September 11 and the failures of American intellectuals

Were the military and the FAA really that incompetent? Were our intelligence-gathering agencies really in the dark about 9/11? How could so much go wrong at once, in the world's strongest and most technologically sophisticated country? Both the government and the mainstream media have tried to portray the 9/11 truth movement as led by people who can be dismissed as "conspiracy theorists." This volume shows this caricature to be untrue. Coming from different academic disciplines as well as from different parts of the world, the authors are united In the conviction that the official story about 9/11 is a huge deception manufactured to extend Imperial control at home and abroad.

The Forum, 2003

Professors Hopkins and Hopkins review the impact of 9/11 as a symbol in American politics. Following the terrorist attacks, "9/11" became a simple reference condensing wide-ranging events and emotions. Various interpretations emerged about what caused "9/11" and enabled the attacks. The authors claim that 9/11 allowed US leaders to pursue certain policy prescriptions that otherwise would have been blocked. Among four possible prescriptions for responding to the attacks, the Bush administration chose a "praetorian" policy of preventive war, with Iraq as its first example. In the authors' view, by pursuing an expansive but highly militarized response, the US has overlooked the need to alleviate the conditions that made 9/11 possible. The authors recommend that the US, as part of a multilateral effort, allocate major resources to expanding "global public goods," including measures that strengthen barriers to proliferation, enhance fighting of global crime, and reduce incentives for terrorism, especially ones arising in failing states where distorted education and weak protection of human rights encourage organized terrorism.

2012

First and foremost, my immense gratitude goes to Dr. Gretchen B. Rossman for her advice, thoughtful criticism, clarity and attention to this project. Her intimate knowledge of qualitative research approaches and long-standing commitment to preserve confidentiality and judicious temperament helped me find my voice in negotiating new and unfamiliar terrain. I would like to thank Dr. Joseph B. Berger for serving on the committee and for his priceless suggestion to bring the important perspective on governance of higher education to my research analysis. I owe a large debt to Dr. John R. Mullin, with whom I have been engaged over the past many years in a continuing conversation about the need for greater understanding of Islam and the Islamic World in institutions of higher education. I could never have started this academic pilgrimage without his continuous motivation, encouragement and faith in my work. I deeply appreciate his guidance as a member on the committee and for being an important part of my studies and scholarship over the past several years. I would also like to express my appreciation to Patrick Sullivan and Michael Alderman in the Graduate School for their support and assistance. My special thanks to my supportive, generous and invaluable colleague, Lori Baronas, without whom I could not have survived this long ordeal. Thanks also to the Graduate School staff who enthusiastically gave to me their support and encouragement. It is difficult to express the depth of my gratitude to my friend, Ismet Ozkilic. His unwavering support, understanding, and constant belief in my completing this project kept me motivated throughout the long years of research and writing. I would also like to express my gratitude to my friend, Professor Iqbal Agha, whose remarkable acumen and vi knowledge about the US academic culture helped me in dealing with some of the most challenging issues. I am affectionately thankful to my wonderful young friend, Sofia Haque, for her loving and gentle support. Sof, I have been most lucky to have you by my side always. My deepest gratitude goes to my family for their unflagging love and support throughout my life. I am indebted to my intellectual brother, Professor Rasheed A. Khan, for his thoughtful suggestions and ideas. My deepest thanks and love go to my most affectionate and immensely caring brother, Altaf A. Khan, and my wonderful sister-inlaw, Nasim Mallick Khan, for their enthusiastic support. I am deeply grateful to my sister, Shameem Syed, for her constant loving presence, and remain deeply indebted to my brother in-law, Professor Anwar Syed, for his continued guidance and advice throughout my academic and professional life. Finally, I owe my deepest love and thanks to my two bright stars, Fauzia, my daughter who brightens every day of my life with her radiant smiles and laugh, and Azeem, my brilliant and witty son-in-law who has been a constant source of encouragement and confidence. I am grateful and proud to have you both in my life and I have been lucky to be able to share this journey with you.

Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 2004

Books about September II and the 'War on Terror' have become a veritable growth industry since 200 I. This edited book, published in 2002, was one of the first and is still one of the best. Many of its 35 chapters agree that, despite the cliche ofthe September II genre, the world did not change on that date; rather, causal relations long since set in train produced effects which were suddenly and globally manifest. Christian Parenti (pp I 0-19), for example, writing while smoke still seeped from the ruins of the twin towers, identifies a 'boomerang' in the turning back against the US empire of the Islamic fundamentalist militias that were nurtured and fostered by it in fighting for the downfall of the Soviet Union, notably in Afghanistan. 'America's open-ended jihad is precisely the type of policy that will compound the existing problems from which emerged the four suicidal jet-bombs of September II ' (p 18).

SubStance, 2008

2021

As the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, we contemplate and reflect on the current social/political imagination of terror(ism) and U.S./Canadian patriotism. For educators seeking to unpack 9/11 and its reverberations, it is important to highlight Islamophobic and anti-Muslim racism, discrimination, prejudice, and violence, as well as to consider Muslim students’ lived experiences. (Re)thinking about whose voices are included (or not) within the nexus of sociopolitical power is an important step toward justice and then rapprochement within and beyond the classroom. We consider this assemblage of articles to be a distinctly communal effort that responds to and attempts to disrupt the (perpetual) echoes of terror(ism) which became amplified by/through the events of 9/11.

The Geographical Journal, 2011

Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2011

Mandate and the Creation of Israel (Mason Crest, 2007) and Radical Islam (Mason Crest, 2009), both designed for middle and high school students. The Palestine Mandate is part of a 10-volume series on the Making of the Modern Middle East; Radical Islam is part of a 10-volume series on Islam. Dear Educators, In advance of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, I thought I would share some notes with you about "Teaching 9/11," based on my own presentations to high school students. But before I do, allow me to recommend just four essays that I have found very useful:

International Studies Perspectives, 2002

The advantage of academic life is that society allows us to spend years reading things no one else reads, writing articles and books almost no one else reads, and traveling to places no one else travels to. But in times of crisis, when the totally unexpected becomes reality, society understandably expects that we serve our communities with knowledge, explanation, insights, and policy alternatives. The days, weeks, and months following the attacks of 11 September were such an occasion and many academics experienced sudden demands for public commentary and analysis. As international studies scholars, we have insights and knowledge that our communities require and desire, most notably in times of crisis. By responding to the best of our abilities, we are able to return something to society and help people understand more clearly the world in which we live. In this essay, we discuss how we handled this challenge in the wake of 11 September and the lessons we have learned through that process.