Global War on 1

Running Head: WAR ON TERRORISM ANALYSIS

Global War on Terrorism Policy Analysis

Mark D. Derham

American Military University

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Ever since the attacks of September 11, 2001 that brought down the World Trade Center

buildings and destroyed a portion of the pentagon, terrorism has been on the tip of the American

people’s tongue. The 9/11 attacks forced the American people to focus once again on foreign

policy and world affairs, and it brought to light such groups as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban (Papp,

Johnson & Endicott, p. 2, 2005). Few would argue that the greatest threat to both the American

people and the American way of life comes from terrorist elements. Terrorism put fear in the

American person that was not previously there. This has been recently demonstrated by the fear

that New Yorkers felt when a military plane flew close to the lower Manhattan skyline causing

pedestrians to panic and run (CNN 2009). This kind of fear was never thought possible by the

U.S. prior to the 9/11 attacks. Many people believed the U.S. was impervious to attack. The

waters that once separated us from the rest of the world now do little to protect with a new age of

advanced aircraft and ships. This paper will assess the current strategy for combating terrorism

and provide recommendations for any changes to the strategy.

There have been many terrorist attacks against the U.S. people and U.S. interests that led

to the Global War on Terrorism. Many would say it began in 1993 with the bombing of the

World Trade Centers that killed 6 and wounded over a 1000. In 1996, the Atlanta Olympics were

devastated by a pipe bomb that exploded killing 1 and injuring 11 (Hellman 2009). In 1998, U.S.

embassies in Beirut, Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were bombed and the USS

Cole was attacked in 2000 prompting then President Clinton to launch cruise missiles against

suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Sudan (Papp, Johnson & Endicott, p. 469, 2005). The

September 11th attacks by suspected Al-Qaeda operatives were the capstone attacks that resulted

in the United States launching a Global War on Terrorism (Hellman 2009).

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Since 9/11, there have been no successful terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. However, there

have been successful attacks against U.S. allies in Europe. Additionally, global terrorist incidents

are on the rise and Middle East extremists are expanding their influence in Algeria, North Africa,

Gaza and Lebanon (National Security Network 2008). With that said, the new tactics and

strategy have been successful in keeping Americans safe. At the same time, they have not been

successful in curbing extremism tendencies that cultivate terrorists. The increase in extremist

influence can mainly be attributed to the resources that were diverted to Iraq vice fighting the

terrorists that created a safe haven in Afghanistan and Pakistan; the region where the 9/11

terrorists came from (National Security Network 2008). Current tactics have also been

unsuccessful in deterring rouge states such as Iran and North Korea from developing Weapons of

Mass Destruction. Both these states continue to develop a nuclear capability despite United

Nations sanctions and diplomatic pressure being leveraged against them. The current strategy has

done little to make the world a safer place.

Changes are needed in order to stop and then reduce the spread of extremism worldwide.

First, the war in Iraq must end and more resources must be diverted to Afghanistan. The U.S.

should work to quickly and effectively remove the threat in Afghanistan in order to conduct a

pull out there as well. Simultaneously, Diplomatic relations must be increased with Middle

Eastern Countries that either willingly harbor known terrorists or do not condone terrorism but

are not doing enough stop terrorist movement throughout their country. Terrorists currently

enjoy safety in Pakistan in North Waziristan as well as the Swat Valley. The Pakistan

government does not employ enough military power in these locations causing the terrorists to

gain more support as well as more power in these areas. The United States relations with

Pakistan are a very touchy subject. Since Pervez Musharraf was ousted, the new government
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under Asif Zardari has boosted U.S. relations. Zardari has even signed off on more drone attacks

against terrorists in the northern frontier (The Wall Street Journal, 2009). Relations must

continue to improve and more aid to Pakistan is likely necessary in order to help the Pakistan

government fight terrorist elements within their country. The U.S. must also work towards

improving Pakistan-India relations, so that Pakistan can focus its attention more wholly on their

internal issues (The Wall Street Journal, 2009).

In order to gain long term effects, policy must be created that attacks the root of the

problem. That is the extremist ideology and extreme hatred of Western ideology. This will take

an increase in aid toward countries in need as well as a reduction in the amount of influence that

the U.S. attempts to assert on Middle Eastern policies. Terrorism will continue as long as an

extremist mentality remains.

The United States cannot fight a Global War on Terrorism alone. An effective war on

terrorism must involve the entire world in the process. The United States cannot be the

policeman of the world. Not only is there little support for it within the United States; there is

little support for it worldwide. Additionally, the more our resources are stretched fighting in far

off places, the fewer resources there are to provide protection for the U.S. homeland. The current

state of the economy as well as issues with the Mexican border are also of concern. Many

Americans want less attention to be placed on the GWOT and more placed on current domestic

issues. This will likely cause less money to be allocated in the budget in future years for the

military, which will reduce the amount of operations that can be carried out.
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References

Papp, Daniel s., Loch K. Johnson and John E. Endicott (2005). American Foreign Policy:

History, Politics and Policy, New York: Pearson Education.

CNN (2009). ‘Furious’ Obama orders review of NY plane flyover. Retrieved April 29, 2009

from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/low.flying.plane/index.html

Hellman, Chris (2009). Chronology of major terrorist attacks against U.S. targets. Retrieved

April 29, 2009 from http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/chronology.html

National Security Network (2008). Seven years after 9/11 Bush administration's counter-

terrorism policy leaves us less secure. Retrieved April 29, 2009 from

http://www.nsnetwork.org/node/974

The Wall Street Journal (2009). The war for Pakistan. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124157646115290479.html?mod=googlenews_wsj