The National Security Legacy of 9/11

The National Security Legacy of 9/11

Episode 40: The National Security Legacy of 9/11 | American University, Washington, DC

You can open this webpage in a new tab.

Copy link

Open in new tab

​

1. How obsessed are Americans with 9/11?

2. What is the initial purpose of “War on Terror” that US president George W. Bush called for?

3. How did that global military campaign start?

4. How many ways did they expand the war?

​Task 1: Listen and answer the questions

1.How obsessed are Americans with 9/11?

Answer:

1:25      KS: Josh, I want to acknowledge upfront that you and I are going to try to have a fairly dispassionate conversation about the national security response to and the enduring impacts of 9/11, but I can't leave it unsaid that September 11, 2001 was a wretched day in the life of every American who can remember it. It was an unbelievably tragic day for those who lost loved ones or who saw their loved ones harmed. I think it's one of those days that no matter how old you get, you always remember where you were and what you were doing.

--> An unbelievably tragic day in life for Americans who have lost loved ones so much that no matter how old you are, you still remember where you were and what you were doing on that terrible morning.

2. What is the initial purpose of “War on Terror” that US president George W. Bush called for?

Answer

2:48      KS: Absolutely. Josh, then US president George W. Bush called for a "War on Terror" in the wake of the attacks of 9/11. What was this global military campaign, really?

3:00      JR: Well, it's a great question because there's the issue of what it was at first and what it later became. Initially, the so-called war on terrorism was a local response to the perpetrators of 9/11.

--> The war on terrorism was a local response to the perpetrators of 9/11 attacks.

3. How did that global military campaign start?

Answer

3:00      JR: Well, it's a great question because there's the issue of what it was at first and what it later became. Initially, the so-called war on terrorism was a local response to the perpetrators of 9/11. The US was going to go after Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden's version of Al-Qaeda, which had grown during the 1990s in Afghanistan. It started locally in Afghanistan, but it then quickly expanded geographically.

--> The war on terrorism was a local response to the perpetrators of 9/11 attacks.

4. How many ways did they expand the war?

Answer

3:00     The US was going to go after Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden's version of Al-Qaeda, which had grown during the 1990s in Afghanistan. It started locally in Afghanistan, but it then quickly expanded geographically. It wasn't just against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, but as the president said at the time, "We're going to go after anybody who's affiliated with Al-Qaeda, no matter where they reside, that borders won't protect them, that regimes won't protect them."

3:52      JR: It expanded in other ways, too. It started against this non-state group of Al-Qaeda, but it quickly expanded to include state sponsors of terrorism, obviously the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, but then others. It started in very narrow security terms, that is we are going to destroy the group that did this to us, but it quickly expanded into a much broader war of ideas...

--> Three ways: geography, state sponsors of terrorism and ideas.

a. with effect from a date in the past before a law, decision, etc. was approved.

b. follow someone in order to catch them.

c. a method or system of government, especially one that has not been elected in a fair way.

d. based on or relating to a particular set of ideas or beliefs.

e. able to think clearly or make good decisions because of not being influenced by emotions.

f. someone who caused 9/11 attacks

1. perpetrators

2. dispassionate

3. regime

4. retroactively

5. go after

6. ideological

Task 2: Matching each word with its definition

1 - f. perpetrators : someone who caused 9/11 attacks

2 - e. dispassionate : able to think clearly or make good decisions because of not being influenced by emotions.

3 - c. egime : a method or system of government, especially one that has not been elected in a fair way.

4 - a. retroactively : with effect from a date in the past before a law, decision, etc. was approved

5 - b. go after : follow someone in order to catch them.

6 - d. ideological: based on or relating to a particular set of ideas or beliefs.

Answers