On Sept. 10, 2001, the world was an extremely dangerous place. The networks of A.Q. Khan in Pakistan were in full swing, peddling near-turn-key instructions for nuclear weapons to Iran, North Korea and elsewhere. Libya had a clandestine nuclear program that went completely unnoticed by the notoriously unintrusive International Atomic Energy Agency.
In addition to the brutal oppression of women, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan served as the primary safe haven for al-Qaeda. Osama bin Laden was preparing, as he had previously done many times, plans to attack the United States and our interests abroad.
Prior to 2001, numerous U.S. targets, including our barracks in Lebanon, embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole, the World Trade Towers, and the Khobar towers were struck by cohesive terror networks actively working to murder Americans. A former U.S. president was targeted for assassination by the now-deposed Iraqi dictator.
War had been waged upon us, yet few chose to notice.
For the most part, the United States’ reaction to these attacks was one of perpetual inaction or flaccid retaliation. A handful of cruise missiles were launched at night into empty buildings in Baghdad – a devastating attack against Iraqi cleaning women and night watchmen – but this did little to deter continued Iraqi sponsorship of terrorism.
Weak, ineffective and extraordinarily brief retaliatory missile strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan emboldened terrorists there as well. It showed the world that they could get away with murder – literally.
Not surprisingly, al-Qaeda perceived America as a paper tiger, unwilling to shed blood to defend ourselves. Our withdrawal from Somalia in 1993 after 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in Mogadishu was cited by bin Laden as further proof of our lack of resolve.
Then came George W. Bush.
Whatever one thinks of President Bush’s domestic policies, he has done much good in the world of international relations.
Since his tenure began, two of the most odious regimes in the Middle East – Taliban Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – have been utterly destroyed. Terrorist groups are on the run as never before. Two-thirds of al-Qaeda’s known leadership have been killed or captured. Key Sept. 11 planners, including Abu Zubeida and Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, are now incarcerated. Thousands more terrorists worldwide have been apprehended or eliminated.
In place of totalitarianism and terror, the seeds of freedom have been planted. Eight million Afghans and nearly nine million Iraqis have, for the first time in decades, participated in free elections to facilitate representative governments.
The world is ablaze with the talk of democracy. The boldness of dissidents is at an all-time high. Mubarak was forced to allow multi-party elections in Egypt. Nation-wide elections in Saudi Arabia, though woefully inadequate, were held for the first time ever. Syria has withdrawn from Lebanon, ending its repressive 30-year occupation.
The “nuclear Wal-Mart” of A.Q. Khan has been shut down. Libya’s entire nuclear program has been turned over, lock and key, to the United States, where it now sits secure, out of the hands of a terrorist-supporting megalomaniacal tyrant. U.S. forces have withdrawn from the Arabian peninsula and thankfully no longer protect the abominable Saudi royal family.
These accomplishments did not happen spontaneously. The United States and our allies supported dissidents, pressured dictators, and destroyed autocratic rule in much of the region.
Bush said Saddam must go, and he went. Bush declared an end to Taliban rule, and it ended. He demanded that Syria withdraw from Lebanon, and they left.
For the first time in a long time, the U.S. government is standing behind its ideals and its threats. And the terrorists are feeling the heat. Who would have imagined that the Taliban’s former foreign minister would admit that he regretted sheltering bin Laden, as he recently did?
It bears without mentioning that no president is perfect. I have severe reservations about some of Bush’s policies. His coziness with the Saudis is contemptible and terribly short-sighted. Our reliance on Pakistan as an ally in the war on terror is disturbing at best, as is our relationship with Sudanese intelligence agents. Bush should also exert greater pressure on China as a means of subverting Kim Jong Il in North Korea.
That said, overall the Bush doctrine is making America safer. Who, on Sept. 12, 2001, truly believed that our homeland would not suffer another successful attack within the next five years?
In an age where al-Qaeda is feverishly seeking dirty bombs and nuclear weapons, the free world cannot afford to sit back passively. The old world order predicated upon “stability” and “realism” came crashing down with the Twin Towers on that warm September morning.
Though his record is not without its blemishes, Bush has vociferously supported the forces of freedom and opposed the menace of totalitarianism. He has increased the security of America and buttressed liberty abroad. For that, he will not soon be forgotten.
Keyes is a third-year Middle Eastern studies student.