America’s War Against Terrorism by Gallopade – GAL009196

Part I: Why the World is Determined to Fight Terrorism

What is terrorism? It is violence and intimidation. By their actions, terrorists are saying, “We will surprise you with strikes against innocent people in order to make you afraid, punish you, and get you to do our will, not your own.” You can be sure that no democratic country will put up with such intimidation and violence. And no country intends to allow terrorists to rule and ruin the lives of their people.

Most people have always been against terrorism. Often, nations do not agree with one another, and unfortunately, sometimes resort to fighting wars to try to “win” their way. Many times, countries can resolve their differences through diplomacy—talking, cooperation, and compromise. The peaceful way is the best way.

But terrorists are leaving the world’s nations little choice but to fight back in every way they can. You could say that terrorists don’t play fair. Believe it or not, there are actually “rules” for war. Some countries follow these rules; others do not. But terrorists follow no rules. They are sneaky, prefer to hide rather than talk, and have no intentions of achieving their goals through any peaceful means.

September 11, 2001, the day terrorists attacked America and killed almost 3,000 world citizens, was truly the “day that was different.” On that day, the world agreed that enough was enough. It was time for a few people (there are probably thousands of terrorists around the world) to be stopped from holding nations and their millions of citizens hostage to fear.

As the next few years go by, you will be a witness to history—a time when the world tries to put an end to terrorism.

Turning Point: September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001 was a “day that was different.” Before this day, the United States and the world had experienced different acts of terrorism. Sometimes, this terrorism was done by Americans, such as the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Other times, the acts of terror came from outside our country, as in a previous bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

But on this day, the unthinkable happened: 19 terrorists hijacked four U.S. airplanes and crashed two of them into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C., and one (apparently intended to be crashed into the White House or another government building) into a field in Pennsylvania. It is believed that passengers aboard this last flight heroically overtook the hijackers before they could complete their original mission. The passengers of flight 93 are being hailed as heroes for probably saving the lives of thousands of people.

Almost 3,000 men, women, and children died as a result of these attacks. They were not only Americans; many were from countries around the world. The U.S. economy was thrown into a spin. The airlines (and other industries) had to lay off many workers. There was much sadness, a lot of anger, and a great determination to “do something about terrorism.”

Even as rescue efforts got underway, America’s president and world leaders began to plan how to put an end to terrorism. The truth is we will never put an end to all terrorism. There will always be a few bad people determined to do bad things. However, there are many things that we can do to accomplish this goal. Over the next few years, you will see many of these things come to pass—more security, more cooperation among nations, more pressure on the few nations who help terrorists hide.

Table of Contents
5 A Word From the Author
6 Part I: Why the World is Determined to Fight Terrorism
7 Turning Point: September 11, 2001
8 Resolve Versus Revenge
9 What is War? Why Do We Fight Them?
10 A Brief History of Terrorism in the World
11 Why Do They Hate Us?
12 Afghanistan: A Nation at the Crossroads
13 Afghans, Turbans, and Beards: Who is Who and How Do We Tell Them Apart?
14 Who is Osama bin Laden?
15 The Religion of Islam and the Muslims Who Practice It
16 Fighting War Today
17 Electronic “Hot Pursuit”: Computers and War
18 What’s All This Talk About Chemical and Germ Warfare?
19 Diplomacy Versus War
20 The Only Thing We Have to Fear . . .
21 What’s Fact . . . and What’s Fantasy?: Separating Fact from Rumor,
Opinion, and Guesses
22 Keeping a Cool Head in a Time of Crisis
23 What Should I Really Be Afraid Of?
24 Tolerance and Understanding
25 Pride and Patriotism, Faith and Hope!
26 Part II: Enduring Freedom Now, It Begins…
27 Who is the Enemy?
28 What is the Plan?
29 What Have We Learned from Other Wars?
30 The “Players”
31 The Military: Who Will Fight the War Against Terrorism?
32 Spy Versus Spy!
33 Special Forces
34 The “Stans”
35 What’s In a Name?
36 Background: Is the U.S. Wrong About Anything?
37 Are They Crazy, or What?
38 Women and Children Last, Not First
39 Who Will Tell Us About the War?
40 How Will We Know When We’ve Won the War Against Terrorism?
41 Your Part in the War!
42 Thinking and Sharing!
43 Appendix
44 Glossary of Acronyms You May See in the News
45 Further Resources
46 Flag and Pledge page
47 Author’s Biography
48 Index