National Secuirty

National Security

National security has been an extensive ongoing issue, but it has only increased since the brutal attacks of September 11th, 2001. The war on terrorism has been dealt with since then but not as efficient as people want. Immigration has a big role in the war on terrorism as the country is unaware of certain people entering this country with the intent of performing acts of terror. With that being seen in this country too often now, the idea of closing the borders may not be the worst idea this government has ever had. Of course an extreme idea like that can lead to further issues but can also provide the country with the time to sit down and reflect on what can be done better in the future to avoid these circumstances. The people of this country might not have the best course of action to solve this issue but the government needs to work hard to fix this issue we are having on a daily basis.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed instantly for the attacks of 9/11. On the day of these attacks, 19 al Qaeda members hijacked planes and performed the most lethal act of terrorism in American history. This attack raised the awareness of Islam and its teachings tremendously. There have been reports of increased sales of the Qur’an and literature on Islam, for example, and some mosques prominent Muslim community leaders have reported a surge in converts to Islam since 9/11 (Coskun 2012). The general public has had an upsurge of interest in the Arab-Muslim world. This awareness is proven through the study done by ProQuest and LAC search engines showing that there was a total of 105 dissertations done by graduate students directly related to the attacks of 9/11. This is what needs to be done. The more people are aware the better it can be to solve issues.

During the Presidential election of 2000, George W. Bush built a campaign on being a domestic president. This meaning he was going to stay out of international affairs and avoid being the police country of the world. As it is known during a presidential term anything can happen and cause all of the plans a President had and turn them upside down. In President Bush’s case this event was the attacks of 9/11 done by Osama Bin Laden and his suicide hijackers. President Bush went from being a domestic president to becoming the thing he had tried to avoid the most. On September 20th, 2001 President Bush made a speech on national television addressing the attacks. Time Magazine states that this speech not only was Bush’s most defining as President but it rallied the nation. He stated a plan for the “War on Terror” and it started with al Qaeda but would not end there. American armed forces would not stop and pursue all nations that provided help or a safe haven for terrorists. All Muslims were not blamed for these attacks as the country was aware that these people were a small but a radical part of the population of countries in the Middle East. This declaration of war led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where American troops after many casualties and years, came out victorious in the war against al Qaeda. (Dalby 2011)

American society is a reactive society. It is not proactive in any sense of the word. It waits for an attack or issue to finally take action against whatever the threat may be. An example of this relates to Osama Bin Laden. During the Bill Clinton years there was at least two opportunities, that the people know about, where Bin Laden could have been killed by United States armed forces. One situation was when Osama Bin Laden was with a leader of Dubai in a place where US forces had drones and bombs ready to be dropped to get rid of Bin Laden but they were called off by President Clinton. The other instance occurred when Bin Laden was at one of his training camps (terrorist schools) with other people with the idea of becoming a member of al Qaeda. US troops were ready once again to take him out but along with him, there was all the families of these men. Their wives and little children would have been caught in the fire of these attacks so once again they were called off by President Clinton. The public relations end of these attacks could have been an even bigger disaster as all people would have seen was American forces killing women and children for the death of Osama Bin Laden. President Clinton may or may not have made the right call but one can only wonder if 9/1 would have even occurred if Bin Laden had been dead years prior to the attacks.

The main issue of present day national security is the rise of terrorist extremist group known as ISIS. The U.S. has been carrying out a slow but steady military campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, one that Washington hopes will keep the terrorist group too busy to plot more attacks like the one in Paris last fall that killed 130 people. But ISIS is “determined to strike the U.S. homeland,” James Clapper, the Director