CS5 - 11 September 2001: an act of terrorism, and the subsequent war on terror How did the USA react to the 9/11 attacks?

1. G.W. Bush war in Afghanistan (2001-2014)
• The shock of 9/11:
Surprise attacks by hijacked US planes on US territory targeted US political, economic & military power
=> War in Afghanistan which harboured Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda camps.
• US response: war in Afghanistan
US forces invaded Afghanistan and rapidly defeated the Taliban islamist regime which fell (Oct.-Dec. 2001).
However, the Taliban resisted US pacification and organized a guerrilla which prevented the US from leaving the country.

2. G.W. Bush war in Iraq (2003-2011)
• The US invasion of Iraq:
Iraq = a rogue state led by President Saddam Hussein whose WMDs could threaten the USA
=> Dissymmetric invasion of Iraq, April 2003: fast US invasion and victory with the fall of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime.
• The US occupation of Iraq:
A difficult pacification: US forces facing a weaker but determined Iraqi guerrilla opposed to US occupation => Iraq more & more like Vietnam: a quagmire without a clear military exit strategy and a growing opposition at home.

3. President Obama’s new strategy (2008-2016)
• Obama’s cleaning up (2008-2014)
- Lless military involvement (withdrawing from Iraq in 2011 and Afghanistan in 2014)
+ 2011 execution of Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, hidden in Pakistan
• But a new opponent (2014-2016)
- Fighting limited war: intervention of special operations troops & air-strikes in Iraq & Syria since 2014 against new opponent
- ISIS/ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq & Syria/Islamic State in the Levant): new terrorist network with new dissymmetric (in Iraq & Syria) and asymmetric (elsewhere in the world) attacks.