Watergate
Watergate took place in the early 70’s. It was a series of political scandals that lasted from 1972 to 1974. Five burglars broke into the office of the Democratic Party National Commity, on June, 17, at the WatergateHotel. All five men were caught and arrested at around 2:30 in the morning. VirgiloGonzales, James W. McCord, Frank Sturgis, Bernard Barker, and Eugenio Martinezwere the five burglars. The FBI found proof that this was linked to the WhiteHouse, but on August 19, Nixon stated that the scandal had no ties to the WhiteHouse. Nixon was re-elected on November 7, 1972, but evidence came up thatNixon was trying to cover up what happened in that office on June 17. This wassure to lead to Nixon’s impeachment but he resigned on August 9, 1974. He isthe only president ever to resign.
It’s kind of a sad moment in America’s history that our leader was caught doing immoral and illegal things. It must have been very embarrassing for American.
Persian Gulf War
In August of 1990, the first Persian Gulf War started because of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.Oil issues caused the invasion. Iraqaccused Kuwait of illegallypumping oil from Iraq’s Rumailaoil field, and blamed Kuwaitfor costing them 14 billion bucks from overproducing oil when prices werepretty low. On August seventh U.S.forces moved into SaudiArabia to protect their oil fields. All inall, 32 nations were involved in the war. The UN said that Iraqi troops had topeacefully withdraw by Jan. 15, 1991, but of course this didn’t happen soOperation Desert Storm was launched on the 18th of Jan. First wefocused on attacking their armories by means of Air force, and then groundtroops moved in. Iraqsigned a cease-fire on April 6, 1991.
This reminds me of the movie Jarhead, which is about Desert Storm from the Marines perspective. It’s a good movie, but anyway, there’s always been some tension between us and Iraq, but maybe now that Saddam isgone it will get better.
9/11-War on Terror-Invasion of Afghanistan
As most of us remember, on September 11, 2001 two commercial airliners hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists, were flown directly into the World Trade Center, causing the twobuildings to collapse. Two other planes were hijacked that day. One struck thepentagon and the other crash landed in a field in Pennsylvania. 19 Al Qaeda terrorists and2,995 American’s died that day. Soon following the 9/11 attack, President Bush,backed by the UKand NATO, declared a war on terrorism. Bush had five main objectives for this war,which included bringing down terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, to locate,identify, and destroy all terrorist organizations, to deny all sanctuary toterrorist, to diminish underlying conditions terrorists seek, and to defend America at homeand abroad. On October 7, 2001 the UKand US conducted its invasion of Afghanistan. The main goal being totake down Taliban officials.
I remember very clearly what happened on 9/11. I was at school when all the teachers gathered in the teachers lounge to watch TV. Some came back crying. Later that night after I found out what had happened my familygathered in my sister’s room and prayed for all those who lost their lives. It wasthe first time I had ever seen my dad shed a tear.
Invasion of Iraq
On March 20, 2003 the invasion of Iraq was launched. Our reasons for going their included taking out WMD or weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam’s reign, and to free the Iraqi people. The invasion was led primarily bythe US, Poland, Australia,and Great Britainjoined us. On may 1, 2003 Bush said the major operation had come to aconclusion. Presently we’re still in Iraq, but it’s not as bad as itused to be. Saddam is dead, so now we’re going after other terroristorganizations.
Obama has talked about withdrawing the troops which I believe is a mistake. Before we get our boys back home we need to finish what we started. This is America,we don’t just quit.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1791.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0838511.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)
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