Why Was America Taken by Surprise on 11 September 2001 Essay

Why Was America Taken by Surprise on 11 September 2001 - Essay Example The country itself is guarded by strong defenses. With a land army of total weapons of 56,269, air power of 18, 234 aircrafts and naval power of 2,834 ships1 she has become a symbol of military might. Furthermore, with a resilient intelligence network comprising of CIA, the country is apparently able to keep threats away. The story of 9/11 developed very interestingly. On the morning of September 11, 2001 four commercial planes were hijacked by terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda, an Islamic extremist group. The number of terrorists was expected to be around 19 that carried suicide attacks in three different places. The first two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the third destructed a part of the Pentagon while the fourth crashed in a field of Pennsylvania. This was a massive and atrocious attack on the land of America causing immense collateral damage.2 Who would have expected the day when America crippled into the depths of shock and horror with strong defens ive shields mentioned above. A major chunk of the American economy flourishing in the WTC was deflated. The Pentagon that is the central decision making body of the country was so vulnerable and the trans-border security on the airports was so weak that no one could keep a check on any unusual activities. All of these loopholes resulted in the death of more than 3000 civilians3 on 9/11. When the episode of 9/11 is dug deep, one comes across a lot of questions. For instance, why did a non-state actor attack America? How did it get the capability to penetrate inside the country? Was there an insider involved? Does it prove the failure of President George W. Bush’s administration or was it another excuse to wage war like the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941? All of these questions have affected the lives of Americans itself. Right after the country was attacked, President George W. Bush declared war on terror and put forward a proposal of â€Å"either you are with us or them (terror ists)† before the world making states choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. President Bush invested heavily to wage the war against Osama Bin Laden, the culprit responsible for planning and executing the attacks. He started off with bombarding Afghanistan in 2001 which hasn’t stopped yet even after a decade. The attacks had huge impact on the lives of each and every American. If one goes back in time, he will realize that the impact was equally large six decades ago when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor toppling U.S Navy on the Hawaiian coast. Like 9/11, the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a surprise and both the attacks took approximately 3000 lives. On the second day of the attack President Roosevelt declared war on Japan starting World War II4. It was the first time ever in the history of mankind that a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Similarly, President Bush announced to hunt down every terrorist in the world right after the WT C crippled. Hence, the defense budget started increasing at the cost of human lives. The most striking and ironic fact about these two attacks was that both the Presidents knew about them in advance. They knew that their country was under threat and could be attacked at any moment. It was in a newspaper on 30th November 1941 that warned of Japanese strike on the American homeland when the naval fleet came under attack on 7th December 1941. The President was questioned regarding knowledge of the attack beforehand. It was later investigated and revealed that it was the President himself and some members of his administration that delayed the conveyance of the warning messages given by the United Kingdom to Hawaii. 5 President

Make own topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Make own topic - Essay Example Recycling has been used by many modern environmentalists as a tool of waste management (Short, 2004, 21). However despite all the benefits that are associated with recycling I would wish to say that this is not the best idea to end the problem of garbage disposal. Understand the behavior of human beings we can not only rely on recycling as the measure to manage garbage disposal. People will keep consuming from time to time which has the implication the garbage disposal will continue to be there so long as what to be consumed is available (Short, 2004, 22). The reason as to why am saying this is because; recycling has lowered the cost of production in many manufacturing plants. This has on the other hand resulted to low cost of consumer products which are packed with non-degradable materials. The outcome of this is that, more and more garbage continues to be disposed instead of getting reduced (Rogers, 2002, 60). Every economy in the world is singing the music of sustainable development. I feel that having sustainable development will not only be achieved by recycling the waste materials. We need to use the already available raw materials in a manner that will ensure their existence without getting exhausted. Many business enterprises have taken the advantage of recycling as it is a cheap way of making consumer goods (Pellow, 2000, 230). The cheaper products which are made through recycling are lasting for short time before they lose their value. This has increased the rate of consumption since for an individual satisfy his needs or wants must use plenty of that product. This in turn has led to increased garbage disposal as the waste from recycled products is also increasing. As the garbage disposal increase most county councils are reluctant to transport these materials to the respective places for recycling. Therefore, for economies to achieve sustainable development, the stakeholders shou ld change their mind