Modern
World Civilization
Spring 2008
Why Did We Go to War?
What happened?
A few years before Saddam was
our bud.
What happened?
Why did we really give a damn?
Why did we send 250,000
Americans to the Middle East?
Saddam was a bully.
If not us, then who?
Facts about Iraq
Second largest nation state in
the Middle East.
Large oil deposits.
Divided between three groups
Kurds, Sunnis (33%), and Shiites (55% of the population).
Sought to replace Egypt as the
principal Arab state.
Coup and Revolution in Iraq
The Iraq situation changed on
July 14, 1958.
The Iraqi revolution began as a
coup.
A group of Iraqi army officers
seized the royal palace.
Murdered Faisal II and his
uncle, Abd al-Ilah and then hunted down and murdered Nuri al-Said.
Who was a pro-Western Iraqi
political leader.
The Fall of the Shah
In 1978, Iran seemed stable, but
it was misleading.
Soon, a friendly Iranian
official planted a story in the press attacking Khomeini students began a sit-in
Qom.
The police attack and several
students were killed.
All the Shah did was replace his
SAVAK chief.
In September 1978, the SAVAK
fired into a major demonstration killing hundreds.
Leading ayatollahs told the
government that the demonstrations would continue until parliamentary democracy
was restored.
The Shahs government asked Iraq
to expel Khomeini, who then moved on to Paris.
Cant Keep Down in Qom Once He Seen Paris
The Shahs government made a
considerable blunder by forcing Iraq to expel Khomeini.
Now he was in Paris and other
Iranian exiles.
He managed to spread his
fundamentalist message via long distance telephone calls, tape recordings, and
Western news services.
When he called for a strike it
nearly closed down Irans oil industry.
Pro-Khomeini mobs attack all
symbols of the West in Tehran, including theaters and liquor stores.
Does History Repeat Itself?
Remembering how the Shah fled
Mosaddiqs government in 1953.
But only to return with the help
of the CIA/MI6.
Iranians were worried.
When the Shah came to New York
for medical treatment.
The crisis erupted.
Iranians stormed the U.S.
Embassy.
Taking sixty-three people
Americans hostage.
Charges and Counter-Charges
The Iranians demanded that the
Shah be returned and be tried.
Then the Iranians demanded an
apology in the Shahs crimes against the Iranian people.
The U.S. was outraged.
The U.S. had limited options
available except for:
It Went On and On and On
It lasted for 444 days.
In the meantime other things
happened.
RR was elected president.
Sunni Fundamentalists gained
control of the Main Mosque in Mecca.
The Soviets moved into
Afghanistan.
Iran cut off oil to the West.
In April 1980, the U.S.
attempted to rescue the hostages and failed.
The Attack
Iraq attacked on 2 August 1990.
The Al Sabah family fled to
Saudi Arabia.
Saddam claimed that Kuwait was
stealing Iraqi oil from the Rumaylah Oil Field.
The Americans after prodding
from the British PM, acted.
The first phase was move
American and coalition troops to the theater.
Then Came the Storm
Fundamentalism in the Middle
East
The religious revival strikes
back at the West for the Coca Colanization of the Middle East.
A rejection of the values of
Western cultural advances.
Many religious figures in the
Middle East saw this trend as more dangerous than Western imperialism.
This was a struggle against
modernity.
Compliant Against the House of
Saud
Allowed Foreigners, ie,
Americans to have bases near the Holy Places.
Failure to provide opportunities
for jobs and opportunities for Saudi youth.
Fail to establish an open
society.
Failure to share the wealth.
The Saudis Export Fundamentalism
This was Wahhabism, a
Fundamentalist Islamic Sect, that supports the Saudi regime.
It was establish in the
eighteenth century.
By Abd al-Wahhab who died in
1787.
The Saudi government exports the
teaching of the sect abroad to other regions such as Pakistan and Indonesia.
Often this is accomplished by
support for madrasahs or Muslim schools.
Targets of the Fundamentalists
Scholars.
Writers.
Political opponents.
Jews/Israelis.
American business and political
figures.
Symbols of Western cultural
imperialism.
Victims can also be Muslim who
challenge religious authority.
Where Does This Happen?
Algeria.
Egypt.
Tunisa.
Saudi Arabia.
Jordan.
Afghanistan.
Just to name a few.
Some Important Victims
Farag Foda, an Egyptian writer
and thinker.
Tahar Djaout, an Algerian writer
who the fundamentalists said he wielded a mighty pen.
Salman Rushdie.
Plus women who challenge male
authority.
The Taliban Represses Women and
Minorities
The Key Is
Why Do They Hate Us So?
U.S. support of Israel.
Putting the Shah back on the
throne in Iran in the 1950s.
U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
The secularism of the West.
The U.S. supports corrupt govts
in the Middle East.
U.S. blockade of Iraq.
Inability to share in
middle-Class life styles
Islamic Terrorism: 1968-79
Key Terrorist Groups 1979-91
The Globalization of Terror,
1991-01
Al-Qaeda (The Base)
Armed Islamic Group (GIA):
Aden-Abyan Islamic Army (AAIA):
Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM):
Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed):
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) (Army of
the Righteous):
Other Attacks on Americans
Nov. 4, 1979 -- Hostages taken
at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran
May 1981-- Threats from Libya
April 18, 1983-- Bombing of U.S.
Embassy in Beirut
Oct. 23, 1983-- Bombing of
Marine barracks in Beirut
Dec. 12, 1983-- Bombing of the
U.S. Embassy in Kuwait
March 16, 1984--CIA Station
Chief William Buckley kidnapped
Sept. 20, 1984-- Bombing of U.S.
Embassy annex northeast of Beirut
April 5, 1986--Bombing of La
Belle Discotheque
December 21, 1988--Bombing of
Pan Am Flight 103
What Do We Know About Bin Laden?
Comes from one of the richest
families in Saudi Arabia.
Devoted to Wahhabism.
Worked with the CIA to drive the
Soviets out of Afghanistan.
Opposed American interests in
the Persian Gulf.
OBLs Declaration of War
Ideological Aims of Al-Qaida
Ideologically want to cleanse
the Islamic world of secular influences.
Radicalize existing Islamic
groups.
Destroy the United States.
Support Muslim fighters in
Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo, Philippines, Tajikistan, and other places
throughout the world.
A Different Kind of Foe
He uses the media to play to the
man on the street.
Via
Al Jazeera.
He appears to the Muslim world a
hero fighting the Great Satan.
He plays to the disadvantaged in
the Middle East.
Use Psyops against the Taliban
Why Did Our Intelligence Fail?
Underestimated the terrorists.
Too much noise.
Refused to take the threat
seriously.
Assumed that the U.S.A was
invulnerable to attack.
Aversion to intelligence
agencies and methods and means of collection.
Why Did the Terrorists Succeed?
Planned the operation for two to
three years.
Realized the lax security
measures at airports and on commercial jets.
Scoped out the US and realized
that the Heart of the Beast was vulnerable to attack.
Willing to die for the cause.