ABSTRACT
On 11 September 2001 (‘9/11’), America woke up. The war that had been
declared against the United States in 1996
by Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda
network finally struck in that country’s mainland. The attack on the United
States not only destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City, struck the top of
the US military hierarchy, the Pentagon, and caused the crash of a commercial
jetliner in Pennsylvania before it could reach its designated target, it also
ushered in a realization that, whether it desired it or not, the US was involved
in a global war of epic proportions. Al Qaeda had succeeded in doing what no
other terrorist organization had previously accomplished. It succeeded in
elevating asymmetric, insurgent warfare onto the global arena.
