War on Terrorism
Immediately following and in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist
Attack, the United States government announced its intentions to begin a
"War on Terrorism" (or "War on Terror"), a protracted struggle against
terrorists and states that aid terrorists. US-led military forces invaded
both Afghanistan and Iraq under the rubric of the War on Terrorism.
Many governments have pledged their support for the initiative. The US has
received military help from the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, India, The
Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Japan, Pakistan, and France, among others.
The "War on Terrorism" quickly became the dominant framework in which
international relations were analyzed, supplanting the old Cold War and in
some cases the War on Drugs. Many pre-existing disputes were re-cast in
terms of the War on Terrorism, including Plan Colombia and the Colombian
civil war; the United States' diplomatic and military disputes with Iraq,
Iran, and North Korea; the war between Russia and Chechnya; and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two largest campaigns undertaken as part
of the War have been those in Afghanistan and Iraq. Although many countries
are involved, making arrests of suspected terrorists, freezing bank accounts
and participating in military action, the war is overwhelmingly viewed as an
American initiative.
It is worth noting that there was a previous War on Terrorism declared
during the 1980s, by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, though it never gained as
much widespread support or traction as the current one.
Overall Strategy
The United States has based its counter-terrorist strategy on several steps:
* Denial of safe havens in which terrorists can train and equip members
* Restriction of funding of terrorist organizations
* Degradation of terrorist networks by capturing and/or killing
intermediate leaders
* Detention of suspected and known terrorists. See the section below for
further details
* Obtaining information, through various techniques, allegedly including
torture, from captured terrorists of other members of their
organization, training sites, methods, and funding
* Expanding and improving efficiency of intelligence capabilities and
foreign and domestic policing
In doing so, the strategy is not very different from successful
counter-guerrilla operations, such as Malaysia in the 1950s. There is a fine
distinction between guerrilla operations and terrorist operations. Many
guerrilla organizations, such as the Zionist terrorist group known as the
Irgun in British-Mandated Palestine, and the Algerian National Liberation
Front (FLN) during the Algerian Civil War, and the Viet Cong, included urban
terrorism as part of their overall strategy.
Denial of safe havens involves a fairly large military force; however, as in
Afghanistan in 2002, once the major safe haven areas are overrun, the
large-scale forces can be withdrawn and special forces, such as U.S. Special
Operations Forces or the British Special Air Service (SAS), operate more
effectively.
In addition, the U.S. Army is involved in increasingly large civil affairs
programs in Afghanistan to provide employment for Afghans and to reduce
sympathy in the civilian population for parties the United States has
designated as terrorist.
The U.S. strategy faces several obstacles:
* Terrorist groups can continue to operate, albeit at a
less-sophisticated scale
* The strengths of American intelligence gathering are signal
intelligence and photo intelligence gathering. Organizations that avoid
use of cellular phones and radios and rely on couriers have a lower
profile. On the other hand, such organizations also have a slower
planning and reaction time.
* Political opposition to American policies inside countries in which
terrorists operate, as in Pakistan, where Al-Qaida and the Taliban have
supporters who share religious or ethnic affiliations.
* Legal opposition to American methods of detaining suspected terrorists.
Interrogation methods
A Washington Post investigation published on December 26, 2002 quotes
anonymous CIA and other government officials who claim that US military and
CIA personnel employ physical coercion during their interrogation of
suspects and that US officials believe these practices are necessary and
unavoidable in light of the September 11th terrorist attacks. They state
that CIA is using "stress and duress" techniques at Bagram Air Base,
Afghanistan, a base leased from Britain at Diego Garcia Island in the Indian
Ocean, and numerous other secret facilities worldwide.
The CIA reportedly transfers suspects, along with a list of questions, to
foreign intelligence services of countries routinely criticized by the US
Department of State for torturing suspects, where they are alleged to be
severely tortured with the assent and encouragement of the United States.
These countries include Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Syria. One official
stated, "We don't kick the [expletive] out of them. We send them to other
countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them."
Anonymous sources quoted in the Washington Post article have stated that
those held in the CIA detention center "are sometimes kept standing or
kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles," and are
duct-taped to stretchers for transport. The Post continues that according to
Americans with direct knowledge and others who have witnessed the treatment,
that suspects are often beat-up and confined in tiny rooms and are also
blindfolded and handcuffed following arrest. Later, suspects are sometimes
"held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour
bombardment of lights" and loud noises. The Post article goes on to say that
national security officials suggested that pain killers, on at least one
occasion, were "used selectively" to treat a detainee that was shot in the
groin during apprehension.
Nevertheless, the Post admits that there is no direct evidence that the US
government is mistreating prisoners. Additionally, as reported by Reuters,
the U.S. military denied these allegations and stated that the Post's
article was "false on several points".
National security officials interviewed for the investigation defended the
use of such techniques as necessary to prevent further terrorist attacks. As
one official put it, "If you don't violate someone's human rights some of
the time, you probably aren't doing your job."
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch called on the United States
to respond to these reports by publicly denouncing the use of torture. In
response to reports that some of the evidence that Colin Powell intended to
present against Iraq to the United Nations was derived from torture, Human
Rights Watch sent a letter to Powell, asking him to use that speech as an
opportunity to condemn any use of torture to gather intelligence.
The techniques reported to be used are similar to techniques that have been
used by the Soviet Union on captured CIA operatives, according to accounts
by retired CIA agents. In addition, similar techniques were used by French
security services in the Algerian War of Independence and in the suppression
of the Secret Army Organization in the 1960s. Ethically, such techniques are
seen by human rights advocates as deplorable, but interrogators see them as
necessary when information must be gained from a reluctant subject.
It should be pointed out that torture can generate false responses. If they
interrogate someone who happens to be innocent. He/she won't know anything
and may resort to false information. Therefore, torture may actually hurt
the War on Terror.
Military/Diplomatic Campaigns
Afghanistan
The first target was Afghanistan and the Al-Qaida terrorist organisation
based therein. The US demanded that the Taliban government extradite Saudi
exile and Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden with no preconditions. The Taliban
responded first by asking to see proof that bin Laden was behind the
attacks. When the United States refused and instead threatened the Taliban
with military action, the Taliban offered to extradite bin Laden to
Pakistan, where he could be tried under Islamic law. This offer too was
refused. The United States and other western nations then led an attack
along with local Afghan anti-Taliban forces, including several local
warlords and the Northern Alliance. Many of the Afghani groups had held
power before the Taliban came to power, and ruled with human rights records
similar to the Taliban. This effort succeeded in removing the Taliban from
power. Most Taliban did not fight they simply went back to their tribe. The
weak government in Kabul, the well armed Warlords and the hidden Taliban did
not change the situation, that Afghanistan is a unstable country. To date,
Osama bin Laden has not been arrested or killed. His words have reportedly
come to light from time to time, often via Arabic media outlets, and usually
in support of anti-western atrocities, such as the bombing in Bali and Tunisia.
On March 2, 2003, authorities in Pakistan captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed,
the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Naming of the "Axis of Evil"
George W. Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "Axis of Evil". In
US political rhetoric these are called "rogue states" who do not respect
international law and often have programs to develop weapons of mass
destruction. The use of the word "axis" was more rhetorical than literal; no
assertions have been made that Iran, Iraq, or North Korea are in any way
politically allied. The statement has become a lightning rod for opposition
to the War on Terrorism and to George W. Bush in particular. Interestingly,
the inclusion of Korea in the "Axis of Evil" subtly served to politically
distance the US from the perception that the "war on terror" was a
codephrase for a "war against Islam".
Iraq
The United States and Iraq have been involved in military and diplomatic
disputes since the Gulf War in 1990-91, continuing through the remainder of
George H. W. Bush.'s presidency, Bill Clinton's presidency and the beginning
of George W. Bush's presidency. On September 4, 2002, George W. Bush
announced the Bush Doctrine that the United States had the right to launch a
preemptive military strike at any nation that could put weapons of mass
destruction in the hands of terrorists. He sought and obtained congressional
approval for a strike against Iraq.
Intensive negotiations began with other members of the United Nations
Security Council, especially the three permanent members of the Council with
veto power, Russia, China, and France, which are known to have reservations
about an invasion of Iraq. On November 8, 2002, The UN Security Council
unanimously passed a new resolution. The resolution calls for Iraq to disarm
or face tough consequences. On November 18, UN weapons inspectors returned
to Iraq for the first time in four years. In early December, 2002, Iraq
filed a 12,000-page weapons declaration with the UN. After reviewing the
document, the U.S., Britain, France and other countries felt that the
declaration failed to account for all of Iraq's chemical and biological agents.
On January 16, 2003 U.N. inspectors discovered 11 empty 122 mm chemical
warhead components not previously declared by Iraq. Iraq dismissed the
warheads as old weapons that had been packed away and forgotten. After
performing tests on the warheads, U.N. inspectors believe that they were
new. While the warheads are evidence of an Iraqi weapons program, they may
not amount to a "smoking gun", according to U.S. officials, unless some sort
of chemical agent is also detected. U.N. inspectors also searched the homes
of several Iraqi scientists.
Although this is seen by the US government's administration as part of the
War on Terrorism, some United States congressman, especially members of the
Democratic Party, have counterposed the War on Iraq with the War on
Terrorism, suggesting that the former would draw the focus from the latter.
This appears to not be the case, considering that major operations and
arrests continue to take place all over the world as part of the War on
Terrorism. Newsweek conducted a poll after the 2002 elections and found that
a majority claimed that this played a large part in the Republican's
historic victory during the elections.
Despite attempts by the CIA and US administration, certain Republican
politicians and the government of Israel to prove one, some critics claim
that there is no demonstrable link between the Iraqi government and any
terrorist group. Israel has claimed that it is in possession of documents
linking Saddam to terrorist groups in the region. In 2002, hundreds of
documents were turned over to the news media and the US government that
detail Iraq's support of suicide bombers, but some remain skeptical. Israel
has also claimed that a terrorist cell that was captured in September of
2002 not only had links to Iraq, but actually received training there.
Indeed, to the fundamentalist brand of Islam that al-Qaida propagates, the
secular government of Iraq is clearly anathema. Around the world, the
threats to Iraq from the US and Britain have led to a rise in scepticism
over the motives for invasion and the "war" in general.
In early 2003, CIA director George Tenet reported that an al-Qaida cell is
operating inside Baghdad.
North Korea
In October 2002 North Korea announced that it was running a nuclear weapon
development program, in violation of treaties, and said they would be
willing to negotiate a new position with the United States. The response
from the United States government has been muted; they have stated that
North Korea is not as great a danger as Iraq, and do not seem to be willing
to pursue the interventionist policy they are advocating for in Iraq.
On August 6, 2003, North Korea and Iran plan to form an alliance to develop
long-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. Under the plan, North
Korea will transport missile parts to Iran for assembly at a plant near
Tehran, Iran.
Iran
As mentioned, the nation is part of the "axis of evil". The United States
State Department refers to the Islamic Republic of Iran as the world's "most
active state sponsor of terrorism." Iran provides funding, weapons, and
training to terrorist groups based in the Middle East, Africa, and Central
Asia. Iran funding of Islamic terrorist groups include Hezbollah (founded
with help of Iran), Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Kurdistan WorkersÕ Party
(among others).
Iran was involved with Hezbollah's attempt to smuggle arms to the
Palestinian Authority in January 2002. On August 6, 2003, North Korea and
Iran plan to form an alliance to develop long-range ballistic missiles with
nuclear warheads. Under the plan, North Korea will transport missile parts
to Iran for assembly at a plant near Tehran, Iran.
There has been speculation about the administrations plans, and Iran is seen
by some as 'next on the list' -- both because of its "axis of evil" status
and its geopolitical relationship with Iraq. Reformist elements (including
leaders and the public) in Iran are challenging the hard-liners' policies,
intolerant fundamentalism, and anti-Western viewpoints.
Pankisi Gorge (Georgia)
In February 2002, the U.S. sent approximately two hundred Special Operations
Forces troops to the former Soviet republic of Georgia to train Georgian
troops to fight rebels from the breakaway Russian province Chechnya,
crossing the border for safe haven in their war with Russia. This move drew
protests from many Russians, who believed that Georgia should remain within
the Russian sphere of influence, and not the United States'. On March 1,
2002, over domestic outcry, Russian president Vladimir Putin met with
Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze in Kazakhstan and pledged his support
for the American military initiative.
Yemen
The Bush Administration approved sending about 100 Special Operations forces
to Yemen, a power base for Al-Qaida. The Special Operations forces, along
with the CIA, are engaged in targetted attacks on suspected Al-Qaida
members, especially in the regions of Yemen bordering Saudi Arabia, which
are not well-controlled by the central Yemeni authorities.
Philippines
In January 2002, a force approximately 1,000 strong was sent to assist
Philippine forces. About 600 troops, including 160 Special Operations
forces, remain training forces in the Philippines to combat Abu Sayyaf on
Basilan. On October 2, 2002, a bomb in Zamboanga killed a U.S. Army Special
Forces master sergeant and two civilians. In October 2002 additional
Zamboanga bombings killed six and wounded 200. In February 2003, the U.S.
sent approximately 1700 soldiers to the Philippines to engage in active
combat against Abu Sayyaf, as opposed to training.
Indonesia
Near the end of 2001, Congress relaxed restrictions put into place in 1999
against the U.S. training of Indonesian forces because of human rights
abuses in East Timor. In October 2002 the Bali car bombing killed and
wounded hundreds of civilians, the majority of which were foreign tourists.
Detentions at Guantanamo Bay
Many people captured in the military conflict in Afghanistan have been
detained at a facility known as Camp X-ray at the U.S. Naval Station at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and have been denied rights usually granted to POWs
under the Geneva convention.
U.S. Domestic Initiatives
A $40 billion emergency spending bill was quickly passed by the United
States legislature, and an additional $20 billion bail-out of the airline
industry was also passed. Investigations have been started through many
branches of many governments, pursuing tens of thousands of tips. Thousands
of people have being detained, arrested, and/or questioned. Many of those
targeted by the Bush administration have been secretly detained, and have
been denied access to an attorney. Among those secretly detained are U.S.
citizens. For more, see September_11,_2001_Terrorist_Attack/Detentions. The
Justice Department launched a Special Registration procedure for certain
male non-citizens in the US, requiring them to register in person at INS offices.
Laws have been passed curtailing civil liberties in the United States, to
make it easier for the government to spy on what's happening within the
country, notably the USA PATRIOT Act. It is sometimes argued that our
government either shouldn't do this or we should alter the constitution so
that it would be constitutional to do it. The Bush administration launched
an unprecedented and sweeping initiative in early 2002 with the creation of
the Information Awareness Office, designed to collect, index, and
consolidate all available information on everyone in a central repository
for perusal by the United States government. The office is headed by John
Poindexter, who was National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan and a key
figure in the Iran-Contra Affair.
Various government bureaucracies which handled security and military
functions were reorganized. Most notably, the Office of Homeland Security
was created to coordinate "homeland security" efforts in the largest
reorganization of the US federal government since the creation of the
Pentagon. There was a proposal to create an Office of Strategic Influence
for the purpose of coordinating propaganda efforts, but it was cancelled due
to negative reactions. For the first time ever, the Bush administration
implemented the Continuity of Operations Plan (or Continuity of Government)
to create a shadow government to ensure the executive branch of the U.S.
government would be able to continue in catastrophic circumstances.
The Bush administration is also considering asking for even broader,
sweeping powers that would restrict civil liberties in the United States
even more significantly. Among the ideas under consideration are the
implementation of secret trials and broadened powers to spy on Americans.
U.S. Citizens Overseas
Overturning previous regulations which prevented the CIA from operating
against US citizens, President Bush has granted the CIA broad authority to
secretly assassinate U.S. citizens (in addition to anyone else) anywhere in
the world if the CIA thinks that they are working for Al Qaida. The
individuals in question need not be tried or convicted in any court of law,
or even formally charged in order for them to be targeted for assassination.
Opposition to the "War on Terrorism"
Initial opposition to the War on Terrorism was limited in the United States
and Europe. On September 14, when the United States House of Representatives
voted on a bill authorizing the President of the United States to use force
in the War on Terrorism, there was only one dissenting vote--Representative
Barbara Lee of California. Much of the opposition that existed came from the
long-standing peace movement as well as the anti- or alternative
globalization movement (e.g. the Independent Media Center broadened its
focus from globalization and corporations to militarization). The leadership
of the German Green Party, known for its pacifist principles, supported the
attack, but condemned the use of cluster bombs. This support led to an
internal division within the party and a confidence vote called by German
Chancellor Gerhard Schršder, in which he retained the support of enough
Greens to stay on. Those Greens who voted against the government were later
punished by being removed from the party list in the 2002 elections. Similar
internal divisions arose in the United States political left, with some
prominent opponents of the Vietnam War, like Christopher Hitchens,
supporting the War on Terrorism. However, many more veterans of the Vietnam
War have come out against the war against Iraqis.
Over time, opposition to the War has grown across the US and Europe and
began to take form in mass protests. There have been street protests against
the War on Terrorism in general or war on Iraq in specific in many major
cities in the U.S. and other nations, many of them the largest anti-war
protests since the Vietnam War. On the 15th of February 2003, 1,000,000
people rallied against the War on the streets of London, representing
diverse political, religious and other groups in what was described by the
BBC as the largest demonstration the capital has seen. This was at a time
when public feeling in Britain against a war was running high, with a clear
majority in the polls. On the 26th of October 2002, protesters joined on the
all in Washington D.C., the area adjacent to the highest offices of
government. While the Park Services no longer makes estimates regarding the
size of protests on the Mall, the Washington Post estimated about 100,000
people attended, quoting police and park officials as saying that this
anti-war protest may have been the largest since the Vietnam War. In
contrast to other recent protests, in which protesters reported being
violently attacked by police or security forces, protesters in this action
were evidently permitted to speak and assemble more freely. On the same day
protest rallies also took place in Mexico, Japan, Spain, Germany, South
Korea, Belgium and Australia.
U.S. and European critics of the "War on terror" make many different
arguments in their opposition to the War. Some argue that the War unjustly
results in the deaths of non-combatants ("collateral damage"). An alternate
version of this argument is that the War is being fought in a way intended
to minimize deaths to allied soldiers without regard to the effect on
non-combatants. (See, e.g., Ten Reasons Why Women Should Oppose the "War on
Terrorism") Another prevalent theme in opposition literature is that the War
is "sowing the seeds of future terrorism and violence" by creating
conditions of poverty and desperation. ( Artists' petition against the war)
Many believe that the interrogation methods employed by the CIA violate
international conventions against torture.
A common analysis is that the War is being fought "to establish a new
political framework within which [the US] will exert hegemonic control."
(World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board) Many say the US seeks to do this
by controlling access to oil or oil pipelines. Similarly, many argue that
the War is being fought to benefit domestic political allies of the Bush
administration, especially arms manufacturers.
Many opponents of the war focus on the domestic aspects, complaining that
the government is systematically removing civil liberties from the
population or engaging in racial profiling. Other criticisms of domestic
policy are focused on the individuals given leadership roles in War on
Terrorism-related posts. In November 2002, former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger was appointed as the chairman of the independent panel
investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America. His
appointment led to widespread criticism, mainly because he is wanted by
France, Spain, Chile, and Argentina for questioning in connection with war
crimes he allegedly had knowledge of and directed while serving as Secretary
of State during the Nixon and Ford administrations. John Poindexter was
appointed head of the Information Awareness Office (IAO). Poindexter's
qualifications as head of the IAO have been widely questioned on grounds of
personal integrity, as he was convicted on five felony counts of lying to
Congress and destroying and altering evidence related to the Iran-Contra
Affair.
Others emphasize the perceived stupidity of the leaders of the War on
Terrrorism, especially George W. Bush. These critics point to Bush's
dichotomies (e.g. good versus evil, with us or against us) as simplistic,
and often criticize Bush for his verbal miscues.
The opposition movement in many majority-Muslim countries started earlier
than in most Western countries. In Pakistan, there was immediate opposition
to the invasion of Afghanistan, especially in the border regions near
Afghanistan, where there are strong ties to the Pashto population in
Afghanistan. When Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf chose to ally himself
with the U.S. campaign, many Islamist parties organized protests. In
October, 2002, these parties made large gains in elections. In January,
2003, they organized nation-wide protests against the potential U.S.
invasion of Iraq, largely in solidarity with their co-religionists.
Some point to a documentary by CBS - Hitler: The Rise of Evil - about how
Hitler came to power. Later, the producer was fired because of remarks he
made about how closely Hitler's coming to power resembles the current situation.
