326 a short history of the united states
States as the “great Satan” who with the arrogance of power sought to
dictate policy in the Middle East, especially in its support of Israel.
At first Bush seemed dazed by what had happened on 9 / 11 , as it
came to be known, but he soon rallied and called on the nation to end
terrorism in the world, promising to vanquish Al Qaeda and capture
Osama bin Laden “dead or alive.” Congress promptly passed a resolu-
tion by which the President was given sweeping powers to “use all
necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or
persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the
terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11 , 2001 .” With the coop-
eration of Britain and other nations, he immediately attacked Afghan-
istan, and, after extensive bombing raids and advances by ground forces,
toppled the Taliban regime within six months and knocked out Al
Qaeda’s operations in that country. But both bin Laden and many of
the Al Qaeda leaders escaped, probably into remote areas of northern
Afghan istan and southern and eastern Pakistan. As late as 2008 bin
Laden remained at large, although by that time he was more a symbol
of Muslim terror than a strategic operator, and the Al Qaeda network
was back in full operation.
An interim government was established in Afghanistan and demo-
cratically elected a president, Hamid Karzai. But his authority was
limited to an area around the capital city of Kabul while various war-
lords controlled the countryside. The Taliban also remained a power
within Afghan istan and by the spring of 2007 had begun a renewed
fight to regain control. Unfortunately, Bush made no effort to see the
intervention in Afghan istan to a successful conclusion. Instead he di-
rected his attention toward another Middle Eastern target, Iraq.
It has been suggested that Bush most likely aimed to overthrow
Saddam Hussein on becoming President, and he had the active support
of his Vice President, Richard Cheney, and his Secretary of Defense,
Donald Rumsfeld. The refusal of his father to pursue Hussein follow-
ing the Gulf War may have played an essential part of his thinking,
that is, he would finish what his father had left undone. In a public an-
nouncement he denounced the regimes of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea
as an “axis of evil, aiming to threaten the peace of the world.” These
nations, he believed, were seeking to develop or in fact had developed
chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons of mass destruction (WMD).