Homework for 3-6

Recall that in the lead-up to the Iraq War of 2003, the Bush administration and allies in the UK, Spain, and other countries justified the war with several arguments:

1. Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)
2. Iraq was tied to terrorists groups that could, therefore, use those WMDs to carry out an attack more horrifying than 9/11
3. Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator in a potentially democracy-loving country; the Iraqi people would welcome us as liberators and set up a democratic government that would set an example for the rest of the Middle East

Read the following articles.  Annotate the articles (writing and highlighting) or answer the following questions on paper so that you can bring your answers to class and discuss them.  Keep in mind that the questions can apply to any or all of the articles.

• Article 1 link. 
• Article 2 link. 
• Article 3 link. 

1. What parallels do you see to the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War?
2. How is Iran acting similarly or differently than Iraq did? 
3. How concerned should we be about these developments? 

REMEMBER: the quiztest will cover the basic Islam/Islamism terms, the basic roles in terrorism and the contemporary world of each of the Middle East countries we covered, and some very basic information about nuclear weapons.  Study your notes from the power points, clarify them in writing, and bring them to class so you can use them on your test.