America s Worst Economic Period - 1255 Words

On the morning of September 11th 2001, America suffered one of most deadly and well-known terrorist attacks in history. With over 3,000 deaths and damage to New York City and the Pentagon, America went into shock in under two hours. 20% of Americas knew of a family member, friend, or co-worker who suffered a causality in the attack. The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its greatest one day drop since the Great Depression, our nation’s worst economic period. The American people were placed in a situation they had never been before. They lost hope in government and its ability to protect our nation’s boundaries and our nation’s people. Troops were sent into Afghanistan and Iraq within months to protect our nation. Yet the American†¦show more content†¦America, a country founded and based upon the ideas of democracy, saw issues in the actions of Soviet Union and engaged in wars in these satellite nations, such as the War in Afghanistan – startin g in 1978. Back then, America saw the world in rather simple terms. On one side was the Soviet Union and Third World nationalism, which America regarded as a Soviet tool. On the other side was Western nations and militant political Islam, which America considered an ally in the struggle against the Soviet Union. America seeked the help of Afghans to assist them in the fighting against the Soviets. Many volunteers from Arab countries had gone to Afghanistan during the 1980s. They wanted to help the Afghans fight the invading Russian army. They supported the Afghans as they were also followers of Islam. For the Arab volunteers the battle was a Jihad or holy war. However, when the Soviet army was defeated, these people continued to fight. When the Russian army was defeated, al-Qaeda was set up to continue the Jihad against people the volunteers thought were enemies of Islam. An organization and its leader who was funded and trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, an agency run by t he U.S. Government, would attack America decades later. The rise of Al-Qaeda in the 1990s and especially following the attacks in 2001, terrorist groups formed rampantly. They became concentrated in areas of the world with turmoil, such as the Middle East and West Asia. Some even formed in a