SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was a day of reflection, remembrance, and service. Last Friday, our IN FOCUS topic featured stories of people who were affected by 9/11. On Monday evening, Prof. Amos Guiora from the S.J. Quinney College of Law and Prof. Janicke Stramer-Smith with the Department of Political Science and Philosophy at Weber State University joined ABC4’s Rosie Nguyen on the CW30 News at 7 p.m. to discuss what changed after that day for our country, where we are now on an international scale, and what we’ve learned over the last two decades.
In part one, Guiora and Stramer-Smith shared their recollection of where they were and what they were doing on 9/11, what they thought about the change in our nation’s collective mindset between when the first and second planes hit the World Trade Center, and when global unity began to change in the days and weeks following the tragedy.
In part two, they talked about how the authority granted to President Bush to use military force in the months after 9/11 led to the War in Afghanistan, how the objective of the war changed over time, whether the false evidence used to start the War in Iraq caused division and diminished trust in our government, what was gained and lost in the rise of security in the country, and the strategies of drone strikes and contractors in the U.S. military.
In part three, they discussed due process points for terrorists since they have not been brought to trial for 9/11, but are being held in places like Guantanamo Bay. Guiora and Stramer-Smith also addressed the question of who’s filling the void internationally now that U.S. troops are out of Afghanistan and whether they think there were any positive outcomes that came out of the decisions in the last 20 years.
To watch the full IN FOCUS discussion with Guiora and Stramer-Smith, click on the video at the top of the article.
Catch IN FOCUS discussions with ABC4’s Rosie Nguyen weeknights on the CW30 News at 7 p.m.
