History: War on Terror

Quickly enacted with little opposition in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the USA PATRIOT Act primarily enlarged the powers of federal law-enforcement and intelligence-gathering agencies when dealing with terror crimes, but sections of the extensive bill also apply to criminal acts generally.

One of the first facts to come out of the investigations into September 11 was that the FAA had failed to provide the necessary airport security to prevent the September 11 attacks. Rather than reform the old system, a new agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), was proposed to handle a revamped federal government security program.

Systematic violence in the furtherance of political aims, often by small guerrilla groups.

Former building complex in lower Manhattan, New York City, consisting of seven buildings and a shopping concourse on a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) site; it was destroyed by a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

Country in southwest Asia, bounded north by Turkey, east by Iran, southeast by the Gulf and Kuwait, south by Saudi Arabia, and west by Jordan and Syria.

An Islamic militant and exponent of terror as a means of political communication.

Islamic-extremist international terrorist organization, nominally controlled by Osama bin Laden. It was responsible on 11 September 2001 for the world's single worst terrorist atrocity, with the suicide hijackings of airliners that crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and other targets, including the Pentagon, at the cost of around 3,000 lives.

Afghan political and religious military force that seized control of southern and central Afghanistan, including the country's capital, Kabul, in September 1996.

Iraqi leader, in power from 1968, president 1979-2003. He presided over the Iran-Iraq war 1980-88.

S-led military action against Afghanistan beginning 7 October 2001. This first strike in the war on terror followed the refusal of the Taliban regime to surrender Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on 11 September 2001.

The day on which a terrorist attack in the US destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York and severely damaged the Pentagon in Washington, DC, causing the deaths of almost 3000 people.