THE USA AND CONFLICT 1941-2016

TEST 2: Comment on the following sources

Stage 1: introduction - Presenting the documents
Similarities: Both documents show the impact of terrorism on the USA after the 9/11 2001 terrorist attacks.
Differences: The cartoon by Gary Varvel published in The NYT on Sept. 12, 2001 labels the attack as ‘An Act of War’ whereas President George W. Bush’s speech (the traditional yearly State of the Union address) to Congress on January 29, 2002, explains US military response, reaction, answer.
Announce structure: In a 1st part I'll describe the shock the USA flet with the cartoon and in a 2nd part I will analyse how the USA reacted thanks to the speech.

Stage 2: Analysing the documents

DESCRIBING - What you see (docs)
 INTERPRETING - What you know (notions)
1. Shock : America attacked by terrorists (cartoon)

In the foreground: Uncle Sam
(Look) striped trousers, stars on sleeves (Express°) determined, hard
(Act°) stars & stripes top hat -> soldier’s helmet
In the background: Manhattan
skyscrapers with smoke

- Asymmetric warfare (def)
- War of aggression (def)
2. Reaction : America at war against terrorism (speech)

Paragraph 1. Victory in Afghanistan
We have destroyed the terrorist bases and the oppressive regime of Afghanistan
Paragraph 2. But the fight is not over
We will fight/catch terrorists worldwide.
Paragraph 3. And we have to beware
Some countries like Iraq could arms their terrorists with WMDs & threaten the USA.

- Afghanistan: 2001-2014, war of retaliation, liberation (defs)

- Global war (def)

- Iraq: 2003-2011, WMD, war of prevention, dissymmetric warfare (defs)

Stage 3: Concluding
Assess docs (reliable/biased justified): To conclude, both reliable reliable (broadsheet=quality paper, official speech) but biased (from a US -not terrorist, point of view).
Sum-up ideas These documents show how the USA reacted to the trauma of 9/11 by fighting a war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. + Nuance/opening Both wars ended in quagmires, another more recent example of a terrorist attack.