WEBINAR | 10 September

Twenty years since 9/11 

With Major General Duncan Lewis and General David Petraeus

The United States Studies Centre is honoured to host USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Duncan Lewis AO, DSC, CSC and General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Retired). Both held senior leadership roles in uniform and in civilian life during the post-9/11 conflicts and are uniquely well placed to discuss this topic. Moderating the conversation will be USSC Visiting Senior Fellow Jane Hardy, whose most recent posting was as the most senior Australian civilian representative at INDOPACOM in Honolulu.

WHEN:
SYDNEY | Friday 10 September | 10:00-11:00am AEST
NEW YORK | Thursday 9 September | 8:00-9:00pm EDT 

COST:
Free but registration is essential.

You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event!

NEWS WRAP

Texas v. Roe v. Wade

• Don't mess with Texas | In the most restrictive abortion law enforced since Roe v. Wade (1973), Texas lawmakers have passed a near-total ban on abortions. The Supreme Court refused to block the new law (5-4) while several other Republican-led states now are revisiting their abortion laws. US Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed to “protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services”. READ MORE HERE
   

• What Ida means for infrastructure | Record breaking rain and flash flooding last week killed at least 50 people and caused US$50 million in damages to public infrastructure across New York and New Jersey. While the president directed immediate federal aid for victims of Hurricane Ida, this underscored the need for long-term climate preparedness and the US$1 trillion infrastructure proposal awaiting a House vote by 21 September. READ MORE HERE
   

• The evacuation continues | With the Taliban consolidating control over the Panjshir Valley, attention turns to the next steps for the Biden administration. Despite evacuating around evacuating 124,000 people by the 31 August deadline, US evacuation efforts continue for the roughly 100 American citizens and hundreds of US special visa holders still in Afghanistan, but challenges persist with planes forcefully grounded at Kabul's airport. READ MORE HERE

ANALYSIS

On 9/11

USSC Experts below give a brief analysis of the significance of the September 11 attacks. Click here to read further analysis on the topic.

Jane Hardy, Visiting Senior Fellow

In October 2001, I was in Pyongyang with Australia's Ambassador to China to re-establish relations with North Korea, which had broken in 1975. The North Korean Foreign Minister, a gracious elderly gentleman, emotionally asserted that US military aircraft that had recently flown over the Korean Peninsula were preparing for an attack. In reality, a US Air Force squadron had repositioned to Osan Air Base to rebalance US assets and posture after a US carrier strike group sailed from Asia to the Middle East. He recounted his childhood memory of US air power and the Korean War. Regardless of his fear and misreading, I realised the terror attacks would reverberate across Asia. And that in addition to joining the US in the Middle East, Australia would bring substance and capability to our collective efforts to stabilise the Asia region. That has occurred.

Stephen Loosley AM, Non-Resident Senior Fellow

Future military intervention at scale is most unlikely. Any intervention must be driven by a consistent, localised strategy to win, and not by a political timetable. Counterterrorism will now be dominated by over-the-horizon initiatives underpinned by more sophisticated technologies. In 20 years’ time, 9/11 will still be regarded as an atrocity but it will be seen as a spasm of terrorist activity, not an existential threat to the West. The dictators will be emboldened by the manner of US withdrawal, but democratic values must always be defended vigorously, meaning that the value of effective and committed US allies is magnified.

Brendon O’Connor, Postgraduate Coordinator and Associate Professor in American Politics

In 1998-1999 I worked as a drug policy researcher in the World Trade Center. Thus, the events of 9/11 were personal and political to me. I saw the attacks as clearly an act of unjustified terrorism, but I quickly became very concerned about the Bush administration’s response to the attacks. The Global War on Terror was a very unwise response to a deadly but numerically minor grouping of anti-American forces. The response of occupying Afghanistan, and invading and occupying Iraq, are the two great policy mistakes of the 21st century. These actions significantly reduced US power and stature in the world.

BY THE NUMBERS

64% think 9/11 changed American lives

Sarah Hamilton
Research Associate for Data Insights

According to 20 year polling by Gallup, a record high 64 per cent of Americans think the September 11 terrorist attacks permanently changed the way Americans live. 

This result increased by six per cent from the 10 year anniversary in 2011, when 58 per cent agreed.

Surprisingly, when this question was polled on the day of September 11 2001, just half (49 per cent) of Americans thought the attacks would permanently change the lives of Americans.

AN EXCERPT FROM THE FORTHCOMING USSC BOOK ALLIANCE AT 70

20 years since 9/11

Australian Prime Minister John Howard arrived in the United States on 8 September 2001 on an official working visit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty. From a Washington DC hotel only a few blocks from the White House, he witnessed America suffer an extraordinary attack on September 11. This epochal event would transform global geopolitics and, in doing so, strengthen the Alliance between the United States and Australia.

In 2000, the relationship between Australia and the United States was rebuilding, in part due to the alignment of two conservative governments, the first term of the George W Bush administration and the fifth year of John Howard’s Coalition government. The 50th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS Treaty in 2001 would be a celebration, with Howard to address a joint sitting of Congress, as well as an opportunity for him to meet the new president.

Bush and Howard spent four hours together on 10 September, attending an ANZUS commemoration ceremony and a 19-gun salute at a naval dockyard in Washington, which included America handing over the bell from the USS Canberra as a gesture of friendship. The USS Canberra was the only American ship ever commissioned in honour of an ally’s fallen vessel, at the request of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Second World War, after he was told of exceptional action in battle by the Australian Navy steaming alongside American vessels at Guadalcanal. HMAS Canberra was struck by two Japanese torpedoes and was lost, along with 193 personnel.

Prime Minister Howard later recalled discussing at the formal meeting at the White House on 10 September strengthening the Alliance, a potential free trade agreement and ‘just about everything except terrorism.’ Howard believed the Alliance needed attention after losing some of its significance since the Cold War and due to New Zealand’s inactivity.

I had no way of knowing when I arrived in Washington of what was in store on 11 September. Naturally, the address to Congress could not go ahead. As a personal gesture of support and friendship to the United States, my wife and I sat in the gallery at the commencement of a specially convened joint sitting of Congress to respond to the attacks of the previous day. We were the only visitors there and were quite moved to receive a standing ovation. I later went onto the floor of the Senate chamber, particularly seeking out Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, both of whom represented New York where some 2,750 people had died during the World Trade Center attack.

I knew the United States would respond to what had been the greatest violation of American sovereignty in that nation’s history. I also felt, instinctively, that Australia should offer assistance to our close ally. On 12 September, during a news conference at the residence of the Australian Ambassador, I said, ‘Australia will provide all support that might be requested of us by the United States in relation to any action that might be taken…’ Furthermore, I said in answer to a question, ‘I’m talking diplomatically and otherwise. We haven’t been requested to provide any military assistance but obviously, if we were asked to help, we would. It is very important at a time like this that America knows that she’s got friends.’

This is an excerpt from The Alliance at 70.

VIDEO

The Alliance 70th anniversary

To commemorate 70 years since the signing of the ANZUS treaty, the United States Studies Centre hosted a special event featuring a discussion between former Prime Ministers Julia Gillard AC and John Howard OM AC moderated by Dennis Richardson AC who previously served as Secretary to the Department of Defence, Secretary to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ambassador to the United States. Prime Minister Scott Morrison MP, Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese MP and Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian MP also provided remarks.

If you missed the event, the full replay is now available to stream. Tune in HERE. 

Catch more analysis on the United States on the USSC YouTube channel.

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

#WeRemember911