ABSTRACT
This chapter is written in the context of discussion within the United States, but seeks to be sensitive to what might be described as “a global perspective.” In this regard, the central point is the degree to which much of the rest of the world, especially at the level of civil society, has grown over time far more disturbed by the American response to the September 11 attacks than by the attacks themselves, and the continuing threat posed by such forms of nonstate political violence. In this regard, the impact of September 11 on adherence to human rights standards and on American foreign policy is different than in any other country, including the main American ally, Britain. In one sense, this uneven response is an understandable reflection of the degree to which the United States, its people and interests around the world, are the main target of Al Qaeda-type political violence as exemplified by the 9/11 traumatic experience and by the emphasis given to the United States as “the head of the snake” in the diatribes of Osama Bin Laden. But in another more important sense, this unevenness expresses the critical view of the American governmental response as exaggerated and manipulated, primarily motivated by a geopolitical project to achieve global domination, and related domestic initiatives that inflate the terrorist threat to justify suppressive legal moves within the United States. The overall tactic is to gain a free hand for the government, especially the executive branch, by inducing and sustaining fear of further terrorist attacks among the citizenry.
