The War on Terror: The Neo-American Manifest Destiny The Case of the Islamic State in Iraq
Article Sidebar
Published
Jan 31, 2023
Main Article Content
Abstract
Significant literature has concluded that Islamic-terrorist activity in the Middle East and in Europe had increased drastically since the beginning of the implementation of the Bush Doctrine in 2001 after 9/11, with the rise of ISIS. However, little is known about the causal mechanism that links between the Post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy and the rise of new terrorist organizations, particularly the Islamic State in Iraq. Hence, the focus of this study is to process trace such mechanism. It will also explain why the War on Terror has produced totally opposite results from those it was originally intended for. Finally, this study is a within-case analysis that might be a microscopic observation of the imperial American behavior in the Middle East. This study relies on explaining outcome process-tracing methodology, and employing oral and historical accounts, archives and statistical data. I argue that the War on Terror, precisely the period of the Bush’s presidency (2001-2009), to be the continuity of the historical imperial behavior that inspires the U.S. foreign policy. I will only focus on two main policies: the Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 because invasion is the most concrete manifestation of imperialism. The result shows that the invasion of Iraq led to sectarianism that IS feeds on, and that the invasion of Afghanistan led to the geographical expansion of Jihadists. Together they fused to cause the mutation of Al-Qaeda into a more complex Islamic-inspired terrorist organization (IS).
Article Details
How to Cite
Khelfa, Nouha. 2023. “The War on Terror: The Neo-American Manifest Destiny”. Indonesian Journal of Counter Terrorism and National Security 2 (1), 21-62. https://doi.org/10.15294/ijctns.v2i1.64687.
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Ali Khedery, Mowaffak al Rubaie, Martin Chulov, interview by Sue Turton. Enemy of the Enemies: The Rise of ISIL (1) (October 19, 2015).
Al-Qarawee, Harith Hasan. Iraq's Sectarian Crisis: A Legacy of Exclusion. Vol. 24. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2014.
Barkawi, Tarak, and Mark Laffey. "The postcolonial moment in security studies." Review of International Studies 32, No. 2 (2006): 329-35.
Bass, Jeff D., and Richard Cherwitz. "Imperial mission and manifest destiny: A case study of political myth in rhetorical discourse." (1978): 213-232.
Blannin, Patrick. "Islamic State’s financing: Sources, methods and utilisation." Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 9, No. 5 (2017): 13-22.
Bonnefoy, Laurent. "Le mythe al-Zarkaoui ou la légitimation de la guerre en Iraq." Au nom du 11 septembre... Les démocraties à l’épreuve de l’antiterrorisme (2008): 320.
Breslow, J. "Nada Bakos: How Zarqawi Went from Thug to ISIS Founder, [online], 17.05. 2016."
Bruno, Alessandro. Geopolitical Monitor: The Ba’athist Roots of Islamic State. 31 July 2015. https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/the-baathist-roots-of-islamic-state/.
Bush, George W. The White House: Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2003.
Byers, Thomas B. "A city upon a hill: American literature and the ideology of exceptionalism." American Studies in Scandinavia 29, No. 2 (1997): 85-105.
Chomsky, Noam. "Wars of terror." In The Iraq War and its consequences: thoughts of Nobel Peace laureates and eminent scholars, pp. 147-170. 2003.
Chomsky, Noam. Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond (2008).
Coles, Isabel, and Ned Parker. "How Saddam’s men help Islamic State rule." Reuters, December 11 (2015).
Crane, K. "The Role of Oil in ISIL Finances: Testimony Presented Before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on December 10, 2015." RAND Office of External Affairs, USA (2015).
Gardner, Frank. "Afghanistan airport attack: Who are IS-K?" BBC NEWS, 2021.
Gerges, Fawaz A. ISIS: A History. Princeton University Press, 2021.
Ghenea, Bogdan. "European Asylum Support Office Syria Targeting of individuals-Country of Origin Information Report." (2020).
Global Terrorism Index. "Capturing the Impact of Terrorism from 2002-2011." Sydney: Institute for Economics and Peace (2012): 7.
Hamasaeed, Sarhang, et Garrett Nada. United States Institute of Peace: Iraq Timeline: Since the 2003 War. 29 May 2020. https://www.usip.org/iraq-timeline-2003-war.
Joffe, Lawrence. "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." The Guardian online 9 (2006).
John Gershman, Stephen Zunes. Foreign Policy in Focus. 6 March 2006. https://fpif.org/the_us_role_in_iraqs_sectarian_violence/.
Leaman, George. "Iraq, American empire, and the war on terrorism." Metaphilosophy 35, No. 3 (2004): 234-248.
Levallois, Agnes, Jean-Claude COUSSERAN, and Lionel KERRELLO. "The financing of the'Islamic State'in Iraq and Syria (ISIS." (2017).
Lypp, Jakob. "Understanding ISIS: The political economy of war-making in Iraq." (2016).
Mabon, Simon. Saudi Arabia and Iran: Power and Rivalry in the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Madsen, Deborah L. "The West and Manifest Destiny." A Concise Companion to American Studies (2010): 369-386.
Marashi, Ibrahim. "Reconceptualizing sectarianism in the Middle East and Asia." Middle East Institute (2014).
Morris, Charlotte. "To what extent has US foreign policy contributed to an increase in religious inspired terrorism since 1945?." Journal of Global Faultlines 6, No. 2 (2019): 186-203.
News, NBC. «British report: Al-Zarqawi set up ‘sleeper cells’.» 2004.
Otterman, Sharon. Council on Foreign Relations: IRAQ: Debaathification. 22 February 2005. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/iraq-debaathification.
Patman, Robert G. "Globalisation, the new US exceptionalism and the war on terror." Third World Quarterly 27, No. 6 (2006): 963-986.
Patrice Barrat, Najat Rizk, Rania Stephen. «Zarqaoui: La question terroriste.» Ardèche Images. 2005. http://www.lussasdoc.org/film-zarqaoui_la_question_terroriste-1,14587.html.
Pavel, Ryan. "The De-Baathification of Iraq: the development and implementation of an ostensibly necessary vetting policy that turned into a tool of sectarianism." PhD Diss., 2012.
Porter, Geoff. "Terrorist targeting of the Libyan oil and gas sector." Combating Terrorism Centre (2015).
Saul, Heather. "President Obama claims rise of Isis is 'unintended consequence' of George W. Bush’s invasion in Iraq." The Independent. March 18, 2015. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/president-obama-claims-rise-of-isis-is-unintended-consequence-of-george-w-bush-s-invasion-in-iraq-10115243.html.
Senate, U. S. "Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on Postwar Findings About Iraq’s WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments." US Senate, Washington DC. September 8, no. 2006 (2006): 573-84.
Shearer, Ged. "Terrorism as a Weapon of the Strong? A Postcolonial Analysis of Terrorism."
Sly, Liz. "The hidden hand behind the Islamic State militants? Saddam Hussein’s." Washington Post 4 (2015).
Stover, Eric, Miranda Sissons, Phuong Pham, and Patrick Vinck. "Justice on hold: accountability and social reconstruction in Iraq." International Review of The Red Cross 90, No. 869 (2008): 5-28.
Thomas H. Kean, Bob Kerrey, Lee H. Hamilton, Richard Ben-Veniste,Fred F. Fielding ,John F. Lehman,Jamie S. Gorelick,Timothy J. Roemer,Slade Gorton,James R.Thompson. "THE 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States." Governemnt Report, 2004.
Velho, Astride, and Oscar Thomas-Olalde. "Othering and its effects: exploring the concept." Writing postcolonial histories of intercultural education. Interkulturelle Pädagogik und postkoloniale Theorie, (Bd. 2, S. 27–51). Frankfurt: Peter Lang (2011).
Warren P. Strobel, Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott. CIA Review Finds No Evidence Saddam Had Ties to Islamic Terrorists. 2004.
Weiss, Michael and Hassan Hassan.ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York: Regan Arts, 2015.
Weiss, Micheal, interview by International Peace Institute. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (n.d.)
Youngberg, Quentin. "Morphology of Manifest Destiny: The Justified Violence of John O'Sullivan, Hank Morgan, and George W. Bush." Canadian Review of American Studies 35, No. 3 (2005): 315-334.
Zinn, Cherish M. "ConsequenCes of Iraqi Debaathification." Cornell International Affairs Review 9, No. 2 (2016).
Al-Qarawee, Harith Hasan. Iraq's Sectarian Crisis: A Legacy of Exclusion. Vol. 24. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2014.
Barkawi, Tarak, and Mark Laffey. "The postcolonial moment in security studies." Review of International Studies 32, No. 2 (2006): 329-35.
Bass, Jeff D., and Richard Cherwitz. "Imperial mission and manifest destiny: A case study of political myth in rhetorical discourse." (1978): 213-232.
Blannin, Patrick. "Islamic State’s financing: Sources, methods and utilisation." Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 9, No. 5 (2017): 13-22.
Bonnefoy, Laurent. "Le mythe al-Zarkaoui ou la légitimation de la guerre en Iraq." Au nom du 11 septembre... Les démocraties à l’épreuve de l’antiterrorisme (2008): 320.
Breslow, J. "Nada Bakos: How Zarqawi Went from Thug to ISIS Founder, [online], 17.05. 2016."
Bruno, Alessandro. Geopolitical Monitor: The Ba’athist Roots of Islamic State. 31 July 2015. https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/the-baathist-roots-of-islamic-state/.
Bush, George W. The White House: Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2003.
Byers, Thomas B. "A city upon a hill: American literature and the ideology of exceptionalism." American Studies in Scandinavia 29, No. 2 (1997): 85-105.
Chomsky, Noam. "Wars of terror." In The Iraq War and its consequences: thoughts of Nobel Peace laureates and eminent scholars, pp. 147-170. 2003.
Chomsky, Noam. Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond (2008).
Coles, Isabel, and Ned Parker. "How Saddam’s men help Islamic State rule." Reuters, December 11 (2015).
Crane, K. "The Role of Oil in ISIL Finances: Testimony Presented Before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on December 10, 2015." RAND Office of External Affairs, USA (2015).
Gardner, Frank. "Afghanistan airport attack: Who are IS-K?" BBC NEWS, 2021.
Gerges, Fawaz A. ISIS: A History. Princeton University Press, 2021.
Ghenea, Bogdan. "European Asylum Support Office Syria Targeting of individuals-Country of Origin Information Report." (2020).
Global Terrorism Index. "Capturing the Impact of Terrorism from 2002-2011." Sydney: Institute for Economics and Peace (2012): 7.
Hamasaeed, Sarhang, et Garrett Nada. United States Institute of Peace: Iraq Timeline: Since the 2003 War. 29 May 2020. https://www.usip.org/iraq-timeline-2003-war.
Joffe, Lawrence. "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." The Guardian online 9 (2006).
John Gershman, Stephen Zunes. Foreign Policy in Focus. 6 March 2006. https://fpif.org/the_us_role_in_iraqs_sectarian_violence/.
Leaman, George. "Iraq, American empire, and the war on terrorism." Metaphilosophy 35, No. 3 (2004): 234-248.
Levallois, Agnes, Jean-Claude COUSSERAN, and Lionel KERRELLO. "The financing of the'Islamic State'in Iraq and Syria (ISIS." (2017).
Lypp, Jakob. "Understanding ISIS: The political economy of war-making in Iraq." (2016).
Mabon, Simon. Saudi Arabia and Iran: Power and Rivalry in the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
Madsen, Deborah L. "The West and Manifest Destiny." A Concise Companion to American Studies (2010): 369-386.
Marashi, Ibrahim. "Reconceptualizing sectarianism in the Middle East and Asia." Middle East Institute (2014).
Morris, Charlotte. "To what extent has US foreign policy contributed to an increase in religious inspired terrorism since 1945?." Journal of Global Faultlines 6, No. 2 (2019): 186-203.
News, NBC. «British report: Al-Zarqawi set up ‘sleeper cells’.» 2004.
Otterman, Sharon. Council on Foreign Relations: IRAQ: Debaathification. 22 February 2005. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/iraq-debaathification.
Patman, Robert G. "Globalisation, the new US exceptionalism and the war on terror." Third World Quarterly 27, No. 6 (2006): 963-986.
Patrice Barrat, Najat Rizk, Rania Stephen. «Zarqaoui: La question terroriste.» Ardèche Images. 2005. http://www.lussasdoc.org/film-zarqaoui_la_question_terroriste-1,14587.html.
Pavel, Ryan. "The De-Baathification of Iraq: the development and implementation of an ostensibly necessary vetting policy that turned into a tool of sectarianism." PhD Diss., 2012.
Porter, Geoff. "Terrorist targeting of the Libyan oil and gas sector." Combating Terrorism Centre (2015).
Saul, Heather. "President Obama claims rise of Isis is 'unintended consequence' of George W. Bush’s invasion in Iraq." The Independent. March 18, 2015. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/president-obama-claims-rise-of-isis-is-unintended-consequence-of-george-w-bush-s-invasion-in-iraq-10115243.html.
Senate, U. S. "Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on Postwar Findings About Iraq’s WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments." US Senate, Washington DC. September 8, no. 2006 (2006): 573-84.
Shearer, Ged. "Terrorism as a Weapon of the Strong? A Postcolonial Analysis of Terrorism."
Sly, Liz. "The hidden hand behind the Islamic State militants? Saddam Hussein’s." Washington Post 4 (2015).
Stover, Eric, Miranda Sissons, Phuong Pham, and Patrick Vinck. "Justice on hold: accountability and social reconstruction in Iraq." International Review of The Red Cross 90, No. 869 (2008): 5-28.
Thomas H. Kean, Bob Kerrey, Lee H. Hamilton, Richard Ben-Veniste,Fred F. Fielding ,John F. Lehman,Jamie S. Gorelick,Timothy J. Roemer,Slade Gorton,James R.Thompson. "THE 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States." Governemnt Report, 2004.
Velho, Astride, and Oscar Thomas-Olalde. "Othering and its effects: exploring the concept." Writing postcolonial histories of intercultural education. Interkulturelle Pädagogik und postkoloniale Theorie, (Bd. 2, S. 27–51). Frankfurt: Peter Lang (2011).
Warren P. Strobel, Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott. CIA Review Finds No Evidence Saddam Had Ties to Islamic Terrorists. 2004.
Weiss, Michael and Hassan Hassan.ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. New York: Regan Arts, 2015.
Weiss, Micheal, interview by International Peace Institute. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (n.d.)
Youngberg, Quentin. "Morphology of Manifest Destiny: The Justified Violence of John O'Sullivan, Hank Morgan, and George W. Bush." Canadian Review of American Studies 35, No. 3 (2005): 315-334.
Zinn, Cherish M. "ConsequenCes of Iraqi Debaathification." Cornell International Affairs Review 9, No. 2 (2016).