Final Assigned Blog

[3hannah]

Watergate

"Watergate" refers specifically to the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., but is also the general term for a series of scandals taking place from 1972 to 1974 that destroyed President Nixon. These scandals started June 17, 1972, when five burglars broke into the the office of the Democratic Party National Committee in the Watergate Hotel. They were all arrested the same day. Soon after the FBI found evidence that the five men were connected to the re-election committee. Even more evidence was found that tied the break-in to the white house and the president. Nixon denied any ties, but would only be able to so for so long.

Nixon was re-elected but the scandal remained. It was discovered that Nixon had all white house phone conversations taped. It was ordered that these tapes should be turned over. At first he refused, which right then proved he had something to hide. Eventually he did turn them over, however. On one of the tapes, a conversation was discovered planning the break-in and how it would be covered up. With a certain impeachment on the horizon, Nixon was forced to resign.

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Persian Gulf War(1990-91)

The war began between Iraq and Kuwait over oil. Iraq thought Kuwait was producing too much oil too fast therefore causing prices to drop. In August of 1990, Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait in order to control the production of oil. The Security Council of the United Nations gave Iraq until January 15, 1991, to withdraw. When Iraq had not withdrawn, Operation Desert Storm (code name for the Gulf War) commenced. Air strikes did the greatest damage in this war. By the time the land attacks had begun, Iraq had been so devastated that they fell within 100 hours.

A temporary cease-fire came on February 27, and a permanent one on April 6, 1991.

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9-11 and the War on Terror- invasion of Afghanistan

September 11 is not a date likely to be forgotten for the American people. On this day, two of the four hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. A third hit the Pentagon. The fourth was over-taken by passengers but crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. There were no survivors from the planes, and few from the buildings themselves. 2,995 people lost their lives that day.

As a result of this terrorist attack from Al-Qaeda, the US invaded Afghanistan to rid it of the Taliban, who had harbored the terrorists. The main objectives of this War on Terror were as fallows: defeat terrorists like Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; identify, locate, and destroy all terrorist organizations; to deny all sponsorship, support, and sanctuary to terrorists; diminish underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit; and to defend US's citizens and interests at home and abroad.

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Invasion of Iraq-2003

The invasion began on March 20, 2003, led by the US, Great Britain, Poland, and Australia. The initial invasion ended on May 1 of the same year. The main reasons were to dismantle their weapons of mass destruction, end Sudan's support of terrorism, and free the Iraqi people by over-throwing Saddam Hussein. Over half of the US (63%) wanted to find a different way of handling the situation. Some of the US's closest allies didn't agree with our plan of action either.

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