Phyllis Bennis

Before & After: U.s. Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis Phyllis Bennis

Americans were uniformly shocked by the lethal ferocity of the September 11 attacks. Around the world, people and governments were appalled at the human carnage and extended unstinting sympathy-but many made it clear that their sympathy for the victims did not equal support for Washington's response to the terror attacks.

Before & After examines the role of US foreign policy in the terrorism/anti-terrorism crisis that began-publicly-with the attack on the World Trade Center, but which in fact has roots that began long before that September day. It dissects not only the specific Middle East policies long identified with public opposition in the region (for example: support for Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, economic sanctions responsible for widespread deaths of Iraqi civilians, and support for repressive monarchies and dictatorships throughout the Arab world), but also provides context to these issues and the legacy of US unilateralism.

Washington's contempt for international law as well as its disdain for the United Nations, are seen internationally as evidence of the US upholding a law of empire from which the rest of the world is excluded. Paramount is the creation of a US-forced "coalition" to wage a brutal war against an already impoverished and disempowered people, instead of a truly international cooperative effort to find and bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime against humanity.

In light of this attitude, Before & After traces the decisions made by the Bush administration in the wake of the September 11 attacks, analyzes the choices ignored, the options discarded, and the international laws violated-and the likely consequences.