Analyzing War on
P.A.D 510- Public Policy A
August, 10th, 2013

1. The war on terror policy campaign began after the September, 11th, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York. For the last thirteen years the world has been bombarded with policies that are tailored to fight for acts of terrorism. The purpose of the war on terror which was a term that was first coined by the former president of the United States George W. Bush was a desperate act that was taken in order for Americans to protect their citizens and their values especially justice and freedom. According to a news report by scholars with the Eisenhower Research Project at Brown’s University Watson Institute for International Studies, the cost of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan are estimated to have claimed over 225,000 lives and up to $4 trillion in U.S. spending and the wars will cost an additional undisclosed cost to include the medical care and disability for current and future war veterans. Just recently on August, 7th, 2013 a recent terrorism alert prompted the closure of nearly two dozen American embassies in the Arab world. The Huffington Post reported that American citizens were urged to leave Yemen because of the impending drone strike.

2. The players on President Bush's cabinet consisted of a select group of senior administration officials. They were George Bush, Richard Cheney, Andrew Card, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rich, George Tenet, Robert Mueller, Donald Rumsfield, and Richard Armitage who were all the experienced in foreign affairs. Five of these people had a hand in executing the Persian Gulf War with President Bush's father, who happened to be a former president of the United States and had his trust (Cheney, Rice, Powell, Armitage and Mueller.) According to (Brickland, 2011) the official actors on the "War of Terror" policy are the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of the government. The executive branch President George Bush, as the commander in chief of the United States was instrumental in the agenda setting for the "War on Terror". He used a rapid and aggressive approach to eliminate the Taliban, Al Queda and the countries responsible for the 9/11 attack to restore the confidence of the social environment.

The unofficial actors involved are the news media. The agenda setting theory describes the "ability of the news media to influence the salience of topics of the public agenda. The media can find ways and tactics regarding critical need to advance America's war on terror. We have experienced time and time again the media reporting different terrorist activities which enrage America. They carry out agendas for Washington and Corporate America which can create unnecessary drama and manipulate the public ways of thinking in order to get ratings or sale commercials. We need a mass media that would stick to addressing and reporting the concerns of the people and we as people need to separate the truth from the facts. We need to make our decision on what to believe from unprejudiced information. The interest groups involved in the "War on Terror" which is the chief and most obvious of such groups is the military. Whenever there is a war the involvement of the military is of paramount value since they are directly responsible for fighting. "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is another interest group that plays an active role in the war of terrorism. The objective of the FBI is to provide a sense of safety protection and order to the United States citizens. Through investigation, intelligence and manpower bass track to protect Americans from form and domestic terrorist. (Quickfacts)."

3. The role and function of some of the key members that I described previously that are official players in the Bush administration on the "War on Terror" are listed below:

1. George W. Bush- He was instrumental in setting a broad direction and delegating responsibilities to trusted