Minsk State Linguistic University

Us war on terror: liberty and democratic values the american way

Report

Marina Kaziuk

Group 503

The Interpreters’\ Translators’ Department

Plan

1. Introduction

2. Part 1. Basic Concepts and Ideas

2.1. War on Terror: Definition

2.2. The History of the Term “War on Terror”

2.3. “Axis of Evil”: A New Term for a New War

3. Part 2. Enemies of the Democratic Values to Combat

3.1. Afghanistan and Pakistan: Brothers in the Sacred War

3.2. Iraq: “The Global Pool of Terrorists”

4. Part 3. Terrorism and Existing World Order

4.1. "You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror".

4.2. Pax Americana: How America Treats the World

4.3. The International Law and Human Rights or War on Terror: What to Choose?

4.4. US Media: A Blessing or a Curse for War on Terror

4.5. “If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress”: Barack Obama and the New Path

5. Conclusion

6. References

7. Appendix

Introduction

Almost ten years passed after the terrorist attack on New York in September 2001, which marked the start of what many refer to as the “War on Terror”. Since then lots of experts have been trying to address the development of a working definition of terrorism, different root causes of terrorism and international conventions on terrorism. The existing definition comprises both state and sub-state terrorism and that puts emphasis on the terrorization of a harmless population with the aim to make an organization or a state do or not do certain things. In spite of all the research in this area the question remains unsolved: what would be the most appropriate response to terrorism: a military response or one of law enforcement. In particular religious terrorism has aspects that are difficult to deal with properly such as the fact that many faiths may be involved, that it has no territorial base and that it aims at establishing a divine rule of some form. These are all aspects that make negotiations with terrorist groups very complicated. On the other hand, terrorism also needs to be seen in perspective because the perception of threat is magnified by fear. The real number of casualties is on average relatively limited but it continues rapidly growing. Several international conventions that have been adopted in Europe to counteract terrorism were discussed. Their introduction has had a direct impact on the Islamic communities in Europe.

The September 11 atrocity sent shockwaves around the world. The reactions were understandably a mixture of emotions and rage. The media had the challenging task to help people understand the events, and in the on-going war on terror that resulted, had an important role to help provide wide perspectives and understandings of the aftermath of those attacks. Thus the world has been trapped: on the one hand it became obvious that the threat of terrorism was a reality, on the other side the flood of misleading information didn’t make people feel more secure and protected. The world community became confused and baffled not knowing what the war on terror was and how it was carrying out by the civilized world.