The Department of Homeland Security now operates through anti-terrorism measures, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management. at the time and eerily evoked an ethnocentric concept of nationhood. The term “homeland” was not commonplace in the U.S. executive branch organizations related to "homeland security" into a single cabinet agency. By November of the following year DHS had officially consolidated 22 U.S. Less than a month after the attacks President Bush announced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All of this has left a heavy toll on Muslim communities who must worry that constitutionally protected behavior such as going to the mosque, wearing hijab, or participating in a protest might be construed as “radicalism,” bringing law enforcement to their door. created Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs, which enlist trusted community members such as teachers, imams, and mental health workers to help identify people who “might become radicalized,” based upon specious indicators such as outwardly religious clothing, depression, unemployment, or disagreement with western foreign policy. The result is another example of unchecked power-this time to search through an individual’s internet searches, medical histories, bookstore purchases, financial records, location records, social media, etc.Īs the “war on terror” moved into its second decade, targeted surveillance became even more hidden and sophisticated. The PATRIOT Act-passed just six weeks after the attacks-vastly expanded government authority to spy on its own citizens. That includes the incarceration of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison, where those incarcerated can be held indefinitely without trial and are tortured Islamic charities charged with material support of “terrorist groups ” and the passage of The PATRIOT Act. This criminalization of entire communities continued. begins detaining Muslim and Arab men without charges. Erosion of civil liberties and surveillanceĪlmost immediately after the 9/11 attacks, policies are enacted that erode the civil rights of targeted communities, as the U.S. Today, the lives of Afghans and Iraqis will never be the same. The Taliban regained control of the country and a new refugee crisis was created. completed its with withdrawal from Afghanistan after a chaotic and massive evacuation effort. In addition to the trauma of war, there have been hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, though the true number may never be known. And there are millions of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) having fled the violence. Generations of Afghans and Iraqis have also grown up not knowing a time without war. public, even though a quarter of them have never experienced the U.S. This has helped to invisibilize the endless wars for the U.S. deaths or injuries, civilian casualties remain high. The advancement of drone technology meant that many of those countries are being aerially bombed. military has deployed to Afghanistan, the Philippines, Georgia, Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Somalia. military is fighting-or believes itself authorized to fight-is classified. O ver the past 20 years, that authority has been interpreted broadly. This policy paved the way for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Within the first week after the attacks, Congress passed the “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists” (AUMF), essentially giving the president a “blank check” to wage war without congressional debate. 11, 2001, through the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, we can see how the decisions made in those short 18 months set the stage for the militarism and destruction that continues to this day. Looking at a timeline that runs from Sept. as the “homeland,” and when the president needed Congress to approve declarations of war. Those who are old enough to remember the days before 9/11 recall when we used to be able to see our loved ones off at the airport gate, when we didn’t refer to the U.S. Despite strong opposition and one of the largest global demonstrations in history, the attacks of 9/11 and Islamophobia were used to justify the “war on terror,” wars for oil and hegemony, and curtailment of civil liberties.Īs the years dragged on, the wars, militarization, surveillance, and suppression of dissent that have been key to the “war on terror” have become so normalized as to be almost invisible. But instead policymakers embarked on a disastrous course driven by narratives of fear and retribution. The United States could have used the moment to forge global cooperation. 11, 2001, the world was shocked at the coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed nearly 3,000 people.Įxpressions of sympathy and grief came from around the world.
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