Summary/Plot: The movie Zero Dark Thirty is a fictional account, loosely based on the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden and his associates. The film details U.S. and foreign government interagency cooperation between organizations, such as the military, CIA, FBI, and Pakistan ISI, to track down and kill Osama Bin Laden. The story centers on certain CIA agents and the methods used to extract information from alleged terrorists so Bin Laden’s location could be determined. Set in the threatening regions of the Middle East, CIA operative Maya, whose only job at the CIA has been to find where Bin Laden is hiding, and Dan, who teaches Maya how the CIA operates in Pakistan, are assigned to work together in Pakistan’s U.S. Embassy. While in Pakistan, they interrogate and torture a prisoner thought to be connected to Osama Bin Laden. After a difficult interrogation, the prisoner finally tells the CIA about a messenger who works for Osama Bin Laden. The prisoner ends up giving the CIA the wrong name of the messenger, but they find out the real name by tapping the messenger’s mother’s phone. By tracing the call and following their suspect back to the compound by the Pakistan Military Academy, SEAL Team 6 were able to find and eventually kill Osama Bin Laden. In the end, Maya confirms the body to be Osama Bin Laden.
Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...
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...viewer recognizes that agencies, such as the CIA, are valuable in the War on Terror for the data collecting they’re involved in. On examining of the film, the movie’s setting, agencies involved, and the subject matter targeted, the appropriate historical and social themes were connected to the plot. The circumstances in the film depicting the aftermath of September 11th attacks and the U.S. government’s role in tracking Osama Bin Laden were realistic. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans felt that radicalized Islamic groups and their leaders that encouraged these followers to attack America were enemies to their country. Therefore, the film didn’t have to have a poster of Al-Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden to be used as propaganda to make the point that the radicalized Islamic group was the enemy of the United States; this decision had already been made by the United States.
This historical study will compare and contrast the depiction of the “War on Terror” in a pro-government and anti-government plot structures found in Zero Dark Thirty (2012) by Kathryn Bigelow and The Siege (1998) by Edward Zwick. The pro-government view of Zero Dark Thirty defines the use of CIA agents and military operatives to track down Osama Bin Laden in the 2000s. Bigelow appears to validate the use of torture and interrogation as a means in which to extract information in the hunt for Bin Laden. In contrast this depiction of terrorism, Zwick’s film The Siege exposes the damage that torture, kidnapping, and
Alexander, Yonah, and Swetnam, Michael S., Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, Transnational Publishers, September 2001
The attacks that occurred on 9/11 took place on September 11th, 2001. In this devastating event, four different attacks had taken place. Each of the attacks were carried out by terrorists. The group responsible for the attack was Al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization that is known to be global in present day. The group itself has a network consisting of a Sunni Muslim movement that aims to make global Jihad happen. Furthermore, a stateless, multinational army that is ready to move at any given time. This terrorist group focuses on attacking non-Sunni Muslims, those who are not Muslim, and individuals who the group deems to be kafir. Ever since the late 1980s, Al-Qaeda has been wreaking havoc all around the world. The leader of the group once being Osama bin Laden. Three planes were bound for New York City while another plane headed towards Washington, D.C. which was supposed to take out the U.S. Capitol. Two of the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center. One plane hitting the North Tower and the other hitting the South Tower. The third plane had crashed into the Pentagon taking out the western side of the building. The last and final plane was focused solely on taking out the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. but failed due to passengers of the plane coming hijacking it from the hijackers. The passengers attempted to take out the hijackers but sadly failed, crashing it into a field in Pennsylvania. Throughout the content of this paper, we will be focusing on the role of media when it comes to 9/11; more specifically: how the media's coverage of 9/11 manipulated our feelings towards 9/11, how it affected Islamophobia in America, and the lasting effects of 9/11.
In her 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow paints one of the most well-known manhunts conducted by the United States, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. The film’s ending presents the death of bin Laden as a glorious moment in American history. After the U.S. Navy SEALs team enters bin Laden’s room, they quickly locate the target and precisely shoot him to death. “It’s okay,” whispers a member of the SEALs team to the women and children crying in the corner of the room, who are innocent bystanders of bin Laden’s evil scheme. As the team successfully accomplished the mission, the audience sees a team of national heroes that have not only skillfully killed America’s greatest enemy but also treated the innocent with care and respect. In this way, the film depicts targeted killing missions as safe, secure, and fast procedures that are built upon careful research and analysis.
September 11, 2001 is known as the worst terrorist attack in United States history. On a clear Tuesday morning, there were four planes that were hijacked and flown into multiple buildings by a terrorist group named al Qaeda. This group, led by Osama bin Laden, killed nearly 3,000 people. Out of those 3,000 people more than 400 police and 343 firefighters were killed along with 10,000 people who were treated for severe injuries. Many lives were taken, and to this day, people still suffer from the attack. September 11th is the most influential event of the early twenty-first century because it made an increase in patriotism, it caused a rise in security throughout the nation, and it had a tremendous effect of thousands of lives.
On September 11, 2001, many people’s lives were changed. Not only Americans, but Muslims and Islamist alike, were affected. (A Nation Challenged 80). Family members and friends were lost, lives were taken away, and New York City was torn to pieces. Two planes hit the Twin Towers, otherwise known as the World Trade Center. One plane was flown into the Pentagon located in Virginia. One last plane was flown into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after being taken over by the passengers. The nineteen men who hijacked these planes were from the Islamist militant group known as al-Qaeda. (The 9/11 Commission Report). An editorial in the New York Times said, “It was one of those moments in which history splits, and we define the world as ‘before’ and ‘after’.”
“The hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed” by analytical reporters Terry McDermont and Josh Meyer, is an attention-grabbing account of how one of Al Qaeda’s most outstanding terrorist, KSM, took part in one of the deadliest terrorist operations in history. The book includes an intense description of the decade-long determination of the CIA and FBI investigators to the successful capture of KSM and his acquaintances. However, as portrayed by the authors, it took a long time in their pursuit to identify KSM and take him into custody.
Carr, Matthew.” Chapter 12: A Raid on the Path: 9/11 and the War on Terror.” Unknown Soldiers. 291-321.UK: Profile Books, 2006. History Reference Center. Web.25 Feb, 2014
On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists hijacked four American airplanes in an attempt to destroy major American targets. Two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one was flown into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C, and one plane failed to reach its target and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 people died and the event was the largest terrorist attack on American soil. The attacks on 9/11 changed America forever. (9/11 attacks, 2010, para 1) The first effect was that security was heightened dramatically. The second effect is the change in immigration and deportations. The third is the negative effects that American muslims have endured (Green, n.d, para 16 & 17)
Host: On September the 11th 2001, the notorious terror organisation known as Al-Qaeda struck at the very heart of the United States. The death count was approximately 3,000; a nation was left in panic. To this day, counterterrorism experts and historians alike regard the event surrounding 9/11 as a turning point in US foreign relations. Outraged and fearful of radical terrorism from the middle-east, President Bush declared that in 2001 that it was a matter of freedoms; that “our very freedom has come under attack”. In his eyes, America was simply targeted because of its democratic and western values (CNN News, 2001). In the 14 years following this pivotal declaration, an aggressive, pre-emptive approach to terrorism replaced the traditional
Devout. Focused. Charismatic. Passionate. Willing to die for the cause. Superb organizational skills. Imaginative planning. Ability to endure hardships. These words are pulled from a psychological profile of a powerful visionary individual of our time, Osama bin Laden (Ross, 2015). Although bin Laden can be considered a visionary leader, he was not an ethical leader. In this paper I will discuss Osama bin Laden’s traits as a visionary leader, such as his Full Range Leadership trait of Idealized Influence and how it was displayed in his effort to gain followers for Al Qaeda. I will then touch on his Team Dynamics pattern of Advancer and how bin Laden, as a visionary leader, capitalized on this pattern while planning the 9/11 attacks. Next, I will discuss Osama bin Laden’s shortfalls and why he was not considered an ethical leader by falling into the ethical trap of ethical relativism and the
Osama Bin Laden was on the FBI’s most wanted list for 10 years. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and American citizens, as well as the 9/11 terrorist attack. The American Special Forces have been trying to track him down for a long time and have not succeeded, until May 1st, 2011. The mission that killed Bin Laden was called “Operation Neptune Spear” and that mission changed American history forever.
The film introduces the fact that Bush was on the board of a company which had millions to gain from going to war, and had several large Saudi investors. Among these investors were the Bin Laden family, who has close personal and business ties with the Bush family. Moore asks the viewers to consider whether Bush’s interests sided with the American people, or with business. Moore also questions why there is such a large amount of protection at the Saudi foreign embassy in the United States. This thought segways into the idea that the Saudis were behind the 9/11 attack and that Bush acted favorably on their behalf, despite it being at the expense of the American
Al Qaeda, the organization that the United States is in a constant, never ending battle with, the organization that has made the most impact and changed the United States forever. Al Qaeda is always making headlines with their terrorist attacks, the most known attack September 11th, 2001. This essay is about the terrorist group Al Qaeda, its history and background, Osama bin Laden, their well-known leader, and the major attacks on America.
On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the mindset and the opinion of nearly every American on the one of the most vital issues in the 21st century: terrorism (Hoffman 2). Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a perverse method of political change, one must first begin to understand what terrorism is, where it is derived from, and why there is terrorism. These issues are essential in America’s analysis of this phenomenon that has revolutionized its foreign policy and changed America’s stance in the world.