A New American Century: 9/11 Averted Timeline

I like it so far! It's worth mentioning that there's a decent chunk of evidence that Bush was planning the Iraq War from early 2001 and several months pre-9/11 so its likely we'll still see at least an attempt at rallying people against Iraq, whether or not its successful is definitely up in the air though.
 
I like it so far! It's worth mentioning that there's a decent chunk of evidence that Bush was planning the Iraq War from early 2001 and several months pre-9/11 so its likely we'll still see at least an attempt at rallying people against Iraq, whether or not its successful is definitely up in the air though.

I'll keep this in mind. I'm not sure if such a push would be successful but I could definitely see him trying.
 
I have to say, I'm not so sure about the PoD. Removing Bin Laden from the picture should really have more ripple effects in the 90s, especially with other attacks of his(the Cole and 1st World Trade Center bombings come to mind), possible affects of him out of the picture on US domestic politics, and our intervention/activity in Somalia as well as Sudan's activities. A better PoD might be one in early 2000.
 
I have to say, I'm not so sure about the PoD. Removing Bin Laden from the picture should really have more ripple effects in the 90s, especially with other attacks of his(the Cole and 1st World Trade Center bombings come to mind), possible affects of him out of the picture on US domestic politics, and our intervention/activity in Somalia as well as Sudan's activities. A better PoD might be one in early 2000.

I think I gave a nod to that in the POD note when I mentioned "attacks up to 9/11." But I don't see much changing besides that, bin Laden didn't even have much to do with the 1993 bombing. That was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (who is still out there), who was a part of the Mujahideen and had anti-American sentiments shortly after. There's an argument to be made that the '93 attack still happens.

Why was that your favorite bit? Any idea how far you'll take this?

Just thought the line was the funniest. I'll probably take this until 2020 but it's likely this will wrap up before then, so I'll probably stop at 2018 and then do a brief epilogue covering 2020.
 
I still feel like there should be other butterflies from no Bin Laden, especially the PoD affects AQ forming.
 
Maybe the fundamentalist elite will go after Egypt, Morocco, and other "Apostate" regimes within the middle east and leave the great satan be,
 
Domestic Policy in 2002
Bush Looks Weakened, Democrats Poised for Control

September 16, 2002

“Although President Bush began 2002 fresh off first-year momentum, legislative achievements, and a stable global stage, he seems to have found himself in a starkly different situation with the midterm elections just over a month away. His ties to the bankrupt energy company Enron has left his credibility as president damaged on top of his razor-thin victory over Democratic nominee Al Gore. By the end of spring, some rogue Democrats even threatened impeachment.

But the greatest mistake Bush ever made was making Social Security reform an issue ahead of the midterms. As a push for changes to the long-running program began in earnest in summer, Democratic candidates running for reelection and to unseat Republicans went on the attack, asserting that President Bush and his congressional allies wanted to "put Grandma on the street." The entire ordeal, combined with ongoing Enron attacks and economic recession pushed Bush's approval rating down below 50% by the end of August. As we know, entitlement reform never came up for a vote in the House. Efforts to ban partial-birth abortion suffered the same fate as other domestic priorities, to the chagrin of social conservatives in Congress such as Rick Santorum (R-PA).

In fact, the only domestic achievement made by Bush this year was not even one of his priorities, but instead was the product of his former presidential primary rival, Senator John McCain (R-AZ). The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, otherwise known as McCain-Feingold, was signed into law partially to avoid confirming corruption allegations despite the President himself not taking a stance for or against. Immigration reform remains on the table, with the most recent polls showing that majorities of both parties would support a path to citizenship and increased border security. However, it is yet to be seen that much will come of it until after the midterms.

Finally, the President has also been faced with attacks relating to his foreign policy. Former President Bill Clinton, when asked last month about his thoughts on the new administration, voiced concern over Bush's perceived willingness to withdraw the United States from the rest of the world. Examples of this, he said, were ending American participation in the Kyoto Protocol global treaty, pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia in June, and also ending the nuclear reduction treaty with North Korea that summer after increased tensions in Asia, dating back to the previous year.

All of this in mind, it is hard to view President Bush's second year as much of a success. As recent political cartoons have illustrated, his pretzel incident last January appears to have become a metaphor for his quagmire so soon into his presidency. Unless Bush makes adjustments to his policies at home and abroad, it is far-fetched that his party will retain control of the White House, let alone Congress."

-- A political op-ed for The New York Times
 
Well, an update at last, and a good one at that. I smell 2006 but 4 years earlier for Bush, so basically his and the Republicans' own version of 1994 (or OTL 2010).

Would also love to see more pop culture updates as the timeline goes along, as well as international stuff. For one, I think there will have to be some sort of action taken against the Taliban in Afghanistan, as they are likely still in power without 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror to remove them from power. And since the first half of 2002 hasn't been really covered, I am going to assume that it's been mostly the same as OTL leaving aside the after-effects of 9/11, with the India-Pakistan standoff still occurring (and perhaps gaining more attention too without the War on Terror).

And assuming there is no Iraq War (a bit surprised that a push for action on Iraq hasn't been mentioned in this latest update), I wonder whether the focus will be on North Korea as far as stopping WMD proliferation is concerned, though even then I doubt that Bush will ITTL do more than impose sanctions through UN. I can see the later half of 2002 and 2003 becoming a pivotal point regarding North Korea ITTL, though. And if Iraq doesn't happen, that will likely mean Libya will remain a pariah state, at least for as long as Gaddafi is in power.
 
Wasn't able to go too much into detail about early 2002 because butterflies are just now picking up, most is still as it was OTL in both politics and pop culture (censorship of certain scenes after the attacks aside) More time will be spent on each year as time goes on. The thousands of lives going differently with no 9/11 or Afghan War will inevitably start to alter the course of the country soon. Stay tuned on that push on Iraq.
 
For future reference:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-laden/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a90aaa959918

Also, I doubt there would be any incentive to do anything about Iraq unless they did something to the weapons inspectors. Maybe airstrikes targeting Saddam's regime, but no invasion. And what about Afghanistan?

What might have been: The NY Times on September 11th 2001:
10page-cityroom-blog480-v2.jpg
 
Also:

For the 2004 Presidential election:

Round Two? Al Gore accepting the
Democratic nomination for a second time
(Al Gore was reportedly thinking of running again in 2003 until he decided not to at the very last minute)
agdnc04.jpeg


Or:
Joe Lieberman Time.jpg

As it wouldn't be John Kerry or Howard Dean, since they were both reactions to the Iraq War & Bush would, presumably, be a peacetime President here.
 
A writing update since today is the anniversary and I've been debating this. Since dw93 just recently rebooted his own 9/11 timeline as a collaboration, I wasn't entirely sure if I should contribute to that while working on this on the side or if it would be better to merge them altogether. I've decided on the latter option just so we can work on a definitive timeline without worrying about "stealing" elements of the other.

If anyone would like to join the group I'm about to make for sharing ideas, post so here. The link to the timeline I'm moving what I was going to write here is below:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...1st-century-america-a-collaborative-tl.449708
 
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