US Post-9/11 Responses to Terrorism: A Critical Evaluation

The US post-9/11 responses to terrorism were massively disproportionate and resulted in endless wars

Assessment 1: Report (25%)
Assessment one focuses on the first two seminars, 1) war and 2) crime, and is
oriented by the first learning outcome. Please reviewthe material this refers you to
before proceeding, and ensure you have made an effort to understand the content and
what’s expected of you as a student.Please refer to the rubric – in the same folder as
this one – to better understand how you’re being assessed. If you do not understand
the precise meaning of any of the terms in this instruction, you must seek clarification
from instructors, or on your own: google them, look them up. Please ensure you have
sought clarification in a timely fashion before you proceed and submit as it is assumed
that you understand the instructions.
You must provide a short response (see below) to allfourof the following four
questions.
1. Based on a careful viewing of The Weather Underground, explain what is
meant by the phrase ‘bringing the war home’, and very briefly pinpoint
what it can it tell us about what motivates terrorism as political action.
2. In Phillip Ruddock's ‘Tobin Talk’ and in Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to
America’, both people talk about therightful violent action they’re
advocating in relation to law, morality, and the authority of the written
word. By reading each holistically and comparing them carefully and
critically, offer one important thing you can observe about how terrorism
was understood and practiced as war, with reference to law, by these key
actors from the first decade of the Global War on Terror?
3. Based on a careful viewing of Dirty Wars, identify one of the crimes that
may have been committed by US authorities as part of the Global War on
Terror. With reference to course material in 1) war and 2) crime, identify
why Scahill accords so much importance to Anwar Al-Awlaki, and
critically evaluate his fate and significance as crime.
4. Based on a careful and complete reading of ‘The Terrorism Delusion:
America’s Overwrought Response to September 11’, identify what you
regard as Mueller and Stewart’s single strongest contention, take a
position on it, and – briefly – critically evaluate US post 9/11 responses
to terrorism in light of your position on their contention.
Each response is 200-250 words/5-6 sentences/one paragraph (1000 words,
+/-10%).Please address each question in separate response boxes, following the
format provided in the template that appears on the following pages.
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You must seek to demonstrate that you have done the work and paid
attention.All responses must be substantiated using the work the course
directs you toward.To say that a response is substantiated means that its claims
are defensible, clear and cogent. Avoid glib generalisations, loose rhetoric,
assertions without evidence, and attributions of action or causesor agents that do
not actually exist (examples of this will be given in seminars).
You are strongly encouraged to make reference to sources from 1) war and 2)
crime. You do not have to conduct any additional research, and I discourage
you from using sources outside those provided for this assessment. Wherever
you do make reference to sources, you must cite1.All referencing must be
correct, complete and consistent; use Harvard style(google Deakin’s guide
to Harvard citation if unsure).Be clear, concise, and specific, and consider
context and complexity.You have 10% leeway with the word limit.
1 Many people email me asking ‘how many references do I need to include?’ You do not have
a set number of quotations you must include; I do not require a precise number or quantity of
citations.
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1) Based on a careful viewing of The Weather Underground, explain what is
meant by the phrase ‘bringing the war home’, and very briefly pinpoint
what it can it tell us about what motivates terrorism as political action.
The Weather Underground has a short documentary film which has about the
Weathermen show how far the nation has come since the 60s. As per this film, there is a
phrase use which is “bringing the war home’. By carefully viewing this, it has meant that the
US Capital was deal with a violent attack on 11th Sept 2001. But this was bombed 30 years
earlier i.e. on 28th Feb 1971, in mid of the night; a blast tore separately a ground floor
bathroom. That incident was not harming anyone but it was spreading a fear in Washington
and entire nation. It was increasing the need of tight security and was need of a starting a
campaign of anti-war radicals. The bombers of this attack were belonged to the militant left-
wing organization i.e. Weather Underground. It was organized in 1969 by faction of Students
for a Democratic Society. The aim was behind creating this is to develop a revolutionary part
against the UK government. This revolutionary part was starting to know from black power
and it was begin to conduct bombing activities in US in mid 1970s.
After the above stated things, it has clear that to bring the revolution in the
community, change political system via threat or violence etc. As a rule, terrorism is a violent
method of politic which has followed by the weaker party which has been failed to attain his
objectives. Due to this, terrorism consider as a political action. These are the main reasons
which have motivated terrorism as political actions (Greenberg, 2016).
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2. In Phillip Ruddock's ‘Tobin Talk’ and in Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to
America’, both people talk about the rightful violent action they’re
advocating in relation to law, morality, and the authority of the written
word. By reading each holistically and comparing them carefully and
critically, offer one important thing you can observe about how terrorism
was understood and practiced as war, with reference to law, by these key
actors from the first decade of the Global War on Terror?
As per the Phillip Ruddock's holistic view point, counter terrorism laws have helped in
balancing exercise to manage terrorism activities. With the help of this, the people get the
right of security and live the life in peace. So, it becomes important to develop some lows,
morality and authority in the context of treating the terrorism as a war (Counter-terrorism
laws a balancing exercise: Ruddock, 2009). But on the other hand, from Osama bin Laden’s
‘Letter to America’, it has determined that the viewpoint of his has different from Phillip
Ruddock. As per the Osama, American government has killed Islamic persons by considering
them as a terrorist. This perception has got good for those people and this action has created
violence inside the people against America. Because of only this, the level of terrorism is
increasing with the time and now it becomes practices as war. Along with this, Osama bin
Laden’s letter shows the opinion that he has understand terrorism as a war of freedom to
change the political aspect and improvement in economic situation. So, from the above
statement of Phillip Ruddock's ‘Tobin Talk’ and in Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’, it
has been determined that , both people have talked about the rightful violent action. They
have advocating in relation to law, morality, and the authority of the written word but from a
different perspective and context.
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3. Based on a careful viewing of Dirty Wars, identify one of the crimes that
may have been committed by US authorities as part of the Global War on
Terror. With reference to course material in 1) war and 2) crime, identify
why Jeremy Scahill accords so much importance to Anwar Al-Awlaki,
and critically evaluate his fate and significance as crime.
Dirty wars was the name given by the Argentine Military states in the duration of state
terrorism in Argentina. This war was continued till 1983 in which large number of people got
harmed. In addition to this, the military and secured adopted the Argentine Anticommunist
Alliance(AAA). In this war the guerrillas were killed. Additionally, the authorities of US
committed crimes such as violations with references to wars and its laws. They used to
mistreat the prisoners when they were being interrogated. On other side, Jeremy Scahill wrote
his book Dirty wars where the book was related with battlefield. At the time of killing Anwar
al- Awlaki there were different innocent people and teenagers were also killed intentionally.
In addition to this, Jeremy Scahill said the US squads targeted the Pakistan and other
countries. Here the US military has become out of control which is resulted in endless wars.
In context to this, the writer stated that he was being harassed by phone calls and his
computer was hacked. On other hand he supported Anwar al- Awlaki who was a America
who was killed because his father was a operational leader. However, Anwar al- Awlaki
used to give Islamic lectures to the government officials. According to him terrorism was not
bad and he used to motivate US citizens. The motive of this person was to enhance the
thinking of US citizens towards terrorism. As per him this is not a crime but it is a good deeds
in front of god (Lee, N., 2015)
4. Based on a careful and complete reading of ‘The Terrorism Delusion:
America’s Overwrought Response to September 11’, identify what you
regard as Mueller and Stewart’s single strongest contention, take a
position on it, and – briefly – critically evaluate US post 9/11 responses
to terrorism in light ofyour position on their contention.
September 11 attack was a series of planned terrorist attacks accomplished by Islamic
terrorist. This attack had affected thousands of people's life and damaged infrastructure as
well. The targeted building was World Trade centre whose structure was badly damaged
and destroyed. On this attack, the reaction of Americans was massively disproportionate
towards the al-Qaida. This attack had badly affected the people of US specially the
amateurs. In addition to this, the reaction of America was totally different as expected by
the terrorist. They were failed to create terror among the US citizens. After this war, the
government took corrective measures such as they raised security in this country. In
addition to this, they were provided training to its military. In addition to this the reaction
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of American government towards so strict. The prisoners were punished and being
tortured during interrogation. This has resulted in creating a fear among the prisoners.
They also started offering requisite training to the people. The new U.S. defence doctrine,
announced by President Bush in a June 2002 speech at West Point and codified in The
National Security Strategy of the United States, expanded the justifications for war: Legal
scholars…often conditioned the legitimacy of redemption on the existence of an
imminent threat—most often a visible mobilization of armies (September 11, 2001:
Background and timeline of the attacks, 2016)
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hall, C.M., Timothy, D.J. and Duval, D.T., 2012. Safety and security in tourism:
relationships, management, and marketing. Routledge.
Lee, N., 2015. September 11 Attacks. In Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity(pp. 3-19).
Springer International Publishing.
Keniston, A. and Quinn, J.F., 2013. Literature After 9/11 (Vol. 1). Routledge.Keniston, A.
and Quinn, J.F., 2013. Literature After 9/11 (Vol. 1). Routledge.
Online
Counter-terrorism laws a balancing exercise: Ruddock. 2009. [Online]. Available through:<
http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2005/s1457695.htm>. [Accessed on 3rd
December 2016].
Greenberg, D., 2016. Notes From the Underground. [Online]. Available through:<
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2003/06/
notes_from_the_underground.html>. [Accessed on 3rd December 2016].
September 11, 2001: Background and timeline of the attacks, 2016. [Online]. Available
through:<http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/>.
[Accessed on 3rd December 2016].
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