George W. Bush and the War on Terrorism Review
In 2000 ______won the presidency in one of the closest presidential elections in American history. Nine months later on ______, 2001, Islamic terrorists flew two hijacked commercial jet planes into the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people died in this ______attack, and 9/11 has greatly influenced American policy ever since. Since that tragic September day, the United States has based its foreign policy and related domestic policies on the national effort to deal with ______. The American government has used both ______and ______means to confront or face up to international terrorism.
___-______, claimed responsibility for the September 11th attacks on the United States. Al-Qaeda is a radical ______organization, led by ______. President ______. ______immediately responded to the 9/11 attacks by declaring a War on Terrorism. At first, President Bush enjoyed ______support for his anti-terrorist policy. This meant ______, as well as Bush’s fellow ______, generally supported the president’s policy. This bipartisan support was evident when Congress passed the ______Act in October 2001. The goal of the Patriot Act was to make it easier for the federal government to ______and ______terrorists, who threaten the United States. In the last ten years some Americans have criticized the Patriot Act, because they believe it weakens the constitutional protection of ______. Also, in October 2001 the Bush administration launched ______, which was a military attack on the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The United States attacked the Taliban, because they had given shelter to ______and allowed Al-Qaeda to train terrorists within ______’s borders. In 2002 American and NATO forces succeeded in removing the ______from power in Afghanistan. Since 2002, the remaining pockets of ______and ___-______resistance in Afghanistan have opposed American efforts to remove terrorists from the country and bring stability to the nation’s democratically elected government. The current leader of the Afghan government is President ______.
In the War on Terrorism the Bush administration also turned its attention to the government of ______. ______, who had led Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, continued to lead the Iraqi government. President George W. Bush claimed that Hussein’s government was stockpiling ______of ______in violation of United Nations resolutions and also continuing efforts to develop ______weapons. Weapons of mass destruction include ______and ______weapons. President Bush feared Iraq might give ______weapons of mass destruction to use against the United States and its allies. In light of these developments Congress in October 2002 passed a resolution that gave President Bush power to use ______force against Iraq. This congressional resolution authorized the president to defend the United States against the threat posed by ______and to enforce all ______resolutions dealing with Iraq.
When President George W. Bush concluded that ______was failing to cooperate adequately with United Nations weapons inspectors, in March 2003 he ordered the American military to invade ______. The ______government soon collapsed, and the American forces captured ______. However, a peaceful transfer of power to a new Iraqi government failed to occur, because ______and ______differences divided the Iraqi people. A majority of the Iraqi people are ______Muslims, while Saddam Hussein and his advisers were ______Muslims. As soon as the Americans removed Saddam Hussein from power, some Shiite religious leaders wanted ______troops to leave Iraq immediately and allow the Iraqi people to create an ______state. In contrast, President Bush wanted the Iraqi people to establish a western style ______, which recognized ______rights. When the American occupation of Iraq continued, Iraqi opposition to the presence of ______troops increased, and so did ______. Much of this increased violence in Iraq took the form of ______bombings and ______by insurgent forces. An ______is someone who rebels against the government. In addition, the American military failed to find any ______of ______in Iraq. The combination of increased violence after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government and the apparent absence of weapons of mass destruction caused American support for the Iraqi war to ______and President Bush’s job approval rating to ______.
In May 2006 the Shiite leader ______became the prime minister of Iraq, after the Sunnis and the Kurds agreed to accept his election. The ______, whom Saddam Hussein often persecuted, are the dominant ethnic group in northern Iraq. Unfortunately, the ______government was able neither to bring order to Iraq nor stop the violence. This failure caused President Bush to announce a troop ______and send 20,000 additional American ______to Iraq. By mid-2008 the “______” of American forces appeared to be working, since violence in Iraq had diminished.
In November 2008 ______, a Democrat and United States senator from Illinois, won the presidential election. Historians consider Obama’s election a milestone in American history, because Obama became the first ______-______to serve as President of the United States. During his first two years in office, President Obama announced changes in American policies in ______and ______. Obama increased the number of American combat troops serving in ______, while simultaneously promising a gradual withdrawal of American combat troops from ______.
1