DBQ on IRAQ
WORLD HISTORY
Part A
(Suggested writing time--40 minutes)
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1- 8. (The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) Write your answer on the lined pages.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents. Write an essay that:
- Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
- Uses all or all but one of the documents.
· Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible. Does not simply summarize the documents individually.
- Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the author's points of view.
· Be sure to indicate an example of an additional document or documents that would provide a missing point of view.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
Comment on the following statement.
Adherence to international law has been used to justify actions by all sides in the current conflict in Iraq.
DOCUMENT ONE
Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 1949
“Article 13
Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest. Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.”
DOCUMENT TWO
President Saddam Hussein's Address on the 14th Anniversary of the Great Victory day August 8, 2002
“The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, to die in disgraceful failure, taking their schemes back with them, or to dig their own graves, after they bring death to themselves on every Arab or Muslim soil against which they perpetrate aggression, including the Iraq, the land of Jihad and the banner.
We say this to refute the grumbling and sibilation of those bragging their power, governed by the devil, their master in every evil act and crime which they perpetrate against the land of the Arabs and Muslims, while they wade in the rivers of innocent blood they shed in the world, believing that the people of the world should become slaves to Tyranny and its threats, both declared and executed threats. But if they wanted peace and security for themselves and their people, then this is not the course to take. The right course is of respect to the security and rights of others, through dealing with others in peace and establishing the obligations required by way of equitable dialogue and on the basis of international law and international covenants.
The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq, and should honor its obligations under its own resolutions. There is no other choice for those who use threat and aggression but to be repelled even if they were to bring harm to their targets. Allah, the omni-powerful is above all power and shall repel the schemes of the unjust.”
DOCUMENT THREE
Resolution 1441, United Nations Security Council 8 November, 2002
“Deploring also that the Government of Iraq has failed to comply with its commitments pursuant to resolution 687 (1991) with regard to terrorism, pursuant to resolution 688 (1991) to end repression or its civilian population and to provide access by international humanitarian organizations to all those in need of assistance in Iraq, and pursuant to resolutions 686 (1991), 687 (1991) and 1284 (1999) to return or cooperate in accounting for Kuwait and third country nationals wrongfully detained by Iraq, or to return Kuwaiti property wrongfully seized by Iraq. …
Reaffirming the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait and the neighbouring States, …
1. Decides that Iraq has been and remains in material beach of its obligations under relevant resolutions…
2. Decides, while acknowledging paragraph 1 above, to afford Iraq, by this resolution, a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations under relevant resolutions of the Council…”
DOCUMENT FOUR
President George W. Bush's address on the start of war ,Thursday March 20, 2003
"In this conflict America faces an enemy that has no regard for conventions of war or rules of morality. Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military. A final atrocity against his people. I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.”
DOCUMENT FIVE
Lt. Col. Collins' Battlefield Speech, Lt. Col. Tim Collins, a 42-year-old commander of the Royal Irish battle group. Just hours before his troops went into battle, March 22nd, 2003 As Quoted in a 'Times of London' Commentary
"We go to liberate, not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Don't treat them as refugees, for they are in their own country. I know men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts. They live with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you, then remember they have that right in international law, and ensure that one day they go home to their family. The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please. If there are casualties of war, then remember, when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly, and mark their graves. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest, for your deeds will follow you down history. Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood, and the birth of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality, even though they have nothing... "
DOCUMENT SIX
Brian Corr, co-chair of the National Board of Peace Action, co-clerk for American Friends Service Committee, March 21st, 2003 Day After Anti-war Rally Boston Government Center
“We are here today to remind our country that there is such a thing as international law, the Geneva conventions, and a United Nations, and that the United States does not have the right to take the law into its own hands, and decide when and where the cataclysm of war will be thrust upon a people. We are here to remind our country that destroying a civilian infrastructure which people need to survivewhich is exactly what U.S. sanctions have done every day in Iraq for a decade that taking away their electricity, their jobs, their water, is a direct and flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention, a war crime, and a moral abomination…. You cannot stop war crimes by committing war crimes. You cannot build respect for international law by violating international law.”
DOCUMENT SEVEN
“Images of POWs and the Dead Pose a Dilemma for the Media” L.A. Times March 24th 2003 Josh Getlin and Elizabeth Jensen
“On ABC, news anchors Charles Gibson and Ted Koppel voiced differing views. "Any time that you show bodies, it is simply disrespectful," Gibson said. "The Geneva Convention [says] prisoners of war must, at all times, be protected, particularly against acts of violence and public curiosity." Koppel, however, said: "We have shown dead bodies often over the years, going all the way back to Vietnam. Both with enemy dead and the dead of Americans. What is done ... the faces are never shown. You don't want to have families at home learning of the death or the injury of a loved one by seeing it on television."Al Jazeera led its evening news with the Iraqi footage, but an announcer told its audience beforehand: "We are warning the viewers and apologizing for the content of this footage, which is truly horrific." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in a CNN interview, said the Iraqi video violated the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war, specifically provisions banning the exposure of prisoners to "public curiosity" or humiliation: "Needless to say, television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate."