UNITED STATES AND WAR ON TERROR: COSTS OF THE PYRRHIC VICTORY

The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan during August 2021 puts an end to the longest war that America has ever fought and the first phase of the Global War on Terrorism. In this regard, two important questions arise, which we will try to answer in this paper. First, what are the main external and internal consequences that the United States has faced due to engaging in the “War on Terror”? Second, did the U.S. achieve its goals in that war? The external effects we have identified are the crisis of global leadership, the weakening of relations with the allies, the growth of China in the lee, and the rise of populism. Among the internal ones, we included the strengthening of the presidential function, the increase of state power, more profound social polarization, an increase in budget expenditures, and a growing deficit, as well as human casualties. In the end, we contributed to the debate on the nature of the U.S. “victory”. We are providing the argumentation in the direction that the final output of War on Terror should be named Pyrrhic victory.

Pemaknaan Islam Moderat Sebagai Sebuah Terminologi

This article aims to find out the meaning of the term moderate Islam as a terminology. The problem is focused on reviewing the language and its history, as well as from the context of the political interests that lie behind it. In order to approach the problem, this article uses a reference to the theory of terminology. The data were collected through a literature review of various similar studies that have been conducted. Furthermore, the data obtained were analyzed qualitatively. This study concludes that there is a bias in understanding the terminology of moderate Islam which lies in equating the word "Islam" with the word "ummah", so that the term "ummatan wasatan" is then equated with "moderate Islam". This interpretation bias is strongly influenced by the global political context related to the emergence of the term terrorism and the concept of the global war on terrorism (GWOT) which was coined by the United States during the George W. Bush Junior administration.

The Battalion Aid Station—The Forgotten Frontier of the Army Health System During the Global War on Terrorism

ABSTRACT Background The battalion aid station (BAS) has historically served as the first stop during which combat casualties would receive care beyond a combat medic. Since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, many combat casualties have bypassed the BAS for treatment facilities capable of surgery. We describe the care provided at these treatment facilities during 2007–2020. Methods This is a secondary analysis of previously described data from the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. We included encounters with the documentation of an assessment or intervention at a BAS or forward operating base from January 1, 2007 to March 17, 2020. We utilized descriptive statistics to characterize these encounters. Results There were 28,950 encounters in our original dataset, of which 3.1% (884) had the documentation of a prehospital visit to a BAS. The BAS cohort was older (25 vs. 24, P < .001) The non-BAS cohort saw a larger portion of pediatric (<18 years) patients (10.7% vs. 5.7%, P < .001). A higher proportion of BAS patients had nonbattle injuries (40% vs. 20.7%, P < .001). The mean injury severity score was higher in the non-BAS cohort (9 vs. 5, P < .001). A higher proportion of the non-BAS cohort had more serious extremity injuries (25.1% vs. 18.4%, P < .001), although the non-BAS cohort had a trend toward serious injuries to the abdomen (P = .051) and thorax (P = .069). There was no difference in survival. Conclusions The BAS was once a critical point in casualty evacuation and treatment. Within our dataset, the overall number of encounters that involved a stop at a BAS facility was low. For both the asymmetric battlefield and multidomain operations/large-scale combat operations, the current model would benefit from a more robust capability to include storage of blood, ventilators, and monitoring and hold patients for an undetermined amount of time.

HOSNI MUBARAK’S FOREIGN POLICY AND THE ISLAMIC FACTOR

The article examines the complicated domestic and foreign political situation inherited by H. Mubarak after the assassination of the former head of state A. Sadat by radical Islamists because of his foreign policy steps directly related to Islamic solidarity at the international level. H. Mubarak’s foreign policy was a continuation of the domestic one. He tried to attract supporters among the Islamists, at the same time widely using repression to weaken the Islamist opposition, and, at the same time, sought to pursue a policy of promoting state Islam, which was designed to show the Islamic character of the country and thus seize the initiative from the Islamist opposition. Having restored Egypt’s position in the Arab and Islamic world, in the last decade of his rule, H. Mubarak, as a result of unsuccessful steps towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, again faced criticism of his course. This was superimposed on the growth of opposition within the country, and the dilemma, which H. Mubarak tried to solve at the last stage of his rule, looked like a classic “paradox of democracy”, when the launching of democratization processes leads to the strengthening of Islamist forces. Another dimension on which the Islamic factor manifested itself in the foreign policy pursued under H. Mubarak was the fight against international terrorism. For Egypt, this problem worsened in the 1990s. Opposition to radical Islam reached a new level after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the declaration of a “global war on terrorism”, in which Egypt became a participant. During this period, al-Qaeda considered Egypt as one of the directions of the “global jihad”. The actions of the government of Egypt and the terrorist acts against this country revealed previously unknown groups that were somehow identified with Al-Qaeda and the “global jihad”.

Global War on Terrorism, Its Effects On Pakistan

Since the event of 9/11 the phenomenon of terrorism becomes scrapheap challenge to the world in general and Pakistan in particular trims. The event has brought about drastic implications on countries like Pakistan. Terrorism and extremism has engulfed every nook and corner of the world. So far Pakistan has lost sixty four thousand civilian, military personnel, and politicians and thousands others are wounded. Due to its status as front line state against war on terror Pakistan got seismic shift in its internal and external polices. The focus of this research is to critically analyze the political economic, strategic and social implication of U.S led war on terror on Pakistan. Stringent response of Pakistan towards increasing terrorism in the country has reduced the terror incidents. Analytical and descriptive approach has been adopted to cover major events of the war against terror.

“No Cracks, no Blind Spots, no Gaps”: Technologically-Enabled “Preventative” Counterterrorism and Mass Repression in Xinjiang, China

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is now the site of the largest mass repression of an ethnic and/or religious minority in the world today. Researchers estimate that since 2016 over one million people (mostly ethnic Uyghurs) have been detained without trial in the XUAR in a system of “re-education” camps. Outside of the camps, the region’s Turkic Muslim population are subjected to a dense network of hi-tech surveillance systems, checkpoints, and interpersonal monitoring which severely limit all forms of personal freedom penetrating society to the granular level. This chapter argues that the erection of this “carceral state” has been propelled by a “preventative” counterterrorism that has incorporated key practices (e.g. greater reliance on new surveillance technologies) and discourses (e.g. Islamaphobia) of the “global war on terrorism” with the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in pursuit of the negation of the very possibility of “terrorism”. As such the contemporary situation in the XUAR represents not only the mass repression of an ethnic and religious minority by an authoritarian regime but also an example of the dystopian potentialities of ostensibly “neutral” technologies.

Guerra e opinião pública nos Estados Unidos: o caso da Guerra do Iraque em 2003 / War and public opinion in the United States: the Iraq War in 2003

O artigo aborda a relação existente entre guerra e opinião pública nos Estados Unidos. O artigo foca na análise do caso da Guerra do Iraque iniciada em março de 2003 durante os mandatos de George W. Bush. Esse conflito insere-se no contexto dos ataques terroristas de 11 de setembro de 2001, sendo parte constitutiva da chamada “guerra global contra o terrorismo”. A primeira hipótese de trabalho é a de que inicialmente e reproduzindo padrões históricos anteriores, a guerra foi amplamente aprovada pela população norte-americana, processo que se prolongou por alguns meses e influenciou decisivamente para a reeleição do presidente republicano em 2004. Como segunda hipótese assevera-se que, passado algum tempo, o humor da opinião pública sofreu uma inflexão, diminuindo a aprovação popular à guerra e tendo como importante desdobramento a derrota dos republicanos na eleição de 2008, com o conflito ainda em curso. Espera-se mostrar, portanto, como a Guerra do Iraque pode ser dividida em duas fases distintas, sendo a primeira de bônus para o governo de George W. Bush e seus correligionários republicanos e a outra de ônus a partir do crescimento do número de baixas militares norte-americanas e da crise de credibilidade do governo no que concerne às perspectivas de vitória definitiva no conflito.Abstract: The article discusses the relationship between war and public opinion in the United States. The article focuses on the analysis of the case of the Iraq War that began in March 2003 during the administration of George W. Bush. This conflict is within the context of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, being a constituent part of the "Global War on Terrorism." The first hypothesis is that initially and reproducing previous historical standards, the war was widely approved by the American population, a process that was prolonged for a few months and influenced decisively to the re-election of Republican president in 2004. As a second hypothesis asserts that, after some time, the mood of public opinion has undergone a shift, reducing the public approval of the war and with the important effect the defeat of the Republicans in the 2008 election. It is expected, therefore, to show how the Iraq War can be divided into two distinct phases, with the first bonus for the George W. Bush and his fellow Republicans and other liens being from the growing number of U.S. military casualties and the crisis of credibility of the government with regard to the prospects of ultimate victory in the conflict.

The End of Sri Lanka’s Civil War and the Fall of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): A Critical Analysis of the Contributed Factors to the Defeat of the LTTE

Sri Lanka came to the international limelight through the backdrop of its undesirable war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that lasted over three decades. The LTTE was formed as a social force, and then it transformed as a leading armed movement to forward their decades-long quest to set up a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. The government ended the LTTE’s secessionist struggle in May 2009 after a lengthy and bloody battle. Several national and international factors played a crucial role in ending the civil war sooner. The study used a qualitative method of inquiry to explore the key factors that led to the fall of the LTTE, a vigorous armed movement that attempted to set up a separate state in the Island of Sri Lanka. The findings show that strong political leadership, fortified security forces, implementing sophisticated national security strategies, the split of the LTTE and the global war on terrorism are the major factors that had a significant impact and contributed in the LTTE being defeated in 2009.