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The War on Terror raised a number of questions for which there were no easy answers. Some were related to the use of wiretaps and other surveillance methods to monitor citizens’ activities. An increasing number of Americans believed that this undermined individual liberty. Other questions concerned what to do with the foreign terrorists who were detained in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
In “traditional” warfare, combatants wear uniforms and the rules of engagement are clear. Also, international agreements, including the Geneva Conventions, apply. These agreements stipulate the proper treatment of prisoners of war and include a prohibition of torture. During the War on Terror, however, the immediate need for information on upcoming attacks and the location of terrorist cells took priority. The Bush administration asserted that the international agreements did not apply to the current situation or the detainees involved.
Shortly after the War on Terror began, the United States transported men who were suspected to be members of al-Qaeda to the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for questioning. The administration referred to these men as “unlawful combatants” to whom the rights guaranteed to prisoners of war by international treaties (including protection from torture) did not apply.
President George W. Bush approved the use of torture only in instances when he had given special permission. However, military and intelligence authorities approved several techniques that many independent observers categorized as torture.
The detention center at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq gained international notoriety as a result of the living conditions and interrogation methods used at those locations. Interrogation sometimes included waterboarding, beating, and administering electric shocks to extract information from detainees. Reports—and photographs—that documented prisoner maltreatment and, on occasion, death during interrogation provoked an international outcry.
The classification of suspected terrorists as “unlawful combatants” was the subject of debate among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government.
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During the outcry raised in response to the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib in 2004, Congress included a provision in a 2005 bill regarding defense appropriations to ban the use of torture. President Bush signed the measure, but his signature was accompanied by a statement declaring that, as commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces, he had the power to establish rules for the military.In a series of decisions between 2004 and 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court played a key role in protecting the rights of the prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay. One of the most notable of these decisions was made in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in 2006. The court ruled that the administration’s creation of secret military tribunals to prosecute “unlawful combatants” was unconstitutional. In addition, the court’s decision stated that the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo violated the Geneva Conventions.
Congress responded to the Hamdan decision by enacting a law that authorized President Bush to establish secret military tribunals to try suspected terrorists and to detain enemy combatants. However, in a 5-4 decision in 2008, the court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that the law was unconstitutional and reaffirmed the right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts.
These decisions illustrated the important role that the judicial branch plays in overseeing and reviewing the actions of the executive and legislative branches. They also indicated that the sweeping security measures undertaken during the War on Terror must operate within constitutional limits. As the War on Terror continues, these issues will continue to be debated.
While the treatment of prisoners was argued in the courts and Congress, soldiers and civilians continued to die in Afghanistan and Iraq. Violence in both countries continued throughout the Bush and Obama administrations. The change from one administration to the next seemed to have no impact.
In December 2003, U.S. soldiers captured Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator. An Iraqi court found him guilty of crimes against his people. He was executed in December 2006.
With the exception of Hussein’s capture, President Bush and his administration found little to celebrate in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Anti-war protestors in the United States and abroad continually drew attention to the fact that no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) had been found in Iraq.
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq continued, sectarian violence increased. The “Mission Accomplished” banner displayed during President Bush’s “victory” speech in the spring of 2003 seemed to have been unfurled prematurely.
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During Saddam Hussein’s regime, Sunni Muslims dominated the government and the armed forces, even though they were a minority of Iraq’s population. Following the U.S. invasion, Shia Muslims dominated the new government. Sunni and Shia militias subsequently fought each other in the streets of Baghdad and throughout the country.
The United States was unable to establish a stable government in the midst of the ongoing violence. The cost of the war in Iraq was enormous and continued to increase—financially and in terms of human lives. It was conservatively estimated that the war had cost $1.7 trillion by 2013.
The casualties resulting from Operation Iraqi Freedom were also significant. In May 2017, the Department of Defense stated that 4,424 Americans had died during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Over 30,000 more had been wounded. Many of the wounded suffered permanent injuries due to the widespread use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by insurgents.
Iraqi civilian casualties were substantially higher. According to the Iraq Body Count project, over 119,000 Iraqi civilians died in Operation Enduring Freedom between 2003 and 2011.
In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments approved an agreement in which American soldiers would begin to withdraw from Iraq in the summer of 2009. The Obama administration completed the withdrawal in 2011 when the last American combat troops left Iraq. Violence continued throughout the country, and a stable government remained elusive.
The campaign in Iraq required the diversion of resources from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
By 2008, the United States seemed to be no closer to capturing Osama bin Laden, who had ordered the 9/11 attacks, than it had been when the invasion began. In addition, the Taliban proved difficult to defeat. By the time President Bush left office, the Taliban and al-Qaeda had reestablished a presence in some parts of Afghanistan.
While running for president in 2008, Barack Obama promised to end the war in Afghanistan. As president, however, he found his promise difficult to keep. In 2009, Obama deployed 15,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan to wage a counterinsurgency campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
In addition to conventional soldiers, President Obama deployed special forces and intelligence operatives and used drones to target Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. The administration also used drones and special forces to conduct military operations in areas where al-Qaeda maintained a presence, specifically Pakistan and Yemen. In May 2011, U.S. Navy SEALs raided a compound in Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden.
In 2011, the United States announced a phased military withdrawal from Afghanistan, which would be completed in 2014. In December 2014, the United States announced the end of military operations in Afghanistan. Some U.S. forces remained in the country, however. Many of them trained Afghan security personnel or conducted counterterrorism operations in the region.
In 2021, the incoming presidential administration of Joseph Biden indicated its intention to move forward with plans to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops, contractors, and nondiplomatic civilian personnel from Afghanistan. As the United States prepared to vacate, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 15, 2021, and swiftly reestablished control over the country. The full U.S. withdrawal was completed 2 weeks later. Since then, the United States has focused instead on providing humanitarian aid and targeted assistance to Afghanistan.
Despite Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, al-Qaeda remained active in the Middle East and Central Asia and expanded operations to other locations, including some in Africa. New Islamic militant threats emerged, and terrorist attacks against the United States continued, though most were committed by American citizens and legal residents. None of these attacks were as devastating as those that occurred on 9/11.
As the United States scaled down military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, special forces and airpower (including drones) continued to be used against enemies in the Middle East and Central Asia.
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In 2011, the United States and its NATO allies assisted Libyan rebels in overthrowing dictator Muammar Gadhafi.In 2011, Americans watched as popular revolts in Egypt, Tunisia, and other nations (referred to collectively as the “Arab Spring”) challenged existing governments. The protests in Syria led to a violent response from President Bashar al-Assad and marked the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, which continues at present. In addition to nearly 1 million casualties, the war has displaced millions more, creating the world’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
The violence in Syria and the ongoing instability in Iraq enabled the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a radical group that many observers view as a greater threat than al-Qaeda.
In June 2014, ISIS seized control of Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq and Syria. On June 29, it proclaimed the formation of the Islamic State, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph (i.e., the new state’s political and religious leader). By 2015, ISIS had established a presence in countries throughout the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. The growth of ISIS, the Syrian civil war, and the refugee crisis will test U.S. resolve in the years ahead.
At the same time, shocking acts of domestic terror led some Americans to question whether “homeland security” had really made the nation secure. Shortly before 3 p.m. on April 15, 2013, two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, and more than 250 were injured.
Three days later, two suspects were identified, and a manhunt began. On the first night of the manhunt, two brothers who had immigrated to the United States from Chechnya as children killed a campus security officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stole a car, and fled. The older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed when the police tried to arrest him. The younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured the following day.
Terrorist events including the Boston Marathon bombing, the Paris terror attacks in November 2015, and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in June 2016 indicate that the War on Terror has not ended terrorist violence. U.S. citizens remain vulnerable. In this context, American values—and what it means to be an American—continue to be debated.
Source: This tutorial curated and/or authored by Matthew Pearce, Ph.D with content adapted from Openstax “U.S. History.” Access for free at openstax.org/details/books/us-history LICENSE: CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 INTERNATIONAL
REFERENCES
American casualties statistic for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom retrieved from from bit.ly/2mgSQY6
Iraqi civilian casualties retrieved. Iraqi Body Count Project: bit.ly/1GO6xDB
Information regarding current status of Guantanamo prisoners retrieved from NPR: n.pr/2jReyR1
