American History II students are completing their unit on 9-11. We have discussed the event itself and our responses to this event. There are several questions that students can discuss on the blog concerning the war in Iraq, its rationales and realities, and the recent film Zero Dark Thirty concerning the capture of Osama bin Laden.
EXTRA CREDIT:
1. Of all the rationales for going to war, which ones do you feel are the most valid? Discuss.
2. How would you critique the film Zero Dark Thirty? What were its strengths and its weaknesses?
Zero Dark Thirty to me was a great movie. some of the strong points in it were how they showed very realistic interigation and torture practices and showd that it took a lot of time to get the proper info to take down a high class terrorist like Bin Laden.
ReplyDelete1. I don't think going to war in Iraq was valid at all. We were supposedly there for a number of reasons which many of them were proven false including the Al Queda being in Iraq. The Al Queda wasn't even present in the country before we took military action. In the notes we were given that was leaked onto the internet, it was said how Bush had his mind set about taking military action in Iraq even if the timing was unknown, he just need some sort of justification to the public. These notes were not meant to be seen by the public eye.
ReplyDelete2. I think the film 'Zero Dark Thirty' was great. It showed the events of tracking Bin Laden very well. How difficult and smart you would have to be, to be involved in such the CIA. And how dangerous it would be. Some members of the group didn't make it through and the witness protection needed for Maya after the killing of Bin Laden would be highly necessary. I really liked the movie and thought it was well put together and really the captured the realness of the actual events.
#1 Oil even though it is not a widely known
ReplyDeleteRationale is what I feel is the most valid rationale. Most others (IE WMD and Alqaeda) were completely false and invalid for going to war in Iraq. We needed oil, were are very dependent on oil, and oil was getting very expensive. Therefore we rationalized in our minds that it was okay to start a war just in case they had WMD's or Alqaeda might be there because we could get oil out of it, and that would solve a lot of our problems. Oil is needed for gas which is why we are so dependent on it, and we were running low on "home Grown" oil and it was getting to expensive to buy so we thought it would be a good idea to go get it from Iraq and the government would essentially make up the excuse that Iraq has a lot of WMD's and such so a war would be justified when we knew that there was very little WMD's in Iraq and we mainly just wanted oil.
#2 Zero Dark thirty was a great movie. I think that it could have had a little more facts and not way so much on torture for information since no one really knows if torture had that much to do with the information that we got. Other than that I think it was very well put together and had a lot of good info.
1. I feel that the Oil was the most important reason for invading. Our natural resources are very vital in our survival so if they were threatening to stop our access to this resource it could have dramatically sent our economy into the ground. With that in mind, it probably wasn't right for us to just go in and take whatever we wanted. Talking it out with Iraq and coming to a sensible solution could have been beneficial on both ends. Invading to stop Al Qaeda is a very invalid reason because they were not there until we came into the picture.
ReplyDelete2.I really enjoyed watching the movie Zero Dark Thirty. It showed how getting things done is not always easy and just because you fail once doesn't mean you stop trying. Some say that the movie should not have shown the content of us torturing people to get information because that isn't how the Unites States gets information, but I think that we do at one point or another. If there is a good thing that comes out of the information then the person should be rewarded. The movie really showed how frustrating and how complicated the process was of finding him, and I found it a really great movie.
Charlotte Breland
ReplyDeleteOut of all of the rationals to go to war, I think that the most valid one would have to be the one to help Iraq. There was many things wrong with Iraq that we tried to help and we did do a lot. Even if it wasn't the reason that we actually went, which I don't think anyone really knows why we went for sure, it was a good one. If I were to critique the film Zero Dark Thirty I would give it a very good rating. I think that the films greatest strength was the honesty about it all. Or that it showed such personal things about the war and perspectives of the people. It gave many details that were beneficial to understanding. I think that maybe its weakness was that the film wasn't easy to understand what was going on the whole time, and even that wasn't a big problem. I think the movie was excellent.
1. I think that the most valid rational for invading Iraq was to stop terrorism. But, by invading, it created a war on terror. For how many people died and not a lot being accomplished, I do not believe that the war in Iraq can be justified. The United States was attacked and in result we responded quickly. This resulted in many unknown reasons or made up reasons for going to Iraq and Afghanistan.
ReplyDelete2. Zero Dark Thirty was a GREAT movie. It showed many parts of the war in the Middle East that weren't always talked about like torture and different abusive ways to receive information. The only issue that I can think of is that if someone isn't well read on the topic of 9/11 or the wars in the Middle East they might not fully understand all of the issues and topics that were presented throughout the movie.
I feel that there was not a valid rationale for going to Iraq. The war on Iraq was clearly to control the country and to secure Suddam Hussein. We wanted Suddam Hussein so that he could not make acts against the U.S. anymore and we could control one of the countries so closely related to oil. Zero Dark Thirty was a good movie but it was not completely true and it seemed to leave out a lot of background on what exactly was the reason why we wanted this terrorist. The strong point was how they depicted the mission in which we captured him.
ReplyDelete1. There was multiple complex political agendas that played into us entering the war in Iraq, not all of them were moral or justifiable but they were all reasons we went there. The most prevalent reason, though maybe not a totally justifiable one, would have to be to have an element of control in the Middle East, a volatile and possibly dangerous area and also a very valuable resource.
ReplyDelete2. Zero Dark Thirty was a very interesting and entertaining film, though it definitely has the marrings of a Hollywood film. There are multiple historical inaccuracies and areas of questionable credibility. It should definitely be looked at as a entertainment resource, not necessarily an educational film.
I'm going to say that there isn't really a valid rational. We wanted to control the land and Suddam Hussein. If we were to control Suddam then we could control the country with a lot of oil.
ReplyDelete