The Contemporary American
U.S. mistake after defeating Sudam Hussein in Iraq?
-disbanding the army => helped create ISIS => most of the senior officers were suni => lost jobs and angry => became ISIS leaders => a lot of military knowledge -*Paul Bremer* of course, was the famously inept head of the US-installed, Coalition Provisional* Authority* (post-war transitional authority)
What was the U.S. reaction to the threat of an ISIS attack on Erbil, the de facto capital of Kurdistan?
-had mosul damn => could flood Bahgdad with 15 feet of water if they wanted to
Peshmerga
-kurdish army -"those who face death" -very fierce -successful in fighting ISIS, but upsets Iraqi govt in Bahgdad -40% women
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
-leader of ISIS and "Self Proclaimed" Caliph -brains for ISIS -in US prison form 2005-2009
ISIS 2014
-takes northern Iraq cities of Fallujah, Mosul, and Tikrit -All Suni => easy to conquer -
Tariq Al-Hashemi
-vice-president of Iraq who fled to Turkey in December 2012 after being handed a death sentence for terror charges a day after US troops had left Iraq -Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq (shiite) was accused by Hashemi of manipulating the courts against him as part of a political vendetta -believed he wouldn't get a fair trial
James Foley
-An American journalist captured by ISIS while in Syria on November 22, 2012, while covering the civil war. As part of their "message to the American people" video, ISIS executed him in August 19, 2014. -Executed by Mohammad Emwazi ("Jihadi John") -in orange jump suit to mimic Al-Qaeda captives in Guantanamo Bay (tit for tat) -message was for Obama to cease airstrikes against ISIS -tortured before beheading
Egypt
-British colony -1922 partial independence -full independence after WWII
Four Shia majority nations?
-Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan -India, Yemen
ISIS funding
-Saudi Arabia, Qatar, stealing american weapons
Tikrit, Iraq
-Suni city in Northern Iraq taken by ISIS -home city of Sadam Hussein
Yazidis
-a religious minority group in northwestern Iraq who have been targeted by ISIS -captured by ISIS and tortured as sex slaves
What leadership skills did the Baathist Army and Intelligence officers bring to ISIS?
- -The Iraqi Popular Army also known as the People's Army or People's Militia was a paramilitary organization composed of civilian volunteers to protect the Ba'ath regime against internal opposition and serve as a counterbalance against any coup attempt by the regular Iraqi Army
Palmyra, Syria
-"Rome of the East" -ISIS destroys roman structures => The smashing of the ancient structures was a further attempt by the group to impose its will by destroying monuments or artifacts that it says do not conform to its strict interpretation of Islam. The group's demolition of historic sites in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere has drawn international opprobrium; Unesco has branded the actions "cultural cleansing."
What year did we invade Iraq and what excuse did we give?
-'03, "they had weapons of mass destruction" -this wasn't true -in Iraq for 8 years
When did ISIS show up in Syria?
-'11-'12 -takes over shiite govt -able to operate and recruit -took over their oil fields and sold oil for cash on black market
Why were the Iraqi Sunnis especially outraged by the government's arrest of the bodyguards of Rafi al-Issawi (Top Iraq Sunni politician and finance prime minister)?
-10 bodyguards arrested on allegations of terrorism => very reminiscent of Tariq al-Hashemi campaign -was final sunni politician in office -took place about a year after Hashemi
9/11 hijackers
-15 of 19 Saudi Arabian => NO IRAQIS =>2 United Emirates, 1 Lebanon, 1 Egypt -Bin Laden picks his four most reliable men to carry out attacks => none of them spoke English or how to fly => start taking English classes and learn to fly using flight simulators -All four Saudi Arabian => easy to get into US => US has best flight schools -Killed 2,996 ppl, 6,000 injured, $10 billion in property damage
Syrian Drought
-2007-2011 severe droughts -farmers in severe poverty
Ottoman Empire
-A Muslim empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300's to 1922. -Turks ruled much of middle east for centuries -empire fell following WWI -reduced to what is present day turkey -modernize -1930 => Constantanople => Istanbul => most important Turkish city
Wahhabism
-A conservative and intolerant form of Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia. -Radical branch of suni islam -practice in Saudi Arabia, ISIS, Bin Laden
Abu Ghraib Prison
-A detention facility near Baghdad, Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein, the prison was the site of infamous torturing and execution of political dissidents. In 2004, during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the prison became the focal point of a prisoner-abuse and torture scandal after photographs surfaced of American soldiers mistreating, torturing, and degrading Iraqi war prisoners and suspected terrorists. The scandal was one of several dark spots on the public image of the Iraq War and led to increased criticism of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. -many prisoner skilled sunni militants -American run prison => put soldiers of the national guard in charge (not correctional officers) => torture prisoners =>public relations disaster
Suez Canal (1956)
-A ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea -Egypt battles Britain, France, & Israel for control (US backs Egypt)
ISIS overview
-Al Qaeda that Bin Laden could only have dreamed of building => had an actual state and control -held much of Iraq and Syria => controlled area in northern Iraq and west of Syria -100x more area than Al-Qaeda -As they are being defeated and retreating they set oil fields on fire -despite suffering heavy losses, they still inspire terrorist attacks worldwide
Afghanistan
-Bin Laden training camps -very mountainous => where empires go to die (Britain, US, Soviets) -US supports Afghan modernization => try to gain power over USSR => US wins Soviet War => US does little to help rebuild => Taliban takes over in 1996 -Operation Enduring freedom (2001) => in response to 9/11 => Destroy terrorist camps in Afghanistan. => Capture al-Qaeda leaders => Cause terrorist activities in Afghanistan to cease
Arthur Balfour
-British foreign secretary who worked with Zionist leaders to draw up the Balfour Declaration => Balfour Declaration, (November 2, 1917), statement of British support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. -promised to create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Known as the Balfour Declaration, the document became the first stepping stone towards the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel.
T.E. Lawrence of Arabia
-British soldier (spy) who helped lead the guerrilas rage against Turks in WWI -Persuaded tribal chiefs to revolt against Ottoman Empire -won war, but lost the peace and didn't gain Arab independence => sykes-picot -"George Washington of Arabia" => freedom fighter, uniting tribes of the desert
What kind of support for the Sunni cause was provided by Khamis Al-Khanjar, a wealthy Iraqi businessman living in Jordan?
-Critics say he helped to finance the anti-American insurgency in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 war, but then funded Sahwa, the Awakening movement, that together with the Americans routed al-Qaeda from Fallujah and broke its back in Anbar province.
Damascus, Syria
-Damascus is the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic; it is also the country's largest city -HQ of Assad => subject to many attacks from the Syrian opposition
Which country does Ayman al-Zawahiri hail from?
-Egypt -leader of Al-Qaeda after Bin Laden
Arab Oil Embargo, 1973
-Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Moscow backed Egypt and the U.S. supported Israel. Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. put their armed forces on alert. In an attempt to pressure America into a pro-Arab stance, OPEC, the international oil cartel dominated by an Arab majority, imposed an embargo on all oil to the U.S. -enraged by losses to Israel => Arab nations (OPEC) cut off oil to nations that back Israel (US & Europe) -OPEC oil embargo led by King Faisal (Saudi Arabia)
Yom Kippur War
-Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a planned attack against Israel on Yom Kippur in 1967 while in temple -Israel wins -Egypt and Syria take Israel by surprise. But the shaken Israelis regroup and battle Arab armies to a standstill.
Patriot Act
-Gave govt. permission to listen in on phone calls, emails, ect. (invasion of privacy) -greatly expanded the power of federal law enforcement authorities to move against suspected terrorists. -eroded civil liberties -"Putting Bill of Rights Through Shredder" -increases govt. ability to search personal records: telephone, email, medical, financial
How did the clashes in Hawija of April 2013 provoke a return to wide-scale Sunni-Shia conflicts within the country?
-Hawija is the center of Al-Hawija district in Kirkuk, Iraq -Protesters vs Iraqi Army => many protesters killed; mistreated
Why did the government of Nouri al-Maliki round up and arrest many Sunnis and hold them in prison without charges?
-He and other shiite leaders in Iraq had a political vendetta to get back at sunis post Sadam Hussein
Mohammad Mosaddeq
-He was the prime minister - backed by the people and especially the communist party - and the face of nationalism of Iran. he was authoritarian and is one of the original causes for Iran shifting towards a more communistic society and away from imperialism -Nationalized oil reserves => US & Britain not happy -1953, Eisenhower okays operation Ajax to get rid of Mosaddeq => reason for Iranians to be hostile to US -1935 => Persia becomes Iran
Raqqa, Syria
-ISIS stronghold/capital -very similar situation to Mosul, Iraq => US, with help from Syrian opposition squeeze out ISIS => A lot of airforce, city in ruins, many refugees
1979 overrun of Shah in Iran
-In 1979 the Shah of Iran was forced into exile. The U.S. government later allowed the Shah to enter the United States for medical treatment f cancer => This perceived U.S. support for the Shah of Iran enraged Iranians => provoked invasion of US embassy => eventually turned into anti-US museum
Why did Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (leader of ISIS), as head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, move his operations to Syria? Why did his message gain traction there?
-In Syria there was a civil war among the Shiite government (prez = Bashir Assad) and the Sunis -His message was able to gain a lot of traction from sunis being mistreated and wanting to fight back against shiite government
Islamic Fundamentalism
-Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam. Definitions of the term vary. Islamic fundamentalism's push for an Islamic state has come into conflict with conceptions of the secular, democratic state, such as the internationally supported Universal Declaration of Human rights.
When does ISIS overtake Al-Qaeda as largest jihad group?
-June 2014 -Al-Qaeda = small potatoes compared to ISIS
What was the significance of the ISIS conquest of Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul, and Tikrit in 2014?
-Large Sunni population in north, didn't face much resistance, gained territory, resources, recruits
Yasser Arafat - Palestine Liberation Organization
-Leader of terrorist organization wanting to evict Israelis, regain homeland, representation for Palestinian people - later becomes political party -Six day war 1967=> Israel surrounded on all sides by Arab armies and wins => gains a lot of new territory
Fallujah, Iraq
-March 31, 2004: Gunmen ambushed four Blackwater (pentagon contractor, recruit mercenaries and conduct training, supply ammunition and weapons) security guards,Vehicles set ablaze. Charred corpses chopped up. Two torsos hung on an iron bridge. -city in northern Iraq overtake by ISIS in January 2014 -city taken back October 17, 2016
Jihadi John
-Mohammad Emwazi -British Arab -August 2014, he appeared in the video which shows the murder of US journalist James Foley (beheading) -Member of ISIL who was shown on video beheading people to instill state of terror - 21 century => beheading seems barbaric
Nouri al-Maliki (Shiite) and Tariq al-Hashemi (Suni)
-Nouri al-Maliki succeeded Hashemi as vice prez -While prime minister Maliki accused Hashemi of running a hit squad against shiite government officials => terrorist accusations
Haidar al-Abadi
-Nouri al-Maliki's successor as prime minister -moderate, not sectarian -Jul 2017 => declares ISIS defeated in Mosul, Iraq
In October of 2013, Prime Minister Maliki went to Washington, D.C., to ask the Americans for increased military assistance. What was the result?
-Obama declines => offers advice & assistance => Iraq gets much worse
What was the testimony of General Martin Edward Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, regarding the possibility of U.S. ground troops in the fight against ISIS?
-Obama had strict ban against using ground forces => airstrikes -Dempsey said if things escalated, and US is threatened that limited ground forces would be needed to be deployed alongside the Iraqi troops
Bashir Assad
-President of Syria => Alawite (branch of shia) -use of chemical weapons against suni's (syrian opposition) -continually denies even though it is heavily documented -uses crematoriums to hide mass executions
Nouri al-Maliki
-Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 -Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment towards Maliki, who critics say is monopolising power -While visiting Obama in US, terrorist plot against Hashemi by his body guards
Haider al-Abadi
-Prime Minister of Iraq since 2014 -succeeded Nouri al-Maliki => suppose to be more inclusive, but wasn't
How was ISIS defeated
-Ran out of conquerable land -too brutal a rule -expanded westward drawing U.S. support -Conquest for territory => needed to continually conquer new territories to gain new recruits and more resources (food, oil, etc.) -North = Suni, easy to conquer South = shiite, tough to conquer -brutal rule led to defection -provoked U.S. airforce
Russia's support of Syrian Government
-Russia supports Syria b/c they do not like US and because they have a naval base in Syria that gives them access to the Mediterranean Sea -very tough for US to beat Bashir Assad because of the support from Russia
Who was the dictator of Iraq?
-Sadam Hussein -Suni dictator => mistreats Shiites -US invades Iraq in 2003, we overthrow Sadam Hussein and establish democracy and a Shiite leader => Shiite govt starts mistreating sunis as revenge => leads to the formation of ISIS -Al Qaeda => ISIS -used chemical warfare on Kurds in northern Iraq
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)
-Secret agreement made during World War I between Great Britain and France, with the ok of Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement led to the division of Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine into various French- and British-administered areas. -broke up Ottoman Empire -ineffective because it didn't take into account ethnic divisions of area -created Iraq => sun, shiite, kurds
Sinjar, Iraq
-Seized by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in August 2014, Sinjar, a majority-Yazidi district on Iraq's north-western border with Syria, has been the scene of tragedy: a genocidal campaign of killings, rape, abductions and enslavement, and the surviving community's exodus to safer-ground camps in the adjacent Kurdish region. -Yazidi: The Yazidis, or Yezidis, are a mostly Kurmanji speaking religious minority, indigenous to a region of northern Mesopotamia who are strictly endogamous. Some of them identify themselves as ethnic Kurds and some of them as a distinct ethno-religious group
Three religious groups of Iraq
-Shiite (80%, South) -Suni (20%, North) -Kurds (minority) => advocating for independence
Iraq post US invasion
-Shiite govt that is brutal towards Sunis to get back at them for Sadam Hussein dictatorship -Lead peaceful protests in response -Al Qaeda starts to move back into Iraq, going by ISIS => attacks on prisons to free sunis => Iraqi govt reacts aggressively by having police killing innocent suni protesters (100's) => Many sunis fell they need to take arms b/c peaceful protests to no avail => join ISIS => may not like them, but need protection -sunnis fight side by side with shia to defeat Al-Qaeda but don't receive any reward => sunnis chased by Al-Qaeda and Iraqi govt
Saudi Arabia
-Suni => Wahhabism, wealthy, U.S. Allies -15 of 19 9/11 hijackers = Saudi Arabian -funded Al-Qaeda => awkward situation b/c US buys oil from Saudi Arabia, SA buys weapons form US => don't want to embarrass allies -Saudi Arabia had alot of oil but not the engineering to get it out => US comes and and offers engineering for spit of profit -1980's: very wealthy, offer free higher education => a lot of young college grads and not enough jobs => most studied religion and now have young hero in Bin Laden to idolize
According to Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution, who was providing support for the Sunnis in Syria?
-U.S. providing limited covert support to Syrian opposition => ISIS takes military weapon by force
Rendition
-US follows the law when it comes to rules of war => we don't torture captives => send captives to nation that doesn't follow the rules -US soldiers in Iraq captures ISIS member => can't break rules of war and torture to get information => so we give him to someone who doesn't follow the law (Egypt => enhanced interrogation)
August 2014
-US starts bombing ISIS in Iraq => then in Syria with help form Britain
Orientalism
-Western belief that middle east in inferior to the west -discourse that positions the West as culturally superior to the East -great example: Aladdin
Al-Qaeda
-a network of Islamic terrorist organizations, led by Osama bin Laden, that carried out the attacks on the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 -carried out 9/11 -donations from wealthy saudis => at first denied, but uncovered on wikileaks
What was the signficicance of Al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul on July 04, 2014?
-first public appearance in many years -a once us held city -something Bin Laden had never done -He also asserted his position as caliph, or spiritual leader, of the Muslim faithful, calling himself "Khalifa Ibrahim," or caliph Abraham, a reference to the prophet Abraham, who appears in the Quran
War reporting (kuwait babies)
-focuses on combat => reality = war is very political -embellish stories and false report -reporters don't fact check -ex:) Gulf War = 1990 => Sadam Hussein invades Kuwait => story comes out about how Iraqi soldiers raid hospitals and dump ne born babies onto the floor => uncovered that story isn't true and was reported by Kuwait rep in the white house => had suspicion, but didn't check facts
USS Liberty (1967)
-hit by underwater missile -not a war ship, spy ship, no weapons -Israel didn't like ppl listening in on info. -Israel suppose to be US ally -happened during six day war
Aftermath of ISIS
-less but not gone -defeated primarily through U.S. airstrikes => much destruction(DIME) -not all ISIS leaders killed => many known to have fled to the Philippines => keep popping up throughout the world
Iraq population structure
-north = Suni => 20%=> most live north of Baghdad which is referred to as the Sunni triangle -south = Shiite => 80% -small % kurd -even smaller % Yazidi Iraqi Arabs => diverse Iraqi Kurd => 98% Sunni Muslim
corrupt Iraq army
-only 1/3 actually staffed -the other 2/3 were paid half there salary to be on administrative leave => extra $ would go to pockets of higher ups
Syria
-president = Bashir Assad => Alawite => branch of shia -20% Alawite 80% Suni -civil war b/c of Alawite favoritism -had limited number of reliable military groups => relied on airpower => bombings with chemical weapons -this was against international law, inciting U.S. involvement => too outrageous to ignore => Humanitarian Intervention -May 2014 U.S. will moderate Syrian opposition => weapons that we give to opposition are taken by threat of force by ISIS => huge concern for war on terror
Syrian War
-proxy war b/w US and Russia -suni opposition, US, Saudi Arabia, Gulf states -Bashir Assad (Syria), Iran (Shiite, widcard), Iraq (new shiite governement), Russia => Israel later offers aid to Syria to diminish syrian belief that Israel is the "devil"
Israel
-push from zionism (a movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel) born 1948 => Palestine's Arabs displaced as refugees -David-Ben-Gurion = prime minister=> claims Israel independent => establishes relationship with US
Syrian opposition = SDF (Syrian Democratic Force)
-suni -kill any Alawite they find -supported by US and drive ISIL out of Raqqa, Syria -SDF made up of Sunni and Kurds => rebel opposition to Bashir Assad (Alawite in a majority Sunni country -capital of revolution = Homs
America bombs Libya
-suspected Libya for exporting terrorists -Gaddafi responds by bombing Pan-Am flight -Ronald Reagan sent 33 U.S. warplanes toward 5 targets in Libya. The U.S. lost a jet and its 2-man crew. There were some civilian casualties. -In 1988 Libyan terrorists planted bombs aboard Pan Am Flight 103, bound for New York City.
Operation Desert Storm (first gulf war)
-the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991) -Bin Laden invades Kuwait => we get them out -post war shiite uprise in south, Kurds uprise in north => thought US would help, but they didn't
What was the significance of ISIS bulldozing the border between Syria and Iraq?
-they are now one islamic state -There islamic state recognizes no borders -rapid military advancement into Iraq and later quickly took fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit
Global war on terror all started on
09/11/01 -invaded Afghanistan in '02 -Osama Bin Laden planned 9/11, had Taliban training camps in Afghanistan -asked Taliban to turn him over, but it was against their policy -Bin Laden sneaks out of Afghanistan to live in a villa in Pakistan -9/11 plot born in Egyptian prisons => Islamic Fundamentalists turned radical and become revenge seeking militants => come out of prison religious, radical, determined
Stonewall Jackson
Brave commander of the Confederate Army that led troops at Bull Run. He died in the confusion at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
What is the main religious book for Muslims?
Coran
How long have we been fighting the war in Afghanistan?
17 years, since 2001
Mosul, Iraq
A large city in northern Iraq, it has been the de facto ISIS capital in Iraq -fell into ISIL hands in June 6th 2014 => easy to conquer -ISIS = 1,300 Iraq army= 60,000 troops => only 1/3 of the troops were actually there (corrupt army) -taken over in four days -ISIS establishes their own government => biz have to pay ISIS for protection -2017: blows up mosque and tries to blame US airstrike
Who is the leader of ISIS?
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Muammar Gaddafi
Dictator of Libya
DIME
Diplomacy Information Military Economic -Military at best only 25% of solution when defeating terrorism or overthrowing radical govt, military can't restore country alone
In 2011, American commandos raided a cave in Afghanistan and killed Osama Bin Laden. T/F
False Compound in Pakistan
Which countries have supported Bashir Assad?
Iran (both Shiite/ Iran = largest shiite majority nation) and Russia
What does ISIS stand for? (ISIL)
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant
Iran & Iraq War
The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22 1980 following a long history of border disputes and fears of Shia insurgency among Iraq's long suppressed Shia majority influenced by Iran's Islamic revolution. -led by Suddam Hussein -1980-1988 -No change in bordes
After the USS Cole was moored for about two hours, bombing was initiated. How was the attack carried out?
Men is a small, explosive-filled vessel rammed into the port side of the destroyer
Who was the Iraqi minister of information that insisted the US forces were being defeated during the 2003 invasion?
Mohammed Sahid Al Saha
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
In the counter-crusadetheh chief Muslim leader usually known for mercy, captured and beheaded
Reynald of Chatillon
How big is Islam?
Second largest religion in the world
Who was the British spy that persuaded the Arab tribal chiefs, during WWI, to revolt against the Ottoman ru
Thomas Edward Lawrence => Lawrence of Arabia
In 1992 the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, was dominated by warlords who seized food supplies for themselves and their followers. T/F
True
In recent years, Russia has shown willingness to violate international law by its invasion of both Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics
True