John A. Torres - How Barack Obama Fought the War on Terrorism

Published in 2018 by Enslow Publishing, LLC.

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Copyright 2018 by Enslow Publishing, LLC.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Torres, John Albert, author.

Title: How Barack Obama fought the War on Terrorism /John A. Torres.

Description: New York : Enslow Publishing, 2018. | Series: Presidents at war | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Grades 7-12.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017003129 | ISBN 9780766085350 (library-bound)

Subjects: LCSH: Obama, Barack--Military leadership--Juvenile literature. | Terrorism--United States--Prevention--Government Policy--Juvenile literature. | War on Terrorism, 2001-2009--Juvenile literature. | United States--Military policy--21st century--Juvenile literature. | United States--Foreign relations--2009---Juvenile literature. | United States--Politics and government--2009---Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC HV6432 .T66 2018 | DDC 363.325/160973090512--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017003129

Printed in the United States of America

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Photo Credits: Cover, pp..

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

CHAPTER 2A WAR INHERITED

CHAPTER 3SHIFTING THE FOCUS

CHAPTER 4MANHUNT

CHAPTER 5KILLING BIN LADEN

CHAPTER 6THE RISE OF ISIS

CHAPTER 7SYRIA

CHAPTER 8TERROR GOES DOMESTIC

CHAPTER 9THE POWER OF WORDS

CHAPTER 10WHATS NEXT?

CONCLUSION

CHRONOLOGY

CHAPTER NOTES

GLOSSARY

FURTHER READING

INDEX

New Yorks World Trade Center is on fire after two hijacked planes were flown into the two towers on September 11, 2001.

INTRODUCTION

S o many countries throughout the world have lived with terror attacks and the threat of terrorism long before that threat and that fear came to the United States on September 11, 2001.

Much like the date of December 7, 1941when the Japanese attacked American forces at Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War IIthe date of September 11 would go down in infamy. The truth is that after December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, the country was never the same.

On September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger jets with the intent of flying them into iconic American landmark buildings that would be full of people. That morning two separate jets flew into the two tallest buildings of the World Trade Center, known as the Twin Towers, killing thousands of innocent people who had just arrived at work. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, while the fourth jet crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania after passengers revolted against the terrorist hijackers.

When the smoke cleared and the bodies were counted, the death toll stood at 2,996 with more than 6,000 injured. That death toll actually continues to rise as more people die every year from complications due to injuries suffered during the attacks.

After 9/11 just about every American knew the name Osama bin Laden, the terrorist and mastermind behind the attacks on this nation. The American president at the time of the attacks was George W. Bush, and the American people pressured him to retaliate at once against those who had attacked the United States.

But this was not as simple as President Franklin D. Roosevelts decision to declare war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The terrorists who decided to use airplanes as weapons on that September day were made up of citizens from several different countries. They had no government to speak of or land that they could legitimately call their own.

The war on terrorism would have to begin slowly. The first thing that was needed was a massive emphasis on intelligence to find out where the terrorist leaders were hiding, who was helping, and how they were being funded.

The night of the attacks, Bush went on television to reassure the American people that this new type of war, this war on terrorism, would be won.

The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts, Bush told the frightened nation. I have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

The war on terrorism continues. It defined not only the presidency of George W. Bush but that of his successor, President Barack Obama.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

If youre walking down the right path and youre willing to keep walking, eventually youll make progress.

Barack Obama, March 18, 2008

M any American presidents have come from humble beginnings. Everyone is taught the story of Abraham Lincoln in grade school and his log-cabin, rural upbringing. But perhaps no ones rise to the White House has been as amazing as that of Barrack Hussein Obama, who was born on August 4, 1961, to an American mother and Kenyan father in Hawaii. He not only became the first African American president but also the first to be born outside the continental United States.

His parents met while studying at the University of Hawaii. His father, also named Barack Hussein Obama, was studying as a foreign student on scholarship. The couple married but split up shortly after Obama was born.

Obama and his mother moved to Seattle, Washington, and his father moved back to Kenya after attending Harvard University. Only a few years later, Obamas motherAnn Dunhammarried an Indonesian man and they moved to Indonesia, with Obama, for several years. But Barack was shuttled back to Hawaii and was raised primarily by his grandparents as his mother continued her studies and field work as an anthropologist in Indonesia.

College Years

A good student, Obamaknown as Barry to his friends attended prestigious Columbia University in New York before going to law school at Harvard. Throughout his schooling, Obama took up several causes for the underprivileged and the disenfranchised and became very active in local politics, though not running for office. But it was here, living away from all his relatives, that he began to fight to find his own identity.