Iraq Essay / Letter

For this Friday( 2/29), write a persuasive response to the following question:

What should we do about Iraq?

Your response must:

• Be either in essay form or in the form of a letter to President Bush

• Be at least 400 words long

• Correctly incorporate at least 10 vocabulary terms from the Iraq packet (listed below)

• Underline or bold the 10 vocabulary terms you use in your response

• Be turned in by Friday (2/29)

Note: If you choose to write a letter, you can bring in an additional copy in an addressed envelope and we will mail it for you for extra credit.

Iraq Terms

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons

Arab - the majority ethnicity in Iraq and most Middle Eastern countries

Kurds – an important minority ethnic group living mostly in Northern Iraq, which has been trying to win independence for many years.

Sunni – the minority Muslim sect in Iraq, which held powerful positions under Saddam

Shi’a – the majority Muslim sect in Iraq, which was oppressed under Saddam but now makes up the most powerful group in the government

Occupation – invasion and control of a nation by foreign armed forces

Pan-Arabism – the movement to unite Arab countries and fight against Western control

Ba’ath Party – the nationalist party that ruled Iraq from the 1960s until 2003

The West – Europe and the Americas

Iran-Iraq War – War during the 1980s where the US armed both sides in secret

Coup – a sudden takeover of power

Sanctions – when nations limit trade with a country in order to punish it

Regime Change – Replacing the government of a country. This was the main U.S. goal during the 2003 invasion of Iraq

Sovereignty – A country’s right to make its own laws and policies

Infrastructure - the basic facilities and services needed for a society to function normally (transportation, communication, education, sanitation, security, etc.)

Contractor – a company hired to provide a service (often construction)

Abu Ghraib – the prison facility where the US military was found to be torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees

Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) – the U.S. military government established in Iraq after the 2003 invasion

Interim Government – a temporary or transitional government

Ethnic Cleansing – the forced removal of an entire ethnic or religious group from an area

Sectarian Divisions – conflicts between different sects or groups

Militia – a body of citizens organized into a paramilitary group

Insurgents – rebels or those who resist a government with force

Diplomacy – relations or negotiations between nations

Dissent – to publicly disagree with one’s government or a majority opinion

Green Zone – the main US military base in Baghdad

Destabilized – upset or chaotic

Nationalists – those who fight for national independence in a country under foreign domination.

Bureaucrats – unelected officials who help carry out government functions

Secular – non-religious

Mandate – when a country is given control of another country

Immunity – being exempt from laws or punishment

Civil Society

Rogue State

Ideological

Proliferation

Imperialist

Partition

Fundamentalist

Democratization

Multilateral

Factions

Fundamentalist

Reprisals