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13 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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9/11
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Common shorthand for the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, in which 19 militant Islamist men hijacked and crashed four commercial aircraft. Two planes hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse. One plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth, overtaken by passengers, crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3000 people were killed in the worst case of domestic terrorism in American history
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Abu Ghraib Prison
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A detention facility near Baghdad, Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, the prison was the site of infamous torturing and execution of political dissidents. In 2004, during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the prison became the focal point of a prisoner-abuse and torture scandal after photographs surfaced of American soldiers mistreating, torturing, and degrading Iraqi war prisoners and suspected terrorists. The scandal was one of several dark spots on the public image of the Iraq War and led to increased criticism of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
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Al Qaeda
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Arabic for “The Base,” an international alliance of anti-Western Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organizations founded in the late 1980s. Founded by veterans of the Afghan struggle against the Soviet Union, the group is headed by Osama Bin Laden and has taken responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks, especially after the late 1990s. Al Qaeda organized the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States, from its headquarters in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Since the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the launch of the “Global War on Terror,” the group has been weakened, but still poses significant threats around the world
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American Relief and Recovery Act
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Among the earliest initiatives of the Obama Administration to combat the Great Recession. It was based on the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes that called for increased government spending to offset decreased private spending in times of economic downturn. The Act was controversial from the outset, passing with no Republican votes in the House, and only three in the Senate, and helping to foster the “Tea Party” movement to curb government deficits, even while critics on the Left argued that the Act’s $787 Billion appropriation was not enough to turn the economy around
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Department of Homeland Security
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Cabinet-level agency created in 2003 to unify and coordinate public safety and anti-terrorism operations within the federal government
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Guantánamo Detention Camp
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Controversial prison facility constructed after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Located on territory occupied by the U.S. military, but not technically part of the United States, the facility serves as an extra-legal holding area for suspected terrorists
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Hurricane Katrina
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The costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States, killing nearly 2000 Americans. The storm ravaged the Gulf Coast, particularly the city of New Orleans, in late August of 2005. In New Orleans, high winds and rain caused the city’s levees to break, leading to catastrophic flooding, particularly centered on the city’s most impoverished wards. A tardy and feeble response by local and federal authorities exacerbated the damage and led to widespread criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
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Kyoto Treaty
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International treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions. It was negotiated and opened for signatories in 1997, and took effect in 2005. Although signed by 169 (of 192) countries, the Bush Administration rejected the plan as too costly in 2001
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No Child Left Behind Act
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An education bill created and signed by the George W. Bush administration. Designed to increase accountability standards for primary and secondary schools, the law authorized several federal programs to monitor those standards and increased choices for parents in selecting schools for their children. The program was highly controversial, in large part because it linked results on standardized to federal funding for schools and school districts
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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
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Also known, somewhat derisively, as “Obamacare,” the Act extended health care insurance to some 30 million Americans, marking a major step toward achieving the century-old goal of universal health care coverage for all citizens
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USA Patriot Act
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Legislation passed shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that granted broad surveillance and detention authority to the government
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Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
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Also known as the Dodd-Frank Act, after its Democratic sponsors, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd and Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank. In an effort to avoid another financial crisis like the Great Recession, the Act updated many federal regulations affecting the financial and banking systems, and created some new agencies such as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
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weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
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Refers to weapons—nuclear, biological, and chemical—that can kill large numbers of people and do great damage to the built and natural environment. The term was used to refer to nuclear weapons during the Cold War. The Bush administration’s claim that Saddam Hussein had developed WMD provided the rationale for the United States’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. These weapons were never found after the invasion
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