9/11 as a Major Event in Modern World History - Essay Example

?9/11 is Major Event in Modern World History Introduction The terrorist attack on America in 11 September had a “dramatic impact on the Americanconsciousness” (Colebatch, 2002, p. 581). For this characteristic alone, 11 September 2011 or 9/11 deserves to be considered as a major event between 1945 and 2008 as the dramatic impact involved a major country of the world. However, the 9/11 event changed not only America but also the world. The memories of 9/11 linger in the minds of many. Editorial and other cartoons continue to be drawn around the event or events related to 9/11 event long after Hoffman and Howard (2003) noticed the pattern. That the event continues to be memorable is also indicated in the work of Persbacher (2005). According to Persbacher (2005), the events of 9/11 are even in the consciousness of the religious who made the event as a point for personal and theological reflections. Five years after 9/11, Persbacher (2005, p. 96) noted that religious groups reflected on the event and expressed that “religious faith affects reactions to horrific events” and that “horrific events affect religious faith” as well. Some of the more important events immediately after 9/11 had been recorded by the Migration Policy Institute. On 17 September 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization Service increased from 24 to 48 hours the length of time a non-citizen can be detained without charges (Migration Policy Institute, 2003). On 19 September 2011, Attorney General John Ascroft presented to President George Bush the administration’s proposed anti-terrorist measures (Migration Policy Institute, 2003). At least 480 persons were arrested by the end of September 2011 for various charges related to the 9/11 bombings and the figure increased to 1,000 around October (Migration Policy Institute, 2003). On 1 October 2011, President George W. Bush signed into law a “snitch visa” law that award to non-citizens of America who “supply information regarding terrorist organizations to U.S. law enforcement officials” (Migration Policy Institute, 2003, p. 1). On 26 October 2001, President Bush signed into law the US Patriot Act that gave “broad powers new powers to conduct searches, employ electronic surveillance, and detain suspected terrorists.” (Migration Policy Institute, 2003, p. 2). On 31 October 2001, US Attorney General Asroft recommended to the US Secretary of State 46 groups for inclusion in the list of “terrorist organizations” under the provisions of the US Patriot Act (Migration Policy Institute, 2003, p. 3). Indeed, from these alone, it is easy to conclude that 9/11 directly and significantly affected American lives. Along the way, we also discuss how 9/11 affected the lives of all people in the world today. Versions and Interpretation of 9/11 Tamney’s (2004, p. 599) documentation of the 9/11 are as follows. On 21 September 2001, men inspired by Islamic convictions “hijacked four passenger planes flying over the United States.” Tamney (2004, p. 599) continued that “three of the four planes were crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and the twin towers of the World Trade Organization in New York City.” According to Tamney (2004, p. 599), “at least three thousand people died as a result of these attacks.” Tamney (2004, p. 599) pointed out that soon after, Journalist Oriana Fallaci published The Rage and the Pride in which “she argued that the terrorist attacks expressed the essence of Islam, that most Muslims were happy about the attack, and that Muslims are out to destroy the West.” According to Tamney (2003), Fallaci’s book became a bestseller in Italy and France and was soon published in the United States in 2002. Many believe that the terrorist attack on 11 September 2011 was successful because the attack has been a surprised. However, Dahl (2008, p. 19) consider this as a conventional wisdom that must challenged: more often investigations showed that the “warnings have been available but were either misunderstood or ignored.” According to Dahl (2008, pp. 19-20), some of the “conventional wisdom” on the 9/11 terrorist attack were the failure to anticipate the attack because of a lack of imagination, an over-focus on tactical intelligence, and factors related to organizational and bureaucratic limitations. Meanwhile, Firmage (2006) asserted that there are several theories on the 9/11 attack. These theories on the 9/11 event can be treated as the versions of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Unfortunately, validating each theory or perspective on the 9/11 attack would be difficult because of the “sheer volume of materials spanning two decades that must be studied for one to become comfortable reaching any conclusion” (Firmage, 2006, p. 19). According to Firmage (2006, p. 19), there are “three possible theories about the nature of the 9/11” attack. These three can be considered as the main perspectives on the 9/11 attack. The three main theories based on Firmage (2006) follow. First, according to Firmage (2006, p. 19), there is the “official conspiracy theory in which 19 Islamic radicals caught the U.S. off guard.” Second, there is the theory that “elements within the Bush administration knew of the impending attacks and allowed them to happen” (Firmage, 2006, p. 19). Lastly or third, there is also the theory that government “officials architected the attack attacks and caused them to happen” (Firmage, 2006, p. 19). The last two theories on the 9/11 attack is considered potentially credible by a following of people because there is a popular belief that the Al Qaedda network, formerly headed by Osama Bin Laden, has its origins from the Mujahedeen that was backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (Firmage, 2006, p. 21). According to Firmage (2006, p. 21), Osama Bin Laden was a CIA asset in the 1980s in the CIA program launched “to cultivate thousands of radical Muslims throughout Afghanistan … as a means to draw the USSR into a quagmire and suffer a strategic defeat in this vital Central Asia territory.” Another version of the event is given by Everett (2006). According to Everett (2006), an attack similar to what had place in 9/11 has been expected by the US, contrary to government claims that the attack was unexpected. Everett claimed that there were two exercises conducted in Pentagon anticipating a possible attack on Pentagon through the crashing of civilian airplanes. According to Everett (2006), the first military exercises conducted occurred in October 2000 while the second military exercise took place in May 2001. According to Everett (2006), the first military exercise was documented by MDW News Service in 3 November 2000 or many months prior to the attacked and had assumed 341 victims. After 9/11, the May 2001 military exercise prior to the 11 September 2001 that assumed that there will be an attack on Pentagon using civilian passenger planes was also confirmed by the 24 May 2002 issue of the Daily Mirror. The May 2001 Pentagon exercise that an attack using a civilian passenger plane ramming into the Pentagon was documented by the US Medicine, according to Everett (2006). According to Everett, the US Medicine reported during its January 2002 issues that the Department of Defense’s response to the 9/11 attack “was aided by the fact that department medical personnel had carried out a simulation exercise in May in which a hijacked 757 airliner crashed into the Pentagon.” Impact of Event: Outcomes My interpretation of the 9/11 event and the succeeding events that took place after 9/11 led me to identify at least eight impacts of 9/11. First, 9/11 highlights the vulnerability of America to terrorist attacks despite being the most powerful nation on earth (Colebatch, 2002). Unfortunately, the highlight was projected not only to Americans but also to the rest of the world. Perhaps most importantly, America’s vulnerability was also projected to Islamic militants and probably the success of 9/11 viewed from their perspective has been encouraging the Islamic militant network to attempt more attacks on the US. Second, 9/11 made Americans become more conscious of security at a level perhaps surpassed only by security concerns during America’s cold wars, “war” with “communism” and threat of nuclear attacks and counterattacks with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR. According to Davis et al. (2010), this is one of the long-term effects of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Putting it another way, 9/11 led to the promotion of a frame of mind that America is under attack. However, the main threat this time does not originate from Russia and the “communist” bloc composed of China, Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea but from Islamic militants or network of Islamic militants described as the “Al Qaedda.” Third, following the 9/11 attack, nations all over the world have become more conscious of the threat of terrorism to cause massive damage and casualties. If a nation as strong and as security conscious as America can be a victim of a massive terrorist attack, then the other nations of the world are probably at least just as vulnerable. The immediate impact of 9/11 was the reduction of travel worldwide. As the panic or shock subsided, societies all over the world moved for enhanced security at the airports, ports, bus stations, and landmarks. Fourth, as a result of security concerns triggered by the 9/11 attacks, the world’s political landscape had changed. One cannot go freely to the airport because security measures are tighter. Previously, shoes were not inspected but now they are subject to very strict security checks. Security is strict at malls, in the banks, and in many public places. This was not the social political landscape before 9/11 and perhaps even during the cold war. At the same time, people have been used to the strict security and it has become a way of life. Fifth, as a result of the thousands of Americans who died in the 9/11 attacks, American military action overseas moved from response to active pre-emptive action. Perhaps, this is illustrated best in the US occupation of Iraq. The United States invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein on mere suspicion that Saddam was keeping weapons of mass destruction or WMD in its stockpile of weapons. America attacked Saddam Hussein’s forces and eventually occupied Iraq. It turned out Saddam Hussein has no stockpile of weapons of mass destruction or at least it has none when the United States invaded Iraq. Sixth, although the United States has been reported to be conducting liquidations through the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA, it does not seem that a President of the United States has openly acknowledged, admitted, and supported one. Previously, America’s action was guided by a so-called rule of law and America was regarded as equivalent to the world’s policeman, acting within the rule of law. Unfortunately, 9/11 made America to turn about face and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden was justified by no less than the President of the United States---Barack Obama. Literature must be checked thoroughly but it appears that a rapid check suggest that Barack Obama admitted that US soldiers killed Osama Bin Laden even if the US soldiers were in as position to bring Osama Bin Laden to the US for trial. Seventh, 9/11 taught the world that many things can be weaponized or they can be used to kill thousands of people. In the 9/11 attack, for instance, passenger planes were used to kill thousands of people and bring down the World Trade Center towers as well as the Pentagon. Everett (2006, 6th paragraph) quoted Condolezza Rice, “I don’t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.” Perhaps, one of the new words that were created during 9/11 was the word, “weaponized.” Eighth, 9/11 and its aftermath may have promoted “Islamophobia” or fear of the Muslims (Kabir, 2007, p. 241). The fear may have been the result of 9/11 itself and was probably exacerbated by a tendency to fear Muslims because the network of Osama Bin Laden was identified with Muslim causes. Perhaps, this is also exacerbated by the situation that many Muslims are not condemning in very strong and decisive voices the inclusion of the innocents as targets in Osama Bin Laden’s war against the US government. Ashlund and Rooth (2005) reported however that although discrimination has not increased in Sweden after 9/11, longitudinal studies show that discrimination persisted. Ashlund and Rooth reasoned the discrimination were not unique to post-9/11 situations anyway. In the context of Aslund and Rooth (2005), longitudinal studies mean time series studies conducted using the tools of econometrics. The conclusion of Ashlund and Rooth (2005, p. 603) is disappointing because they pointed out that “a possible explanation for this result is that employers act rationally in their hiring decisions and do not respond to changes in attitudes towards immigrant as a group.” In other words, Ashlund and Rooth do not see that something is wrong with the persistence of discrimination. If discrimination is happening in a country that is far away from the site of 9/11, discrimination may be higher against minorities in the United States because of 9/11. More important, the discrimination against minorities, especially against the believers of Islam, may have increased as a result of 9/11. We have to look into this. Discrimination against Black Americans may have not increased because Black Americans were among the victims of 9/11 and the election of Barack Obama as President may be a good indicator that discrimination may have lighten up against Black Americans. However Valandra (2003, pp. 20-21) noted that white belligerency has increased in the school campuses after 9/11. For Valandra (2003, p. 20), “belligerence involves both a normative understanding in international relations where an aggressor state is engaged in some form or act of hostility (for example, war, declared or otherwise) and individual personality trait.” In other words, Valandra (2003) argued that the feeling of being in a state of belligerence is being experienced more by White Americans rather than by the Black Americans. Unfortunately not much evidence was presented by Valandra (2003) beyond saying that an American lawyer observed that patriotic flags in support of the victims of the 9/11 bombing were more prominent in white communities rather than in black communities, especially those with higher poverty rates. Conclusion Based on the foregoing, we can identify positive results from 9/11. One of the positive results has been the increasing concern for security. The experience of 9/11 and the security measures that were created by all countries of the world from the experience probably saved lives even as more than three thousand have died in 9/11. On the negative side, however, it is possible that 9/11 has promoted Islamophobia and could lead America to be more aggressive in conducting war overseas in order to protect the homeland. More importantly, another negative effect of 9/11 is that most likely the experience would lead Americans to agitate for tighter security measures at the expense of civil liberties. References Aslund, O. and Rooth, D. (2005). Shifts in attitudes and labor market discrimination: Swedish experiences after 9-11. Journal of Popular Economics, 18, 603-629. Colebatch, H. (2002). 9-11 and the challenge to governing. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 24 (3), 581-585. Dahl, E. (2008). Preventing terrorist attacks: Challenging the conventional wisdom. Harvard University: Belfer Center. Retrieved 15 October 2011, from http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Dahl_Preventing%20Terrorist%20Attacks_Policy%20Memo.pdf Davis, L., Pollard, M., Ward, K., Wilson, J., Varda, D., Hansell, L., and Steinberg, P. (2010). Long-term effects of law enforcement’s post-9/11: Focus on counterrorism and homeland security. Rand Safety and Justice. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation. Everett, M. (2006). Exclusive report: Did military exercises facilitate the 9/11 Pentagon attack. Retrieved from 15 October 2011, from http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060718232126585 Firmage, J. (2006). Intersecting facts and theories on 9/11. Journal of 9/11 Studies, 2 (August), 19- 47. Retrieved 15 October 2011, from http://www.journalof911studies.com/articles/Intersecting_Facts_and_Theories_on_911.pdf Hoffman, D. and Howard, A. (2007). Representation of 9-11 in editorial cartoons. Political Science and Politics, 40 (2), 271-274. Kabir, N. (2007). The predicament of Australian Muslim Women before and after 9/11. Islamic Studies, 46 (2), 241-264. Migration Policy Institute. (2003). Chronology of events since September 11, 2001 related to immigration and national security. Washington: Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved 15 October 2011, from http://www.migrationinformation.org/chronology.pdf 9/11 Commission. (2004). The September 11 travel operation. The 9/11 Commission. Retrieved 15 October 2011, from http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Ch2.pdf Perschbacher, V. (2005). Revelations from Ground Zero, spiritual responses to 9.11: Will the dust praise you? The Public Historian, 27 (1), 95-97. Tamney, J. (2004). American views of Islam. Islamic Studies, 43 (4), 599-630. Valandra, E. (2003). Remember 9-11: White belligerency in the academy. American Indian Quarterly, 27 (1/2), 420-428. Read More