The 21st Century: A Time of Terror?

Bush 43 George W. Bush is inaugurated January 21, 2001 First President since Benjamin Harrison (1888) not to win the popular vote He quickly sets about implementing his agenda Education reform Tax reduction Bush was a moderately popular President Approval ratings in the 50’s

September 11, 2001 What do we know about 9/11? Video

The American Response George Bush stood on top of the rubble of the World Trade Center and vowed “I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon! This fundamentally changes the focus of Bush’s Presidency. Fighting “The War on Terror” becomes his focus

First Target: OBL Osama Bin Laden was a well known terrorist leader in the 1990s He had pledged to attack the US for many years. In the late 90’s he set up his terrorist operation “Al Qaeda” (The Base) in Afghanistan. The Bush administration made fighting Bin Laden it’s key goal. The US demanded that Afghanistan turn over OBL and other terrorists. They refused.

Operation Enduring Freedom After the Taliban refused to turn over Bin Laden the US, along with the UK invaded Afghanistan and defeated the Taliban The initial fighting took 3 months. The Allies and Afghans chose Hamid Karzai to be the Afghan leader. The Taliban was not completely removed. Osama Bin Laden escaped into Pakistan. Both of these events complicated the US efforts in Afghanistan.

The PATRIOT ACT In October of 2001, the United States Congress, at the urging of the Bush administration, passed legislation that made it easier to collect information One of the problems before 9/11 was the government agencies did not share information with each other and this lead to gaps in data. The PATRIOT ACT did the following: Gov’t was granted more leeway in wiretaps Gov’t granted enhanced investigative powers

PATRIOT ACT Legacy The passage of the PATRIOT ACT was controversial. Civil libertarians said the act would erode Constitutional protections of privacy Some feared it would lead to racial profiling of American Muslims It’s too soon to say whether or not these things will come to pass or to fully understand the impact of this law.