Reagan's Influence On 9/11

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9/11 was an event that transformed the way the United States dealt with the foreign world. The terrorist event shook the perceived stability that came after the Cold War and caused the United States to follow a more aggressive and invasive foreign policy. Eight years later President Obama gave a speech in Cairo, Egypt addressing his desire to improve relations with both the countries and the people of the Middle East. The President’s speech followed a more centrist view of the situation as he tired to please the people of the US and the Middle East. Although the speech can be perceived as a change from Bush’s aggressive doctrine, its policies are not unique to Obama. In fact, much of the speech can be related to policies and ideas used in the …show more content…
Although this is a departure from Bush’s willingness to approach situations unilaterally, Obama’s words signal the tactics used during the Cold War’s period of détente. Although the United States was confident in it military endeavors following World War II, the Vietnam War brought “an end to the image of American omnipotence”. Instead, Vietnam brought upon a period of careful deliberation and global thinking. This can be seen in both the Nixon doctrine and the Reagan doctrine. Although Reagan embraced military dominance and rollback in his first term, by his second term, Reagan was aware of the consequences of war on the globalized world. In a diary entry concerning the Reagan-Gorbachev summits, Reagan says the he “knew there were great differences between our two countries. Yet the stakes were too high for us not to try to find a common ground where we could meet and reduce the risk of Armageddon” . After 9/11, Bush broke away from this idea of global cooperation when he threatened autonomous action. In the 2002 National Security Strategy Statement, Bush stated that “while the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right to self-defense by acting preemptively against such terrorists” . Obama however, similar to Nixon and Reagan, recognized the failures of working without the support of the global community and advocated for global cooperation. Obama acknowledged the US’s faults and said that “the situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America’s goals, and our need to work together” . He specifically states that the United States does not seek any military bases in Afghanistan and that they know “military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan”17. Similar to tactics used by Nixon and Reagan on the Soviet Union, Obama