Just over the metal mesh border fence, it's San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, city of about 150,000.
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In Ariz. Town, Main Street Is A Border Crossing : NPR - 0 views
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It's what we sell the most - menudo
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We've got 40,000 to 50,000 on our peak time, people coming across.
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I grew up in - in Mexico. I love Mexico. I love San Luis, my town. Some friends, you know, I'm USA, yeah, I'm a USA citizen.
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I took a gander at this quote. The immigrant said that he loves his town,and his friends and he would like to stay in mexico. This is perfectly understandable. America makes it seem as though once your in,there is nothing else. There was nothing before and there wont be anything after. There are countries of equal significance or even more. All we have to do is look a bit further and we will see the truth.
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My name is Joel Silva. I'm born in the United States. I'm a USA citizen, but I live in Mexico all my life. When I'm 12 years old, my mom, she send me to buy, like, beans, like, potatoes that she pulled in the United States.
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But my purpose to learn English to testify who is God, who is Jesus Christ
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We've got 40,000 to 50,000 on our peak time, people coming across.
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I had no idea so many people legally crossed the borders in one day. I always thought by the stereotypical way people always talked about it, that only illegal immigrants could come in because it was so difficult for people to do it legally.
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Wow, 40000 to 50000 people a day during peak time along just to cross the border for work is more than said for. I can imagine a line of cars waiting to get through the border every morning and evening. Like an never ending line of people, thirsty, hungry and exhausted.
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HOSALIN: This my other home right here.
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But when I got out, back to work.
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Mayor ESCAMILLA: Right now, we're on Main Street and you can see that there's some farm workers right now.
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Tens of thousands of Mexicans legally cross every day. Many pick produce in southern Arizona's vast farm fields, and all of them cross the border on San Luis's Main Street.
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And usually at three o'clock in the morning you'll see the buses that park in the business parking lot. They'll just park there and wait for the workers.
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they really like it a lot. Unidentified Man #7: (Spanish spoken) Ms. ESCAMILLA: (Through translator) And with that, they go to the fields to work really happy. Mr. SILVA: I work in the farm before in Mexico, but I started to work in the United States (unintelligible) 17 years old. When 1986, my wife, she passed away. I lose my car, I lose my pickup, I lose my small beans I had. I lose everything. And now I feel like my life is over. I don't see a reason to live. And these guy, he offered me to cross his car, and he put 30 pounds of dope inside. When I'm coming to cross the borderline over here in San Luis, Arizona, the officer, he saw me nervous with the way I speak to him. So, when the guy opened the trunk, he (unintelligible). In prison, I'm going to the book library and I find the bible and I start to read it. I never speak English the way I'm speaking to you now, never.
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You've got thousands of people coming across every single day just to commute to work.
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Yeah, because you're working 14, 16 hours a day.
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I agree with Nicole, that is more than a normal working day of a 9-5 job. 14 to 16 hours a day is intense work. I'd be tired, hungry and bored.
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Wow that's like going to work at 6 am and coming back at 10 pm.. I don't think I could handle that.
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Those people are working really hard just so they can have food on their tables and be able to live. Working 14-16 hours is insane. It's way more than a normal day. I think I can work for that long, maybe. I wouldn't mind as long as I get a good paycheck.
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Unidentified Man #4: No.
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You've got thousands of people coming across every single day just to commute to work.
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Tens of thousands of Mexicans legally cross every day.
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My name is Hosalin. We don't know each yet. He knows me because we've met each other in the different jobs here. Lettuce, melons, watermelons, (unintelligible). Like a big family, all of us.
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Mr. SILVA: We are now in the parking lot of Sol Supermarket. This is the area where the buses parking. You can see buses from there to here. No cars. Morning, coffee.
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You can see buses from there to here. No cars. Morning, coffee.
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: (unintelligible) is different here. (unintelligible) across the line and go to work and come back, five, six, seven p.m. So tired.
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Like a big family, all of us.
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I'm buying a whole meal to everyone here and the best is the Panchita
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I'm going to the book library and I find the bible and I start to read it. I never speak English the way I'm speaking to you now, never.
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You can see buses from there to here. No cars. Morning, coffee.
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So, this is my job to pick up the beans, to carry the boxes to them. You can put the melons in here. These are two small ones. The (unintelligible) is more big ones.
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And usually at three o'clock in the morning you'll see the buses that park in the business parking lot. They'll just park there and wait for the workers.
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Right now, we're on Main Street and you can see that there's some farm workers right now.
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Tens of thousands of Mexicans legally cross every day. Many pick produce in southern Arizona's vast farm fields, and all of them cross the border on San Luis's Main Street.
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But the four-lane road also serves as a border station between the U.S. and Mexico.
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Tens of thousands of Mexicans legally cross every day. Many pick produce in southern Arizona's vast farm fields, and all of them cross the border on San Luis's Main Street.
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Yeah, because you're working 14, 16 hours a day.
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We come very early every day to sell food to the guys. They don't have time to eat at home because they leave very early. We are working from two in the morning until four in the afternoon.
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We come very early every day to sell food to the guys. They don't have time to eat at home because they leave very early. We are working from two in the morning until four in the afternoon.
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Sometimes we not take a break. Sometimes we not taking no lunch. We're working straight.
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Unidentified Man #2: Hello, sir. How are you doing? (Spanish spoken)
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Moon landing conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 4 views
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Various Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo Project and the associated Moon landings were falsifications staged by NASA and members of other involved organizations.
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An article in the German magazine Der Spiegel places the Moon hoax in the context of other well-known 20th century conspiracy theories which it describes as "the rarified atmosphere of those myths in which Elvis is alive, John F. Kennedy fell victim to a conspiracy involving the Mafia and secret service agents, the Moon landing was staged in the Nevada desert, and Princess Diana was murdered by British intelligence."[41]
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A 2000 poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Fund found that 28% do not believe that American astronauts have been on the Moon, and this percentage is roughly equal in all social-demographic groups.[
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A number of different hoax claims have been advanced that involve conspiracy theories outlining concerted action by NASA employees, and sometimes others, to perpetuate false information about landings that never occurred, or to cover up accurate information about the landings that occurred in a different manner than have been publicized. Believers have focused on perceived gaps or inconsistencies in the historical record of the missions. The Flat Earth Society was one of the first organizations to accuse NASA of faking the landings, arguing that they were staged by Hollywood and based on a script by Arthur C. Clarke.[13]
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Cold War prestige, monetary gain, and providing a distraction are some of the more notable motives which are give
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A 1999 poll by The Gallup Organization found that 89% of the U.S. public believed the landings were genuine, while 6% did not, and 5% were undecided.[2][3]
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Dr. David Williams (NASA archivist at Goddard Space Flight Center) and Apollo 11 flight director Eugene F. Kranz both acknowledged that the Apollo 11 telemetry data tapes are missing.
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On November 1, 2006 Cosmos Magazine reported that some one-hundred data tapes recorded in Australia during the Apollo 11 mission had been discovered in a small marine science laboratory in the main physics building at the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. One of the old tapes has been sent to NASA for analysis. The slow-scan television images were not on the tape.[67] Britain's Sunday Express reported in late June 2009 that the missing tapes were found in storage facility in the basement of a building on a university campus in Perth, Australia.
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There are no stars in any of the photos. The Apollo 11 astronauts also claimed in a press conference after the event to have not remembered seeing any of the stars.
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5. The color and angle of shadows and light are inconsistent.
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The flag placed on the surface by the astronauts flapped despite there being no wind on the Moon.[citation needed] Sibrel said "The wind was probably caused by intense air-conditioning used to cool the astronauts in their lightened, uncirculated space suits. The cooling systems in the backpacks would have been removed to lighten the load not designed for Earth’s six times heavier gravity, otherwise they might have fallen over".
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A Case for Multiple Intelligences Based Classroom Instruction « Advance Your ... - 0 views
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All students should have the opportunity to not only further develop their dominant intelligences, but should also have the opportunity to develop their weaker intelligences. Students who are weak in the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences will certainly be at a disadvantage in a culture that places so much emphasis on the traditional intelligences. Despite their weaknesses, however, students who are given the opportunity to succeed using an intelligence in which they can excel demonstrate that they are capable of developing their verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences.
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I'm learning more about the multiple intelligences right now, and in particular what I'm wondering about is: How this theory is applied in modern education? I was researching this question online, and this blog post caught my attention because it mentioned that schools did not use a variety of learning styles to teach. "...American schools still base their instruction primarily on the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. As a result, many students who are not strong in these traditional intelligences develop poor attitudes toward school and their academic achievement suffers." Most schools today base their curriculum around only two of several intelligences. However, many students are more adept in using other methods to learn. This makes it harder for those students to excel, despite having the ability to if given the right school environment. I think this is true because I know a bunch of people who are extremely talented in a lot of areas. They know a lot, but, they have poor grades, mainly because they can not showcase their abilities properly. It makes me wonder if the school system will change in the future. Then, maybe it will be more fair.
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I'm learning more about Multiple Intelligences right now, and in particular what I'm wondering about is: How are Multiple Intelligences used in school? I was researching this question online, and this blog post caught my attention because it answers my question directly. "traditional and nontraditional approaches should be combined to formulate a method of education that is best suited to the students who populate our classrooms. The multiple intelligences offer a balance which teaches students what they need to know in order to be successful in our society in a way that compliments the unique abilities that each individual possesses." The quote i chose here is basically saying that the authorities should change school so that they can combine two different intelligences together. By combining two intellgences it is easier for students who are not dominant in either logical, or linguistic intelligences. I think this is smart because many students dominant intelligences are not in linguistic, or logical. Instead it is in the intelligences schools do not incorporate into the curriculum. It makes me wonder if i would do better in school, if two intelligences were combined.
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American's belief of global warming sinking - below 50% for the first time in... - 1 views
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I am learning more about global warming right now, and in particular what I'm wonder about is what caused global warming? I was researching this question online, and this blog post caught my attention because it is about global warming and I know that emissions no longer cause global warming by reading this blog post. "According to the survey, roughly a third of the people who believe in global warming think it is due to natural causes, rather than manmade causes such as industrial emissions. As a result, the number who say that global warming is caused by humans has dropped from 54 percent last summer to 45 percent now." The quote I chose here is basically saying that global warming is causing by natural causes but I don't think so. I think people cause global warming too. They kill trees and pour waste water into ocean and rivers. I think this is impressed because it makes me wonder will the percentage of global warming and pollution be higher next year?
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Insomnia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views
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Insomnia is typically followed by functional impairment while awake.
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So this is saying that when you don't sleep at night you often get hurt the next day.
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I guess this is saying that if you are not usually asleep when you normally would be, you are less attentive. You could bump into something or hurt your foot etc. When you are between being awake and being asleep that can also damage you in the morning.
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Insomnia is a symptom[1] which can accompany of any of several sleep, medical and psychiatric disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep despite the opportunity.
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According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services in the year 2007, approximately 64 million Americans regularly suffer from insomnia each year.[3] Insomnia is 1.4 times more common in women than in men.[4]
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This sentence is important because statistics mean that there are personal experiences out there to investigate in the mysterious questions circulating sleepless nights
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The more i look up research on this topic the more i realize that i have insomnia myself. Before i was told that its from stressed, something on my mind or feelings i had kept hidden. Every where i looked for information about it they all seem to save diffrent things how you can have it but they all did say the syptoms and i do have them.
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Transient insomnia lasts from days to weeks. It can be caused by another disorder, by changes in the sleep environment, by the timing of sleep, severe depression, or by stress. Its consequences - sleepiness and impaired psychomotor performance - are similar to those of sleep deprivation.[5]
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Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well for a period of between three weeks to six months.[6]
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Chronic insomnia lasts for years at a time. It can be caused by another disorder, or it can be a primary disorder. Its effects can vary according to its causes. They might include sleepiness, muscular fatigue, hallucinations, and/or mental fatigue; but people with chronic insomnia often show increased alertness. Some people that live with this disorder see things as though they were happening in slow motion, wherein moving objects seem to blend together. Can cause double vision.[5]
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In many cases, insomnia is caused by another disease, side effects from medications, or a psychological problem.
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Many insomniacs rely on sleeping tablets and other sedatives to get rest. All sedative drugs have the potential of causing psychological dependence where the individual cannot psychologically accept that they can sleep without drugs[citation needed].
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Restless Legs Syndrome can cause insomnia due to the discomforting sensations felt and need to move the legs or other body parts to relieve these sensations. It is difficult if not impossible to fall asleep while moving.
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Some antidepressants such as amitriptyline, doxepin, mirtazapine, and trazodone can often have a very strong sedative effect, and are prescribed off label to treat insomnia.[33] The major drawback of these drugs is that they have antihistaminergic, anticholinergic and antiadrenergic properties which can lead to many side effects. Some also alter sleep architecture.
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The antihistamine diphenhydramine is widely used in nonprescription sleep aids such as Tylenol PM, with a 50 mg recommended dose mandated by the FDA. In the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries, a 25 mg to 50 mg recommended dose is permitted.
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Cyproheptadine is a useful alternative to benzodiazepine hypnotics in the treatment of insomnia. Cyproheptadine may be superior to benzodiazepines in the treatment of insomnia because cyproheptadine enhances sleep quality and quantity whereas benzodiazepines tend to decrease sleep quality.
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Irrationality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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The term is used, usually pejoratively, to describe thinking and actions that are, or appear to be, less useful or illogical than other more rational alternatives.
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people fail to realize the irrationality of their actions and believe they are acting perfectly rational, possibly due to flaws in their reasoning
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peers who convey irrational thoughts as necessary idiosyncrasy for social acceptance
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Irrational is not always viewed as a negative. The Dada and Surrealist art movements, for example, embraced irrationality as a means to "reject reason and logic". Andre Breton, for example, argued for a rejection of pure logic and reason which are seen as responsible for many contemporary social problems [1].
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Irrationalist is a wide term. It may be applied to mean one without rationality, for their beliefs or ideas. Or, more precisely, it may mean someone who rejects some aspect of rationalism, variously defined. For example religious faith may be seen as, in part, a rejection of complete rationalism about the world; this would be contested by some religious thinkers, in that the rational is a debatable term. On the other hand, it might be considered irrationalist to buy a lottery ticket, on the basis that the expected value is negative.
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Irrational behaviors of individuals include taking offense or becoming angry about a situation that has not yet occurred, expressing emotions exaggeratedly (such as crying hysterically), maintaining unrealistic expectations, engaging in irresponsible conduct such as problem intoxication, disorganization, or extravagance, and falling victim to confidence tricks. People with a mental illness like schizophrenia may exhibit irrational paranoia.
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The term irrational is often used in psychotherapy and the concept of irrationality is especially known in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy originated and developed by American psychologist Albert Ellis. In this approach, the term irrational is used in a slightly different way than in general. Here irrationality is defined as the tendency and leaning that humans have to act, emote and think in ways that are inflexible, unrealistic, absolutist and most importantly self- and social-defeating and destructive[1].
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Irrational thought was seen in Europe as part of the reaction against Continental rationalism. For example Hamann is sometimes classified as an irrationalist.
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In psychology, excessive rationality without creativity may be viewed as a form of self-control and protection
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Iraq War Facts, Statistics at March 10, 2010 - Iraq War Casualties, Spending, Iraqi Qua... - 0 views
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Troops in Iraq - Total 98,000 U.S. troops as of February 28, 2010. All other nations have withdrawn their troops. U.S. Troop Casualties - 4,386 US troops; 98% male. 91% non-officers; 82% active duty, 11% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 72% were from the US Army Non-U.S. Troop Casualties - Total 316, with 179 from the UK US Troops Wounded - 31,716, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries. (Total excludes psychological injuries.) US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 74 total, at least 36 by enemy fire
Chile Earthquake 2010 3 Additional Quakes Chile President | CNM News Network - 0 views
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Ethiopia - HISTORY - 0 views
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* Ethiopia was then plunged into a social revolution and a group of junior army officers imposed a military dictatorship. The leader was Mengistu Haile Miriam. He threw out Americans and then instituted a number of radical reforms.
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Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids | Video on TED.com - 0 views
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Now, I want to start with a question: When was the last time you were called childish? For kids like me, being called childish can be a frequent occurrence. Every time we make irrational demands, exhibit irresponsible behavior, or display any other signs of being normal American citizens, we are called childish, which really bothers me. After all, take a look at these events: Imperialism and colonization, world wars, Georg
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has a program called Kids Design Glass, and kids draw their own ideas for glass art. Now, the resident artist said they got some of their best ideas through the program because kids don't think about the limitations of how hard it can be to blow glass into certain shapes. They just think of good ideas. Now, when you think of glass, you might think of colorful Chihuly designs or maybe Italian vases, but kids challenge glass artists to go beyond that into the realm of broken-hearted snakes and bacon boys, who you can see has meat vision. (Laughter)
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the part that stood out for me the most is when she said "children are better than adults, because children just imagine all they want, while adults put limitations on the real world." In my point of view, this is just plain bull crap. True, older people put limitation on what they think, but that's because they know better. We all know that mass-producing transformer is nothing but a child's creative imagination, and does it make children better than adults by thinking that? I don't think so.
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Kids do need to be heard more by adults. Some times children have better ideas and solutions then some adults. When kids go to there parents to help them with there math homework. Most of the time they don't understand and have to pay for a tooter. If this is the case dose this mean children are able to comprehend situations better than adults. By being able to salve and understand problems faster and easier.
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Well we listened to Adora Svitak who says adults should learn from kids as much as kids learn from adults. I have to say that's very true. My experience with adults is that they always say that they are right, always doing stuff for our own good...I don't think that's really true. My parents always say what I'm allowed to or not to do. It's not like in ever irrational event happens, I want to do. No, that's really not it. I obviously have weighted the consequences and chose not to do something or to do something. This classroom for an example is definitely of the lack of trust and that adults should listen to kids once in a while. A lot of us in this tell our teacher that we think whats up have no real.....effect on our education. It's not like we're lazy (sometimes we are, but not this), but we just don't get the purpose of it. I think that this is a great clip for adults to watch. I do wonder though, how many of the adults there actually took that session to heart. I wonder how many of them turned and just commented that was adorable or something? I get that sometimes when I tried to make a valid point...
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I feel what this girl Adora Svitak was saying was true because parents do look at kids as childish and underestimate their abilities. I think it should go both ways, parents trust children and children trust parents.
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Mexico launch Blue Heart campaign against human trafficking - 0 views
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It is an honour for Mexicans to be the first country on the American continent and in the world to join and launch from here this important prevention campaign, and raise awareness about this crime of human trafficking.
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We have to act now in raising awareness in the whole of society, we have to act now with the determination to put an end to inhuman practices which turn people into merchandise, because human beings are not and cannot be for sale."
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I'm learning more about Empowering Woman right now, and in particular what I wondering about about is: Why is Human Trafficking so important, and why does it relate to Woman's rights? I was researching this question online, and this new article caught my attention because it relates to my question and human trafficking is commonly found in woman cases. Human trafficking is a nation wide problem that needs to be solved. "We have to act now in raising awareness in the whole of society, we have to act now with the determination to put an end to inhuman practices which turn people into merchandise, because human beings are not and cannot be for sale." The quote I chose here is basically saying the world should be more involved in stopping inhuman actions that affects the people all over the world. I also know why girls are constantly used for human trafficking, they rape and do horrible unorthodox actions to the girls. I think this is disgusting because people are being slaughter for their body parts. It makes me wonder how sick these people are. I don't know how people do that, woman should come together and fight against these horrid actions.
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Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views
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In 1990, faced with economic disaster following the end of the Iran–Iraq War, Saddam Hussein looked to the oil-rich neighbour of Kuwait as a target to invade to use its resources and money to rebuild Iraq's economy. The Iraqi government claimed that Kuwait was illegally slant drilling its oil pipelines into Iraqi territory, a practice which it demanded be stopped; Kuwait rejected the notion that it was slant drilling, and Iraq followed this in August 1990 with the invasion of Kuwait. Upon successfully occupying Kuwait, Hussein declared that Kuwait had ceased to exist and it was to be part of Iraq, against heavy objections from many countries and the United Nations.
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The UN agreed to pass economic sanctions against Iraq and demanded its immediate withdrawal from Kuwait (see United Nations sanctions against Iraq). Iraq refused and the UN Security Council in 1991 unanimously voted for military action against Iraq. The United Nations Security Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, adopted Resolution 678, authorizing U.N. member states to use "all necessary means" to "restore international peace and security in the area." The United States, which had enormous vested interests in the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf region, led an international coalition into Kuwait and Iraq. The coalition forces entered the war with more advanced weaponry than that of Iraq, though Iraq's military was one of the largest armed forces in Western Asia at the time. Despite being a large military force, the Iraqi army was no match for the advanced weaponry of the coalition forces and the air superiority that the coalition forces provided. The coalition forces proceeded with a bombing campaign targeting military including an occupied public shelter in Baghdad.[38][39][40] Iraq responded to the invasion by launching SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hussein hoped that by attacking Israel, the Israeli military would be drawn into the war, which he believed would rally anti-Israeli sentiment in neighboring Arab countries and cause those countries to support Iraq. However, Hussein's gamble failed, as Israel reluctantly accepted a U.S. demand to remain out of the conflict to avoid inflaming tensions. The Iraqi armed forces were quickly destroyed, and Hussein eventually accepted the inevitable and ordered a withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Before the forces were withdrawn, however, Hussein ordered them to sabotage Kuwait's oil wells, which resulted in hundreds of wells being set ablaze, causing an economic and ecological disaster in Kuwait.
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After the decisive military defeat, the agreement to a ceasefire on February 28, and political maneuvering, the UN Security Council continued to press its demands that Hussein accept previous UN Security Council Resolutions, as stated in UNSCR 686. By April, UNSCR 687 recognized Kuwait's sovereignty had been reinstated, and established the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM). Two days later, UNSCR 688 added that Iraq must cease violent repression of ethnic and religious minorities. The aftermath of the war saw the Iraqi military, especially its air force, destroyed. In return for peace, Iraq was forced to dismantle all chemical and biological weapons it possessed, and end any attempt to create or purchase nuclear weapons, to be assured by the allowing UN weapons inspectors to evaluate the dismantlement of such weapons. Finally, Iraq would face sanctions if it disobeyed any of the demands. Shortly after the war ended in 1991, Shia Muslim and Kurdish Iraqis engaged in protests against Hussein's regime, resulting in an intifada. Hussein responded with violent repression against Shia Muslims, and the protests came to an end.[41] It is estimated that as many as 100,000 people were killed.[42] The US, UK, France and Turkey claiming authority under UNSCR 688, established the Iraqi no-fly zones to protect Kurdish and Shiite populations from attacks by the Hussein regime's aircraft.
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Disarmament crisis Main article: Iraq disarmament crisis While Iraq had agreed to UNSCR 687, the Iraqi government sometimes worked with inspectors, but ultimately failed to comply with disarmament terms, and as a result, economic sanctions against Iraq continued. After the war, Iraq was accused of breaking its obligations throughout the 1990s, including the discovery in 1993 of a plan to assassinate former President George H. W. Bush, and the withdrawal of Richard Butler's UNSCOM weapon inspectors in 1998 after the Iraqi government claimed some inspectors were spies for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.[43] On multiple occasions throughout the disarmament crisis, the UN passed further resolutions (see United Nations Resolutions concerning Iraq) compelling Iraq to comply with the terms of the ceasefire resolutions. It is estimated more than 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.[44][45] With humanitarian and economic concerns in mind, UNSCR 706 and UNSCR 712 allowed Iraq to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian aid. This was later turned into the Oil-for-Food Programme by UNSCR 986. Over the years, U.S. land forces were deployed to the Iraq border, and U.S. bombings were carried out to try to pressure Hussein to comply with UN resolutions. As a result of these repeated violations, US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger held an international town hall meeting to discuss possible war with Iraq, which seemed to have little public support. In October 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, calling for "regime change" in Iraq, and initiated Operation Desert Fox. Following Operation Desert Fox, and end to partial cooperation from Iraq prompted UNSCR 1284, disbanding UNSCOM and replacing it with United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
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The Bush administration made a number of allegations against Iraq, including that Iraq was acquiring uranium from Niger and that Iraq had secret weapons laboratories in trailers and isolated facilities throughout Iraq;[citation needed] none of these allegations have proven true. Saddam Hussein, under pressure from the U.S. and the U.N., finally agreed to allow weapons inspectors to return to Iraq in 2002, but by that time the Bush administration had already begun pushing for war. In June 2002, Operation Southern Watch transitioned to Operation Southern Focus, bombing sites around Iraq. The first CIA team entered Iraq on July 10, 2002. This team was composed of elite CIA Special Activities Division and the U.S. Military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) operators. Together, they prepared the battle space of the entire country for conventional U.S. Military forces. Their efforts also organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion and eventually defeat Ansar Al-Islam in Northern Iraq before the invasion and Saddam's forces in the north. The battle led to the killing of a substantial number of terrorists and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat.[46][47] In October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, and in November the UN Security Council passes UNSCR 1441.
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Invasion and civil war Main article: 2003 invasion of Iraq Further information: Iraq War On March 20, 2003, a United States-organized coalition invaded Iraq, with the stated reason that Iraq had failed to abandon its nuclear and chemical weapons development program in violation of U.N. Resolution 687. The United States asserted that because Iraq was in material breach of Resolution 687, the armed forces authorization of Resolution 678 was revived. The United States further justified the invasion by claiming that Iraq had or was developing weapons of mass destruction and stating a desire to remove an oppressive dictator from power and bring democracy to Iraq. In his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002, President George W. Bush declared that Iraq was a member of the "Axis of Evil", and that, like North Korea and Iran, Iraq's attempt to acquire weapons of mass destruction posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. These claims were based on documents that were provided to him by the CIA and the government of the United Kingdom.[48] Bush added, Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections — then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred.[49] However, according to a comprehensive U.S. government report, no complete, fully functional weapons of mass destruction have been found since the invasion.[50] There are accounts of Polish troops obtaining antiquated warheads, dating from the 1980s, two of which contained trace amounts of the nerve gas cyclosarin, but U.S. military tests found that the rounds were so deteriorated that they would "have limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces." [51][52][53][54][55][56] Iraq was also home to 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium, miscellaneous other nuclear materials, and chemical weapons paraphernalia; the nuclear material was under the supervision of the IAEA until the beginning of the war.
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Post-invasion Main articles: Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present, Insurgency in Iraq, Civil war in Iraq, and Humanitarian Crises of the Iraq War Occupation zones in Iraq after invasion. Following the invasion, the United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq.[57] Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in June 2004, and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. More than 140,000 troops, mainly Americans, remain in Iraq. Some studies have placed the number of civilians deaths as high as 655,000 (see The Lancet study), although most studies estimate a lower number; the Iraq Body Count project indicates a significantly lower number of civilian deaths than that of The Lancet Study, though IBC organizers acknowledge that their statistics are an undercount as they base their information off of media-confirmed deaths. The website of the Iraq body count states, "Our maximum therefore refers to reported deaths – which can only be a sample of true deaths unless one assumes that every civilian death has been reported. It is likely that many if not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the media."[58] After the invasion, al-Qaeda took advantage of the national resistance to entrench itself in the country. On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged.[59] Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar were likewise executed on January 15, 2007;[60] as was Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former deputy and former vice-president (originally sentenced to life in prison but later to death by hanging), on March 20, 2007.[61] Ramadan was the fourth and last man in the al-Dujail trial to die by hanging for crimes against humanity. President of Iraq Jalal Talabani with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009. At the Anfal genocide trial, Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid (aka Chemical Ali), former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tay, and former deputy Hussein Rashid Mohammed were sentenced to hang for their role in the Al-Anfal Campaign against the Kurds on June 24, 2007.[citation needed] Al-Majid was sentenced to death three more times: once for the 1991 suppression of a Shi'a uprising along with Abdul-Ghani Abdul Ghafur on December 2, 2008;[62] once for the 1999 crackdown in the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr on March 2, 2009;[63] and once on January 17, 2010 for the gassing of the Kurds in 1988;[64] he was hanged over a week later on January 25.[65] Acts of sectarian violence have led to claims of ethnic cleansing in Iraq, and there have been many attacks on Iraqi minorities such as the Yezidis, Mandeans, Assyrians and others.[66] A U.S. troop surge to deal with increased violence and improve security became a contentious political issue in the United States. The surge in troops was enacted in early 2007; in his September 2007 testimony to Congress, General Petraeus stated that the surge's goals were being met.[67] Iraq also suffered a cholera outbreak in 2007.[68]
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On June 29, 2009, U.S. troops formally withdrew from Baghdad streets, in accordance with former U.S. President George W. Bush's security pact with Iraq known as the Status of Forces Agreement. The SOFA pact stated, among other things, that U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq's cities by June 30, 2009, and will leave the country on Dec. 31, 2011.[70] Throughout the country, as the citizens of Iraq celebrated with fireworks,[71] television programs declared June 30 as National Sovereignty Day.[72][73] However, crime and violence initially spiked in the months following the US withdra
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ssaults, and shootings increased dramatically.[74][78] According to the Associated Press, Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said investigations found that 60 to 70 percent of the criminal activ
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As Iraqi security forces struggled to suppress the sudden influx of crime, the number of kidnappings, robberies, bomb
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ity is carried out by former insurgent groups or by gangs affiliated with them — partly explaining the brutality of some of the crimes.[74] United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that the withdrawal caused a change of chemistry with “a real sense of empowerment on the part of the Iraqis.”[79] U.S. troops continue to work with Iraqi forces after the pullout.[80] Despite the initial increase in violence, on November 30, 2009, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion.[81]
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