Transcript Warm Up - cloudfront.net

Warm Up
0 What are these two photos of and are they related in any
way? How are they related? How are they not?
0 1995 Government Shutdown - The United States federal government
shutdowns of 1995 and 1995–96 were the result of conflicts
between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress over
funding for Medicare, education, the environment, and public health in
the 1996 federal budget. The government shut down after Clinton vetoed the
spending bill the Republican Party-controlled Congress sent him. The federal
government of the United States put government workers on furlough and
suspended non-essential services for a total of 27 days. The major players
were President Clinton and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt
Gingrich.
0 The Waco siege - was a siege of a compound belonging to the
religious group Branch Davidians by American federal and Texas
state law enforcement and military between February 28 and
April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, a Christian sect led by
David Koresh, lived at Mount Carmel Center ranch in the
community of Elk, Texas, nine miles east-northeast of Waco. The
group was suspected of weapons violations and a search and
arrest warrant was obtained by the U.S. federal agency Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
0 The incident began when the ATF attempted to raid the ranch. An
intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four agents
and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the
compound, a siege was initiated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), the standoff lasting 51 days. Eventually, the
FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an
attempt to force the Branch Davidians out. During the attack, a
fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center and 76 men, women, and
children, including David Koresh, died.
0 The Oklahoma City bombing - was a domestic terrorist bomb attack on
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on
April 19, 1995. It would remain the most destructive act of terrorism in the
United States until the September 11 attacks of 2001, six years later. The
bombing claimed 168 lives and injured more than 680 people. Timothy
McVeigh was arrested. Motivated by his hatred of the federal government
and angered by what he perceived as its mishandling of the 1993 Waco
siege, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of
the deadly fire that ended the siege at Waco.
0 The Columbine High School massacre was a school
shooting which occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High
School in Columbine. Two senior students murdered a total of 12
students and one teacher. They injured 24 additional students,
with three other people being injured while attempting to escape
the school. The pair then committed suicide.
0 Although their motives remain unclear, the personal journals of the
perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival
the Oklahoma City bombing.
0 The massacre sparked debate over gun control laws, the availability of
firearms within the United States and gun violence involving youths. Much
discussion also centered on the nature of high
school cliques, subcultures and bullying, in addition to the influence of violent
movies and video games in American society. The shooting resulted in an
increased emphasis on school security, and a moral panic aimed at goth
culture, social outcasts, gun culture, the use of pharmaceutical antidepressants by teenagers, teenage Internet use and violent video games.
September 11, 2001 (also called 9/11) – an attack, by al-Qaeda,
on the U.S. The terrorists successfully attacked three of their four
targets, the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. This
grievous attack resulted in the greatest loss of life since Pearl
Harbor and propelled the U.S. to declare the Global War on Terror.
This event caused a shift in the focus of U.S. foreign policy. It also
resulted in the attacks on our foreign allies.
.
Flight 93
0 The Global War on Terror – a U.S.-led war started as a result of
9/11 with the following goals:
0 Defeat terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab alZarqawi and destroy their organizations
0 Identify, locate, and destroy terrorists along with their
organizations
0 Deny sponsorship, support, and sanctuary to terrorists
0 Diminish the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to
exploit
0 Defend U.S. citizens and interests at home and abroad
War on Iraq Begins because of the
belief that there was WMD put there
by Saddam Hussein in March 2003.
In October 2001, Bush authorized
the invasion of Afghanistan to
destroy Al-Qaeda and topple the
Taliban regime.
0 2nd Persian Gulf War (Operation Iraqi Freedom) – The
invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in
which a combined force of troops from the United States, the
United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, invaded Iraq and
deposed the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The
invasion concluded with the capture of the Iraqi capital of
Baghdad by American forces, an end of major combat
operations was declared, ending the invasion period and
beginning the military occupation period.
0 According to U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, the coalition mission was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass
destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the
Iraqi people.” According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq's failure to take a "final
opportunity" to disarm itself of alleged nuclear, chemical, and biological
weapons that U.S. and British officials called an immediate and intolerable
threat to world peace. In 2005, the Central Intelligence Agency released a
report saying that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.
Why are chemical and biological
weapons banned during war?
0 The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical and biological
weapons in warfare. The reason for restricting biological weapons is
because of the unexpected outcome of their use.
0 On 5 November 2006, Saddam was convicted of charges related
to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites and was sentenced to
death by hanging. His execution was carried out on 30
December 2006.
0 Surveillance - Following the events of September 11, Bush
issued an executive order authorizing the President's
Surveillance Program which included allowing the NSA to
monitor communications between suspected terrorists outside
the U.S and parties within the U.S. without obtaining a warrant
as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
0 International Criminal Court – The ICC is the
first global permanent international court with
jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for “The most
serious crimes of concern to the international
community.” The U.S. government has not signed
this international treaty. The primary objection
given by the U.S. in opposition to the treaty is the
ICC’s possible assertion of jurisdiction over U.S.
soldiers charged with “war crimes” resulting from
legitimate uses of force, and perhaps over civilian
policymakers even if the US does not ratify the ICC.
The U.S. sought to exempt U.S. soldiers and
employees from the jurisdiction of the ICC based
on the unique position the U.S. occupies with
regard to international peacekeeping. Other
countries see the American reluctance to
participate as our way of refusing to be held
accountable like the rest of the participating world
and loses credibility among other nations.