Life in the United States came to a standstill on September 11, 2001. It is a day that the Americans will live to remember till their dying day. On that fateful day, the world woke up to the news of terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon building outside Washington in western Pennsylvania. The attacks killed more than three thousand Americans and seriously wounded thousands more. Skyscrapers were reduced to piles of stones, sand, and shattered glasses. This was a wake-up call to the United States to protect its people. The Bush Administration vowed to take every possible measure to ensure that the perpetrators faced justice. As a result, the Bush Administration put up several domestic and foreign policies to protect American citizens from future terrorist attacks. The goal of this paper is to examine the effective ways of preventing future terrorist attacks and the ways of fighting the war on terror.
Prevention of a terrorist attack is not an easy task, but there are numerous ways in which it can be done. It seems that the fundamental question which the United States should ask itself is: Why were the September 11/2001 terrorist attacks targeted, namely at the U.S. and not at any other country of the world? This question evokes a desire to consider U.S. foreign policy prior to the 9/11 attacks. Indeed, many countries, including the European allies of the U.S., were quite critical of the U.S. foreign policies in matters ranging from politics, economy, and globalization to environment and defense.
As Coates argues, America belongs to the countries which can be both friendly and hostile to other countries; he uses an example of America’s relations with Cuba, Russia, and China: “There have been periods in history when the United States was very friendly to each of these countries … and other periods when the United States considered using nuclear weapons against each of these countries.” (91) On the other hand, the maintenance of U.S. hegemony has contributed to higher levels of poverty and inequality across the globe. The presence of the U.S. in the Middle East, as well as its interference in the affairs of the countries of this region, is constantly cited as a major reason behind 9/11. The development of nuclear weapon programs in such countries as Iran is a strategy used to balance the hegemony of the U.S. Therefore, to prevent future terrorist attacks, the United States should implement a global-friendly foreign policy that would serve to promote peace and equality around the world.
The goal of the United States to create democratic states in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan was a noble goal. Coaty states that “violent acts have been carried out throughout history. The killing of innocent people for political effect, the assassination of leaders, and the bombing of culturally sensitive symbols have occurred since the beginning of time.” (20) However, the means through which the U.S. aimed to achieve its goal was totally wrong. One cannot fight violence using violent means, because this evokes even more violence and hatred. Indeed, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, the USA and some other countries became more hostile. This is because the war on terror served to heighten the hatred of the perpetrators against the U.S. and its allies and also to create more terrorist groups to retaliate against their oppressors. The threat of another 9/11 is real due to the heightened hate this war engendered. Nonetheless, the building of democratic states can be achieved by using peaceful means, such as negotiations, conventions, and economic sanctions against oppressing governments. This would not only help to prevent thousands of civilian deaths, abuse of human rights, and property loss, but it would also prevent other countries from harboring more hatred towards the U.S. In result, the possibility of future terrorist attacks will be prevented.
One more way to deal with the war on terror is to cope with the problem of illegal immigration and protection of American borders. Protection of American porous borders is one of the means through which the war on terror can be fought with. This can be achieved by tackling the problem of illegal immigration, which remains one of the most highly controversial issues in the United States. Although illegal immigrants contribute to the American economy, they put significant pressure on the American resources and pose a potential threat to the nation’s security. It is alleged that the hijackers of those four planes which were involved in the 9/11 attacks were not strangers to the United States. Those were the people who had once migrated to the U.S and became integrated into the American society. To protect the American citizens from future terrorist attacks, there is a need to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. The formation of a bigger number of law enforcement agencies is of paramount importance to achieve this goal.
Law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, the Office of Detention and Removal Operations, the Office of Intelligence, and the Office of Investigations play an important role for the security of American people. These agencies use new and advanced systems to effectively deal with the national security issues by tracking potential terrorists and their activities. They also enforce the immigration and customs laws of the U.S. by removing all fugitives from the U.S. investigations of a number of issues such as immigration crime, human rights violations, and smuggling. These agencies make it possible to fight with these crimes, as well as to conduct investigations necessary for protecting essential infrastructural facilities that are more prone to attacks. It is, however, important to note that the functioning of such agencies cannot be fruitful without intelligence.
The role of intelligence agencies in upholding the security of a nation is far-reaching. However, intelligence agencies have to work in collaboration with law enforcement agencies to ensure maximum security. Before the September 11 terrorist attacks, these two agencies were in competition, rather than in collaboration with each other and each viewed the other as a rival. The situation changed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when the United States recognized the importance of collaboration between the intelligence agencies and the law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies need the services of the intelligence to access all the necessary information about criminals and lawbreakers. On the other hand, intelligence without law enforcement agencies would be useless. In countering illegal immigration, information collected by the Office of Intelligence is used by law enforcement authorities to track down and punish violators of immigration and customs law. To be able to effectively fight the war on terror, maximum collaboration and trust between the intelligence agencies and the law enforcement agencies will have to be ensured.
Tightening of the American porous borders is important in the fight against terrorism. The majority of the illegal immigrants enter the United States through the U.S-Mexican border. To reduce their number, effective counter-terrorism measures should be taken to increase the fencing along this border and to eliminate the loopholes that make it easy for illegal immigrants to cross the border. Secondly, there is a need to enforce the barriers and restrictions for the vehicles that cross the border. In addition, highly advanced technological devices should be used to carry out check ups of the vehicles that cross the border. This would help to minimize the number of vehicles crossing the border as well as to reduce the possibility of explosive devices passing across the border. Most importantly, the Border Patrol along the land and on sea borders needs to be increased to enable effective patrolling of the American borders. A small size of Border Patrol cannot be able to deal with the thousands of immigrants who wait to cross the line and get to the United States. The Border Patrol should also be assisted by technological devices, such as ground-based radars and camera towers, to make the patrolling more effective.
The war on terror is a fragile war which affects citizens of the countries all over the world. Nevertheless, this war can be won only by peaceful means. The use of force through military invasion and attacks only adds to destruction threatening lives and properties of innocent people and breeding even more hatred and violence. Issues of illegal immigration and border protection are also important in fighting the war on terror.
Work Cited
Coaty, Patrick. Understanding the War on Terror. 2nd ed. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 2006.