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NSWModern HistoryQuick questions
Section III (Peace and Conflict): Conflict in the Gulf 1980-2011
Quick questions on 9/11 and the War on Terror: HSC Modern History Conflict in the Gulf
13short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the attacks?Show answer
On 11 September 2001 nineteen al-Qaeda hijackers (fifteen Saudi nationals, two from the UAE, one Egyptian, one Lebanese) hijacked four commercial aircraft. American Airlines Flight 11 (Boston-LA) hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46. United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 09:03. American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon at 09:37.
What is the response framework?Show answer
UN Security Council Resolution 1368 (12 September 2001) condemned the attacks and recognised the inherent right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. NATO invoked Article 5 (collective defence) for the first time in its history on 12 September 2001.
What is the Afghanistan campaign?Show answer
Bush demanded the Taliban surrender bin Laden and dismantle al-Qaeda training camps on 20 September 2001. The Taliban refused.
What is iraq from the first weeks?Show answer
The Bush administration considered Iraq from the first hours after 9/11. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's notes from the afternoon of 11 September 2001 read: "Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
What is the Axis of Evil speech?Show answer
President Bush's State of the Union address on 29 January 2002 named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as states pursuing WMD that supported terror, calling them "an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
What is the West Point speech and preemption?Show answer
The Bush Doctrine emerged publicly in the commencement address at West Point on 1 June 2002:
What is the National Security Strategy of 2002?Show answer
The NSS released on 20 September 2002 codified the doctrine. Key passages:
What is the Vulcans?Show answer
Dick Cheney (Vice President). Former Defense Secretary under Bush 41. The senior hawk.
What is saudi Arabia and the strategic shift?Show answer
A subtle but important consequence of 9/11 was the strain on the US-Saudi relationship. 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens; bin Laden was Saudi-born. US forces withdrew from Prince Sultan Air Base in April 2003; the strategic centre of gravity shifted to Qatar (al-Udeid Air Base for CENTCOM).
What is historiography?Show answer
Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower, 2006) is the standard narrative history of al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11.
What is claiming Iraq was responsible for 9/11?Show answer
It was not. The 9/11 Commission Report (2004) is definitive.
What is forgetting Afghanistan?Show answer
The first major front of the War on Terror was Afghanistan, not Iraq.
What is treating the Bush Doctrine as monolithic?Show answer
It was assembled in stages.