Ratner
Lee Ratner
11/20/13
UPDATED DRAFT: The Downfall of Authority
Five years after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, President George W.
Bush delivered a speech on terrorism. In this speech, President Bush attempts to persuade
the American citizens that the enemy is a monstrous group of people who won’t stop
killing Americans, and all innocent people, until someone stops them. President Bush
utilizes his authority and power as President by going on national television and inciting
fear in American citizens. When referring to terrorists, Bush states, “They operate in the
shadows of society. They send small teams of operatives to infiltrate free nations. They
live quietly among their victims. They conspire in secret. And then they strike without
warning” (NY Times, 2006). President Bush demonstrated just how persuasive a person
in a position of prestige could be. People who have authority and hold positions of
prestige have the ability to control the emotions and beliefs of the public; but this may
lead to problems.
The impact of Bush’s speech was tremendous; it was not a speech that was
overlooked. In the United States, anyone who looked middle-eastern was considered
suspicious. Bush needed the support of the citizens regarding detaining so called
“terrorists”. Without the support of the citizens, Guantanamo Bay Detention Center
wouldn’t have even been able to exist for a day without the citizens attacking the
government. Bush makes this desire clear when he stated, “To win the war on terror, we
must be able to detain, question and, when appropriate, prosecute terrorists captured here
in America and on the battlefields around the world” (NY Times). This led to the
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establishment of the infamous Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Located near Cuba,
Guantanamo Bay was an old naval base for the American military that was no longer in
use. In 2002, President Bush declared it to be established as military prison for war
criminals. However, the inmates held at this prison would be subjected to treatment far
worse than in normal penitentiaries. It wasn’t long before people found out that “many
detainees had been held without charge for five years and some had been subjected to
documented abuses” (CFR, 2007). The American media began to expose the inhumane
treatment of detainees at the detention center.
When the International Committee of the Red performed inspections, they found
“cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment of detainees at the U.S. military prison in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and issued a formal report in July that said some interrogation
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