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WHO SHOULD
RULE THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ? WHAT SHOULD BE THEIR PRIORITIES?
Critical Analysis
By Sally Fredriksen, a Retired Fairfax County Teacher 2002
Overview:
President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair met in Ireland Tuesday to
discuss who should run the interim government of Iraq. This lesson plan
asks students to consider whether the United Nations, the U.S. and British,
members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party or Iraqi exiles should make major
decisions in the interim government and what the priorities of that government
should be (transportation, hospitals, schools, police force, sanitation,etc.).
Objectives:
- Students
should look at the potential groups and individual leaders and decide
who should have power in postwar Iraq.
- Students
should consider the priorities of the new government.
- Students
should understand who the potential leaders are and the issues they
will confront.
Time:
15-30 minutes
Materials:
Correlation
to National Standards
Procedure:
- Students
will read the NewsHour
Extra story and NewsHour
transcript on postwar Iraq
- Give the
students a list of the possible
leaders of the interim government.
- Break
the class into groups of three and have each group write a list of pros
and cons for each entry.
- Then,
each group should select the best group or individual leader and give
three reasons for their selection.
- Then
students should decide the priorities of government. Make a list of
what the leaders will need to do in order of importance.
- Come
together as a class and have each group give their analysis.
Potential
leaders:
U.S.
and Britain - The U.S. has established the Office of Reconstruction
and Humanitarian Assistance to help run Iraq after the war. This will
be controlled by General Jay Garner who will report to General Tommy Franks.
General Garner's responsibility will be to handle immediate problems such
as providing water, food, shelter, law enforcement and medical care to
the Iraqi citizens. The U.S. has said that the leaders of the coalition
that ousted Saddam Hussein should play the largest role in efforts to
rebuild the country.
United
Nations - Since 1945, the primary goals of the U.N have been keeping
world peace, cultivating friendly relationships among nations and promoting
human rights and freedoms.
Countries who were opposed to the war, such as France, believe the United
Nations should have the central role. According to French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin, "The U.N. is the only international organization
that can give legitimacy'' to Iraq's reconstruction.
Iraqi
Exiles:
The
Iraq National Congress In the days following the defeat of
Iraq in 1991, a wave of opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime staged uprisings
in northern and southern Iraq. A number of Iraqi coalitions formed alliances
and so began a series of meetings in the Middle East and Europe to establish
a plan of action to remove Saddam Hussein from office.
The group is an ethnic and religious mix of Sunnis, Shias, Kurds and Christians
and maintains its headquarters in Salahuddin with an external base in
London.
INC leader Ahmed Chalabi has been mentioned as a potential successor
if Saddam is ousted. Chalabi has said he does not want to head a provisional
government but will continue to support the U.S. campaign to oust Hussein.
Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) led by Ayatollah
Mohammed Bakral-Hakim, an Iraqi Shiite exile. Most Shiites, long oppressed
by the Saddam regime, favor a more religious government.
Kurdish
Opposition in Northern Iraq The Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) are the two major Kurdish opposition
parties operating within northern Iraq. The two groups are composed of
about 40,000 troops, making them the largest armed group opposed to Saddam
Hussein. Massoud
Barzani is the leader of the K.D.P., and Jalal Talabani is the chief of
the P.U.K.
Ethnic Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslim, they speak their own language and
comprise 22 million people in 6 countries - 10 million in Turkey, 5.5
million in Iran, 3.5 million in Iraq and pockets of population in Syria,
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The
Ba'ath Party is the party of Saddam Hussein. Its main ideological
objectives are secularism, socialism, and pan-Arab unionism. All Ba'ath
leaders have pledged allegiance to Saddam, but they know how things ran
before the war.
Priorities
for government: (list is not exhaustive)
- To
establish a local police force to provide safety and security for homes
and business.
- To
establish sanitation for the community ( water, sewage,proper burial
, etc.)
- To
return the community order (schools, hospital, business)
- To
provide homes for the displaced.
Extension
Ideas:
- Have interested
students research the lives of Ahmed Chalabi, Ayatollah Mohammed
Bakral-Hakim, Massoud
Barzani of the K.D.P. and Jalal Talabani of the P.U.K.
and report to the class. Have the class write an essay
on which leader appears to be more qualified to lead.
- Follow
up as a class on exactly who is selected to lead Iraq and compare to
suggestions of the class.
National
Standards:
National
Standards for Civics and Government
Standard
6 - Power/Authority/Governance
Author Sally Fredriksen is a Retired Fairfax
County Teacher 2002 Certified in Social Studies and Sociology in Secondary
Education
To find out more about opportunities to contribute
to this site, contact Leah Clapman at extra@newshour.org.
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