The 21st Century
01 December
2004
(Lecture #39)
- Globalism and tribalism
best describe the world today
9/11
- Warnings – 1993 WTC
bombings, Khobar bombings in Saudi Arabia, African Embassy
bombings, USS Cole bombing
- Al-Queda
o
Devoted to destroying western cultures
o
Elusive
o
Uses modern technology
o
Originally planned to be ten planes with five on each coast
o
Bin Laden trimmed it to four for secrecy purposes
o
Increased spending
o
Bush doctrine – preemptive action is allowed in order to preserve itself
Operation
Enduring Freedom
- Afghanistan harbored al-Queda so
this operation was designed to remove supportive Taliban and find bin
Laden
Operation Iraqi
Freedom
- Justification – weapons
of mass destruction
- Many sites dedicated to
military production of WMD (US could not find banned materials, however)
- Airpower decapitated
the Iraqi army
- Protected oil to help stabilize
and improve Iraqis standard of living
Conclusions
- US and the West are
faced with new threats due to globalism and their history of imperialism
- US has faced uncertain
threats before and has gone on to win and prosper