George W. Bush and the Vulcans: Leader-Advisor relations and America’s Response to the 9/11 Attacks

Abstract

Since 9/11, the United States has engaged in two major military operations leading to a drastic reconfiguration of Afghanistan and Iraq, reduced and reinterpreted a significant number of domestic and international civil/human rights laws, and “presided over the most sweeping redesign of U.S. grand strategy since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt” (Gaddis 2005, 2). These actions and changes have occurred for the ostensible purpose of reducing the threats of terrorism and the dangers of weapons of mass destruction following from the 9/11 attacks. The events of 9/11 have also had drastic effects upon the U.S. public, making foreign affairs more important than economics for the first time in years (A World Transformed 2005).