Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side puts focus on bringing the wrongdoings of the Bush administration especially after the attacks of 9/11. The title “The Dark Side” It showed how our government can take advantage of people during a national crisis. After the assaults of 9/11 panic rang throughout the country, more importantly with those who hold higher political offices. Dick Cheney and David Addington lead the way with some of their overreactions to the attacks. They turned the panic of this national crisis into an opportunity to advance the President’s powers to their benefit. Mayer's book is looking at the atrocious choices that were made by the Bush Administration keeping in mind the end goal to battle their 'War on Terror', which abused the Geneva …show more content…
Convention. Mayer wanted to put these wrongdoings into the light for the American eye and show how Bush's administration worked on 'The Dark Side.’ I agree with the fact that the government certainly did panic and as Mayer stated our government decided to “transform the fight against terrorism from a criminal-justice matter to a full-fledged military war.” The fact that matters escalated as quickly as they did after the 9/11 attacks and how they went about it shows what it seems like “preparedness” for the situation.
As an American viewing from the government’s actions right after the attacks you would be all aboard for the methods used by Cheney and his committee. While some may still agree with the methods used by Cheney most will see most people including me will find that the methods especially torture were inhuman and went against what we stand for as a nation. Mayer portrays how Cheney’s eagerness to enhance the President’s powers goes back to the Reagan era when he was a part of survival simulations. The panic after 9/11 enabled Cheney to push forward his plan no …show more content…
matter the cost. Mayer not just charges Cheney for his failure to make the nation more secure yet in addition for declining America's notoriety abroad by advancing torment and brutal cross examination systems and giving the President a chance to practice extreme power without the consent of the executive branch. Mayer thinks that Cheney was totally extreme when he continually bolstered the utilization of "enhanced" torturing procedures, for example, water boarding was used against captured victims as they continued misleading people in general about making America more secure. Christopher Bellavita defines homeland security as “a concerted national effort to prevent and disrupt terrorists attacks, protect against man-made and natural hazards, ad respond to and recover from incidents that do occur.” This quote would make it seem like what Cheney is doing is actually a living example about what homeland security is but the way he goes about it makes the situation drastically different. Mayer declared that it was evident that Cheney certainly neglected to actually tighten up the security of our country. Cheney’s stubbornness lead him to believe that there was nothing wrong with his actions and ultimately he actually was making America safer with his imprisonment and torturing of innocent people. Mayer obviously disagrees with this notion because she constantly points out the fact that he made decisions without the running it by Congress and for making torture legal for them at the time. Mayer brings up the War Council that aided Cheney and Addington by bypassing checks and balances. John Yoo, the deputy in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, additionally assumed a vital part in the sanctioning of unlawful cross examination strategies. On August 1, 2002 Yoo proclaims that the President has the right to allow the use of torture technique if the President found it necessary to ensure the safety of our nation. Mayer certainly does not find Yoo's activities legitimate because of the way that he ignored the Constitution and instead crafted them to fit what they believed was best for America. James Comey, the deputy attorney general, is considered by Mayer a saint from numerous points of view inside the Bush Administration. He viewed the Terrorist Surveillance program as illegal and attempted to challaged it along with fellow lawyer Jack Goldsmith. They wanted to stand against the side of government that allowed for torture to become legal at the time. Mayer describes Comey as one of the only ‘rebels’ inside the government who wanted to put American ideals back in place. Mayer contends that Cheney and his confided in consultants for the sake of ensuring national security, forced admissions, extrajudicial detainment, and different breaches of people's freedoms that had been really denied since the nation's establishment. They twisted the laws to fit for their necessities; consequently the individuals from the War Council contended that the President Bush’s power under the given conditions and in the need of self-preservation may legitimize the utilization of certain torture techniques that would be otherwise frowned upon. Mayer remarks that such reason may have been worthy in the frenzy filled days of after 9/11, however having practically similar approaches and the infringement of common freedoms is not adequate for her years after the assaults. Without straightforwardness and solid investigation, people in general basically needed to trust the President that barbaric treatment of prisoners has been important to stop additionally assaults against U.S. While the Bush Administration could gladly say that since 2001 there were no other fear monger assaults because of their torture techniques in the 'War on Terror', Mayer trusts that it simply made matters worse under the circumstances, by losing the help of the up and coming era of Arab youth in the Middle East by expressing a lack of freedom if even America, which is supposed to be the country known for freedom, tortures its prisoners. Mayer has my support when it comes to her views about America government abusing their power in a time where citizens unknowingly support because they do not see the actual harm that we as a country are causing. Mayer's book was an enlightening piece on how the administration of the Bush era damaged and "battled" against American goals for the sake of “War on Terror”. Today’s homeland security policies I believe has a lot to do with the 9/11 attacks because what proceeded it.
It changed the way that we viewed the world; the dangers were brought to the forefront which means we had to establish preventions that came with them. Immediate responses like the Aviation and Transportation Security Act which implemented stricter guidelines on passenger and luggage screening for obvious reasons. Also the Homeland Security Act was passed months after the attack to “ organize a government that is fractured, divided and under-prepared to handle the all-important task of defending our great nation from terrorist attack.” More policies came into fruition throughout the years all stemming from these attacks. I view the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks as a wakeup call to us as a country to secure are nations safety and from the perspective of Bush’s administration by any means
possible. All things considered I would state that Mayer gave exceptionally significant data on Bush's and Cheney's 'War on Terror' approaches and torture techniques. The policies used by Bush’s administration gave Americans the false sense that they were doing anything in their power to protect our country. In hindsight they actually were it was just the methods they used to try to get to that point were distancing our great nation from its original ideals drafted in the Constitution. Cheney and crew had a quick reaction to the attacks and the process of their plan jumped right into action. As stated earlier Cheney had been planning for this “doomsday” for decades so he already had the steps he would take when the situation occurred. His plan included strengthening his own power by strengthening that of the President which he got by bypassing Congress for some of the policies he put in to place after the attacks. When all is said and done Jane Mayer exposed Bush’s administration for working on the wrong side of things when making decisions for our country. We know safety is the goal but at what cost are we willing to achieve it? Works Cited Barsanti, Chris. "The Dark Side by Jane Mayer." PopMatters. N.p., 20 Aug. 2008. Web. "The Homeland Security Act." 9-11 Research: The Homeland Security Act. N.p., n.d. Web. Keim, Stephen. "A Review of Jane Mayer's The Dark Side: The inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. Mayer, Jane. The Dark Side: The inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals. N.p.: Anchor, 2009. Print. Villemez, Jason. "9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 11 Sept. 2014. Web.
The first chapter of Light in the Dark by Gloria Anzaldúa, I was not only struck by the context of the first chapter but the way that Anzaldúa presented it. As someone born in the mid 90s, my experience of September 11, 2001 is a very distant memory now. Her epistemology of that event answered some questions that I always had and some that I didn’t even know that I should be asking. I look at the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon through a different lens now. For many years I didn’t understand that it was an act of terrorism and it wasn’t until reading Anzaldúa’s epistemology that I know it wasn’t only a one-sided attack. “Saying evil was done to us, our government claims the moral high ground and role of the victim. But we
In the article, “The Torture Myth,” Anne Applebaum explores the controversial topic of torture practices, focused primarily in The United States. The article was published on January 12, 2005, inspired by the dramatic increase of tensions between terrorist organizations and The United States. Applebaum explores three equality titillating concepts within the article. Applebaum's questions the actual effectiveness of using torture as a means of obtaining valuable information in urgent times. Applebaum explores the ways in which she feels that the United States’ torture policy ultimately produces negative effects upon the country. Applebaum's final question is if torture is not optimally successful, why so much of society believes it works efficiently.
The Authors of The Ugly American, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, wrote a fictional story, with fictional characters about a fictional country. The only thing that was not fictional was the message that they were trying to convey about what was wrong with America’s foreign policy. It is not a coincidence that their message directly correlates to the Special Operations (SO) Imperatives. I will discuss specific characters in The Ugly American and how their actions did or didn’t mirror those of certain SO Imperatives. Also, I will show that the actions of the characters that mirrored the SO Imperatives were able to achieve positive results.
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
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
9/11 was one of the most devastating events in American History. Four hijacked passenger airplanes killed almost three thousand people. 9/11 changed millions of lives forever. American Citizens didn’t feel safe. This attack was a wake-up call to American security. 9/11 forced the country to acknowledge its shortcomings and fix them, before any more harm could come upon the United States of America. 9/11, as all acts of terror do, promoted the growth of technology, in this case, security in the United States. 9/11 also brought about feelings of hatred to the country. The United States soon became known as one of the most intolerable nations on this planet. Lastly, 9/11 butchered the economy and forced it down a long road to recovery.
On September 11, 2001 New York came upon a terrorist attack. The terrorist hijacked four airplanes the morning of the attack. The attack was part of the Al-Qaeda Islamist group, led by Osama Bin Laden. Two planes collided into the World Trade Center; one hit the Pentagon, and the other one crashed in Pennsylvania never reaching its destination. The cause of 9/11 is that Islam saw the United States as a heinous country with different and awful morals so they decided to attack. The consequences were the tensions between Americans and Muslims rose. Numerous hate crimes were committed and there was a massive economic downfall. We could have avoided this incident if the airport security would have been more strict, then the attack would have a less chance of happening (Bantista). “Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts. Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. And freedom will be defended.” –President Bush directly after the 9/11 attacks (Tsimelkas). The government issued extreme changes in the military system and the surveillance ...
The Line Between Right and Wrong Draws Thin; Torture in Modern America and how it is reflected in The Crucible
How did 9/11 change American history? The attacks of September eleventh changed our culture. Not only did it change our culture, but it changed our security. If the attacks had not happened, we would not have troops stationed in the Middle East. The attacks of September eleventh changed the history of our country.
¨We shall never forget, We shall keep this day, We shall keep the events and the tears In our minds, our memory and our hearts and take them with us as we carry on.¨ by: Anonymous (Memorial Website). An epic turn in history all around the world, around 3000 people lost their lives, the two world trade center’s crashed into pieces, the pentagon was crashed… all of this occurred on September 11, 2001. This date till today causes people to tear, as they remember themselves watching the event occur in person, TV or websites. The entire world was watching while it occurred. This attack caused a great impact all around the world, no one could believe what was happening and how. As soon as people got the news they realized that in a blink of an eye one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the United States of America had hit. This date caused negative impact on all kind of industries especially the aviation industry, in this paper you will learn exactly how this industry was affected.
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.
Overall, 9/11 was a big deal, it changed America forever even though it was a tragic or horrific day in the American history. It was an era in which individuals acted honorably. September 11 experienced horrible hours, but it lead to the beginning of one of America's finest opportunities.
On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Ladin executed the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. The attack killed over 2,900 people, and since then America has changed in many ways. One example is the phobia people now have against people of Middle-Eastern decent or people that practice the Islamic religion. Since people think differently of these groups, they do not treat them with the respect they give to other people. They can be denied jobs, education, housing because of their religion and/or their Middle Eastern background. Another example on how America has changed since 9/11, is the airport security has grown largely. The new change can impact many travelers, as well it spends a lot of the American government’s money.
Now, let’s say you do choose to torture this man, not only are the people directly in this situation going to be affected, but also the rest of the nation. We need to ask ourselves, what is going to be the true outcome? This includes thinking about how the enemy is going to react and how the nation is going to react. Torturing this man shames our nation as a whole, scars our repu...
When the terrorist attacks occurred on 9/11 it did more than just affect the comfort level of American citizens. It had an all around impact on how this country will be run for years to come. The one economic impact that I will concentrate on is that the attacks, arguably, but directly effected the U.S. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and how the national budget will be handled from that day forward.