Part 1
9/11 and London Bombings
Introduction
A series of terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush’s first term as president on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 victims lost their lives in the attacks. On the night of September 11, George W. Bush addressed the nation in a speech that has become very well-known.
The July 7, 2005 London bombings, were a series of coordinated terrorist suicide bomb attacks in central London which targeted civilians using the public transport system during the rush hour. On the morning of Thursday, July 7th, four Islamist extremists separately detonated three bombs in quick succession aboard London Underground trains across the city, and later, a fourth on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. Fifty-two people were killed and over 700 more were injured in the attacks, making it Britain’s deadliest terrorist incident since the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, as well as the country’s first ever Islamist suicide attack.
At the time of the attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair was at the G8 Conference in Scotland as part of an international effort to provide aid to Africa, cancel international debt owed from impoverished nations, and find a solution to global warming by reducing carbon emissions (the United States refused the agreement, but the other 7 nations created their own pact). Because of the bombings, Blair decided to leave the G8 meeting temporarily to be present in London. He held a brief press conference, saying that the incidents were obviously terrorist attacks directed at the gathering of the G8. He also said that the meeting would continue in his absence, with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw filling in for him. Reports suggest that the bombings may have been planned that day because the terrorists knew that a large number of London police officers would be deployed in Scotland, weakening the city.
Read the attached documents and answer the following questions (you also have the option to watch the speeches, linked here):
- Examine the reactions to attacks on the United States by George W. Bush after 9/11 and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair after the 2005 London Bombings. Imagine yourself as a citizen who has just woken up to news of these attacks (both events happened in the morning hours). Keep in mind that Bush responded in the evening after the morning attacks with a prepared statement, while Blair responded unprepared within minutes of hearing the news. Which reaction would you prefer from your nation’s leader? Why?
911 Speech.docx Download 911 Speech.docx – 9/11 Speech Video (Links to an external site.)
London Bombings Speech.docx Download London Bombings Speech.docx – London Bombings Video
