{"id":1024,"date":"2023-07-20T19:14:03","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T19:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2023-07-26T16:14:02","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T16:14:02","slug":"the-twenty-first-century-activity-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/the-twenty-first-century-activity-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twenty-First Century: Activity 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 11, 2001<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Osama bin Laden was born in 1957 to a Yemeni bricklayer. He was one of the youngest of nearly fifty children. Bin Laden grew up in Saudi Arabia, where his father founded a construction firm that would become the largest in the desert kingdom. He inherited millions of dollars after his father\u2019s death and graduated from one of the kingdom\u2019s leading universities with a degree in civil engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Osama bin Laden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1979, bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to assist Muslims in Afghanistan in expelling the Soviet army, which was trying to support a Communist government in the country, by raising money and recruits. During the mid-1980s, bin Laden built roads, tunnels, and bunkers in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the U.S. had helped him and his fellow warriors expel the Soviets from Afghanistan, bin Laden would turn against the United States. He was furious about the deployment of American troops in Saudi Arabia\u2014the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and home of the two holiest Muslim shrines\u2014that had been sent to protect the oil-rich kingdom from an Iraqi invasion. He was also angry about U.S. support for Israel and the American role in enforcing an economic embargo against Iraq. His goal was to remove American forces from his Saudi homeland, destroy the Jewish state in Israel, and defeat pro-Western dictatorships around the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Khobar Tower bombing, 1996.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By 1998, bin Laden had formed a terrorist network called Al-Qaeda, which in Arabic means \u201cthe base.\u201d He also provided training camps, financing, planning, recruitment, and other support services for fighters seeking to strike at the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American officials believe bin Laden’s associates operate in over forty countries\u2014in Europe and North America, as well as in the Middle East and Asia. U.S. government officials believe bin Laden was involved in at least four major terrorist attacks against the United States\u2019 interests prior to the September 11, 2001 attack: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1996 killing of nineteen U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia, the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole<\/em> at a port in Yemen, in which seventeen U.S. sailors were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Qaeda viewed the U.S. responses to these attacks as half-hearted. In 1998, in retaliation for the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa, American cruise missiles struck a network of terrorist compounds in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. The pharmaceutical plant target was mistakenly believed to have been producing chemicals for use in nerve gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On September 11th, hijackers turned commercial airlines into missiles and attacked key symbols of American economic and military might. These hideous attacks leveled the World Trade Center towers in New York, destroyed part of the Pentagon, and left Americans in a mood similar to that which the country experienced after the devastating Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in 1941.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flight paths of hijacked planes on September 11, 2001. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The succession of horrors began at 8:45 a.m., when American Airlines Flight 11, carrying 92 people from Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into the World Trade Center’s north tower. Eighteen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, carrying 65 people, also bound for Los Angeles from Boston, struck the World Trade Center’s south tower. At 9:40 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77, flying from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles and carrying 64 people aboard, crashed into the Pentagon. At 10 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93, flying from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco, crashed 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Passengers onboard the airliner, having heard about the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., apparently stormed the airplane\u2019s cockpit and prevented the hijackers from attacking the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of television viewers watched in utter horror. At 9:50 a.m., the World Trade Center’s south tower collapsed. At 10:29 a.m., the World Trade Center’s north tower also collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 3,000 innocent civilians and rescue workers perished as a result of these acts of terror. This was about the same number of Americans who died on June 6, 1944, during the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France. This was nearly as many as the 3,620 Americans\u2014the largest number of Americans to die in combat on a single day\u2014who died at the Civil War battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. More Americans died in two hours on September 11th than died in the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, or the Gulf War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The U.S. Response<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. response to the September 11th attacks was immediate and forceful. Over a period of just three days, Congress voted to spend $40 billion for recovery. Then, like his father in the period before the Persian Gulf War, George W. Bush organized an international coalition against Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban government in Afghanistan that supported it. He persuaded Pakistan, which had been the main sponsor of Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban government, to support the United States diplomatically and logistically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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U.S. 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On October 7, 2001, in retaliation for the September 11th attacks, a U.S.-led coalition launched an attack against targets in Afghanistan\u2014the beginning of what President Bush has promised would be a long campaign against terrorist groups and the states that support them. The American strategy in Afghanistan involved using American air power and ground targeting to support the Northern Alliance, the major indigenous force opposing the Taliban. Later, U.S. and British forces coordinated ground operations against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afghanistan’s rugged terrain, extremes of weather extremes, and veteran guerilla-style fighters presented a serious challenge to the American military. But the effective use of laser-guided missiles, cluster bombs, 2,000-pound Daisy Cutter bombs, unmanned drones, and U.S. and British Special Forces, in conjunction with indigenous Afghani forces, succeeded in overthrowing the Taliban government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some members of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, including Osama bin Laden, escaped into isolated regions along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Between 1,000 and 1,300 Afghani civilians were killed during the fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several weeks after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks the United States faced a new threat, when letters containing anthrax spores were sent to the offices of two Democratic U.S. Senators and to several news media outlets.  All told, five people died and 17 others were injured in these incidents.  The FBI would later attribute these attacks to a bio-weapons expert who subsequently committed suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than two years after the terrorist attacks, the US launched a new war in Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.  The Bush administration claimed that the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, and that his government had supported terrorism.  However, following the invasion of Iraq, inspectors from the United Nations never found evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Altogether, over 4,500 US troops died in the Iraq war and over 2,300 in Afghanistan.  Estimates of the total cost of the two wars run as high as $4 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Civil Liberties and National Security: Trying to Strike a Balance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The war on terror has forced the nation to toughen its national security. Following the horrifying events of September 11, 2001, more than 1,000 people, mainly Arab and Muslim men suspected of having information about terrorism, were detained by the federal government. These detainees were held without charges, and their names and whereabouts were largely kept secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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U.S. Homeland Security.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the September 11th attacks, Congress enacted legislation that gave law enforcement agencies broader authority to wiretap suspects and to monitor online communication. Congress also expanded the government\u2019s authority to detain or deport aliens who associate with members of terrorist organizations. It also authorized greater intelligence sharing among the FBI, the CIA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Bush responded to the attacks by proposing a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security would help to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the country’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recovery from attacks that do occur. The new department would be responsible for promoting border security, responding to chemical, biological, and radiological attacks, and utilizing information analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arab Americans and Muslim Americans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks, some Americans directed their anger at Arab Americans, Muslims, and South Asians. In a suburb in Phoenix, Arizona, an Indian immigrant who practiced the Sikh faith was murdered in a hate crime. So, too, was a Pakistani grocer in Dallas, Texas. In Irving, Texas, bullets were fired into an Islamic community center. Some 300 protestors tried to storm a Chicago-area mosque. Near Detroit, Michigan, an Islamic school had to close down because of daily bomb threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose who directed their anger against Arab Americans and Muslims should be ashamed,\u201d President Bush declared. “Muslim Americans make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country,” he said. “They need to be treated with respect.” Today, there are approximately three million Arab Americans in the United States. About a third live in California, Michigan, and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arab Americans belong to many different religions. While most are Muslims, many are Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, or Druze. Prominent political figures of Arab descent include Ralph Nader, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a poll conducted by the Pew Memorial Trusts, approximately two-fifths of the nation\u2019s approximately seven million Muslim Americans were born in the United States, with the rest coming from eighty other countries. About 32 percent are South Asian, 26 percent are Arab, 20 percent African American, 7 percent African, and 14 percent report some other background. About a fifth are converts to Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Meaning of September 11th<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The September 11th attacks dramatically altered the way the United States looked at itself and the world. The attacks produced a surge of patriotism and national unity and pride. However, the terrorist strikes also fostered a new sense of vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History Through…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

…Music<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rarely has popular music been as tied up with politics as it has since the 9\/11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Country music singer Toby Keith sang: “We’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way.”<\/a> Bruce Springsteen sang Edwin Starr\u2019s “War, What Is It Good For?”<\/a> the day the U.S. invaded Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few people in the 1960s would have imagined that America\u2019s dominant musical genre at the dawn of the twenty-first century would be country and western music. Yet if hip hop sells more albums, country music dominates most radio markets, and it is the country\u2019s fastest grown musical genre. There seems to be no doubt that part of country music\u2019s appeal lies in its association with traditional values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there was an outpouring of patriotic songs, especially among country musicians. Most country musicians appeared to embrace a strongly nationalistic tone, evident in Darryl Worley\u2019s “Have You Forgotten?”<\/a> and Clint Black’s “Iraq and Roll.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many country music stations banned Dixie Chicks music last year after the group\u2019s lead singer, Natalie Maines, leveled an attack on President George W. Bush\u2019s foreign policy. Other country singers associated with liberal causes, such as Willie Nelson and Emmy Lou Harris, did not encounter a similar attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The association of country music with political conservatism is a relatively recent development. In the more distant past, country music did not have a consistent political philosophy. Some country songs were staunchly patriotic, while others were defiant. Most songs dealt with loss and heartbreak, sometimes defined in personal terms but often referring metaphorically to larger issues of displacement (evident in the Bobby Bare\u2019s song “Detroit City”<\/a>).  But beginning with Merle Haggard\u2019s 1969 song “Okie from Muskogee,”<\/a> country music became associated with traditionalism. This association gained additional currency when, during the 1992 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton dealt with accusations about her marriage by saying: “I’m not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.” Wynette asked for an apology, saying Mrs. Clinton had “offended every true country music fan and every person who has made it on their own with no one to take them to a White House.” The link between country music and conservative politics took on added strength with Lee Greenwood\u2019s 1995 anthem, “God Bless the U.S.A.”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hollywood Versus History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hollywood and 9\/11 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many Americans compared the scenes that they had witnessed on television\u2014the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and the devastation at the Pentagon\u2014to scenes from the movies. For a decade, Hollywood had released a rash of films dealing with doomsday, the apocalypse and Armageddon, A number, notably, Independence Day<\/em><\/a> and The Day After Tomorrow<\/em><\/a>, portrayed the destruction of architectural icons. Now, life seemed to have imitated popular entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular films invariably reflect the atmosphere of their times. Although many Americans associate the 1990s with the dot com high technology boom, it was also a decade of anxiety. Many worried about America\u2019s economic competitiveness. A lot of worries focused on children\u2014on sexual predators, stranger abduction, and youth crime. Many popular films reflected this mixture of optimism and fear, giving viewers a roller coast ride, combining moments of elation and of stark terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The September 11th attacks gave public anxieties a human face. Yet curiously during the five years following September 11th, 2001, not a single Hollywood film dealt directly with the terrorist attacks. One suspects that the subject was too sensitive to be dealt with directly. Nevertheless, the 9\/11 attacks did exert a profound, if indirect, impact on the movies. Much as Cold War fears were addressed metaphorically in the science fiction films of the 1950s, so, too, the films of the early 2000s gave indirect expression to public concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the 2004 version of The Alamo<\/em>.<\/a> The movie trailer described the doomed defenders of the former Spanish mission: \u201cThey were bankers, farmers, brothers, fathers, outcasts, dreamers, and legends.\u201d The parallel with the victims of the World Trade Center towers collapse was inescapable. Similarly, the film\u2019s pledge\u2014\u201cWe will show the world what patriots are made of\u201d\u2014captured the country\u2019s assertive frame of mind after the terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or take Steven Spielberg\u2019s remake of War of the Worlds<\/em> (2005)<\/a>. With its graphic depiction of an urban destruction, widespread panic, and even a crashed airliner, the film evoked vivid memories of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contrast between two films that dealt with a somewhat similar subject\u2014Black Hawk Down<\/em> (2001) and Tears of the Sun<\/em> (2003) \u2014illustrates the impact of the terrorist strikes. Both films deal with American intervention in the Third World, one critically, the other sympathetically. Black Hawk Down<\/em> recounts the story of elite Army Rangers who were ordered to capture two top lieutenants of a warlord in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. Two of their helicopters were shot down and eighteen Rangers were killed. The film is very much a cautionary tale about the dangers of interventions in societies that the United States does not know well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Tears of the Sun<\/em>, a fictional special operations commander violates his orders to rescue a doctor and seventy refugees threatened by African rebels. The message is the mirror image of that in Black Hawk Down<\/em> that humanitarian duty to help innocent civilians should outstrip strict obedience to orders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden was born in 1957 to a Yemeni bricklayer. He was one of the youngest of nearly fifty children. Bin Laden grew up in Saudi Arabia, where his father founded a construction firm that would become the largest in the desert kingdom. He inherited millions of dollars after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"vec496","author_link":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/author\/vec496\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden was born in 1957 to a Yemeni bricklayer. He was one of the youngest of nearly fifty children. Bin Laden grew up in Saudi Arabia, where his father founded a construction firm that would become the largest in the desert kingdom. He inherited millions of dollars after…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1229,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/embed.la.utexas.edu\/his-315l-external\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}