Global InformationWar on terror information
| War on terror | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  Photographs, clockwise from top left: Aftermath of the September 11 attacks; U.S. servicemen boarding an aircraft at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; a U.S. soldier and Afghan interpreter in Zabul Province, Afghanistan; explosion of an Iraqi car bomb in Baghdad. Map: Countries with major military operations of the war on terror. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Main countries:
|
Main opponents:
 Islamic State | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 George W. Bush Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden |
 Osama bin Laden X Ayman al-Zawahiri X Saddam Hussein   Mullah Omar
# Hassan Dahir Aweys Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi X | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
4.5–4.6 million+ people killed[a] (937,000+ direct deaths, 3.6–3.7 million indirect deaths)[b] At least 38 million people displaced[c] | |||||||
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT),[2] is a global military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign are militant Islamist movements like Al-Qaeda, Taliban and their allies. Other major targets included the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed in an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency. After its territorial expansion in 2014, the Islamic State militia has also emerged as a key adversary of the United States.
The "war on terror" uses war as a metaphor to describe a variety of actions which fall outside the traditional definition of war. 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush first used the term "war on terrorism" on 16 September 2001,[3][4] and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to Congress.[5][6] Bush indicated the enemy of the war on terror as "a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them."[6][7] The initial conflict was aimed at al-Qaeda, with the main theater in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region that would later be referred to as "AfPak".[8] The term "war on terror" was immediately criticized by individuals including Richard Myers, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and eventually more nuanced terms came to be used by the Bush administration to define the campaign.[9] While "war on terror" was never used as a formal designation of U.S. operations,[10] a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal was and is issued by the U.S. Armed Forces.
With the major wars over and only low-level combat operations in some places, the end of the war in Afghanistan in August 2021 symbolizes the visible ending of the war, or at least its main phase, for many in the West. The American military ceased issuing its National Defense Service Medal on 31 December 2022. As of 2023, various global operations in the campaign are ongoing, including a U.S. military intervention in Somalia.[11][12] According to the Costs of War Project, the post-9/11 wars of the campaign have displaced 38 million people, the second largest number of forced displacements of any conflict since 1900,[13] and caused more than 4.5 million deaths (direct and indirect) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Philippines, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. They also estimate that it has cost the US Treasury over $8 trillion.[14][15][16][17]
While support for the "war on terror" was high among the American public during its initial years, it had become heavily unpopular by the late 2000s.[18][19] Controversy over the war has focused on its morality, casualties, and continuity, with critics questioning government measures that infringed civil liberties and human rights.[20] Controversial practices of coalition forces have been condemned, including drone warfare, surveillance, torture, extraordinary rendition and various war crimes.[21][22][23] The participating governments have been criticized for implementing authoritarian measures, repressing minorities,[24][25] fomenting Islamophobia globally,[26] and causing negative impacts to health and environment.[27][28][29] Security analysts assert that there is no military solution to the conflict, pointing out that terrorism is not an identifiable enemy, and have emphasized the importance of negotiations and political solutions to resolve the underlying roots of the crises.[30]
- ^ "Video: Pres. Bush Declares War on Terror". ABC News archives. 15 September 2001.
- ^ Feickert, Andrew. "U.S. Military Operations in the Global War on Terrorism: Afghanistan, Africa, the Philippines, and Colombia". Congressional Research Service. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
evilwarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "President: Today We Mourned, Tomorrow We Work". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ "President Declares 'Freedom at War with Fear'". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
cnntranscriptwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Text: President Bush Addresses the Nation". The Washington Post. 20 September 2001.
- ^ "Stabilising AfPak theatre". Financialexpress.com. 6 April 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^ Schmitt, Eric; Shanker, Thom (26 July 2005). "U.S. Officials Retool Slogan for Terror War". The New York Times.
- ^ Marc Ambinder (20 May 2010). "The New Term for the War on Terror". The Atlantic. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ^ DePetris, Daniel (9 May 2023). "The US war on terror continues. We just don't talk about it". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023.
- ^ Rosen, Tess Bridgeman, Brianna (24 March 2022). "Introduction to Symposium: Still at War – Where and Why the United States is Fighting the "War on Terror"". Just Security. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Millions displaced by U.S. post 9/11 wars" (PDF). The Costs of War. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "Human Cost of Post-9/11 Wars: Direct War Deaths in Major War Zones, Afghanistan & Pakistan (Oct. 2001 – Aug. 2021); Iraq (March 2003 – Aug. 2021); Syria (Sept. 2014 – May 2021); Yemen (Oct. 2002–Aug. 2021) and Other Post-9/11 War Zones". The Costs of War. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "Latest Figures". The Costs of War. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ "Summary". Costs of War. Archived from the original on 17 June 2023.
- ^ Berger, Miriam (15 May 2023). "Post-9/11 wars have contributed to some 4.5 million deaths, report suggests". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023.
- ^ Ackerman, Spencer (27 March 2012). "Afghanistan War Is Now More Unpopular Than Iraq War". Wired. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015.
- ^ Doherty, Kiley, Carroll, Jocelyn (14 March 2023). "A Look Back at How Fear and False Beliefs Bolstered U.S. Public Support for War in Iraq". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "FBI Tried to Cover Patriot Act Abuses With Flawed, Retroactive Subpoenas, Audit Finds". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ Ball, James (22 May 2013). "US rendition: every suspected flight mapped". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ "CIA photographed detainees naked before sending them to be tortured". The Guardian. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ "Drone Warfare". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB). Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ "9/11 Legacies │ Assimilation or Islamophobia?: Uyghurs and China's Counter–Terrorist Discourse after 2001". 911legacies.com. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ "9/11 Legacies │ US Pressure for Democratization and Political Opportunity Structures in Egypt since 9/11". 911legacies.com. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ Abbas, Tahir (24 September 2021). "Reflection: the "war on terror", Islamophobia and radicalisation twenty years on". Critical Studies on Terrorism. 14 (4): 402–404. doi:10.1080/17539153.2021.1980182. hdl:1887/3618299. S2CID 244221750.
- ^ "Birth Defects and the Toxic Legacy of War in Iraq". MERIP. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health. "Airborne Hazards and Burn Pit Exposures – Public Health". publichealth.va.gov. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ameem Lutfi, and Kevin L. Schwartz (8 September 2021). "20 years later, the legacies of 9/11 and the war on terror have just begun". The Hill.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Richissinwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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