Chemical and Biological Warfare

The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush served as President from January 21st, 2001 to January 20th, 2009. The main foreign policy advisors of the Bush Administration were Secretary of State Colin Powell (2001-2005) and Condoleezza Rice (2005-2009), Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2009) and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley (2005-2009) (Miller Center, 2017). In Bush’s presidency his foreign policy extending to parts of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. However, at the start of his time in office, the nation faced one of the biggest terrorist events of all time in 9/11 changed foreign policy forever. In this essay, I will discuss Bush’s strategy of his administration regarding foreign policy and describe his biggest decisions and their impact. I will conclude by analyzing his successes across his time as President.

Unlike other Presidents there was not any grace period for Bush; Less than eight months after he was sworn into office during his inauguration, the tragedy of 9/11 happened. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Bush was visiting a school in Sarasota, Florida to share about his new education reform policy (History, 2009). This is when he was told that he was told a small plane had hit the world trade center. Bush perceived this, at the time, as a horrible accident or error on the side of the pilot (History, 2009). This was until his cabinet was informed that this was no accident and that a second airliner had struck the second tower. After he had left the school, on Air Force One, he was informed that a third plane had crashed into the Pentagon (History, 2009). Shortly after all commercial flights were grounded and any planes that were in the air were ordered to be shot down. Air Force One, after making brief stops in Louisiana and Nebraska in order to ensure the president's safety, was then landed in the nation’s capital of Washington DC where the president’s cabinet and the president began to deliberate on the incident (History, 2009). Following the meeting with his cabinet members, Bush took to the media where he addressed the nation. This is where his position of foreign policy changed forever, this where he stated, 'We will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them” (U.S. Department of Defense, 2001) Bush then established strategies going forward: 1. Keep the terrorists from striking again; 2. Make it clear to the other country that the United States had embarked on a fight against terrorism; 3. Help the affected areas recover and ensure the terrorists do not succeed in shutting down the economy or dividing society. These strategies were put into action immediately and the US led a NATO invasion of Afghanistan, initiating the “War on Terror”. The War on Terror was the name of the campaign of the US taking a stand against terrorism. This includes the al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen, NATO-led international involvement in Afghanistan, Iraqi Conflict, Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the International campaign against ISIL. During this time, the American people were inclined to trust Bush because they believed in his ability to maintain their safety. The two weeks following the 9/11 attack Bush’s approval rating rose to 90 percent, which still holds as the highest peak approval rating since the presidential approval rating metric was introduced (Gallup, 2001).

One of Bush’s biggest decision relating to foreign affairs as president was the choice to get involved in the Iraq war, as a response to global terrorism. This was a plan brought to Bush to solve two problems; the increasing tension between the action of the Iraqi government toward their people and the surrounding nations, as well as to ensure national safety as the Bush administration was under the belief that the Iraqi government was working with terrorist groups and developing weapons of mass destruction (Richelson, 2004). This began with President Bush’s January 2002 State of the Union in which he addressed Iraq as a member of the “Axis of Evil” stated that the US will not permit the world’s most dangerous regime to threaten others us the world’s most destructive weapons (The White House, 2002). Afterward, the Bush would begin to make his plea to the international community join the war effort. Unfortunately, the U.N. found that the US’s intelligence was not strong enough to warrant that type of involvement. Ally nations such as the UK agreed with the US while France and Germany were skeptical of the plans. On March 2003, U.N. inspector found no significant information that the nation has been using or had in their possessions any weapons of mass destruction. Contrary to the U.N’s claims of no significant information being found against Iraq, the US Congress passed the “Iraq Resolution” allowed the President to use any means necessary against Iraq. However, the international community was not walking away from their positions. In order to further justify the actions taken by the Bush administration against Iraq; Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the UN to preset that Iraq indeed had weapons of mass destruction. This was in a losing effort as the majority of the U.N. voting members voted that the US continue in diplomatic talk with the nation to solve the problem. However, the Bush administration continued with the invasion of Iraq. On March 2003, the military invasion began without a declaration of war to combat or the support of the U.N. The objectives of the war were to end the regime of Saddam Hussein, eliminating Iraq’s weapon of mass destruction in the process (later not found) and capturing all terrorist in the nation. On April 9th that year, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq fell to American control ending Saddam Hussein's rule along with the giant iron statue that was built in his image. This was a symbolic victory for Americans back home who supported the action of the U.S. Following this victory, on the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln (aircraft carrier) was a banner that read “Mission Accomplished” (NY Times, 2010). Bush issued a speech as well declaring that major combat was over in Iraq, 'one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11th, 2001, and still goes on' (NY Times). However, this was not the end in major combat as insurgency expanded across the nation. These actions forced the Commander in Chief in a bad situation as this forced the American army to reorganize their forces. This resulted in hundreds of Iraqi civilians and police being killed; Bush’s estimation of war was wrong and the most dangerous part of the war picked up after March 2004. After this followed an increase of military involvement in the region as well as other countries in the Middle East that still last to this very day.

In sum, the successes on George W. Bush were mainly early on during his time as president, he galvanized the country and promised to act against threats of terrorism. He made sure to follow through with his promise and took what he believed were the necessary steps to addressing the issues and preventing something like 9/11 from happening on American soil ever again. He won over the general public in the short weeks that followed the 9/11 attack, which was evident through his record-setting approval rating by the general public. However, over time he began to lose his following and many citizens took issue with his decisions. Many protests arose in response to the actions that the Bush administration were taking and how they handle the foreign matters in the Middle East. To this day we are still actively fighting a battle that began following the attack of 9/11.

Work Citied

1. Miller Center. “George W. Bush - Administration.” Miller Center, 23 Feb. 2017
2. History. “Bush Learns of Attack on World Trade Center.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Nov. 2009
3. U.S. Department of Defense. “Bush: No Distinction Between Attackers and Those Who Harbor Them.” United States Department of Defense, 11 Sept. 2001
4. Gallup. “Bush Job Approval Highest in Gallup History.” Gallup.com, 24 Sept. 2001
5. Richelson, Jeffery. “Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction.” Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction, 11 Feb. 2004
6. The White House. “State of the Union Address 2002.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 29 Jan. 2002
7. NY Times. “Timeline of Major Events in the Iraq War.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Aug. 2010