution of habeas corpus as well as explain of its evolution within the American tradition and will include the general meaning of the right of habeas corpus in the U.S. Constitution and its relationship to the protection of other civil liberties. I will provide examples from U.S. history of the suspension of habeas corpus and their applicability to the present. Analyze the relevance of habeas corpus to the contemporary U.S. situation during the war on terror, especially with respect to persons characterized by as enemy combatants or illegal combatants. I will be evaluating a minimum of four perspectives on this topic expressed by justices of the Supreme Court, leaders in other branches of government, and commentators in both the academic and popular media; 1.)The role of the President as Commander-in-Chief, 2.) The role of Congress in determining when habeas corpus can be suspended, 3.) The role of the Supreme Court in protecting civil liberties, including the judicial philosophy which should guide the Court in this role, and 4.) The last topic will include my evaluation and personal philosophy, values or ideology about the balance between civil liberties and national security in the context of an unending war on terror...
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...Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” starts with the brief tongue-in-cheek statement, “this is true.” While most authors seek to build credibility with their reader, O’Brien actively undermines his own trustworthiness in order to convey the skepticism with which he believes audiences should treat all ‘true’ war stories. His most effective strategy for doing so is the interweaving of a potentially fictitious narrative within a formal essay, further developing “How to Tell a True War Story’s” message of disillusionment with the attributes characteristically attributed to war and the dubious nature of war stories by creating a sense of suspicion and general distrust between the reader and the speaker. As O’Brien interweaves narrative within his essay, such stories are...
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