The War on Terrorism Chapter 28 Outline

Chapter 28 Outline The War on Terrorism - Bush before September 11 ¥ Bush had proven himself an effective proponent of what he called compassionate conservatism. ¥ He won a narrow victory, but pursued a strongly conservative agenda in the form of a massive supply-side tax cut that favored high income groups. ¥ Bush emphasized American freedom of action, unrestrained by international treaties and institutions. ¥ The Bush administration announced that it would not abide by the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. - Scientists consider global warming a serious situation. - "They Hate Freedom" ¥ An outpouring of popular patriotism followed the September 11 attacks. ¥ The Bush administration beneÞted from this patriotism and identiÞcation with government. ¥ Bush told America that "freedom and fear are at war." - The Bush Doctrine ¥ The Bush Doctrine immediately emerged. - War in Afghanistan - The "Axis of Evil" ¥ Remarkable changes in American foreign policy quickly followed the Afghan war. ¥ In 2002, Bush identiÞed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil." - The National Security Strategy ¥ The "National Security Strategy" outlined a fundamental shift in American foreign policy. - Defense of freedom - Relied on a large military - Advocated preemptive war An American Empire? - Confronting Iraq ¥ A conservative group within the Bush administration welcomed an American invasion of Iraq to oust Hussein from power. - This group seized on the attacks on September 11 to press its case for an Iraq invasion. ¥ In 2002, the Bush administration announced that a regime change was necessary in Iraq, as Hussein was amassing weapons of mass destruction. - The Iraq War 1 ¥ The decision to go to war split the Western alliance and inspired a massive anti-war movement throughout the world. ¥ Realists like Brent Scowcroft warned that the Iraq War deßected attention away from the administration's real foe, Al Qaeda. ¥ China, Russia, Germany, and France refused to support a preemptive strike against Iraq. ¥ Bush called the war Operation Iraqi Freedom and identiÞed its purpose as to "defend our freedom" and "bring freedom to others." ¥ Baghdad fell within a month. - Another Vietnam? ¥ President Bush announced "mission accomplished." ¥ Looters and insurgents took control of Iraq, as there were not enough American troops in the country to keep order. ¥ Sectarian violence soon swept the country. ¥ Comparisons with Vietnam became common. - Policymakers had virtually no knowledge of the foreign nation. - They had given little thought to postwar planning. - The World and the War ¥ Rarely in its history had the United States found itself so isolated from world public opinion. ¥ Much of the outside world viewed the United States as a superpower unwilling to abide by the rules of international law. The Aftermath of September 11 at Home - Security and Liberty ¥ Congress rushed to pass the USA Patriot Act. - Conferred unprecedented powers on law enforcement agencies - Bush administration made a point of discouraging anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment. - Detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was established. ¥ In November 2001, the Bush administration issued an executive order authorizing the holding of secret military tribunals for noncitizens deemed to have assisted terrorism. - Enemy combatants - The Power of the President ¥ Many regulations of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local police forces were rescinded; while some of these measures had congressional authorization, many had been unilaterally implemented by the president. ¥ Many Americans seemed willing to accept the administration's contention that restraints on liberties were necessary evils in time of war. - The Torture Controversy 2 ¥ The Bush administration insisted that the United States need not be bounded by international law in regard to the war on terror. ¥ Even though the president responded to strong protests with a ban on torture without express permission, the CIA developed torture-like interview techniques and established a series of secret prisons overseas. ¥ The prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib undermined the nation's claim to civilized rule of law. ¥ The full extent of the torture policy did not become known until 2014 when a Senate committee produced a scathing investigative report. - The Economy under Bush ¥ During 2001, the economy slipped into a recession. ¥ Computer industries slashed jobs, but 90 percent of job losses in 2001Ð2002 were in manufacturing. ¥ Many companies eliminated or cut down pensions and health beneÞts for retired workers. ¥ Bush became the Þrst president since Herbert Hoover to see the economy lose jobs over the course of a fouryear term. The Winds of Change - The 2004 Election ¥ Democrats sensed a golden opportunity. - John Kerry, Vietnam veteran, surprises as an inefÞcient candidate, and the electoral map changes little. - Bush's Second Term ¥ Bush wished to "end tyranny in the world." ¥ The continuing chaos in Iraq, Republican corruption scandals in Congress, and indictments in the vicepresident's staff eroded Bush's popularity to an all-time low. - Hurricane Katrina ¥ In August 2005, New Orleans was devastated when the levee system broke and the city began to ßood. ¥ The natural disaster became a human-made one too, considering the ineptitude of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). - The New Orleans Disaster ¥ Poor residents of the city were left abandoned amid ßoodwaters. ¥ Where the government failed, individuals stepped in and shone. - Battle over the Border ¥ The borderland embracing parts of the United States and Mexico has been a source of ongoing tension for Americans. ¥ The Bush and Obama administrations greatly accelerated efforts to police the U.S.-Mexico border. ¥ Some Americans claimed the federal government was not doing enough enforcing and formed unofÞcial militias to do it themselves. ¥ In the spring of 2006, the immigration issue reemerged in American politics. - Midwest, New England, and Upper South are new destinations 3 ¥ Economists disagree on the impact of undocumented workers. ¥ Since the Reagan administration's 1986 amnesty policy, conservative state lawmakers have pursued their own crackdowns. ¥ The response to stiffer-penalty legislation was met with a series of massive demonstrations by both legal and illegal immigrants across the country. - Congress's 700-mile wall - Islam, America, and the "Clash of Civilizations" ¥ September 11 raised fears of a ÒclashÓ between the West and Islamic "civilizations." ¥ Such fears belied historical development and tended to distort the meaning of the word "Islam." ¥ President Bush insisted the war on terror was not a war on Islam, but many Americans found it difÞcult to separate the two. - The Constitution and Liberty ¥ Key Supreme Court decisions of the early twenty-Þrst century indicated conservative justices had come to accept that the social revolution begun in the 1960s could not be undone. ¥ A 2003 Supreme Court decision on afÞrmative action reafÞrmed the right of colleges and universities to take race into account in admissions decisions. ¥ Two major rulings concerning gay Americans emphasized a view of the Constitution as a "living document," rather than one bound by "original intent." - Lawrence v. Texas (2003) overturned laws making homosexual acts a crime. - Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) struck down state laws banning same-sex marriage. - The Court and the President ¥ In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004), the Court ruled that American citizen Yasir Hamdi had a right to a hearing after being imprisoned in a military jail without charge or access to a lawyer. ¥ In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), with two new justices sitting on the bench, the Court declared Guantanamo prison tribunals unconstitutional, ruling the protections offered to prisoners of war by the Geneva Conventions were the law of the land. ¥ The decision was a striking illustration of the separation of powers as envisioned by the Constitution's framers. ¥ In response to Hamdan, Congress enacted a law authorizing the establishment of special military tribunals, giving the president power to jail suspected terrorists without charge if declared "illegal enemy combatants." ¥ In Boumediene v. Bush (2008), the Supreme Court reafÞrmed the right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detentions in U.S. courts. - The Midterm Elections of 2006 ¥ Democrats expected gains due to Bush's plummeting popularity. ¥ Demo crats gained control of both houses of Congress. - Nancy Pelosi of California became the Þrst female Speaker of the House in history. ¥ At the end of his second term, Bush's popularity sank to historic lows. - The Housing Bubble ¥ In 2008, the American banking system found itself on the brink of collapse. 4 ¥ The roots of the crisis lay in a combination of public and private policies that favored economic speculation. ¥ Banks and other lending institutions issued "subprime" mortgages. ¥ Wall Street bankers developed complex ways of repackaging and selling these mortgages to investors. - The Great Recession ¥ In 2006 and 2007, home prices began to fall. Many homeowners owed more money than their homes were worth and could not pay monthly mortgage payments. ¥ The value of the mortgage-based securities fell precipitously, and banks were left with billions of dollars of worthless investments. ¥ In 2008, banks stopped making loans, business dried up, and the stock market collapsed. ¥ Americans cut back on spending, leading to business failures and a rapid rise in unemployment. ¥ In April 2009, the recession that began in December 2007 became the longest since the Great Depression. - In an era of globalization, economic crises are inevitably worldwide. - The mortgage crisis disproportionately affected minorities. - "A Conspiracy against the Public" ¥ Leading bankers and investment houses helped to bring down the American economy. ¥ The reputation of stockbrokers and bankers fell to lows last seen during the Great Depression. - Goldman Sachs Þned for selling mortgage securities and betting against them ¥ An incredible litany of malfeasance involving the world's largest banks became public; however, aside from relatively minor Þnes, no meaningful punishment of the culprits followed. ¥ Wall Street investor Bernard Madoff was exposed in an enormous "Ponzi scheme," which accrued losses of $50 billion at its collapse, resulting in Madoff's conviction for fraud and a 150-year prison sentence. - The Collapse of Market Fundamentalism ¥ The crisis exposed the ßaws in market fundamentalism and deregulation. ¥ Alan Greenspan, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1987 to 2006, had presided over deregulation, artiÞcially low interest rates, and excessive borrowing and spending. ¥ In 2008, Greenspan admitted to Congress that there had been a "ßaw" in his long-held beliefs about the free market. - Bush and the Crisis ¥ The Bush administration allowed Lehman Brothers to fail, and Lehman Brothers's failure created a domino effect. ¥ The administration reversed course and persuaded Congress to appropriate $700 billion to bail out other ßoundering Þrms. ¥ The crisis also revealed the limits of the American "safety net." - The 2008 Campaign ¥ Obama faced Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, in the general election. ¥ McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. The selection of Palin raised questions among many Americans about McCain's judgment. 5 ¥ With his promise of change, Obama won the election. - His election redrew the nation's political map. - Obama carried Democratic strongholds in New England, the mid-Atlantic states, the industrial Midwest, and the West Coast. - Obama also won in states that had been reliably Republican for years. ¥ Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida ¥ Obama's victory seemed to mark the end of a political era that began with Richard Nixon and his "southern strategy." - Obama's First Inauguration ¥ Few presidents have come into ofÞce facing such serious problems, but many Americans viewed Barack Obama's election as cause for optimism. ¥ In his inaugural address, Obama offered a stark rebuke to eight years of Bush policies and, instead of "freedom," spoke of community and responsibility. - Obama in OfÞce ¥ In many ways, Obama's Þrst policy initiatives lived up to the promise of change. - Sonia Sotomayor ¥ Obama's Þrst budget recalled the New Deal, including an $800 billion "stimulus." ¥ The explosion of a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico highlighted the downsides of globalization and deregulation. Health Care - Health Care Debate ¥ Obama's Þrst year was dominated by a congressional battle over the restructuring of the nation's health care system to insure the millions of uninsured and end insurance companies' abusive practices. ¥ Following bitter partisan debate, in 2010 Congress passed a bill that required all Americans to purchase health insurance and most employers to provide it. - The bill contained additional provisions, including subsidies for low-income purchasers. ¥ Every Republican in Congress voted against the bill, denouncing it as "government takeover" of health care. ¥ Throughout Obama's presidency, Republicans remained bitterly opposed to the new law and vowed to repeal it when possible. - The government shut-down ¥ By 2015, the health care reform law, or "Obamacare," had proved a successful policy with sixteen million more Americans obtaining medical coverage (most with some sort of subsidy assistance). ¥ Twenty-three Republican-controlled state governments refused the expansion of Medicaid coverage. - Financial Reform ¥ Financial regulatory reform also occurred in 2010, but the power of big banks and Wall Street remained largely unchallenged, and homeowners received little assistance. ¥ The most dramatic domestic reform legislation since the Great Society did not go far enough for many of Obama's supporters. 6 ¥ Obama chose advisers from Wall Street who underestimated the depth of the economic crisis. - The Problem of Inequality ¥ In 2014 and 2015, the economic recovery gathered momentum, but most of the beneÞt went to the top 1 percent of earners, while the middle-class continued to shrink and the number of people in poverty grew. ¥ At the bottom of the social scale, many workers employed by America's largest corporations earned very low wages and had difÞculty coping in their living situations. - The Occupy Movement ¥ Economic in equality took center stage in 2011 when protestors camped out in parks and held rallies nationwide, vowing to "Occupy Wall Street" in protest of bank malfeasance and declining equality in America. ¥ The Occupy movement spread through the use of social media and recalled civil disobedience efforts of earlier eras. - "The 1 percent" as political language ¥ Low-wage workers (particularly those in fast food) were inspired to demand a higher minimum wage and saw some progress. - $15 minimum-wage laws passed in Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York State. ¥ Obama's announced focus on "middle-class economics" stood little chance of making any headway in light of congressional hostility. ¥ Rising in equality had profound social consequences in the United States, which (according to statistics) by 2015 was the most unequal developed nation in the world. The Obama Presidency - The Continuing Economic Crisis ¥ Despite the ofÞcial end of the recession in 2009, economic growth was anemic in Obama's Þrst term. ¥ The recession accentuated larger structural trends, as job growth concentrated at the high and low ends of the pay scale. ¥ Racial minorities suffered most severely in the recession. - Postracial America? ¥ Despite the reality, Obama's election sparked a public discussion of a new "postracial" America. ¥ A Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 reßected this "postracial" view. - A ßood of restrictive state laws limiting voting rights followed. ¥ A series of controversial incidents involving the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and other authorities suggested that racial in equality had not ended. ¥ The "Black Lives Matter" national movement emerged in response. ¥ Unrest erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, after a white police ofÞcer shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. - State police and the National Guard dressed in battle gear reßected law enforcement's militarization. ¥ Investigations revealed black residents of Ferguson suffered routine racial discrimination in a system dominated by white authorities. 7 - Obama and the World ¥ Obama fulÞlled his biggest campaign promise and removed the last combat troops from Iraq, but increased troop levels in Afghanistan, where the outcome of the conßict remains uncertain. ¥ Obama extended the USA Patriot Act, and failed to close Guantanamo military prison. ¥ U.S. involvement overseas ranged from the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan to aid for the overthrow of Libya's dictator GaddaÞ and an expansion of the war on terror in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. ¥ In the Arab Spring, the United States sided hesitatingly with the popular uprisings, but stood on the sidelines of repressive crackdowns in Egypt and Bahrain. ¥ In his second term, Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cold War enemy Cuba and helped broker a deal with Iran to conÞne its nuclear development program to energy purposes. ¥ Obama also faced the new crisis of the self proclaimed "Islamic State" (or ISIS), a brutal occupying regime that carried out horriÞc acts against the people under its control and increasingly sponsored acts of terror beyond the Middle East. ¥ In a continuation of Bush's policies in the war on terror, the Obama administration perpetuated secret domestic and international government surveillance programs. - Edward Snowden revelations - National security versus civil liberties debate rekindled - The Republican Resurgence ¥ Tea Party activists campaigned against expanding federal power and brought about a Republican takeover of the House in 2010. ¥ On the state level, conservative Republicans moved to curtail abortion rights and eliminate the bargaining rights of public-employee unions. - Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin ¥ Conservative state legislatures also took aim at undocumented immigrants. - Alabama enacted the strictest measures. ¥ Illegal immigration became a topic of debate in the 2012 presidential campaign. - The 2012 Campaign ¥ Although a somewhat controversial choice, Republicans nominated Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate (the Þrst Mormon in the role) and Tea Party favorite Paul D. Ryan as his running mate. ¥ Obama entered the campaign with political liabilitiesÑthe economy, Afghanistan, and the continued Republican assault on his health care law. ¥ Obama was reelected in a heated campaign, but the balance of power in Washington remained gridlocked, and Republicans made signiÞcant gains in the 2014 midterm elections. ¥ Obama's reelection stemmed from many causes, but it especially reßected the new diversity of the twenty-Þrst century American population. ¥ As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, the 2012 presidential election was consumed by unprecedented funding through "political action committees." Freedom in the Twenty-First Century - Exceptional America 8 ¥ In the United States, people lived longer and healthier compared to previous generations, and enjoyed unprecedented material comforts. ¥ America's older population continued to rise, as did income in equality and infant mortality. ¥ Ideas of American freedom seemed more attuned to individual advancement than to the kind of broad social welfare seen in other developed nations. ¥ America was also more religious than other developed nations. ¥ American exceptionalism had a darker side that included the world's highest gun-murder rates and increasing incidents of horriÞc shooting massacres. - School massacres - Racially motived mass murder ¥ United States lagged behind in social rights. - Varieties of Freedom ¥ America's tolerance for diversity and the rise of antigovernment conservatives reshaped the idea of American freedom into individual fulÞllment of potential. - Traditional deÞnitions of freedom waned. - Americans enjoyed more personal freedom, but less "industrial freedom." - Learning from History ¥ It is still too soon to assess the long-term impact of the events of September 11. ¥ At the end of 2015, the world seemed far more unstable than anyone could have predicted after the Cold War ended. 9