[SPORK] Iraq War Quiz

[Jeff Bone]

[nb - this was sent before the outage, apologies if it's a bit stale]


Think you know enough about Iraq / our administration to have an  
informed opinion?  Take this quiz to either confirm your wisdom or open  
your eyes.  From:

	 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=38&ItemID=3324

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  Iraq War Quiz

1. The anti-war movement supports our troops by urging that they be  
brought home immediately so they neither kill nor get killed in a  
unjust war. How has the Bush administration shown its support for our  
troops?

a. The Republican-controlled House Budget Committee voted to cut $25  
billion in veterans benefits over the next 10 years.

b. The Bush administration proposed cutting $172 million from impact  
aid programs which provide school funding for children of military  
personnel.

c. The administration ordered the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to stop  
publicizing health benefits available to veterans.

d. All of the above.

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2. The anti-war movement believes that patriotism means urging our  
country to do what is right. How do Bush administration officials  
define patriotism?

a. Patriotism means emulating Dick Cheney, who serves as Vice-President  
while receiving $100,000-$1,000,000 a year from Halliburton, the  
multi-billion dollar company which is already lining up for major  
contracts in post-war Iraq.

b. Patriotism means emulating Richard Perle, the warhawk who serves as  
head of the Defense Intelligence Board while at the same time meeting  
with Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi on behalf of Trireme, a company  
of which he is a managing partner, involved in security and military  
technologies, and while agreeing to work as a paid lobbyist for Global  
Crossing, a telecommunications giant seeking a major Pentagon contract.

c. Patriotism means emulating George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul  
Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, John Bolton, Tom DeLay, John Ashcroft, Lewis  
Libby, and others who enthusiastically supported the Vietnam War while  
avoiding serving in it and who now are sending others to kill and be  
killed in Iraq.

d. All of the above.

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3. The Bush administration has accused Saddam Hussein of lying  
regarding his weapons of mass destruction. Which of the following might  
be considered less than truthful?

a. Constant claims by the Bush administration that there was  
documentary evidence linking Iraq to attempted uranium purchases in  
Niger, despite the fact that the documents were forgeries and CIA  
analysts doubted their authenticity.

b. A British intelligence report on Iraq's security services that was  
in fact plagiarized, with selected modifications, from a student  
article.

c. The frequent citation of the incriminating testimony of Iraqi  
defector Hussein Kamel, while suppressing that part of the testimony in  
which Kamel stated that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been  
destroyed following the 1991 Gulf War.

d. All of the above.

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4. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher stormed out of a press  
conference when the assembled reporters broke into laughter after he  
declared that the U.S. would never try to bribe members of the UN. What  
should Fleisher have said to defend himself?

a. It wasn't just bribery; we also ordered the bugging of the home and  
office phones and emails of the UN ambassadors of Security Council  
member states that were undecided on war.

b. Oh, come on! We've been doing this for years. In 1990 when Yemen  
voted against authorizing war with Iraq, the U.S. ambassador declared  
"That will be the most expensive 'no' vote you ever cast."

c. Why do you think the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act makes one of  
the conditions for an African country to receive preferential access to  
U.S. markets that it "not engage in activities that undermine United  
States national security or foreign policy interests"?

d. All of the above.

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5. George Bush has declared that "we have no fight with the Iraqi  
people." What could he have cited as supporting evidence?

a. U.S. maintenance of 12 years of crippling sanctions that  
strengthened Saddam Hussein while contributing to the death of hundreds  
of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

b. The fact that "coalition" forces have indicated that they will use  
cluster bombs in Iraq, despite warnings from human rights groups that  
"The use of cluster munitions in Iraq will endanger civilians for years  
to come."

c. By pointing to the analogy of Afghanistan, which the U.S. pledged  
not to forget about when the war was over, and for which the current  
Bush administration foreign aid budget request included not one cent in  
aid.

d. All of the above.

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6. The Bush administration has touted the many nations that are part of  
the "coalition of the willing." Which of the following statements about  
this coalition is true?

a. In most of the coalition countries polls show that a majority, often  
an overwhelming majority, of the people oppose the war.

b. More than ten of the members of the coalition of the willing are  
actually a coalition of the unwilling - unwilling to reveal their names.

c. Coalition members - most of whose contributions to the war are  
negligible or even zero - constitute less than a quarter of the  
countries in the UN and contain less than 20% of the world's population.

d. All of the above.

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7. The war on Iraq is said to be part of the "war on terrorism." Which  
of the following is true?

a. A senior American counterintelligence official said: "An American  
invasion of Iraq is already being used as a recruitment tool by Al  
Qaeda and other groups….And it is a very effective tool."

b. An American official, based in Europe, said Iraq had become "a  
battle cry, in a way," for Al Qaeda recruiters.
c. France's leading counter-terrorism judge said: "Bin Laden's strategy  
has always been to demonstrate to the Islamic community that the West,  
and especially the U.S., is starting a global war against Muslims. An  
attack on Iraq might confirm this vision for many Muslims. I am very  
worried about the next wave of recruits."

d. All of the above.

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8. The Bush administration says it is waging war to stop the spread of  
weapons of mass destruction. Which of the following is true?

a. The United States has refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban  
Treaty, viewed worldwide as the litmus test for seriousness about  
nuclear disarmament.

b. The United States has insisted on a reservation to the Chemical  
Weapons Convention allowing the U.S. President the right to refuse an  
inspection of U.S. facilities on national security grounds, and blocked  
efforts to improve compliance with the Biological and Toxin Weapons  
Convention.

c. Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, Director of the Defense Intelligence  
Agency, testified on Feb. 11, 2003, "The long-term trends with respect  
to WMD and missile proliferation are bleak. States seek these  
capabilities for regional purposes, or to provide a hedge to deter or  
offset U.S. military superiority."

d. All of the above.

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9. The Bush administration says it wants to bring democracy to Iraq and  
the Middle East. Which of the following is true?

a. If there were democracy in Saudi Arabia today, backing for the U.S.  
war effort would be the first thing to go, given the country's  
"increasingly anti-American population deeply opposed to the war."

b. The United States subverted some of the few democratic governments  
in the Middle East (Syria in 1949, Iran in 1953), and has backed  
undemocratic regimes in the region ever since.

c. The United States supported the crushing of anti-Saddam Hussein  
revolts in Iraq in 1991.

d. All of the above.

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10. Colin Powell cited as evidence of an Iraq-Al Qaeda link an  
audiotape from bin Laden in which he called Saddam Hussein and his  
Baath Party regime "infidels." Which of the following is more  
compelling evidence?

a. An FBI official told the New York Times: "We've been looking at this  
hard for more than a year and you know what, we just don't think it's  
there."

b. According to a classified British intelligence report seen by BBC  
News, "There are no current links between the Iraqi regime and the  
al-Qaeda network."

c. According to Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global  
Network of Terror, "Since U.S. intervention in Afghanistan in October  
2001, I have examined several tens of thousands of documents recovered  
from Al Qaeda and Taliban sources. In addition to listening to 240  
tapes taken from Al  Qaeda's central registry, I debriefed several Al  
Qaeda and Taliban detainees. I could find no evidence of links between  
Iraq and Al Qaeda."

d. All of the above.

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Answers and Sources

1. d (a) Cong. Lane Evans, "Veterans Programs Slashed by House  
Republicans," Press Release, 3/13/03,  
http://www.veterans.house.gov/democratic/press/108th/3-13-03budget.htm.  
(b) Brian Faler, "Educators Angry Over Proposed Cut in Aid; Many  
Children in Military Families Would Feel Impact," Washington Post,  
3/19/03, p. A29. (c) See Veterans' for Common Sense, letter to George  
W. Bush, 3/20/03  
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/print.asp?id=563; Melissa B.  
Robinson, "Hospitals Face Budget Crunch," Associated Press, 7/31/02;  
Jason Tait, "Veterans angered by marketing ban," Eagle-Tribune  
(Lawrence, MA), 8/2/02,  
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20020802/FP_003.htm

2. d (a) Warren Vieth and Elizabeth Douglass, " Ousting Hussein could  
open the door for U.S. and British firms. French, Russian and Chinese  
rivals would lose their edge," Los Angeles Times, 3/12/03, p. I:1;  
Robert Bryce and Julian Borger, "Halliburton: Cheney is still paid by  
Pentagon contractor, Bush deputy gets Dollars 1m from firm with Iraq  
oil deal," Guardian (London), 3/12/03, p. 5 (which notes that  
Halliburton "would not say how much the payments are; the obligatory  
disclosure statement filled by all top government officials says only  
that they are in the range of" $100,000 and $1 million. (b) Seymour M.  
Hersh, "Lunch with the Chairman," New Yorker, 3/16/03; Stephen Labaton,  
"Pentagon Adviser Is Also Advising Global Crossing," NYT, 3/21/03, p.  
C1. Perle is to be paid $725,000 for his lobbying effort, including  
$600,000 if his lobbying is successful. (c) New Hampshire Gazette, "The  
Chickenhawks," http://nhgazette.com/chickenhawks.html.

3. d (a) See the evidence collected in Cong. Henry Waxman's letter to  
George W. Bush, 3/17/03,  
http://www.house.gov/waxman/text/admin_iraq_march_17_let.htm. (b) See  
Glen Rangwala's report, http://traprockpeace.org/britishdossier.html.  
(c) See Glen Rangwala's report, http://traprockpeace.org/kamel.html.

4. d (a) Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy, and Peter Beaumont, The Observer  
(London), 3/2/03. (b) Quoted in Phyllis Bennis, Calling the Shots: How  
Washington Dominates Today's UN, New York: Olive Branch, 1996, p. 33.  
(c) Sarah Anderson, Phyllis Bennis, and John Cavanagh, Coalition of the  
Willing or Coalition of the Coerced?: How The Bush Administration  
Influences Allies in Its War on Iraq, Washington, DC: Institute for  
Policy Studies, 2/26/03, p. 4.

5. d (a) For background, see Anthony Arnove, ed., Iraq Under Siege: The  
Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, Cambridge: South End Press, updated  
ed. 2003. (b) Paul Waugh, "Labour MPs Attack Hoon After He Reveals That  
British Forces Will Use Cluster Bombs," Independent, 3/21/03, p. 4;  
Human Rights Watch, Press Release, 3/18/03: "Persian Gulf: U.S. Cluster  
Bomb Duds A Threat; Warning Against Use of Cluster Bombs in Iraq." (c)  
Zvi Bar'el, "Flaws in the Afghan Model," Ha'aretz, 3/14/03,  
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/ 
PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=272884.

6. d (a) See, for example, the revealing comment of Secretary of State  
Powell: "We need to knock down this idea that nobody is on our side. So  
many nations recognize this danger [of Iraq's weapons]. And they do it  
in the face of public opposition." Quoted in Steven R. Weisman With  
Felicity Barringer, "Urgent Diplomacy Fails To Gain U.S. 9 Votes In The  
U.N." NYT, 3/10/03, p. A1) (b) U.S. Dept. of State, Daily Press  
Briefing, Richard Boucher, Washington, DC, 3/18/03. (c) Country list:  
White House, Statement of Support from Coalition, 3/25/03,  
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/print/20030325-8.html;  
population calculated from Statistical Abstract of the United States,  
2001, Washington, DC: 2001, table 1327. Total includes USA. The White  
House list includes countries whose leaders have done no more than  
state their support for the United States, and the listing changes from  
day to day, with some countries being added and some removed.

7. d (a) Don Van Natta Jr. and Desmond Butler, "Anger On Iraq Seen As  
New Qaeda Recruiting Tool," NYT, 3/16/03, p. I:1. (b) Van Natta and  
Butler, NYT, 3/16/03. (c) Van Natta and Butler, NYT, 3/16/03.

8. d (a) Colum Lynch, "U.S. Boycotts Nuclear Test Ban Meeting; Some  
Delegates at U.N. Session Upset at Latest Snub of Pact Bush Won't  
Back," Washington Post, 11/12/02, p. A6. (b) Amy E. Smithson, "U.S.  
Implementation of the CWC," in Jonathan B. Tucker, The Chemical Weapons  
Convention: Implementation Challenges and Solutions, Monterey  
Institute, April 2001, pp. 23-29,  
http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/tuckcwc.htm; Jonathan Tucker, "The  
Fifth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons  
Convention," Feb. 2002, http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_7b.html. (c)  
Testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, excerpted  
at http://traprockpeace.org/usefulquotesoniraq.html.

9. d (a) Craig S. Smith, "Saudi Arabia Seems Calm But, Many Say, Is  
Seething," NYT, 3/24/03, p. B13. In fact, "Though the Saudi government  
officially denies it, the bombing campaign is being directed from Saudi  
Arabia - something that few Saudis realize." (b) On Syria, see Douglas  
Little, ACold War and Covert Action: The United States and Syria, 1945  
1958,@ Middle East Journal, vol. 44, no. 1, Winter 1990, pp. 55 57. On  
Iran, see Mark J. Gasiorowski, "The 1953 Coup D'Etat in Iran,"  
International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 19, Aug. 1987, pp.  
261-86. (c) Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn, Out of the Ashes: The  
Resurrection of Saddam Hussein, New York: HarperPerennial. 1999, chap.  
1.

10.  d (re audiotape, see David Johnston, "Top U.S. Officials Press  
Case Linking Iraq To Al Qaeda," NYT, 2/12/03, p. A1; Mohamad Bazzi,  
"U.S. says bin Laden tape urging Iraqis to attack appears real,"  
Newsday, 2/12/03, p. A5. (a) James Risen and David Johnston, "Split at  
C.I.A. and F.B.I. On Iraqi Ties to Al Qaeda," NYT, 2/2/03, p. I:13. (b)  
"Leaked Report Rejects Iraqi al-Qaeda Link," BBC News, 2/5/03. (c)  
Rohan Gunaratna, "Iraq and Al Qaeda: No Evidence of Alliance,"  
International Herald Tribune, 2/19/03.

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Interpreting Your Score

9-10 Correct: Excellent. Contact United for Peace and Justice,  
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/, and work to fight the war and the  
system that produced it.

6-8 Correct: Fair. You've been watching a few too many former generals  
and government officials who provide the "expert" commentary for the  
mainstream media. Read the alternative media!

3-5 Correct: Poor. Don't feel bad. George W. Bush only got a C- in  
International Relations at College.

0-2 Correct: Failing. You have a bright future as an "embedded"  
journalist.

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