War
on
Terrorism |
Here are outstanding web sites rich with information about the 9 - 11 terrorist attack and the US War on Terrorism. I emphasize here articles, editorials, and opinions about US foreign policy in light of that attack.
To
provoke thought about US foreign policy -- what it is and what it should be
-- I place opposing views side by side -- David Horowitz vs. Noam Chomsky,
Al Jazeera vs. Arutz Sheva Israel National News... There is great benefit
in listening carefully to those who oppose you.
I have also included some outstanding sites about the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, because that struggle is extremely important in Arab views about the US.
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May we heal and grow.
Steve
Psychology - anthropology
student and house builder
http://yama333.tripod.com
Last modified: 16-Sep-2006
PS. For those of you looking for web sites more focused on the US invasion of Iraq, the following may help you get started --
Www.academicinfo.net/iraqpostwar.html and "Links and Readings" from the PBS Frontline television program "Truth, War and Consequences".
For casualties since the US invasion of Iraq, see "Iraq Body Count".
On weapons of mass destruction, consider and compare "Hiroshima: Was It Necessary?" by Doug Long. Also see the video "Hiroshima - Why the Bomb Was Dropped" with Peter Jennings, available at many public libraries. For photos of civilian casualties at Hiroshima, click here.
New! For a recent article on the increasing threat of civil war in Iraq, see "Civil War Risk Up ..." by USA Today. Also see, from CNN 14 Sept 06, "More Than 80 Dead in Apparent Reprisals".
Jump down to --
Terrorist Psychology | Foreign Articles
US Articles | PBS Sites | Pro Military | Extreme Views?
Think Tanks & Journals for Laymen | New Item! Think Tanks & Journals for Professionals
Primary Sources | More Web Links
Osama bin Laden et al. February 1998 -- "... On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims... The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilian and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in every country in which it is possible to do it..." |
Jamal Khashoggi, Arab News --
"... Muslims throughout their history never allowed the killing of civilians, even in the midst of wars such as the Crusades. There is no respected Islamic scholar here in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the Muslim world who would support such a fatwa... "
The Attack |
For outstanding
photo sequences of the attack click on "America
Under Attack" from the Camera Works gallery of the
The Washington Post.
For a good timeline and summary click "September
11: Chronology of Terror" from CNN.
The Washington Post also provides an excellent chart of the hijackers' contacts
-- "The
Plot: A Web of Connections".
CNN has a special page devoted to 9-11 -- "Day
of Terror". On that page, look under "Background". Also
see "Details
of [the] Hijacking Suspects..."
Total number killed: about 3000.
Disaster area, World
Trade Center, courtesy of Dr. Steven J Karageanes.
For good biographies of Osama bin Laden, see "The
Making of Osama bin Laden" in Salon
magazine and "Who
Is Osama Bin Laden" from BBC
News. Also watch the video "Meeting
Osama Bin Laden" available at Shop
PBS.
Read the 1998 declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden
et al -- "Jihad
Against Jews and Crusaders" -- from the Federation
of American Scientists.
The PBS
Frontline web site "Inside
the Terrorist Network" provides brief biographies of Mohamed Atta,
Ziad Jarrah, and Marwan al-Shehhi at the web page "Tracking
Their Personal Stories". Also, see the suicide note "Instructions
for the Last Night".
Also helpful is Frontline's "Son
of al Qaeda".
For a more
detailed biography of Atta see "Portrait
of a Terrorist" from the NY
Times of Oct 10, 2001. Also good -- "Manual
of a Raid" from NthPosition.com.
Atta and his sister, 1980s
For comparison, consider these biographies of Timothy McVeigh -- "From
Decorated Veteran to Mass Murderer" from CNN
and "An
Ordinary Boy's Extraordinary Rage" from the Washington
Post. On Terry Nichols, see "Nichols
Called Drifter, Devoted Dad" -- also from the Washington Post.
On Palestinian suicide bombers, see the PBS "Wide
Angle" web site "Suicide
Bombers".
And see "Why
a Palestinian Girl Now Wants to be a Suicide Bomber" in the Christian
Science Monitor of April 1, 2002.
For a thought
provoking example of how ordinary, "good" young men can be transformed
by their social environment into "evil doers" -- in this case
doers of prisoner abuse -- see Zimbardo's "Stanford
Prison Experiment".
On recent reports of torture of Afghan soldiers by US Special Forces, see
"A
Torture Killing By U. S. Forces in Afghanistan" from Crimes
of War Project.
In "Genesis
of Suicide Terrorism" Scott Atran argues that "A first line
of defense is to prevent people from becoming terrorists" and that
demonizing the other usually makes things worse. A second source for this
article is here.
"The
Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?"
is an important document produced by the Federal
Research Division, United States Library of Congress. The article concludes
that most terrorists are "not ... psychopathic or mentally sick."
This article is a long download, but it is worth the wait.
For more articles, see Vol
2, Issue 1 (2002) of the journal of The
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
Jump up to Contents.
Al Jazeera television
is watched by millions in the Arab world. And it is often critical of US
foreign policy. At Al
Jazeera's English language web site, click their Special Report -- "Changing
Face of Iraq". Also look at Al Jazeera's political
cartoons --
Arutz Sheva
Israel National News is right wing and pro settler. Browse under "Opinion"
for articles like "Oslo
and the World Trade Center", "Stop
Undermining Israel's War on Terrorism", and "Why
Terrorism Works".
Al-Ahram Weekly from Cairo,
Egypt, is also critical of US foreign policy and of Israel. On the right
side of the page, click on "Opinion". Some example articles: "The
Screw Turns, Again" and "To
an American Friend". To search the archives, go to weekly.ahram.org.eg/issues.htm.
October 2001, for example, yielded "Operation
Enduring Madness" and "Adrift
in Similarity" by Edward Said. Eqbal Ahmad contributed several
well written articles in 1998, such as "After
the Peace of the Weak".
The Jerusalem Post is
pro Israel and conservative. Click on "Columns" to browse summaries
of recent opinion articles and editorials.
The web site Islamic
World states "... millions of people throughout the world hate
America ... many million[s] ... are suffering ... due to policies ... of
the American government ..." (from their page "Islamic-World's
Position on the 'War on Terrorism'"). See also "...
thoughts on the War on Terrorism" and "...
news stories about the 'War of Terrorism'".
For news and analysis focused on Iraq, try Iraq
Daily, ABCNEWS
Extended and Continuing Coverage of Iraq, and
"Iraq
in Transition" from PBS.
For news on Afghanistan, try Afghan
Daily, and "Rebuilding
Afghanistan" -- also from PBS.
For opinions by Afghan writers, see the journal
Sabawoon. Click "News",
"Editorials",
and "Articles".
See also "Karzai's
Choice in Afghanistan - Civil War or a Narco-state".
See also the web site "Revolutionary
Association of the Women of Afghanistan", especially "Free
Elections Under the Shadow of Guns and Terrorism?'".
World Press Review is very
helpful. It provides English language summaries of news and editorial opinions
from newspapers all around the world. Its special page on the War on Terrorism:
"Battle
Without Borders, The War Against Terror". On the Israel Palestine
conflict, see "Middle
Eastern News".
The US Department of State runs a site which contains summaries of foreign
opinions about US foreign policy -- Foreign
Media Reaction.
For well written articles on the Bush Doctrine of preemption rather than containment
see --
"The State of the Union Address" of January 2002
"The New Bush Doctrine" from The Nation
"America's Age of Empire: The Bush Doctrine" from MotherJones.
"The American Empire Project" and, especially, excerpts from the books "The Sorrows of Empire..." by Chalmers Johnson and "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" by Noam Chomsky.
Frontpage
Magazine, by David
Horowitz, is
usually right, hawkish and provocative. See, for example, "The
War On Terror" and "Bias
in the Academy" .
In
contrast, Z Net
is a good source for the alternative press with many links. See, for example,
"Chatting
With Noam Chomsky". Their special page about the terrorist attacks
and the War on Terrorism -- "Terror
/ War".
National Review
is conservative. See, for example,
"Bin
Laden Is a Fundamentalist", "Kumbaya
Watch: Said What?" and "Why
They Hate Us". Also check
"Osama
the Invincible" by William F. Buckley Jr.
The
Nation tends to be left and anti war. Read Chomsky vs. Hitchens in "Reply
to Hitchens" in the October 15, 2001, issue. Click on "directory"
to find "War & Peace" and "September
11".
Dr. Stanley, the Baptist TV minister of In
Touch Ministries, preaches in favor of war -- "God
battles with people who oppose him ... Throughout the Old Testament, there
are examples of God using warfare to ... punish the wicked and preserve His
people."
Fareed Zakaria
produces excellent columns and essays about the US war on terrorism for Newsweek
and The New York Times. For his latest, click here.
For previous articles, click here.
Daniel Pipes argues
that the War on Terrorism must be a war on militant Islam. Click on "Articles"
then "Militant Islam" and then "Know
Thy Terrorists".
But Robert Wright -- in Slate
magazine -- argues that "Al-Qaida
and radical Islam are not the problem."
AlterNet.org is yet
another alternative press source. See their special page: "War
on Iraq". See, for example, Stephen Zunes' "10
Things to Know about U.S. Policy in the Middle East".
The
Ayn Rand Institute is pro war and pro Corporate America. Under "Special
Topics", click on "America
at War" for a list of articles. See also Capitalism
Magazine.
The War in Context
specializes in "alternative perspectives on the 'war on terrorism' and
the Middle East Conflict'" and questions the actions of the Bush administration.
The Christian Science
Monitor is usually anti-war. See, for example, "Is
America the 'good guy'?" and "When
contemplating war, beware of babies in incubators".
The Atlantic Online
provides "background and perspective" at -- "The
War on Terrorism". Some browsing here produced, for example,
"The Real Roots of Terror". In the January - February 2004 issue,
see
"Blind
Into Bagdad" and
"Spies,
Lies, and Weapons: What Went Wrong".
Salon.com. Click any item
under "Hot Topics" and find "Terrorism".
National
Geographic Magazine -- at "Lines
in the Sand" -- provides a good map and information on the West Bank
and Gaza. "Occupied since 1967, the heartland of a future Palestinian
state is a breeding ground for despair."
The New York Coalition
Against Terrorism is pro Israel. Click "20
Suppressed Facts About Israel" and "Middle
East Fact Sheet ..."
Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs is pro Palestinian. See
"Opposing Advice to Bush: Take Out Iraq vs. Take on Israel-Palestine
Peace", "Zionism
And Its Impact", "Pro-Israel
PAC Contributions to 2000 Congressional Candidates...", "U.S.
Aid To Israel", and "Emerging
Alternatives in Palestine".
The Committee for Accuracy
in Middle East Reporting in America argues that media coverage is
often anti Israel.
Palestine Media Watch
argues that media coverage is often anti Palestine.
To search for more articles, go to Find
Articles. Try, for example,"israel palestine terrorism" or "history
of palestine".
Jump up to Contents.
To help understand George Bush and his supporters, see "The Jesus Factor".
For the development of the Bush Doctrine -- "preemption rather than containment" -- see "The War Behind Closed Doors".
For the results of the US invasion of Iraq, see "Truth, War and Consequences" -- especially "Links and Readings".
Many Frontline sites are listed in "The Roots of Terrorism". See especially "Looking for Answers", "Gunning for Saddam", and "In Search of al Qaeda".
Also see "Chasing Saddam's Weapons", "Beyond Bagdad", and "The Invasion of Iraq".
Frontline also has good sites on the conflict between Palestine and Israel
-- "Battle
for the Holy Land", "Shattered
Dreams of Peace", and "Israel
-- Tracing Borders".
On Palestinian suicide bombers, see the PBS "Wide
Angle" web site "Suicide
Bombers".
Jump up to Contents.
Winning
the War on Terror- 1 Dead Terrorist at a Time is pro-military. It features
"... news and information on the Victories over Terrorism."
Let's
Roll America - Operation Enduring Freedom... features US military Special
Operations. Find a large collection of links at "War
On Terrorism Information Resources".
Jump up to Contents.
The web abounds with views that many would call extreme. And conspiracy views are very popular.
Read the 1998 declaration of war on the United States by Osama bin Laden
et al. -- "Jihad
Against Jews and Crusaders".
Pat Robertson
preaches, in "Robertson's
Statement Regarding Terrorist Attacks ...", "God Almighty
is lifting His protection from us..." because of "rampant pornography
on the Internet ... rampant secularism ... the occult, etc." Also
see "Pat
Robertson Receives Zionist Award" and CBN's
"Israel"
and "Pat
Robertson Warns Against Dividing Israel". For criticism of this
latter article, see "A
Mighty Wind" in the September 2003 issue of Scientific
America.
David Duke argues that "...Israeli Terrorism and American Treason
Caused the Sept 11 Attacks" and that "Jewish
supremacists" are behind the war in Iraq.
Patriot
Saints work to bring about "the Kingdom of God on Earth".
And they argue that the 9 - 11 terrorist attack is part of a "sinister
plot including U.S.'s highest officials to establish [a] global socialist
state." Under "911" click on "Conspiracy"
and then "Air
Force Could Have Repelled the Tragedy But Didn't".
The League of Revolutionaries
for a New America traces "every
injustice to the capitalism system". Their page on the attack is
"September
11 and the war ...". Also see Workers
World. Click on "Search" and then type in "war on terrorism".
Infowars.com
features Alex Jones and conspiracy. On the left side of the page, click
"911".
For more conspiracy sites see -- The
Truth About the 9/11 Attacks, Conspiracy
Planet, Centre for
Research on Globalization.
Jump up to Contents.
Public Agenda is
outstanding for laying out the different points of view on major debates.
See "America's
Global Role". Their special page -- "Terrorism".
The Foreign Policy Association
works to educate Americans about international issues. Look for the drop down
list entitled "Your Guides" and then choose, for example, "Terrorism".
Foreign
Policy In Focus works for an alternative US foreign policy emphasizing
environmental concerns and human rights. See "A
New Agenda to Counter Terrorism" .
The Transnational
Foundation for Peace and Future Research works to promote peace. Click
on "PressInfo" and "Forums" to find, for example, "A
New Court to Uphold International Criminal Law: The World Moves Forward Without
the United States" and "Visit
Iraq!" For articles on 9/11 see "September
11 and After".
Jump up to Contents.
New!
The Senlis
Council, an international think tank, has done extensive field research
in Afghanistan. Their recent report, "Afghanistan
Five Years Later: The Return of the Taliban", finds "US and
UK ... failed counter-narcotics policies responsible".
The
Social Science Research Council provides a good collection of essays by
social scientists in their "After
September 11 Archive". See also their collection on the "USA
Viewed from Abroad".
CATO Institute argues for
limited government and less US foreign involvement. Their special page --
"Cato
on Terrorism".
The Project
on Defense Alternatives advocates for "regional and global cooperative
security". See
"Wider
War Watch" and
"War
Report".
The Heritage Foundation
is a good source for conservative views.
Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. Click on "Publications",
then "Topic"
. Try "Terrorism". Also, back on the front page, click "News
& Resources" to get the drop down list and then choose "Library
& Links". Also see "WMD
In Iraq, Evidence and Implications".
Council on Foreign
Relations. Under "Topics" on the left side of the page click
"Terrorism" and "U.S. Policy and Politics". On the right
click "Terrorism Questions and Answers".
The Brookings Institution.
Look under "The Brookings Project on Terrorism and American Foreign Policy"
and click on "project
home page".
Center for Strategic &
International Studies (CSIS). See "Strategy
and Overview" with many articles by Anthony Cordesman.
Center for Defense Information.
Click "Terrorism Project". Once there, try "Foreign
Policy / Security Strategy".
National Center for Policy
Analysis. Click on "Policy Issues" and then -- "Terrorism".
RAND. On the left side
of the page, under "Research Areas", click on "Terrorism".
Foreign Policy
magazine. See "From
Victory to Success: Afterwar Policy in Iraq".
The Terrorism Research
Center features "essays and thought pieces ... as well as links..."
American Diplomacy.
See
"Terrorism:
Its Cause and Cure".
Jump up to Contents.
The University
of Michigan Documents Center page "America's
War Against Terrorism" is a huge resource -- especially good for
government documents.
Jump up to Contents.
Because
many articles contain serious logical fallacies, Critical
Thinking on the Web is a very valuable resource. See the page "Terrorism".
The Constitutional
Rights Foundation has an outstanding collection of links and lesson plans
for teachers at "America
Responds to Terrorism, Web Links".
Wadsworth Publishing provides readings for college teachers at "Terrorism:
An Interdisciplinary Perspective". Note especially their "Essay"
and critical
thinking questions.
Librarians'
Index to the Internet is an outstanding and reliable resource. See their
"September 11 &
Beyond".
LinkVoyager, a directory
of focused topics, lists about 175 sites on "Terrorism".
Alternative Sources on the U.S. War provides anti-war links.
The War in Context
has an excellent page of links. Click here.
Information
Sources on Afghanistan provides, in addition, links on the September 11
attacks.
Web
Resources for Journalists Covering the Terrorist Attack is also good.
Jump up to Contents.