USH: Research the following topics and describe what happened in each from beginning to end. Be sure to include at least one picture per topic:
1. Watergate
2. Persian Gulf War(1990-91)
3. 9-11 and the War on Terror- invasion of Afghanistan
4. Invasion of Iraq-2003
The Watergate Scandal
The Watergate Scandal took place in the United States in the 1970's. The time of this sort of series of political scandals lasted from 1972 until two years later in 1974. On June 17, 1972, five burglars broke into the office of the Democratic Party National Committee located inside of the Watergate Hotel. The men were all arrested at 2:30 a.m., the day of the break in. These men included; Bernard Barker, Virgilo Gonzales, Eugenio Martinez, James W. McCord, and Frank Sturgis. James W. McCord was actually responsible for security for the committee made to re-elect President Nixon.
After the FBI found proof that there were connection ties with the re-election committee, the scandal really became a hot topic. They found more evidence that this scandal was linked to the White House when the number for E. Howard Hunt was found in Barker's notebook. On August 19, Nixon stated that the Watergate Scandal had absolutely no ties to the White House. On November 7, 1972, Nixon was re-elected into office. Some people think that he only won because of the documents found at the Watergate Hotel. Evidence arose within the scandal with proof that President Nixon was trying to cover-up what happened in that office on June 17. The evidence against Nixon led to almost certain impeachment, resulting in Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.
I find it unfortunate that things like this have happened in out history. No presidential election should be fixed in any way. It is crucial that a man is elected ruler out of who he is, not out of how well he can make the other canidate seem, and definately not by breaking in to some place and getting documentation to better their chances. It bothers me enought that there are so many uneducated people being able to vote, that will vote for someone because of their skin color. I think this is a lesson learned in our history. It's karma.
Persian Gulf War(1990-91)
The first Perian Gulf War started because of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August of 1990, followed by Iraq's annex of Kuwait. The reason Iraq invaded Kuwait was because of oil issues. Iraq said the Kuwait lost them $14 billion dollars from overproducing oil when prices were low, and said they were allegedly pumping oil illegally from Iraq's Rumaila oil field. Thirty-two nations were involved in this war against Iraq. US troops moved into Saudi Arabia to protect oil fields on August 7. It was decided on November 29 by the United Nations that by Iraqi troops had to be peacefully withdrawn by January 15, 1991. When this didn't happen, Operation Desert Storm was launched on January 18, 1991.
The fighting started with air attacks focusing on hitting where weaponry was stored. After the air attacks lasting a little over a month, the troops involved with this war started fighting on land. Iraq eventually gave up and signed a cease-fire on April 6, 1991.
I have never known that we had a first war against Iraq, this close to when we invaded them the second time. I guess this was just a minor was though. We have so many issues with this country it is crazy. Sometimes I do not understand why it is the United States being out in charge of making sure that every other country is okay when we have so many problems of our own.
9-11 and The War on Terror/Invasion of Afghanistan
On September 11, 2001, the United States went into a state of shock as thousands of lives were lost with the collapse of the World Trade Center by two planes being flown into them, pioleted by Al Qaeda terrorists and full of innocent passengers. There was a total of four hijacked planes that day, two extremely successful on their missions. The first two planes were flown into the twin towers, the second into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the third was taken over by the passengers but was unfortunately crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. 2,995 people died on this day, including the 19 Al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers.
The War on Terrorism was the United State's reaction to the September 11th attacks. The war was supported by the United Kingdom and NATO, and was started under President George W. Bush. President Bush had five main objectives with The War on Terror. They included defeating terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destorying their organizations, to identify, locate, and destoy all terrorists along with their organizations, to deny all sponsorship, support, and sanctuary to terrorists, to diminish the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit, and to defent the United State's citizens and interests at home and abroad.
Along with invading Iraq, the United States invaded Afghanistan. The priority of a war in Afghanistan was not as high as a war in Iraq, but the United States still had objectives to go after Taliban officials in Afghanistan. On October 7, 2001, the invasion of Afghanistan started with United States and British forces conducting airstrike campaigns.
This was obviously a very devastating time in the United States history... and out of what I have lived though so far this is the saddest thing. I was in fsecond grade when the twin towers fell, and I don't have much to say as of a memory from it. I am perfectly aware of what is going on though in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems as if there is this never ending war, sometimes I forget why we are even fighting there. It doesn't seem like reality until it affects you personally. I don't think some people realize, I know I didn't, what is happening overseas. My best friend's cousin, who I am also very close with, just got sent home. He was fighting on the front of Afghanistan and was shot. He was in serious condition and was sent from hospital to hospital and now he is finally home. This man has seen more than was we people at home can even imagine. I have heard the stories, and to me it sounds like the scariest thing in the world. These men that are overseas deserve so much respect, so much respect I almost cannot fathom it.
Invasion of Iraq (2003)
The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. It was led mainly by the United States, along with Great Britain, Australia, and Poland. Four countries helped with the initial invasion phase which started on March 20 and ended on May 1 of 2003. The alleged reasons for the invasion of Iraq was to take our weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to end all of Suddam's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people. Nobody wanted us to go to war with Iraq. In fact, over half of our country didn't think we should go to war in 2003. There were several attempts to try to aviod going to war. On May 1, 2003, President Bush declared the "end of majob combat operations" after various battles had taken place.
Today, we still have troops in Iraq. Saddam Hussien has been captured and things have been improving, but there is still parts of the Taliban and Al Qaeda that need to be taken out.
There have been several times our presidents have talked about pulling our troops out of Iraq, yet this has never happened. I guess they think that they believe we have unfinished business to do. I think that we just need to finish what we started, and bring our troops home.
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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