Carah Goldoust's First Post

Blog Post #1

            President George W. Bush sums up the idea of terrorism perfectly in a speech he gave on September 20, 2011 to a specially called Joint Session of Congress. President Bush said, “These terrorists kill not merely to end lives but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us, because we stand in their way.” I chose to focus my first blog post on both of President Bush’s pivotal speeches that took place immediately after the September 11^th attacks. I believe it is important to first realize just what impact terrorism has had on our modern world, and quite frankly it has changed the global community’s way of life. Millennials will never know a world where there is not a high threat of terrorism. The main concept of terrorism is exactly what President Bush summed up for his Joint Session of Congress. Their goal is not to necessarily just attack civilians randomly, the key is that there is a much larger picture. Their ideals are extremely radical and they just want to essentially dissolve governments and societies like ours. By conducting a terrorist act like the ones that took palace on September 11, 2001 they are looking to create fear and topple a democracy.

President Bush compares them to other groups we have infamously faced through out history, “By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism and Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends, in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.” The concept of a certain radical group believing that their way is the only way is not a new one at all. However, these Islamic extremist groups are the newest; they are stronger and more widespread than ever. These extremist groups have an extremely primitive mindset however their tactics are certainly up to date which makes it hard to pinpoint their activities as much as they should be.

However, as I mentioned right after these attacks, President Bush made it very clear that every resource would be directed to not only preventing another attack but also bringing justice to those that committed it. President Bush says, “We will direct every resource at our command, every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war, to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network.” I also want to point out that President Bush does mention that this is not just a war on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The very interesting thing about terrorist groups is that they are widespread as I mentioned before. It would not work to find and eliminate simple one cell of the terrorist organization, even if it the “main” cell. Not only would this require physical attacks but also as the President mentioned, “we will starve terrorist of funding, turn them against one another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest.” This line was very important to me because it truly displays the complexities of properly executing counterterrorism. It is not simply putting boots on the ground and starting a war. Terrorist organizations, especially today, are very sophisticated.

President Bush, with this line, is expressing just that. There are many webs to a terrorist organization and it requires a multi-faceted approach in order to fully eliminate or really obstruct a terrorist organization. President Bush puts it perfectly, “the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows.” Personally I believe that last part rings just so true, because the idea is to cut off their resources and if that is accomplished then all activities from there will be hindered and eventually lead to a “slow death” of the organization (hopefully).

As you mentioned in lecture, there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism. While there are certainly definitions out there, there is not a definitive definition. I believe this to be because terrorism is constantly and rapidly evolving. Not all groups that commit or plan to commit terrorist are classified as “terrorist groups.” Furthermore, our government has not officially named all groups that we would consider terrorist groups as terrorist groups. There is a certain standard that is held to “officially” call a group a terrorist group, as it is clearly a very controversial declaration.

In conclusion, the “war on terror” is not just the United States’ war even after the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001. In fact, it became even more of a global war on terror. President Bush mentions the massive amounts of support from around the world, ranging from the national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace to “prayers of sympathy offered at a mosque in Cairo.” President Bush also mentions the wonderful unity that we faced at home, “all of America was touched, on the evening of the tragedy, to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of the Capitol, singing ‘God Bless America’.” It was clear that terrorist acts like these would not stop if not only the country became united but the entire global community became united. As President Bush put it, “this is not, however, just America’s fight, and what is at stake is not just America’s freedom. This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.” With combined efforts and resources all around the world, from that moment on, the war on terror became a continuous global mission.