The “War On Terror” And Its Debate Have No End

Christopher Robbins
Gothamist
September 11, 2011

What does “The War on Terror” mean? Is it the legal authority granted to the president by Congress to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against the people, countries or organizations that “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11 attacks? Is it taking your shoes off at airport security, or seeing something and saying something? Is it what 7,497 coalition members and hundreds of thousands of civilians died for in the Middle East? This, rather than “It’s time to end the War on Terror,” was the main topic of debate Wednesday night at NYU’s Skirball center, much to the audience’s befuddlement.

For nearly two hours, terrorism expert (and one of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden) Peter Bergen and Juliette Kayyem, a former Homeland Security officer for the Obama administration, faced former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden and Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to President Bush and Mayor Bloomberg, Richard Falkenrath.

For the Motion “It’s time to end the War on Terror”

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This article was posted: Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 9:59 am

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