The American Experience

Today we will be conducting research on Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda. In your google document, add a page entitled “Notes on Afghanistan.” Each student will select one topic to research.

Article 1.

Twin Towers in New York City

September 11, 2001: A Day of Terror

On September 11, 2001, there was an attack on America.

There are some men that decided that they didn’t like what America stands for: freedom, liberty, and the rights of men and women of all races, backgrounds, and beliefs.

So on the morning of September 11, 2001, they hijacked (stole) four planes and attacked America in a terrible way. 
Two of the airplanes were crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon (military headquarters) in Washington, D.C. The last plane was going to crash into another building in Washington, D.C., but the passengers stopped the hijackers, and the plane crashed into a field instead.

Thousands of people lost their lives through these attacks. Hundreds of people were on the planes. Thousands died in the buildings that were hit by those planes.

President Bush addresses the nation from the White House. He promised to capture and punish “those responsible for these evil acts.” Says the President: “These acts were intended to frighten our nation. But they have failed. Our country is strong.”

As investigators pieced together the evidence, it became apparent that the attack was the work of a highly organized terrorist group. A terrorist is a person who uses violence and fear to try to get what he or she wants. Much of the evidence pointed toward Osama bin Laden.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has admitted that Osama bin Laden is the prime suspect. He said the U.S. would wage a “global assault against terrorism” and the countries that support terrorists. America’s allies (friends) in Europe and Asia have promised their support for the effort. President Bush promised that the U.S. would “lead the world to victory” in the war against violence

Osama bin Laden

Article 2.

Why Afghanistan?

Afghanistan is home to Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the attack on America. Bin Laden is a terrorist who hates American policies and the American way of life. He has declared an Islamic Holy War against the U.S. From his base in Afghanistan he controls a worldwide network of terrorists. The highjackers of the planes that crashed in New York, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh are believed to have been followers of bin Laden.

The United States has asked Afghanistan’s ruling government, the Taliban, to hand over bin Laden. The Taliban is a strict Muslim ruling party that took over Afghanistan in 1997. They refuse to turn in bin Laden, saying he is a guest in their country. Bin Laden has been living in Afghanistan in secret hiding places since 1996. Afghanistan is the only country that will allow him to stay. The United States says that if Afghanistan doesn’t cooperate, then they must be prepared to go to war.

For most of the past 20 years, Afghanistan has been a battleground. Government after government has failed to keep the peace. In 1979 the Soviet Union sent in its army. This only made the situation worse. Ten years later, when the Soviets pulled out, rival groups continued to feud. Kabul was almost destroyed by bombings and street fighting that took more than 30,000 lives.

Article 3.

Who are the Taliban?

The Taliban and Afghan males

The Taliban are former religious students. Little is known about them, except that they follow a very strict form of Islam, the Muslim religion.

Wherever they rule, television sets are forbidden, women cannot work outside the home, and men must grow beards.

The Taliban believe that Islamic law forbids women to be educated. They believe in harsh punishment for criminals: thieves’ hands are cut off. Political enemies are also punished cruelly.

Now that the Taliban have taken control, they will insist on Islamic law, says a former government official. “But people say that at least now there will be just one law. In the past, everyone had his own law,” he said. In Afghanistan today, that’s the sweetest dream: peaceful law and order throughout the land, no matter who is in charge.

Facts about the Taliban

One Taliban list of prohibitions included: pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards.

They also got rid of employment, education, and sports for all women, dancing, clapping during sports events, kite flying, and characterizations of living things, no matter if they were drawings, paintings, photographs, stuffed animals, or dolls. Men were had to have a fist size beard at the bottom of their chin. Conversely, they had to wear their head hair short. Men had to wear a head covering

A typical women living under Taliban control in Afghanistan

804,

Today we will be having an online discussion about U.S. intervention in Vietnam. After researching the ways in which the U.S. handled the Vietnam war, answer the following two prompts in the comments section.

Scroll down to where it says, “leave a reply” and post your response to both A and B. Don’t forget to put your name with the comment as well in order to get credit for it.

A. Do you think the United States action in Vietnam reflected the American ideals of life, liberty, freedom, or justice?

B. What is one question you still have about the Vietnam War?

President Nixon explains why we invaded Cambodia

President Nixon and Vietnamization

In 1969 President Nixon was elected president. He promised that the he would end the war in Vietnam. But the war lasted nearly five more years after his election- and over 20,000 more American soldiers would be killed within those five years.

“Peace with Honor”

President Nixon had come up with a plan known as Vietnamization, which called for the gradual withdrawal of American troops in order for the South Vietnamese soldiers to take over the war for themselves. The President called this “peace with honor” because it would allow the United States to keep its honor and pride even in the face of defeat and retreat.

While the American soldiers began pulling out of Vietnam, Nixon had ordered an intense bombing campaign of North Vietnam and the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia.

Trouble Continues on the Home Front

The New York Times published secret papers know as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed that the U.S. government had lied about the progress of the Vietnam War to the American people. The papers destroyed a lot of the confidence and trust that the American people had in their government. Today, this feeling is distrust for the government persists.

Additionally, more college students reacted to the news of continuing war by staging protests against U.S. foreign policy at colleges and universities all over the country, including NYU and Columbia. In Ohio, the protests turned deadly. At Kent State University, a massive student protest led to the burning of buildings and rock-throwing at police and national guard soldiers. The National Guard responded by opening fire on the crowd of protesters, which resulted in the wounding of nine students and death of four other students, including two students who were just walking by.

College student who was killed by the National Guard

The End of the Longest War

Eventually, the U.S, the Communists, and South Vietnam all agreed to an end to combat operations. On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left for home. For America, the Vietnam War had ended.

The Fall of Saigon

The war itself continued in Vietnam without the U.S. Within a few months after the United States left, the North (Communist) Vietnam invaded the South. South Vietnam begged the U.S. to get involved again, but the U.S. only supported them with money. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon and captured the city. Soon after, South Vietnam surrendered to the North.

Over 58,000 American soldiers were killed, and nearly 2 million Vietnamese people were killed as well. The fight was to contain communism, but after the U.S. left, the whole county was ruled by the Communists.

People are desperately trying to leave South Vietnam

The last American in Vietnam left in this helicopter from the top of the U.S. embassy building in Saigon

Here are the following images from our gallery walk. Please feel free to use these photos in your documentary.

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There are many reasons why Americans were opposed to the Vietnam War. The reasons behind American opposition to the Vietnam War fall into the following main categories: opposition to the draft; moral, legal, and pragmatic (practical) arguments against U.S. intervention; reaction to the media portrayal of the devastation in Southeast Asia. The nightly news showed videos of the war every night as millions of Americans ate their dinner.

People opposed to the draft believed that the draft unfairly targeted lower income people and the Black community, because the wealthy class could afford to go to college, which was one way to avoid the draft. Morally, they believed that the war was unfairly killing thousands of Vietnamese civilians.

Additionally, many people believed that the war in Vietnam was a civil war between the Vietnamese people, which meant that the United States should not have intervened. Therefore, the United States had no legal right to be in Vietnam. Furthermore, the media coverage, which brought horrible images of the war to dinner tables across America eliminated any myth that was is glorious. Many Americans lost the will to support a war that they could see was hurting American boys on a daily basis.

Use the information below to use as you do your research for your documentary.

President Johnson signs the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

1. DIEM CANCELS ELECTIONS

Although he was the leader of a brutal and repressive regime, Ho Chi Minh won popular support in the North by breaking up large estates and redistributing land to peasants. Moreover, his years of fighting the Japanese and French had made him a national hero. Because of Ho Chi Minh’s popularity, South Vietnam’s president, Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong anti-communist, refused to take part in the countrywide election of 1956.

Diem failed to maintain a peaceful South Vietnam. He oversaw a corrupt government that offered little or no land distribution to peasants. In addition, Diem, a devout Catholic, angered the country’s majority Buddhist population by restricting Buddhist practices.

The United States also sensed that a countryside election might spell victory for Ho Chi Minh and supported cancelling elections. President Eisenhower promised military aid and training to Diem in return for a stable reform government in the South.

2. HO CHI MINH TRAIL

By 1957, a Communist opposition group in the South, known as the Vietcong, had begun attacks on the Diem government. The Vietcong assassinated thousands of South Vietnamese government officials.
Ho Chi Minh supported the group of fighters in the South, and in 1959 he began supplying weapons to eh Vietcong through a network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that became known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As the fighters stepped up their surprise attacks, South Vietnam grew more unstable.

President Kennedy and the United States chose to support Diem. The President didn’t want to appear too soft on Communism. President Kennedy increased financial aid to Diem’s failing regime and sent thousands of military advisers to help train South Vietnamese troops. By the end of 1963, 16,000 U.S. military personnel were in South Vietnam.

3. SOUTH VIETNAM GROWS UNSTABLE

The South Vietnam president, Diem’s popularity plummeted because of ongoing curruption and his failure to respond to calls for land redistribution to the peasants. To combat the growing Vietcong presence in the South’s countryside, the Diem administration moved all villagers to protected areas. Many Vietnamese deeply resented being moved from their home villages where they had lived for generations and where ancestors were buried.

Diem also intensified his attack on Buddhism. Fed up with continuing Buddhist demonstrations, the South Vietnamese ruler imprisoned and killed hundreds of Buddhits clerics and destroyed their temples. To protest, several Buddhist monks and nuns publicly burned themselves to death. Horrified, American officals urged Diem to stop the persecution, but Diem Refused.

The United States determined that in order for South Vietnam to remain stable, Diem would have to go. On November 1, 1963, a U.S. supported Vietnam military revolution took down Diem’s regime. Diem was even assassinated. A few weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated as well.

4. THE TONKIN GULF RESOLUTION

On August 2, 1964, a North Vietnamese patrol boat fired a torpedo at an American boat, the USS Maddox, which was patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. The torpedo missed its target, but the Maddox returned fire and inflicted heavy damage on the patrol boat.

Two days later, the Maddox and another ship were again off the North Vietnamese coast. This time the weather was really bad, and the soldiers couldn’t see very well. The crew reported enemy torpedoes, and the Americans began firing. The crew of the Maddox later admitted that they had neither seen nor heard hostile gunfire.

The alleged attack on the U.S. shops prompted President Johnson to launch bombing strikes on North Vietnam. He asked Congress for power to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” Congress approved Jonhson’s request, and adopted the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. While not a declaration of war, it granted Johnson broad military powers in Vietnam.

By June of 1965, 50,000 U.S. soldiers were battling the Vietcong, and the U.S. unleashed “Operation Rolling Thunder,” which was a sustained bombing of North Vietnam, killings thousands of Vietnamese.

U.S. soldiers on patrol in Vietnam

Objectives: Students will be able to

• Identify the characteristics of a documentary
• Define and describe the elements of a documentary
• Identify key terms pertaining to the Cold War: Truman Doctrine, Communism, Soviet Union, etc
• Explain the origins of the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict
• Assess whether the U.S. Should have gone to war in Vietnan

Directions: Each of you will keep and organize your notes on a google document provided for you. Click on the following link and follow the directions on the google document. Make sure you open the link in a new window or tab: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlU4n7X8UbVmdGR5OTc0Z2UzMWFLMDNVYmVTbFF4eHc&hl=en&authkey=CM712NoP

Part 1. You are going to view two different student documentaries about the U.S. intervention abroad. Each video offeres a different point of view: one is in favor of U.S. intervention and the other is against U.S. intervention. After each video, access your googledoc and fill in your Vietnam Documentary Notes spreadsheet. For each element of a documentary, describe the ways in which each filmmaker used the elements in their documentaries.

Film 1

Film 2

**Remember: you should have filled out your spreadsheet document for both films!

Part 2. After viewing these two films, what questions must we ask in order to understand the Vietnam War more?