WATER GATE
Video Link of Cronkite
In Washington D.C. a hotel complex was built. This complex is known as the Watergate Hotel. It just so happened that the Democratic National Headquarters was located at the Watergate complex as well. The war in Vietnam had the country on edge from the late 60’s through to the 70’s. It seemed as though everyone had a different view concerning the war and peace was becoming harder and harder to find.
Daniel Ellsberg, a defense department analyst at the Pentagon decided that he was fed up with how the war in Vietnam. In 1971, Ellsberg gave secret reports concerning the war to the New York Times. Times knew that they had a goldmine of paper sales and investigative potential. They began to publish these reports which came to be known as Pentagon Papers.
Government officials were absolutely furious about these leaked reports. President Nixon was one of those who did not want the public to know these reports. He legally tried to retrieve the reports before they could all be published. Times refused and continued to report. Nixon decided to take matters into his own hands.
Nixon created secret organization within the White House known as the Plumbers. This operation was made up of former FBI and CIA and White House Agents. Nixon tasked these men with discrediting Ellsberg so that his reliability on the Pentagon reports would be ruined. The team did just that and Ellsberg was indeed ruined, however, the damage had already been done.
Next, Nixon wanted to target the Democrats. He wanted to ruin the Democratic ticket for presidential election for when he was going to run for re-election. The Plumbers began to bug offices and rooms at the Democratic complex at Watergate to gain any information that they could that could discredit and ruin the reputation of the Democrats.
On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested at 2:30 in the morning with wiretapping equipment at the Democratic National Headquarters building. Specifically they were in the office of Nixon’s upcoming opponent, George McGovern. In the next couple of years that followed this break in, the entire country watched as Nixon went from the most powerful man on the planet to a conspirator.
Each of the arrested men had ties with the White House. It was found after investigating these men that there were several more men who were involved with the operation and with the Plumbers. Evidence was uncovered that Howard E. Hunt, a top CIA operative was involved with the Plumbers in an attempt to ensure Nixon’s reelection. Several of the men were also on Nixon’s campaign party and were found with large sums of cash, much of which was being used as bribery.
Nixon won the largest landslide victory for Presidency in his reelection in history. However, more and more evidence was being rooted up that was linking him to the Watergate Scandal, and it was also known that Nixon had audio tapes of all of his meeting with Plumbers and other authority figures. He denied these allegations and refused to give over the tapes.
Eventually there was only room for drastic measures to be taken. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Nixon. He realized that all was lost and on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first President to resign in office. Gerald Ford took up the position as president and pardoned all of Nixon’s affiliations with the conspiracy.
http://www.essortment.com/all/watergatescand_reji.htm
Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War which developed into operation Desert Storm was a war should never have happened in the first place. Dictator Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded and annexed the country of Kuwait. He did this under the claims that Kuwait had over produced oil in a time when oil prices were low. He claimed that Kuwait lost Iraq over 14 billion a year. He also claimed that Kuwait was illegally pumped oil from Iraq’s oil fields in Rumalia.
Thirty two nations, including the United States, joined together and told Saddam that if he did not withdraw and initiate a ceasefire by a certain date, the UN would have no choice but to attack. Saddam flatly refused to cooperate. US troops were positioned in Saudi Arabia to protect the oil fields there. Saddam fired missiles into Israel and Saudi Arabia in the hope of spreading the war and breaking up the movement against him. On January 18, 1991, operation Desert Storm came into affect.
The Iraqi’s set fire to the oil fields in Kuwait and the US moved in. The US surrounded Kuwait and liberated it within days, but the damage had been done. Although Kuwait had been liberated, it had suffered major infrastructural damage at the hands of the Iraqis. The then George H. Bush continued to press the Iraqi’s until they had no choice but to admit to a ceasefire. Saddam was not removed from power however and he went on to fight the revolts of the Shiites and Kurds which, if successful, could break up Iraq.
There was an assassination attempt on Bush and Saddam remained a thorn in the UN coalition’s side. Iraq agreed to inspections of the country by the UN to search for nuclear and other weapons caches that the Iraqis could not be left to have. Even though the Iraqis agreed, they did everything that they could to prevent the inspections. The UN sent in missile strikes and continued to embargo trade with Iraq. The first Persian Gulf War was nothing but a nuisance to democracy and peaceful intentions for countries.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0838511.html
911 AND THE WAR ON TERROR- INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN
In 1995-96, the Afghanistan government was taken over by the Taliban. The Taliban fostered the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda. On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked in the United States, resulting in the tragic deaths of 2,995 people, including the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists. The world watched in horror as an airplane crashed into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Then, the world watched in utter shock as a second plane flew into the second tower, killing everybody aboard both planes. Within two hours, our country watched in helpless fear and disbelief as both towers came crashing to the ground, killing everybody within and destroying buildings, structures, and lives. Smoke engulfed Manhattan as the wreckage billowed out.
Another plane crashed into the Pentagon that very same morning. Outside of Washington D.C. another plane came crashing down into a field. This plane had also been hijacked, but the passengers and crew had tried to take control of the plane but unfortunately died in the attempt. This plane was heading for the White House.
George W. Bush, our president and leader stood among the wreckage with his fellow Americans at ground zero of the World Trade Center. In a speech witnessed by the rest of the country and the world, he vowed that we would not sit idly by and that we as Americans will never forget and will never stand for such an atrocity. With that, we went to war on September 20.
The military declared a War on Terror. NATO decided that the actions taken against the US was an attacked on all NATO countries and we led the coalition against Terror. We invaded Afghanistan and quickly proceeded to overthrow the Taliban. Al Qaeda fled into the mountains and continued to threaten the US, yet they lost the support of the Taliban.
Due to the superior power of the United States and other countries, the Taliban were routed, yet we continued the War on Terror as long as there are terrorists who threaten democracy and peace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#Aftermath
http://www.fact-index.com/u/u_/u_s__invasion_of_afghanistan.html
Invasion of Iraq 2003
George W. Bush, son of the president George W. H. Bush was elected into presidency. Bush’s administration was much like his fathers. After the 911 attack, he headed the War on Terror. After the Taliban had been defeated in 2001, the Bush Administration adopted a preemptive strike plan that would eliminate threats to us before they could be fulfilled. Bush called out Iraq, Iran, and North Korea and accused them of being an “axis of evil”. Iraq had failed to follow the rules that they had promised to keep way back in 1991 when they agreed to allow for inspections of the country for Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The UN continued to try and make Iraq agree to weapons inspections, and they finally gave Iraq a last warning, which they agreed to. They found no nuclear arms programs, but the possibility of there still being weapons was very credible, especially since Saddam Hussein attacked the Kurds in the North with chemical weapons in 1988.
Britain and the United States were really pushing for war against Iraq. However, there was much international opposition against this plan of attack. Britain did not want to pull through with it because they did not get a unanimous approval from the UN. Bush gave Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to cooperate an allow us to enter the country. Saddam refused and on March 19, 2003, the United States began an air strike on Iraq. Ground strikes were also issued and we focused on Baghdad, oil fields, and other cities.
Within months, the military and government of Iraq failed. Saddam Hussein fled capture and the UN had the majority of control in Iraqi cities. On May 1, 2003, Bush declared victory over Iraq. Hussein was captured in 2004, and was tried and executed by hanging in 2006 for crimes against humanity. No WMD’s were found.
Critics of the war in Iraq say that the US and Britain had greatly exaggerated the possibility of WMD’s in the country. They also say that the the accounts of Hussein’s chemical and governmental attacks were exaggerated, despite the deaths of 2 million or more.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0838511.html
I think that though our efforts could have been focused more towards the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the efforts in Iraq has been and will continue to be a great investment in humanity. If Saddam Hussein was still alive today, I have no doubt that we would be wishing we had taken him out years ago. I can’t believe the vulgarity and idiocy of liberals and those who think we should pull out of the War on Terror. While they sit in their comfortable homes and criticize something they know nothing about, our men and women valiantly give their lives to fight for freedom for all.
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