John O. Voll
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195323405
- eISBN:
- 9780199869237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323405.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Sikhism
In a globalizing world, members of the same religious community, anchored in different parts of the world, have greater capacity to increase their cultural, social, and economic links with one ...
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In a globalizing world, members of the same religious community, anchored in different parts of the world, have greater capacity to increase their cultural, social, and economic links with one another. Ironically, this chapter points out how the rise of religious pluralism amid globalization has also strengthened the hand of Muslim leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, intent on destroying pluralism altogether. Al-Qaeda preaches peace but glorifies violence. Bin Laden’s view that violent jihad is an obligation on individual believers isolates him from leading Muslim scholars and jurists. Still, he has been able to gather and hold a sizable following, through dramatic actions, but also through the very same communications technologies that drive religious pluralism and create soft power in world affairs.Less
In a globalizing world, members of the same religious community, anchored in different parts of the world, have greater capacity to increase their cultural, social, and economic links with one another. Ironically, this chapter points out how the rise of religious pluralism amid globalization has also strengthened the hand of Muslim leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, intent on destroying pluralism altogether. Al-Qaeda preaches peace but glorifies violence. Bin Laden’s view that violent jihad is an obligation on individual believers isolates him from leading Muslim scholars and jurists. Still, he has been able to gather and hold a sizable following, through dramatic actions, but also through the very same communications technologies that drive religious pluralism and create soft power in world affairs.
Thomas F. Farr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195179958
- eISBN:
- 9780199869749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179958.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the ...
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Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the Nadj region, the home of Mohammed bin Abd al-Wahhab and the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden. The chapter explores the tensions between the two kingdoms, and the connections between Islam and Islamist extremism, especially as manifested in Saudi understandings of jihad and tawhid. It traces the pernicious Wahhabi public theology from its origins in the 13th century to its ideological covenant with the House of Saud. The author's experiences with Saudi officials, religious minorities in the kingdom, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the State Department lead him to conclude that Wahhabism will remain a source of terrorism, and a threat to U.S. national security, until the Saudis contain or destroy it via political reform grounded in religious freedom.Less
Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the Nadj region, the home of Mohammed bin Abd al-Wahhab and the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden. The chapter explores the tensions between the two kingdoms, and the connections between Islam and Islamist extremism, especially as manifested in Saudi understandings of jihad and tawhid. It traces the pernicious Wahhabi public theology from its origins in the 13th century to its ideological covenant with the House of Saud. The author's experiences with Saudi officials, religious minorities in the kingdom, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the State Department lead him to conclude that Wahhabism will remain a source of terrorism, and a threat to U.S. national security, until the Saudis contain or destroy it via political reform grounded in religious freedom.
Michael W. S. Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231163842
- eISBN:
- 9780231533270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231163842.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This chapter describes the relationship between Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, with a focus on the development of a post-9/11 strategy, by examining al-Zawahiri's brief strategic template, ...
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This chapter describes the relationship between Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, with a focus on the development of a post-9/11 strategy, by examining al-Zawahiri's brief strategic template, which he offers in his post-9/11 book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner. Osama Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda, the first organization dedicated to global jihad, in 1988, with the help of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Together they began a series of bombings in U.S. embassies, which eventually culminated in the 9/11 attack. The success of al-Qaeda efforts can be attributed to the organization's ideology and strategy. They believe they could defeat the U.S. using the same strategy they have used in defeating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The first task in their strategy was to convince their own members and allies that the United States was not all-powerful and impossible to defeat.Less
This chapter describes the relationship between Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, with a focus on the development of a post-9/11 strategy, by examining al-Zawahiri's brief strategic template, which he offers in his post-9/11 book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner. Osama Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda, the first organization dedicated to global jihad, in 1988, with the help of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Together they began a series of bombings in U.S. embassies, which eventually culminated in the 9/11 attack. The success of al-Qaeda efforts can be attributed to the organization's ideology and strategy. They believe they could defeat the U.S. using the same strategy they have used in defeating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The first task in their strategy was to convince their own members and allies that the United States was not all-powerful and impossible to defeat.
Douglas Little
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469626802
- eISBN:
- 9781469628042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469626802.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
George W. Bush regarded economic globalization and democratic enlargement as insufficient to contain Iraq, Iran, and other “rogue states.” As a result, he stocked his administration with hard-line ...
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George W. Bush regarded economic globalization and democratic enlargement as insufficient to contain Iraq, Iran, and other “rogue states.” As a result, he stocked his administration with hard-line Cold Warriors whose strategy for handling regional troublemakers like Saddam Hussein came straight out of Eisenhower’s America—rollback. When Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S. homeland on 11 September 2001, the Bush administration unleashed a “global war on terror,” expanding the Cold War national security state and embracing preventive war as the surest guarantees against a second 9/11. In the process, the new “green threat” of radical Islam replaced the old “red threat” of international communism. The initial testing ground for the Bush Doctrine was Iraq, where an American blitzkrieg rapidly morphed into a brutal low-intensity war against insurgents which blackened America’s reputation and strengthened the hand of Muslim extremists. Although Bush #43 made exporting “freedom” a key goal during his second term, by early 2009 rogue state rollback had backfired in the Middle East.Less
George W. Bush regarded economic globalization and democratic enlargement as insufficient to contain Iraq, Iran, and other “rogue states.” As a result, he stocked his administration with hard-line Cold Warriors whose strategy for handling regional troublemakers like Saddam Hussein came straight out of Eisenhower’s America—rollback. When Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S. homeland on 11 September 2001, the Bush administration unleashed a “global war on terror,” expanding the Cold War national security state and embracing preventive war as the surest guarantees against a second 9/11. In the process, the new “green threat” of radical Islam replaced the old “red threat” of international communism. The initial testing ground for the Bush Doctrine was Iraq, where an American blitzkrieg rapidly morphed into a brutal low-intensity war against insurgents which blackened America’s reputation and strengthened the hand of Muslim extremists. Although Bush #43 made exporting “freedom” a key goal during his second term, by early 2009 rogue state rollback had backfired in the Middle East.
Michael Ryan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231163842
- eISBN:
- 9780231533270
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231163842.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
This book provides an effective framework for analyzing al-Qaeda's plans against America and encourages strategists and researchers to devote greater attention to jihadi ideas rather than jihadist ...
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This book provides an effective framework for analyzing al-Qaeda's plans against America and encourages strategists and researchers to devote greater attention to jihadi ideas rather than jihadist military operations. It constructs a counter narrative to the West's supposed “war on Islam,” finding that jihadist terrorism strategy has more in common with the principles of Maoist guerrilla warfare than mainstream Islam. The book examines the Salafist roots of al-Qaeda ideology and the contributions of its most famous founders, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. It also looks at the Arabic-language works of lesser known theoreticians who have played an instrumental role in framing al-Qaeda's so-called war of the oppressed. It shows that these authors readily cite the guerrilla strategies of Mao, Che Guevara, and the mastermind of the Vietnam War, General Giap, and also shows that they incorporate the arguments of American theorists writing on “fourth-generation warfare.” The book argues that al-Qaeda's political-military strategy is a revolutionary and largely secular departure from the classic Muslim conception of jihad. In this way, the book adds new dimensions to the operational, psychological, and informational strategies already deployed by America's military in the region.Less
This book provides an effective framework for analyzing al-Qaeda's plans against America and encourages strategists and researchers to devote greater attention to jihadi ideas rather than jihadist military operations. It constructs a counter narrative to the West's supposed “war on Islam,” finding that jihadist terrorism strategy has more in common with the principles of Maoist guerrilla warfare than mainstream Islam. The book examines the Salafist roots of al-Qaeda ideology and the contributions of its most famous founders, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. It also looks at the Arabic-language works of lesser known theoreticians who have played an instrumental role in framing al-Qaeda's so-called war of the oppressed. It shows that these authors readily cite the guerrilla strategies of Mao, Che Guevara, and the mastermind of the Vietnam War, General Giap, and also shows that they incorporate the arguments of American theorists writing on “fourth-generation warfare.” The book argues that al-Qaeda's political-military strategy is a revolutionary and largely secular departure from the classic Muslim conception of jihad. In this way, the book adds new dimensions to the operational, psychological, and informational strategies already deployed by America's military in the region.
Douglas Little
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469626802
- eISBN:
- 9781469628042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469626802.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
With the demise of the red threat, Bill Clinton expected globalization to trump militarism and “enlarge” the area of freedom. America’s technological prowess and financial power would contain rogue ...
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With the demise of the red threat, Bill Clinton expected globalization to trump militarism and “enlarge” the area of freedom. America’s technological prowess and financial power would contain rogue states, combat international outlaws, and curb ethnic violence. Determined to broker peace between Israelis and Arabs and reorient relations with the Muslim world, Clinton developed a policy of “dual containment” directed against Iraq and Iran, two regional troublemakers who threatened Israel’s security and America’s access to Persian Gulf oil. Nevertheless, Clinton’s approach failed to bring peace to the Middle East and did nothing to stem the tide of anti-Americanism unleashed by Islamic extremists like Osama Bin Laden, who were angered by Westernization, U.S. support for Israel, and the growing American military presence in the region. As the 1990s drew to a close, radical Islam seemed destined to become what Bolshevism had been eighty years earlier—an existential threat which must be destroyed if it could not be contained.Less
With the demise of the red threat, Bill Clinton expected globalization to trump militarism and “enlarge” the area of freedom. America’s technological prowess and financial power would contain rogue states, combat international outlaws, and curb ethnic violence. Determined to broker peace between Israelis and Arabs and reorient relations with the Muslim world, Clinton developed a policy of “dual containment” directed against Iraq and Iran, two regional troublemakers who threatened Israel’s security and America’s access to Persian Gulf oil. Nevertheless, Clinton’s approach failed to bring peace to the Middle East and did nothing to stem the tide of anti-Americanism unleashed by Islamic extremists like Osama Bin Laden, who were angered by Westernization, U.S. support for Israel, and the growing American military presence in the region. As the 1990s drew to a close, radical Islam seemed destined to become what Bolshevism had been eighty years earlier—an existential threat which must be destroyed if it could not be contained.
Richard Falk
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199265206
- eISBN:
- 9780191601866
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199265208.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Part Three of the book turns to the question of international society and international relations after September 11, starting with a chapter by Richard Falk, who argues that international society ...
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Part Three of the book turns to the question of international society and international relations after September 11, starting with a chapter by Richard Falk, who argues that international society remains a useful starting point for studying today's globalized world because it is predicated on the dual assertions of international anarchy and a (potentially) global normative order – a duality that provides a fertile breeding ground for different accounts of what the world should look like. The author discusses the changing geopolitical context of globalization and global governance, suggesting that if globalization is to be retained as a label for the current phase of international relations, its net must be cast far more broadly than it has been – since the events of 2001 it needs to be interpreted far less economistically, and more comprehensively. The last part of the chapter considers approaches to global governance, international society, and world society given this altered understanding of ‘globalization’. The author identifies five overlapping accounts of globalization that provide alternative and competing pictures of the future of global governance and international society: corporate globalization, which refers to the growth of transnational business and the forging of common interests and values based on neoliberal economics; civic globalization, which in many ways is a civil society response to the corporate variety and has manifested itself in a number of transnational anti‐globalization movements, but has now moved beyond straightforward opposition towards the articulation of new global political agendas; imperial globalization, which is a US‐led form of globalization that seeks not the creation of a genuinely multinational neoliberal global economy but rather the extension of American power and the satisfaction of US interests narrowly conceived; apocalyptic globalization, the variant promoted by Osama Bin Laden and his followers and aims to overthrow the society of states and replace it with an Islamic world state; and regional globalization, in which a number of regions around the world are developing their own subsystems as a way of moderating pressures created by the global flow of capital. The author argues that none of these forms of globalization is likely to predominate completely, but that the relationship between them is likely to shape the nature of global governance for the foreseeable future.Less
Part Three of the book turns to the question of international society and international relations after September 11, starting with a chapter by Richard Falk, who argues that international society remains a useful starting point for studying today's globalized world because it is predicated on the dual assertions of international anarchy and a (potentially) global normative order – a duality that provides a fertile breeding ground for different accounts of what the world should look like. The author discusses the changing geopolitical context of globalization and global governance, suggesting that if globalization is to be retained as a label for the current phase of international relations, its net must be cast far more broadly than it has been – since the events of 2001 it needs to be interpreted far less economistically, and more comprehensively. The last part of the chapter considers approaches to global governance, international society, and world society given this altered understanding of ‘globalization’. The author identifies five overlapping accounts of globalization that provide alternative and competing pictures of the future of global governance and international society: corporate globalization, which refers to the growth of transnational business and the forging of common interests and values based on neoliberal economics; civic globalization, which in many ways is a civil society response to the corporate variety and has manifested itself in a number of transnational anti‐globalization movements, but has now moved beyond straightforward opposition towards the articulation of new global political agendas; imperial globalization, which is a US‐led form of globalization that seeks not the creation of a genuinely multinational neoliberal global economy but rather the extension of American power and the satisfaction of US interests narrowly conceived; apocalyptic globalization, the variant promoted by Osama Bin Laden and his followers and aims to overthrow the society of states and replace it with an Islamic world state; and regional globalization, in which a number of regions around the world are developing their own subsystems as a way of moderating pressures created by the global flow of capital. The author argues that none of these forms of globalization is likely to predominate completely, but that the relationship between them is likely to shape the nature of global governance for the foreseeable future.
Geoffrey F. Gresh
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804794206
- eISBN:
- 9780804795067
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804794206.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This chapter studies the process that led to the Saudi decision to reestablish a U.S. military basing presence in 1990. Though Saudi Arabia maintained its partnership with the U.S. military ...
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This chapter studies the process that led to the Saudi decision to reestablish a U.S. military basing presence in 1990. Though Saudi Arabia maintained its partnership with the U.S. military throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. was not given control of local bases after 1962 until the First Gulf War. The external threat posed by Iraq was the main driver behind convincing the Saud monarchy to allow a U.S. military basing presence. From 1990 to 2003, the kingdom confronted major domestic security challenges, including several terrorist attacks motivated by the U.S. military basing presence, but it was not until Saddam Hussein was finally removed in 2003 that the U.S. military was asked to terminate its basing presence. Iran also posed less of a threat to the kingdom since U.S. military bases surrounded Iran on both its eastern and western borders, including in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan.Less
This chapter studies the process that led to the Saudi decision to reestablish a U.S. military basing presence in 1990. Though Saudi Arabia maintained its partnership with the U.S. military throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. was not given control of local bases after 1962 until the First Gulf War. The external threat posed by Iraq was the main driver behind convincing the Saud monarchy to allow a U.S. military basing presence. From 1990 to 2003, the kingdom confronted major domestic security challenges, including several terrorist attacks motivated by the U.S. military basing presence, but it was not until Saddam Hussein was finally removed in 2003 that the U.S. military was asked to terminate its basing presence. Iran also posed less of a threat to the kingdom since U.S. military bases surrounded Iran on both its eastern and western borders, including in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Andrew Small
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190210755
- eISBN:
- 9780190235703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190210755.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter begins by describing how US drones eliminated many of China’s most wanted Muslim separatists in Pakistan beginning in 2009. The chapter describes how China’s general strategy has been ...
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This chapter begins by describing how US drones eliminated many of China’s most wanted Muslim separatists in Pakistan beginning in 2009. The chapter describes how China’s general strategy has been not to engage with extremists, but to ensure that it doesn’t get on the wrong side of them, which has often put China at odds with the United States. This chapter expands on the recent history of how China has shifted its position on extremism in South Asia and become more comfortable with the idea of the United States continuing to provide security in Afghanistan. It explores the limits of Sino–US cooperation, including a hypothetical seizure of Pakistani nuclear weapons in the case of the state destabilizing. In the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan leaned on China as relations with Washington plummeted. However at the same time Chinese officials were assuring their US counterparts that they shared concerns about Pakistan’s extremist problem and would not “backfill for the Americans.” Furthermore, in recent years China has been more cooperative with the US in its work to leave behind a stable and secure Afghanistan.Less
This chapter begins by describing how US drones eliminated many of China’s most wanted Muslim separatists in Pakistan beginning in 2009. The chapter describes how China’s general strategy has been not to engage with extremists, but to ensure that it doesn’t get on the wrong side of them, which has often put China at odds with the United States. This chapter expands on the recent history of how China has shifted its position on extremism in South Asia and become more comfortable with the idea of the United States continuing to provide security in Afghanistan. It explores the limits of Sino–US cooperation, including a hypothetical seizure of Pakistani nuclear weapons in the case of the state destabilizing. In the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan leaned on China as relations with Washington plummeted. However at the same time Chinese officials were assuring their US counterparts that they shared concerns about Pakistan’s extremist problem and would not “backfill for the Americans.” Furthermore, in recent years China has been more cooperative with the US in its work to leave behind a stable and secure Afghanistan.
Claire Finkelstein, Jens David Ohlin, and Andrew Altman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646470
- eISBN:
- 9780191738975
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646470.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Philosophy of Law
The war on terror is remaking conventional warfare. The protracted battle against a non-state organization, the demise of the confinement of hostilities to an identifiable battlefield, the extensive ...
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The war on terror is remaking conventional warfare. The protracted battle against a non-state organization, the demise of the confinement of hostilities to an identifiable battlefield, the extensive involvement of civilian combatants, and the development of new and more precise military technologies have all conspired to require a rethinking of the law and morality of war. Just war theory, as traditionally articulated, seems ill-suited to justify many of the practices of the war on terror. The raid against Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani compound was the highest profile example of this strategy, but the issues raised by this technique cast a far broader net: every week the U.S. military and CIA launch remotely piloted drones to track suspected terrorists in hopes of launching a missile strike against them. In addition to the public condemnation that these attacks have generated in some countries, the legal and moral basis for the use of this technique is problematic. Is the U.S. government correct that nations attacked by terrorists have the right to respond in self-defense by targeting specific terrorists for summary killing? Is there a limit to who can legitimately be placed on the list? There is also widespread disagreement about whether suspected terrorists should be considered combatants subject to the risk of lawful killing under the laws of war or civilians protected by international humanitarian law. Complicating the moral and legal calculus is the fact that innocent bystanders are often killed or injured in these attacks. It discusses all aspects of targeted killing.Less
The war on terror is remaking conventional warfare. The protracted battle against a non-state organization, the demise of the confinement of hostilities to an identifiable battlefield, the extensive involvement of civilian combatants, and the development of new and more precise military technologies have all conspired to require a rethinking of the law and morality of war. Just war theory, as traditionally articulated, seems ill-suited to justify many of the practices of the war on terror. The raid against Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani compound was the highest profile example of this strategy, but the issues raised by this technique cast a far broader net: every week the U.S. military and CIA launch remotely piloted drones to track suspected terrorists in hopes of launching a missile strike against them. In addition to the public condemnation that these attacks have generated in some countries, the legal and moral basis for the use of this technique is problematic. Is the U.S. government correct that nations attacked by terrorists have the right to respond in self-defense by targeting specific terrorists for summary killing? Is there a limit to who can legitimately be placed on the list? There is also widespread disagreement about whether suspected terrorists should be considered combatants subject to the risk of lawful killing under the laws of war or civilians protected by international humanitarian law. Complicating the moral and legal calculus is the fact that innocent bystanders are often killed or injured in these attacks. It discusses all aspects of targeted killing.
Charles B. Strozier
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231158985
- eISBN:
- 9780231529921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231158985.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter retraces the events of September 11, 2001, beginning with American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into World Trade Center 1 and 2, respectively, one after the ...
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This chapter retraces the events of September 11, 2001, beginning with American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into World Trade Center 1 and 2, respectively, one after the other. American Airlines Flight 77 then crashed into the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. New York City burned for the next 100 days. World Trade Center 7 also collapsed. Less than three hours later, President George W. Bush spoke to the nation from the Oval Office. On September 25, letters sent to a number of media outfits sparked fears of biological warfare in the wake of 9/11. On October 7, the war in Afghanistan, dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom, began. On November 16, Osama Bin Laden and his key followers escaped from their hideout as the United States began to bomb Tora Bora. On December 20, 100 days after 9/11, Robert Calise, a spokesman for the New York Fire Department, announced that the fires at Ground Zero were officially considered extinguished.Less
This chapter retraces the events of September 11, 2001, beginning with American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into World Trade Center 1 and 2, respectively, one after the other. American Airlines Flight 77 then crashed into the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. New York City burned for the next 100 days. World Trade Center 7 also collapsed. Less than three hours later, President George W. Bush spoke to the nation from the Oval Office. On September 25, letters sent to a number of media outfits sparked fears of biological warfare in the wake of 9/11. On October 7, the war in Afghanistan, dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom, began. On November 16, Osama Bin Laden and his key followers escaped from their hideout as the United States began to bomb Tora Bora. On December 20, 100 days after 9/11, Robert Calise, a spokesman for the New York Fire Department, announced that the fires at Ground Zero were officially considered extinguished.
