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.
Date Main phase: 14 September 2001[1] – 30 August 2021[note 1] (19 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)[note 2] Location Globally, but mainly in Afghanistan and Iraq Status Major wars ended. Ongoing in small operations[a]
Belligerents
Main countries:  United States  United Kingdom  Germany  Italy  Canada  Australia  New Zealand  Netherlands  Poland  Turkey	Main opponents: Al-Qaeda Islamic State Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) Ba'athist Iraq Iraqi Ba'athist insurgents
Commanders and leaders
George W. Bush Barack Obama Joe Biden	Osama bin Laden X Ayman al-Zawahiri X Saddam Hussein
Casualties and losses
4.5–4.6 million+ people killed[b] (937,000+ direct deaths including 387,000+ civilians, 3.6–3.7 million indirect deaths)[note 3][c] At least 38 million people displaced[d]

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. Some researchers and political scientists have argued that it replaced the Cold War.^[3][4]

The main targets of the counterterrorist 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. As for Al-Qaeda in its current status, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued an official statement on January 12, 2021, stating: “Al-Qaeda has a new base of operations: it is the Islamic Republic of Iran.”^[5] Al-Qaeda’s de facto leader, Saif al-Adel, is currently believed to be living in Iran.^[6]

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,^[7][8] and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to Congress.^[9][10] Bush indicated the enemy of the war on terror as "a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them."^[10][11] 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".^[12] 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.^[13] While "war on terror" was never used as a formal designation of U.S. operations,^[14] a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal was and is issued by the U.S. Armed Forces. However, 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.^[15][16] Although the major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have ended, Israel's October 7 attack, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the ongoing Red Sea crisis and Iran's growing status as a state sponsor of terrorism have led to renewed questions about a new phase of the war on terror.^[17][18]

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,^[19] 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.^{[20][21][22][23]}

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.^[24][25] Controversy over the war has focused on its morality, casualties, and continuity, with critics questioning government measures that infringed civil liberties and human rights.^[26] Controversial practices of coalition forces have been condemned, including drone warfare, surveillance, torture, extraordinary rendition and various war crimes.^[27][28][29] The participating governments have been criticized for implementing authoritarian measures, repressing minorities,^[30][31] fomenting Islamophobia globally,^[32] and causing negative impacts to health and environment.^[33][34][35] 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.^[36]

Etymology

The phrase war on terror was used to refer specifically to the military campaign led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and allied countries against organizations and regimes identified by them as terrorist, and usually excludes other independent counter-terrorist operations and campaigns such as those by Russia and India. The conflict has also been referred to by names other than the war on terror. It has also been known as:

• World War IV^[37]
• World War III^[38]
• Bush's War on Terror^[39]
• The Long War^[40][41]
• The Forever War^[42]
• The Global War on Terror^[43]
• The War Against al-Qaeda^[44]
• The War of Terror^[45]

Use of phrase and its development

The phrase "war against terrorism" existed in North American popular culture and U.S. political parlance prior to the War on Terror.^[46][47] But it was not until the 11 September attacks that it emerged as a globally recognizable phrase and part of everyday lexicon. Tom Brokaw, having just witnessed the collapse of one of the towers of the World Trade Center, declared "Terrorists have declared war on ."^[48] On 16 September 2001, at Camp David, U.S. president George W. Bush used the phrase war on terrorism in an ostensibly unscripted comment when answering a journalist's question about the impact of enhanced law enforcement authority given to the U.S. surveillance agencies on Americans' civil liberties:

"This is a new kind of—a new kind of evil. And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I'm going to be patient."^[7][49]

The reference to Crusades became subject to heavy criticism due to its controversial connotations in the Muslim World and historical Muslim-Christian relations.^[50] On 20 September 2001, during a televised address to a joint session of Congress, George Bush said, "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."^[51][10] Both the term and the policies it denotes have been a source of ongoing controversy, as various critics and organizations like Amnesty International have argued that it has been used to justify unilateral preventive war, human rights abuses and other violations of international law.^[52][53]

The political theorist Richard Jackson has argued that "the 'war on terrorism' is simultaneously a set of actual practices—wars, covert operations, agencies, and institutions—and an accompanying series of assumptions, beliefs, justifications, and narratives—it is an entire language or discourse".^[54] Jackson cites, among many examples, a statement by John Ashcroft that "the attacks of September 11 drew a bright line of demarcation between the civil and the savage".^[55]

Administration officials also described "terrorists" as hateful, treacherous, barbarous, mad, twisted, perverted, without faith, parasitical, inhuman, and, most commonly, evil.^[56] Americans, in contrast, were described as brave, loving, generous, strong, resourceful, heroic, and respectful of human rights.^[57] Denouncing the remarks of George W. Bush, Osama Bin Laden stated during an interview in 21 October 2001:

"The events proved the extent of terrorism that America exercises in the world. Bush stated that the world has to be divided in two: Bush and his supporters, and any country that doesn't get into the global crusade is with the terrorists. What terrorism is clearer than this? Many governments were forced to support this "new terrorism."^[58]

Decline of phrase's usage by U.S. government

In April 2007, the British government announced publicly that it was abandoning the use of the phrase "war on terror" as they found it to be less than helpful.^[59] This was explained more recently by Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller. In her 2011 Reith lecture, the former head of MI5 said that the 9/11 attacks were "a crime, not an act of war. So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror."^[60]

U.S. president Barack Obama rarely used the term, but in his inaugural address on 20 January 2009, he stated: "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."^[61] In March 2009 the Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from "Global War on Terror" to "Overseas Contingency Operation" (OCO).^[62] In March 2009, the Obama administration requested that Pentagon staff members avoid the use of the term and instead to use "Overseas Contingency Operation".^[62] Basic objectives of the Bush administration "war on terror", such as targeting al Qaeda and building international counterterrorism alliances, remain in place.^[63][64]

Abandonment of phrase

In May 2010, the Obama administration published a report outlining its National Security Strategy. The document dropped the Bush-era phrase "global war on terror" and reference to "Islamic extremism," and stated, "This is not a global war against a tactic—terrorism, or a religion—Islam. We are at war with a specific network, al-Qaeda, and its terrorist affiliates who support efforts to attack the United States, our allies, and partners."^[65]

Usage of the term "war on terror" was initially discontinued in May 2010^[65] and again in May 2013.^[66] On 23 May 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the "war on terrorism" was over,^[67][68] saying that the U.S. would not wage war against a tactic but would instead focus on a specific group of terrorist networks.^[69][70] Other American military campaigns during the 2010s have also been considered part of the "war on terror" by individuals and the media.^[71] The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria during 2014-2015 led to the global Operation Inherent Resolve, and an international campaign to destroy the terrorist organization. This was considered to be another campaign of the "war on terror".^[71]

In December 2012, Jeh Johnson, the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, speaking at Oxford University, stated that the war against al-Qaeda would end when the terrorist group had been weakened so that it was no longer capable of "strategic attacks" and had been "effectively destroyed." At that point, the war would no longer be an armed conflict under international law,^[72] and the military fight could be replaced by a law enforcement operation.^[73]

In May 2013, two years after the assassination of Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama delivered a speech that employed the term global war on terror put in quotation marks (as officially transcribed by the White House): "Now, make no mistake, terrorists still threaten our nation. ... In Afghanistan, we will complete our transition to Afghan responsibility for that country's security. ... Beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless 'global war on terror,' but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries." Nevertheless, in the same speech, in a bid to emphasize the legality of military actions undertaken by the U.S., noting that Congress had authorised the use of force, he went on to say, "Under domestic law, and international law, the United States is at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces. We are at war with an organization that right now would kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first. So this is a just war—a war waged proportionally, in last resort, and in self-defense."^[66][74]

Nonetheless, the use of the phrase "war on terror" persists in U.S. politics. In 2017, for example, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing "the opening salvo in a war that we have waged ever since—the global war on terror."^[75]

Background

Precursor to the 11 September attacks

In May 1996 the group World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders (WIFJAJC), sponsored by Osama bin Laden (and later re-formed as al-Qaeda),^[76][77] started forming a large base of operations in Afghanistan, where the Islamist extremist regime of the Taliban had seized power earlier in the year.^[78] In August 1996, Bin Laden declared jihad against the United States.^[79] In February 1998, Osama bin Laden signed a fatwa, as head of al-Qaeda, declaring war on the West and Israel;^[80][81] in May al-Qaeda released a video declaring war on the U.S. and the West.^[82][83]

On 7 August 1998, al-Qaeda struck the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.^[84] In retaliation, U.S. President Bill Clinton launched Operation Infinite Reach, a bombing campaign in Sudan and Afghanistan against targets the U.S. asserted were associated with WIFJAJC,^[85][86] although others have questioned whether a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was used as a chemical warfare facility. The plant produced much of the region's antimalarial drugs^[87] and around 50% of Sudan's pharmaceutical needs.^[88] The strikes failed to kill any leaders of WIFJAJC or the Taliban.^[87]

Next came the 2000 millennium attack plots, which included an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport. On 12 October 2000, the USS Cole bombing occurred near the port of Yemen, and 17 U.S. Navy sailors were killed.^[89]

11 September attacks

On the morning of 11 September 2001, nineteen men hijacked four jet airliners, all of them bound for California. Once the hijackers assumed control of the jet airliners, they told the passengers that they had a bomb on board and would spare the lives of passengers and crew once their demands were met—no passenger and crew actually suspected that they would use the jet airliners as suicide weapons since it had never happened before in history, and many previous hijacking attempts had been resolved with the passengers and crew escaping unharmed after obeying the hijackers.^[90][91] The hijackers—members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell^[92]—intentionally crashed two jet airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both buildings collapsed within two hours from fire damage related to the crashes, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third jet airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth jet airliner crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the jet airliners, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target the White House or the U.S. Capitol. None of the flights had any survivors. A total of 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers perished in the attacks.^[93] Fifteen of the nineteen were citizens of Saudi Arabia, and the others were from the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt, and Lebanon.^[94]

On 13 September, for the first time ever, NATO invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state to be an armed attack against them all.^[95] The invocation of Article 5 led to Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour. On 18 September 2001, President Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists passed by Congress a few days prior; the authorization is still active to this day and has been used to justify numerous military actions.

U.S. objectives

The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists or "AUMF" was made law on 14 September 2001, to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the 11 September attacks. It authorized the President 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 11 September 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or individuals. Congress declares this is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

The George W. Bush administration defined the following objectives in the War on Terror:^[96]

1. Defeat terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations
2. Identify, locate and demolish terrorists along with their organizations
3. Reject sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Global_War_on_Terror
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