American+Forgien+Policy

= What if September 11th never happened how would Americas Forgein Policy have changed? =


 * America’s view of the world and their country has changed dramatically over the past decade and this change may be permanent because of on Sept. 11. But in to be able to quantify the extent of these changes it is important to look at where America's focus toward international issues stood before the attacks occurred. A three-month survey by the Pew Research Center, in collaboration with the Council on Foreign Relations completed in early September 2001 provides a detailed snapshot of the worldview of “before” America.
 * The survey, named America’s Place in the World, discovered the fears Americas public had in Sept. 2001 in relation to global issues. No single issue or concern was dominant. While the spread of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism were ranked among the top threats to the United States, the public also expressed concern over a list of global problems ranging from infectious diseases to international financial instability. China was seen as the country that posed the greatest danger to the United States, but the dominant view among both the public is that China is a problem to be managed, not an enemy to be defeated. Most groups saw the spread of radical Islam as a greater threat to U.S. interests than China’s emergence as a world power and this may have been the wrong choice.
 * The public understood that the peace and prosperity of the 1990s were coming to an end. for instance, satisfaction in a poll fell from 60% in 1997 to 34%. Much of this dissatisfaction was completely connected to concerns about President Bush’s handling of foreign policy specifically, he paid too little attention to the interests and concerns of traditional allies.
 * For its part, the public, while giving Bush much higher marks, saw the world as a much more dangerous place than the influentials. And there were signs that the public was awakening international affairs. A majority supported the continued deployment of U.S. forces in the Balkans and most backed military intervention to prevent an African genocide. A growing minority of Americans (29%) said the media is not providing enough coverage of foreign news, although a majority expressed satisfaction with the amount of overseas news.
 * Both the public and influentials believed that foreign terrorists posed a much greater risk of deploying a weapon of mass destruction against the United States than even hostile military powers. For leaders, this grew into broad opposition of Bush’s missile defense proposal. A majority of the public, however, continued to express support for the plan.

=Top 5 Things That Have Changed=

__** 1) Priorities. **__
 * Obviously, American policy priorities internationally, have been dominated by terrorism during the recent future. But what has become of the broad support for other goals, like preventing the spread of infectious diseases, dealing with global warming and preventing genocide? Before the attacks, these were regarded as at least as important as the War on Terror.

__** 2) Bush’s Foreign Policy. **__
 * American influentials expressed concerns about Bush’s go-it-alone approach. Europeans were even more withering in their criticism of the president’s foreign policy an August survey showed that more than seven-in-ten people in each of four major European nations said Bush makes decisions based entirely on U.S. interests.


 * __3) Missile Defense__. **
 * How do the terror attacks affect the skepticism among the public that existed before the attacks? A missile defense system would have been ineffective in the face of a suicide assault, but at a time when there is a call for homeland defense, public backing for a missile shield may prove resilient.

__** 4) Globalization. **__
 * The public did not strongly endorsed expanding trade and globalization, but those in power, at least seven-in-ten in every group said they believed globalization is a good thing for the United States and majority of the public (60%) agreed but 42% said they shared some concerns of anti-globalization protesters. These concerns were largely ill-defined, but a significant number (16%) pointed to globalization’s environmental impact. Does the economic downturn now intensify public opposition to trade and globalization?

__** 5) Public Engagement. **__
 * Certainly, public interest in international affairs has soared since the crisis began, but will it continue? In the past, interenational crises have produced spikes in public attention to foreign affairs, but they proved temporary. The question now is whether the struggle against terrorism will generate increased interest in overseas issues over the long term. This issue also has a political dimension. In the post post-Cold War era, will Americans continue to elect presidents primarily on their ability to deal with domestic matters?

=__Americas Allies after 9 11__=

= = = = = = = = =__Enemies__= ==



=__//**Taliban and al Queda**//__=



**__Americans View of the War Today__**

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Only 15% say the terrorists are winning that war, while 26% say neither side is ahead.
 * Voter confidence in U.S. efforts in the War on Terror remain at record recent levels.

46% believes the United States is safer today than it was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, down five points from 51% last month. That finding has ranged anywhere from 39% to 54% since November 2006. In the most recent survey, 32% do not believe the United States is safer today, and another 23% are not sure.
 * Last mont, just days after the killing of Osama bin Laden, confidence in the War on Terror jumped 23 points from a four-year low of 32% in April to 55%, the highest level since January 2009. Since early November 2006, the number of voters who believe America is winning the War on Terror has run as high as 62%, but through late 2009 and most of 2010 it hovered in the high 30s and low 40s.

=How would things be different?=
 * If the fateful day, on September 2001 had never happened things would be far different America would have been able to focus there power towards other more important domestic areas such as the economy.
 * American people would less focused and paranoid about Islamic culture. There has been a lot of focus put on muslim culture and they have been to be thought as evil. As ignorant and wrong as that statement can be it is a reality of life. Americans have always found someone to blame for the problems. Eve though these attacks are a small radical group everyone who resembles them is thought to be a terrorist.
 * If America had focused more on the economy would things have changed and the rescission been less devastating to the America people.
 * Would America have been able to focus more on the problems it faced at home rather than those thousands of miles away.
 * Would civil rights still be as free as we imagine them to be or does the Patriot Act still come into place in order to "protect" the American people.

=Timeline of America International Affairs=