America and the Middle East: Terror and Iraq

I. Introduction

• Clash of Civilizations?• Toward a New Foreign Policy?

II. Islamists and Jihadists

A. Birth of the Modern Islamist Movement1. Rise of the West/Western

Imperialism2. The Failure of Modernism

a. Establishment of Israel and the Six Day War

3. An Old Saw: Apostasy

II. Islamists and Jihadists

C. Islamists--Fighting the Near Enemy1.Failure

II. Islamists and JihadistsD. Jihadists--Fighting the Far

Enemy1. The Making of a Terrorist: Osama bin

Ladena. Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966)

• The Sixth Pillar

II. Islamists and Jihadists

b. Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1988)c. The First Gulf War

2. War with America

III. The "War on Terror"

A. Afghanistan (2001-?)

IV. Iraq

A. "Axis of Evil" and the Stated Rationale for War

1. WMD's and Terror Links

B. Underlying Rationale For War1. Toward a New Foreign Policy

a. Vietnam

b. Preventative War

IV. Iraq

2. Search for a New Middle East Policya. Reverse Domino Theory"

IV. Iraq

C. Pre-War Debate1. Objections

2. The Silence of the Lambs

3. Selling the War

4. Planning?

IV. Iraq

D. The Invasion of Iraq (March, 2003)1. "Mission Accomplished"?

E. Summer 2003: Drift

IV. Iraq

F. Insurgency (Summer 2003-Present)1. The Administration's Response

2. Growtha. Abu Ghraib

IV. Iraq

G. The Shia Moment1. Elections

H. Civil War1. Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds

V. Assessing Iraq

A. Tactical Failure?1. Absence of Planning

2. Flawed Assumptions

3. Absence of a Regional Plan

4. Failure of the CPA

5. Over Reliance on Force

V. Assessing Iraq

B. Strategic Failure?

VI. Mounting Criticism

A. Problem of Unilateralism

B. Rhetorical Problems

C. U.S. Reputation

D. The Realist Critique

E. Vietnam Again?

F. Unity Ended

Osama Bin Laden

U.S.S. Cole

Ethnic Iraq

Selling the War

Rhetoric and Reality

Insurgents

Sunni Triangle

The Al-`Askarī (Golden) Mosque, Samarra

VII. Conclusion

• Where Next?

• The Real Issue