On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Americans were awakened by news of the largest terror attack in history against the country. 19 highackers commandeered four commercial airliners and crashed one each into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, and a third into the Pentagon. Passengers on the fourth plan counter attacked the highjackers in an attempt to regain control of the aircraft, which subsequently crashed in a Pennsylvanian field.
On October 7th, American forces began an extensive air campaign in the opening stages of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF). The initial military objectives of OEF included the destruction of terrorist training camps and infrastructure within Afghanistan, the capture of al Qaeda leaders, and the cessation of terrorist activities in Afghanistan. By October 20th US and Coalition forces had destroyed virtually all Taliban air defenses and were waging a succesful ground campaign against the remaining Taliban leadership. By mid-March 2002, the Taliban had been removed from power and the Al Qaida network in Afghanistan had been destroyed.
On March 19, 2003 Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) began as United States and United Kingdom aircraft began conducting military strikes against Iraq designed to disarm Iraq remove Sadam Hussein and his regime from power. The objectives of OIF were first and foremost to end the reign of Saddam Hussein, but also to eliminate any possible weapons of mass destruction, search for, capture or kill terrorists harbored by Iraq while simultaneously collecting information on terrorist networks. Another objective was to end sanctions put in place at the end of the 1991 Gulf War, immediately resume deliveries humanitarian support to the the people of Iraq, and create conditions for a transition to a representative self-government.
President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1st, 2003 and on December 13th, soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division captured Saddam Hussein in a raid on a compound of ramshackle buildings outside his hometown of Tikrit. The former dictator had spent nine months on the run. Although armed with a pistol, the still-defiant Iraqi leader was captured without firing a shot.
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