The Bush Administration’s Overreach: Some Pushback, but a Lasting Imprint

Abstract

This chapter documents the Bush administration’s reaction to 9/11 as it put the United States on war footing and how White House officials relied upon the 2001 AUMF to justify their actions. The administration acted quickly and audaciously and unilaterally to counter what it saw as an existential threat to the United States. Four categories of wartime activities pursued against al Qaeda and the Taliban are examined: (1) tracking and surveillance; (2) targeted killing and rendition; (3) detention and trials; and (4) interrogation methods. Some policies exceeded domestic and international legal limits, provoking political pushback to restore a legal foundation. Nonetheless, many features of Bush’s counterterrorism regime left a deep imprint.