LECTURE #26: The War on Terror & the Age of Hope (2001- Present)

LECTURE #26: The War on Terror & the Age of Hope (2001- Present) Presented by Derrick J. Johnson, MPA, JD Advanced Placement United States History School for Advanced Studies

The George W. Bush Presidency President George Walker Bush Born: July 6, 1946 Term in Office: (2001-2009) Political Party: Republican

The George W. Bush Presidency

The George W. Bush Presidency Supreme Court Appointments by President Bush John Roberts (Chief Justice) - 2005 Samuel Alito – 2006

Political Polarization • The early elections revealed a nation politically divided into a conservative south west, and a more liberal northeast and west coats. The more traditional, religious, and nationalist rural areas and small towns went Republican, while the more diverse, tolerant, and international-minded centers voted Democratic. • President George W. Bush aggressively pushed his conservative agenda. His agenda included: • Tax cuts • Deregulation • Federal aid to faith based organizations. • Pro-life legislation. • Voluntary environmental standards for industry • School choice. • Privatization of Social Security and Medicare.

Political Polarization • In 2001, Congress passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut spread over ten years. The bill lowered the top tax bracket, gradually eliminated estates taxes, increased the child tax credit and limits for IRA and 401(k) contributions, and gave all tax payers an immediate rebate. • Critics of Bush’s policies pointed out that most of the benefits went to the top 5% of the population and that Bush’s policies doubled the national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. • Bush championed No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to close the gap between well to do students and poor students, train highly qualified teachers, improve reading programs, and ensure transfer rights of students to better schools. • Bush also pushed for provide prescription drug coverage for seniors, which Democrats criticized as being designed to profit insurance and drug companies.

The War on Terror • George W. Bush entered the White House with no foreign policy experience, but he surrounded himself with veterans of prior Republican administrations. • Vice President Dick Cheney served in Bush’s father’s cabinet as the Secretary of Defense, General Colin Powell became Secretary of State, the first African American in that position, and President Ford’s Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was re-appointed to that position by President Bush. • After WWI, the Ottoman Empire, the last of the Islamic empires, was replaced in the Middle East by Western-style, secular nation-states. • Religious fundamentalists decried modernization and corruption of the “House of Islam,” an ancient Islamic ideal of a realm governed by the precepts of the Koran.

The War on Terror • Islamic extremists, such as Osama bin Laden and the supporters of Al Qaeda (“The Base”), preached jihad, or holy war against the “Jews and Crusaders.” The restrictive economic and political conditions in the Middle East also provide a fertile breeding ground for recruiting extremists. • In 1993, Islamic extremists had bombed the World Trade Center in New York City. • In 1998, the United States responded to the threat posed by Islamic extremists bombing embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by bombing Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and the Sudan. • Osama bin Laden allied himself with the fundamentalist Islamic regime in Afghanistan, the Taliban. • In 2000, two suicide bombers in a small rubber boat nearly sank the U.S.S. Cole, docked in Yemen.

September 11, 2001 • On September 11, 2001, there were coordinated attacks by Al Qaeda terrorists in commercial airliners on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and a fourth plane that crashed in Pennsylvania claimed nearly 3,000 lives. • The attacks galvanized public opinion as nothing since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and they empowered the Bush administration to take action.

The Bush II Foreign Policy • After the 9/11 attacks, most Americans were willing to accept background checks and airport searches. • The Patriot Acts of 2001 and 2003 gave unparalleled powers to the U.S. Government to obtain information and expand surveillance and arrest powers. • A growing number of Americans were troubled by wiretaps without court orders, military tribunal, and indefinite detainment of suspects at Guantanamo, Cuba. • To enhance security, the Department of Homeland Security was created by combining 20 federal agencies and headed by former Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Ridge.

The Bush II Foreign Policy • Bush worked with European nations to expand NATO, help admit China to the World Trade Organization, and broker conflicts between India and Pakistan. • However, the Bush Administration refused to join the Kyoto Accord to prevent global warming, walked out of a U.N. conference on racism, abandoned the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia, and for years would not negotiate with North Korea or Iran. • Critics argued that Bush sacrificed cooperation and goodwill with other nations, in favor of a unilateral approach. In what became known as the Bush Doctrine, Bush argued that the old policies of containment were no longer effective in a world of stateless terrorism. • To protect the nation, Bush claimed that the United States would be justified in using preemptive attacks to stop the acquisition and use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) by terrorists and by nations that sponsored terrorism.

War in Afghanistan • President Bush declared that that he wanted Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders “Dead or Alive.” After the Taliban refused to turn over bin Laden and his associates, their government was quickly overthrown in the fall of 2001. • A pro-American leader, Hamid Karzai, became head of government in Kabul, but Afghanistan remained unstable and divided by the Taliban insurgency and tribal conflict. • The U.S. and Afghan forces continued to pursue the remnants of Al Qaeda in the mountain borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they failed to capture bin Laden.

Iraq War • President Bush, in his 2002 State of the Union Address singled out Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the “Axis of Evil.” While U.S. intelligence was finding no link between Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bush pursued a preemptive strike on Iraq before Saddam Hussein could build and distribute WMDs to terrorists. • In late 2002, secretary of State Colin Powell negotiated an inspection plan with the UN Security Council, which Iraq accepted. • In the following months, UN inspectors failed to find WMD. • In 2003, Bush declared that Iraq had not complied with numerous UN resolutions and without the support of the U.N. Security Council, Bush launched air attacks on Iraq.

Iraq War • The armed forces of the United States and several other countries invaded Iraq in 2003. The operation was known in the United States as Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although the American government, with encouragement from the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, had attempted to gain a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam from power, this attempt to gain international approval for the invasion was unsuccessful. • Proponents of the use of force pointed to current and previous violations by Iraq of resolutions and sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) and the UN Security Council, as substantive enough to justify military intervention. • President Bush, however, drew criticism for preemptively attacking a country that had never attacked the United States or threatened to do so, and for disregarding the opinion of the United Nations. • He was criticized also, especially at home, for diverting attention away from capturing Osama Bin Laden. When asked during a press conference in March 2002 about what he was doing to capture Bin Laden, the president remarked: "You know, I just don't spend that much time on him.“

Iraq War • On May 2, from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, in front of a huge banner that read "Mission Accomplished", Bush declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." This drew criticism for being premature, since many Coalition forces were still fighting in Iraq. The banner, some said, was supposed to have been removed before the speech, and the president had not been involved. • Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), made up of 1,200 members of British and American experts in the field of concealed weapons programs, was established. On October 3, 2003, it released its Interim report on Iraq, which stated that it had found numerous "WMD related materials" but no actual WMDs. • To make matters worse, pictures of barbaric treatment of prisoners by U.S. troops at Abu Graib further diminished America’s reputation in Iraq and around the world.

The Election of 2004 • The Democrats approached the elections of 2004 optimistic that they could unseat the incumbent president burdened by an increasing unpopular war and limited economic recovery. • Democratic voters selected Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts as their presidential candidate. Kerry chose Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as his running mate. • The Republicans successfully energized their conservative base on issues such as the war against terror, more tax cuts, and an opposition to gay marriage and abortion.

The Election of 2004 • Republican groups, like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, attacked Kerry’s military service and patriotism. • In the end, Bush emerged victorious with 286 electoral votes (62,040,610popular votes) to Kerry’s 251 electoral votes (59,028,444 popular votes). • Bush’s re-election was the smallest margin of victory that any incumbent president has ever achieved.

Hurricane Katrina • Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, struck early in Bush’s second term. Katrina formed in late August during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States, particularly New Orleans. • Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 27, and in Mississippi and Alabama the following day; he authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to manage the disaster, but his announcement failed to spur these agencies to action. • The eye of the hurricane made landfall on August 29, and New Orleans began to flood due to levee breaches; later that day, Bush declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, officially authorizing FEMA to start using federal funds to assist in the recovery effort.

Hurricane Katrina • On August 30, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff declared it "an incident of national significance" triggering the first use of the newly created National Response Plan. Three days later, on September 2, National Guard troops first entered the city of New Orleans. The same day, Bush toured parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and declared that the success of the recovery effort up to that point was "not enough." • As the disaster in New Orleans intensified, critics charged that Bush was misrepresenting his administration's role in what they saw as a flawed response. Leaders attacked Bush for having appointed apparently incompetent leaders to positions of power at FEMA, notably Michael D. Brown; it was also argued that the federal response was limited as a result of the Iraq War and Bush himself did not act upon warnings of floods. • Bush responded to mounting criticism by accepting full responsibility for the federal government's failures in its handling of the emergency. It has been argued that with Katrina, Bush passed a political tipping point from which he would not recover

2008 Economic Crisis • The last year of Bush's second term was dominated by an economic recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) marked December 2007, the month with the highest payroll employment numbers, as the high point of American economic production with output declining from then on to the present. • GDP declined by an annualized -0.5% in the third quarter and -3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. The two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth met the "rule of thumb" definition of a recession, confirming the NBER's declaration of a recession. • Bush responded to the early signs of economic problems with lump-sum tax rebates and other stimulative measures in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. • In March 2008, Bear Stearns, a major US investment bank heavily invested in subprime mortgage derivatives, began to go under. Rumors of low cash reserves dragged Bear's stock price down while lenders to Bear began to withdraw their cash. The Federal Reserve funneled an emergency loan to Bear through JP Morgan Chase. (As an investment bank, Bear could not borrow from the Fed but JP Morgan Chase, a commercial bank, could).

2008 Economic Crisis • The Fed ended up brokering an agreement for the sale of Bear to JP Morgan Chase that took place at the end of March. In July, IndyMac went under and had to be placed in conservatorship. In the middle of the summer it seemed like recession might be avoided even though high gas prices threatened consumers and credit problems threatened investment markets, but the economy entered crisis in the fall. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were also put under conservatorship in early September. • A few days later, Lehman Brothers began to falter. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who in July had publicly expressed concern that continuous bailouts would lead to moral hazard, decided to let Lehman fail. The fallout from Lehman's failure snowballed into market-wide panic. AIG, an insurance company, had sold credit default swaps insuring against Lehman's failure under the assumption that such a failure was extremely unlikely. • Without enough cash to pay out its Lehman-related debts, AIG went under and was nationalized.

2008 Economic Crisis • Credit markets locked up and catastrophe seemed all too likely. Paulson proposed providing liquidity to financial markets by having the government buy up debt related to bad mortgages with a Troubled Asset Relief Program. Congressional Democrats advocated an alternative policy of investing in financial companies directly. Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which authorized both policies. • Throughout the crisis, Bush seemed to defer to Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He kept a low public profile on the issue with his most significant role being a public television address where he announced that a bailout was necessary otherwise the United States "could experience a long and painful recession.

The Election of 2008 • The presidential election of 2008 began with the economy in a serious economic slump and President Bush’s poll numbers at an all time low. • For the Democrats, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, wife of former President Bill Clinton, was an early favorite to become the first woman to head a national ticket. However, the big surprise of this election was came after a long primary battle. • A 47 year-old, charismatic, African American, Senator Barack H. Obama of Illinois, captured the Democratic nomination for president. Obama chose as his running mate, veteran senator, Joseph Biden of Delaware. • In the shadow of the unpopular Bush Administration, the Republicans nominated Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Vietnam Veteran and a political “maverick” who hoped to appeal to undecided voters. McCain selected 44 year old Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.

The Election of 2008 • Palin became the second woman to run for the vice-presidency on a major party ticket. • After the party conventions, the McCain-Palin ticket led in the polls, but the economic crisis, Obama’s message for change, and his grassroots and well-funded campaign helped the Democrats win in November. Obama emerged victorious with 365 electoral votes (69,456,897popular votes) to McCain’s 173 electoral votes (59,934,814 popular votes). • Obama’s election marks the first time an African American is elected to the presidency.

The Barack H. Obama Presidency President Barack Hussein Obama II Born: August 4, 1961 Term in Office: (2009 - Present) Political Party: Democrat

The Barack H. Obama Presidency

The Barack H. Obama Presidency Supreme Court Appointments by President Obama Sonia Sotomayor – 2009 Elena Kagan – 2010

Inauguration of Obama • On January 20, 2009, the eyes of the nation focused on Washington D.C. for the historic oath-taking of the nation’s 44th President. A joyous crowd of more than 1.5 million, the largest ever to witness a presidential inauguration, gathered around the U.S. Capitol at noontime. • In a thoughtful inaugural address, the President spoke of a “new era of responsibility” and “the work of remaking America.” • To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of former President Abraham Lincoln, the same Bible that was used for Lincoln's inauguration was used in Obama's inauguration.

Inauguration of Obama • In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" and erroneously replaced the phrase "President of the United States" with "President to the United States" before restating the phrase correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars argued the President should take the oath again. • On January 21, Roberts re-administered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts a second time out of an "abundance of caution."

Response to Economic Crisis • Upon entering office, Obama planned to center his attention on handling the global financial crisis. Even before his inauguration he lobbied Congress to pass an economic stimulus bill, which became the top priority during his first month in office. • As President, Obama made a high profile trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. to dialog with Congressional Republicans and advocate for the bill. On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion plan that included spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. • The tax provisions of the law reduced taxes for 98 per cent of taxpayers, bringing tax rates to their lowest levels in 60 years. • As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the economy, including a $2–3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. The program includes up to $1 trillion to buy toxic bank assets, an additional $1 trillion to expand a federal consumer loan program, and the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program. • The plan also includes $50 billion intended to slow the wave of mortgage foreclosures. The 2011 Budget includes a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, proposes several program cancellations, and raises taxes on high income earners to bring down deficits during the economic recovery.

Passage of Universal Healthcare • Once the stimulus bill was enacted, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority. • On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,000 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of the year. • The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the ten-year cost to the federal government of the major insurance-related provisions of the bill at approximately $1.0 trillion. • After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals. In March 2010, Obama gave several speeches across the country to argue for the passage of health care reform.

Passage of Universal Healthcare • On March 21, 2010, after Obama announced an executive order reinforcing the current law against spending federal funds for elective abortion services, the House, by a vote of 219 to 212, passed the version of the bill previously passed on December 24, 2009 by a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. • The bill, which includes over 200 Republican amendments, was passed without a single Republican vote. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law. Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010 and signed into law on March 30, 2010.

Mid-term Elections of 2010 • Due in large part to voter frustration over high unemployment and a stalled economy, Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections. • On reflection after the election, Obama blamed himself, in part, for the many Democrats who went down to defeat knowing that they had risked their careers to support his agenda of economic stimulus legislation and a landmark health care bill. • Democrats narrowly retained the Senate majority and will continue to control it through the 112th Congress. • Obama called the elections "humbling" and a "shellacking". He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.

The Death of Osama bin Laden • Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad. • CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. • The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, and buried at sea several hours later.

The Death of Osama bin Laden • The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, and buried at sea several hours later. • Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square. • Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and from many countries around the world.

The Election of 2012 • The presidential election of 2008 began with the economy in a serious economic slump and President Bush’s poll numbers at an all time low. • For the Democrats, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, wife of former President Bill Clinton, was an early favorite to become the first woman to head a national ticket. However, the big surprise of this election was came after a long primary battle. • A 47 year-old, charismatic, African American, Senator Barack H. Obama of Illinois, captured the Democratic nomination for president. Obama chose as his running mate, veteran senator, Joseph Biden of Delaware. • In the shadow of the unpopular Bush Administration, the Republicans nominated Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Vietnam Veteran and a political “maverick” who hoped to appeal to undecided voters. McCain selected 44 year old Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.

The Election of 2012 • Palin became the second woman to run for the vice-presidency on a major party ticket. • After the party conventions, the McCain-Palin ticket led in the polls, but the economic crisis, Obama’s message for change, and his grassroots and well-funded campaign helped the Democrats win in November. Obama emerged victorious with 365 electoral votes (69,456,897popular votes) to McCain’s 173 electoral votes (59,934,814 popular votes). • Obama’s election marks the first time an African American is elected to the presidency.

The Election of 2012 • The next presidential election is scheduled for 2012. Already, President Obama has declared his intentions to seek another term in office. His presumed running mate is Joe Biden, but it is not definite that he will remain on the ticket. • Republicans who have announced their candidacy, or have formed a presidential exploratory committee, include: former Governor Tim Pawlenty, Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain, former Governor Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Other’s who might run include Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and former Governor Sarah Palin. • Who will ultimately prevail? Only history will tell…

THE END OF LECTURE #26

LECTURE #26: The War on Terror & the Age of Hope (2001- Present)