The Watergate scandal started on June 17, 1972 when a security guard at the Democratic National Committee discovered tape covering the locks on doors so they could not be locked. The security guard figured nothing of it. Which i think that in a place of that importance they would take security a little more seriously. But then the guard found the tape on the locks a second time and decided to call the cops. Virgilio Gonzales, Bernard Baker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis were all arrested. After checks in these mens bank accounts had been linked to the president, the president was put on trials. Donald Sanders asked if there were any tape recording devices in the white house, which there were. These tapes were asked to be turned over to the court. Nixon refused to turn them over. After awhile Nixon agreed to release copies of many of these tapes to see if they had any evidence on them. But even this caused problems because many of the tapes had segments erased from them. After this evidence the supreme court issued that Nixon give the tapes over. Later seven of the presidents former aides were arrested for trying to hinder the watergate investigation. Eventually one of the tapes pretty much convicted Nixon because it had a recording of him talking about a watergate coverup plan. After this Nixon resigned as president of the United States even though he was just about to be impeached anyway. His resignation speech is just a bunch of crap trying to justify his reasons to cover up the watergate scandal in my opinion. But onto the next topic.
The Persian Gulf War, also know by many americans as operation Desert Storm. There was a lot of tension between Iraq and Kuwait because of debts and Iraq considered Kuwait a territory of Iraq. On August 2, 1990 iraq invaded Kuwait and bombed Kuwait City. Even though there was all of this tension and Iraq even said it may use military action, Kuwait didn't have its forces on alert and was overrun in days or fighting. Iraq burned Kuwaits oil fields and resources, like the scorched earth war policy. It was almost like the Invasion of Germany and Poland. I guess Kuwait just called Iraq's bluff about using military and they paid for it. After this victory Saddam made his cousin, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, the govenor or Kuwait. Operation Desert shield started on August 7, 1990 in which the United States landed in Saudi Arabia to defend them if Iraq tried to invade. US soldiers built up and totaled 543,00 troops. All of the US forces in Saudi Arabia stopped Iraq because they couldnt fight a war against the United States. We pushed back Iraq and called a cease fire within 100 hours of the start of the ground campaign. The United Nations passed a order that Iraq had until January 15 1991 to withdrawl all of their forces before force would be used. Total battle deaths for the US were 147 KIA, 145 nonbattle deaths and 467 wounded. I think that what the US did was a valuable lesson learned from WW2 by not letting dictators invade and take what they want. We stopped Saddam before he gained more power by taking over Saudi Arabia's oil fields.
9/11 and the War on Terror. Well most everybody knows about 9/11, if you dont youve probly been living under a rock. 2976 civilians were killed when 19 hijackers took 4 airliners and crashed them into specific targets that had been specified by al-Quaeda terrorists. At 8:46 AM the first airliner crashed into the world trade centers and the second world trade center was hit by the other airliner at 9:03 AM. A third plane crashed into the pentagon at 9:37 AM, the fourth flight which was origianally though to be headed for the White House was actually headed to the US capitol building. The fourth plane that was hijacked crashed near shanksville Pennselvania at 10:03 AM after passengers tried to get control of the plane from hijackers. These attacks are the main cause of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. The war on terror was started by George W. Bush as a response to the 9/11 attack on the United States. The war on terror is supported by the allies of the United States. Although "the war on terror" isnt used anymore. I like the sound of it better that "Overseas Contingency Operation" that president obama uses. In my opinion it seems like Obama wants to cloud the fact that what were fighting is terrorism, and that we are at war because we have troops stationed over there. Its not so much a war as a United States occupation. On October 7, 2001 the United States started military operations in Afghanistan. Kabul was bombed Other nations also send their troops to free Afghanistan from Taliban control. The invasion was called Operation Enduring Freedom.Since the start of the invasion, American forces in Afghanistan are always facing trouble with enemies. Taliban followers continue to attack American soldiers and their allies. Because of the US and their allies, Afghanistan has started a more democratic government. The invasion forces between October 2001 and August 2005 suffered 289 killed soldiers, including 231 Americans. American soldiers stayed in Afghanistan in 2005, many people have attempted several peaceful protests in the United States. Like I said earlier even though there is fighting over there we have far more military than them so we are more of an occupying force. And now we get to the final topic.
The ivasion of Iraq. One of the huge reasons why we invaded Iraq was the threat of nuclear weapons. we could not let terrorist get them and cause more terrorist activities. The plans for this invasion were somewhat controversial as i heard on the today show a long time ago the operation was called operation iraqui freedom, which also happens to spell oil which there is much of in that region. The 2003 invasion of Iraq started march 20. 4 countries invaded with troops but now 36 countries are involved in the invasion of Iraq. On february 18 there were 100,000 troops in kuwait waiting for the order to invade. on March 19, 2003 there was a airstrike on the Iraqui presidential palace.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
this is a picture of president Nixon giving his resignation speech.
this is a picture of "the highway of death" in the persian gulf war
this is a picture of the 9/11 terrorist attack
some pictures from the ivasion of iraq
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