Title: Response to 9/11: The War on Terror - dummies
Headings: Response to 9/11: The War on Terror
Response to 9/11: The War on Terror
Finding al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden
The War on Terror in Afghanistan
The War on Terror in Iraq
The War on Terror in the U.S.
Cost of the War on Terror
Criticism of the War on Terror
End of the War on Terror?

Content: The War on Terror in the U.S.
A month after the September 11 attacks, Bush pushed for a proposal called the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act — or the USA PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act was approved 357-66 in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, the vote was 98-1, with only Senator Russell Feingold, D-WI, opposed. The far-reaching “temporary” act (most of which was made permanent by Congress in 2006) greatly expanded the authority of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to conduct searches, look at medical and other personal records, such as what materials an individual took out from public libraries, and spy on those suspected of potential terrorist acts without court approval. It allowed foreigners to be held for up to seven days without charges or deportation proceedings. In January 2002, the U.S. established a detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to hold inmates defined as “illegal enemy combatants.” President Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay facility and transfer the inmates either to prisons in the U.S. or to other countries. Congress, however, prohibited the use of fund to transfer inmates to U.S. prisons and placed conditions on transfers to foreign countries in the 2011 Defense Authorization bill. As of May 2011, Guantanamo Bay still holds 171 prisoners. In July 2002, Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to listen in on phone calls American citizens made to other countries and to monitor e-mails.