History of the United States II / Unit 17 USH2 2409 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Afghanistan and Iraq
The idea
The two wars began for different stated reasons, and the difference is the lesson. Afghanistan followed a refusal: the Taliban would not surrender bin Laden, who had planned the attacks of September eleventh. Iraq followed a claim: the administration argued, the anchor says, that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and might use them against the United States.
In practice
One war against the government that sheltered the attackers, and one against a government accused of weapons it did not have.
Where people slip
The misreading merges them into one response to September eleventh. The Yawp records that Iraq had suspended its weapons programme while Saddam Hussein fostered ambiguity about it, and that no evidence of weapons of mass destruction was ever found. The anchor's word is claiming; the course keeps the distinction between a refusal and an allegation.
Your place on the trail
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