The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 dealt a devastating blow not only in terms of the people killed and businesses lost, but also to the ability of the American people to make to make critical judgment. President George Bush and his administration knew this, and has used the 9/11 attacks to mobilize uncritical public opinion behind its domestic as well as foreign policy. This paper presents a critical review of America’s “war on terror” in Africa, its variants, its historical foundations and functional perspectives, and the way it has been co-opted by its contemporary quest for the occupation and militarization of strategic natural resources like oil fields in the continent. It therefore rejects the narrow definition of terrorism insisted on by Washington that exempts terrorism committed by African governments supporting the “war on terror” (state terrorism) from the definition, and for political reasons restricts the term solely to “private terrorism” committed by private individuals or non-state organizations like al-Qaeda.