Assessment Scenario:
As commander-in-chief, the president retains the ability to commit troops to action and maintain them in theater for up to 90 days without need for Congressional authorization. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush sent troops into Afghanistan and Iraq in support of the war on terror. This assignment will provide students an opportunity to investigate the arguments in support and in opposition to military involvement, evaluate Americans levels of support for the conflicts, and describe the global impact of this military intervention.
In this writing assignment, students will focus on the expansion of executive power after the 9/11 attacks – this should be the prevailing theme of your essay. In order to sufficiently address the expansion of executive power after 9/11 students will need to:
Outline the presidents justification for military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, students should identify another government official who supported military intervention and their reasons for doing so.
Identify two government officials who disagreed with military intervention and their reasons for opposition.
Explain the impact of U.S. military intervention domestically. Questions that should be answered in addressing this section include: Did the American public support intervention? Did the level of support change over time? Did these opinions result in any electoral shifts?
Describe the impact of U.S. military intervention on other countries. Did the U.S. receive international support for our military intervention? Why or why not? Did our military intervention lead to regime changes? Describe them. What has been the impact of those regime changes?
You must use primary (at least two) AND secondary sources (at least two) to support your paper (the textbook and the video lectures are your secondary sources).
PRIMARY SOURCE = Something produced in the historical era under study.
SECONDARY SOURCE = Something produced at a later date. A history textbook, a documentary film, etc.
