IAH 201
9th October 2013
The True Target of Terror
On September 11th, 2011, a terrorist group attacked the United States of America. Following this action, President George W. Bush called for a counterterrorism plan named the “war on terror”. The plan declared a war on terrorism, creating a false understanding of whom America was really at war with. The American people focused on a war that shifted towards the people of the nations in the Middle East instead of the terrorist groups that performed the terrible acts; thus, creating a culture divide and a very hostile relationship between the nations. From this spawned assorted understandings of the “war on terror” between Presidential Administration, Bin Laden, and the citizens of the Untied States of America. Due to Presidential Administration, a large majority of the United States’ population had misguided interpretations of the real target of the “war on terror”.
The so-called “war on terror” established by Bush was called into effect following 9/11. Bush knew who and what he wanted to embark on war against, but he did not make that clear to the people of the United States. When Bush first announced the “war on terror”, a conflicting image filled the minds of many Americans. Bush furthered this confusion by defining “terror” in his address to the nation, “we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them” (Bergen 51). This definition conveyed by the Bush administration guided a false mindset of Americans for many years to come. Following this the American citizens believed that the war involved Middle Eastern nations at large rather than just the groups committing acts of terror.
The Bush administration also gave misinterpretations of the “war on terror” target through lack of evidence. The administration was quick to act when they still were lacking critical evidence, revealing mixed targets. “ ‘The absence of evidence is not the evidence of...