What's Happening in the U.S.?
Let's explore the 2000's, Modern America
Election of 2008
- Barack Obama ran on the Democratic ticket
- John McCain ran on the opposite Republican ticket
- Obama aimed to raise taxes on the rich and provide insurance to America's workforce
- McCain was a conservative who aimed to balance the nation's budget and make abortion illegal.
- Obama won and became the U.S.'s 44th and first African American president.
Effects of the 9/11 Attacks
- The Patriot Act was promptly passed to increase national security
- U.S. invaded Afghanistan and Iraq in attempt to take down Al Qaeda
- Self-Defense budgets for the U.S. skyrocketed
- Deportations majorly increased
- Foreign surveillance increased
War in Afghanistan
- Troops were sent to Afghanistan to dismantle Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the terrorist groups believed to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.
- Longest running war in U.S. history
- Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, was finally assassinated in 2011 in Pakistan
- Obama made it part of his main goals to get troops out of Afghanistan, and in 2011 they started to move out