WAR ON TERRORISM

The War on Terrorism (also known as the War on Terror) is the common term for
the military, political and legal, and ideological conflict, and specifically for U.S.
operations in response to the 9/11 attacks.

The objectives of the 2001 War on Terrorism are to secure the American
Homeland, break up terror cells within the country, and disrupt the activities of the
international network of terrorist organizations made up of a number of terrorist
groups under the umbrella of al-Qaeda. Terrorist organizations – chiefly al-Qaeda
– carried out attacks on the U.S. and its allies throughout the last few years of the
twentieth century. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing by Al-Qaida was the
first of many terrorist attacks upon Americans during this period. Later that year in
the Battle of Mogadishu (1993), Al-Qaida militants took part in an assault upon
US forces in Somalia, killing 19 Marines. President Clinton subsequently
withdrew US combat forces from Somalia, a move described by Al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden as evidence of American weakness.

On September 20th, 2001, during an address to a joint session of congress and the
American people, President George W. Bush formally declared war on terror when
he said, "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will
not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and
defeated." A number of security experts, politicians, and policy organizations have
claimed that the War on Terrorism has been counterproductive: that it has
consolidated opposition to the U.S., aided terrorist recruitment, and increased the
likelihood of attacks against the U.S. and its allies.

There is no widely agreed upon figure for the number of people that have been
killed so far in the "War on Terrorism" as it has been defined by the Bush
Administration to include the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and operations
elsewhere. A careful statistic indicates the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan
altogether run nearly around 100,000 to 175,000 civilians killed and thrice as
much displaced from homes, which is an irony of the fate for these innocent lives.

Kashif Raza