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U.S. "War on Terror" evolving a decade after 9/11

Monday, September 05, 2011 - 02:30

Sept. 5 - The U.S. ''War on Terror'' continues albeit differently since the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Paskistan. Deborah Gembara reports.

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The "War on Terror" --- these were the words President Bush chose to define the U.S.'s response to 9/11. Enemy number one: Osama bin Laden ---the head of the Al Qaeda network and mastermind behind the attacks. American troops would soon find themselves engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The "war on terror" tactics would include: preventative detention, prisoner renditions, pain-based interrogations, aggressive profiling of Arabs and Muslims, and increased use of domestic wiretaps. Critics called these tactics excessive, cruel and un-American. Under President Obama, U.S. strategy evolved to include increased emphasis on diplomacy but retained many of the controversial methods used during the Bush administration. There's also been more emphasis on local vigilance. Dr. Stephen Flynn, the president of the Center for National Policy in Washington. SOUNDBITE: Dr. Stephen Flynn, the president of the Center for National Policy saying: "Increasingly, the reality is that some of your adversaries may come from the very society that is being targeted and also the response will have to be locally because they can't always be prevented." Ten years on, there hasn't been another attack on the U.S. soil. But there have been attempts including this 2010 botched car bomb attack in Times Square Police officers now find themselves on the frontline says Prince George's County police chief Mark Magaw . SOUNDBITE: Prince George's County police chief Mark Magaw saying: "Now, following 9/11, everything that we do has that in mind, the terrorism piece, the homeland security piece. So as we, patrol officers, are out on the street every day handling regular routine calls from the community, always in the back of their mind and from training, but always in the back of their mind is homeland security. " After eluding U.S. forces for nearly a decade, the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan will likely mean more changes to the U.S. war on terrorism. Deborah Gembara, Reuters.