| Using
NewsHour Extra Feature Stories Overview:
NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues
in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up
essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period. Warm
Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much
your students know. Main
Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the
questions on the reading comprehension handout. Discussion:
Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined
in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions. Follow-up:
Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views
and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org]
for possible publication. Evaluation:
Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or
their editorial. Story:
U.S. Forces Capture Saddam Hussein: 12/15/03
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec03/saddam_12-15.html Initiating
Questions: 1. What
do you know about Saddam Hussein? 2.
How was he captured? Reading
Comprehension Questions: (click
here for printout) 1.
Where was Saddam Hussein found? Saddam
was found in a rural farm 10 miles south of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. He was
hiding in a hole.
2.
What does the Iraqi Governing Council want to do with Saddam? A
member of the Iraqi Governing Council said Saddam would be put on trial and face
execution if convicted, though it could take months to begin the trial before
a war crimes tribunal set up last week. U.S. officials have not said anything
definite about the fate of Saddam.
3.
How did the U.S. allies in the Iraq War react to the announcement? U.S.
allies during the Iraq war, such as Great Britain and Spain, were overjoyed by
the news. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who faced strong public opposition
to his support of President Bush, said the action "removes the shadow that
has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam
regime."
4.
How did European countries that did not support the war react? European
countries that did not support the war, such as France and Germany, offered congratulations.
The office of French President Jacques Chirac released a statement calling the
capture a "major event that should strongly contribute to democracy and stability
in Iraq and allow the Iraqis to master their destiny."
5.
What does the government of Jordan hope will happen now that Saddam is in U.S.
custody? In
the Middle East, the government of Jordan said it hoped the capture would lead
to new security for the Iraqi people.
"What the Jordanian government
cares about is the safety and security of the Iraqi people and the restoration
of political stability in that brotherly Arab nation," Asma Khader, a state
minister and the government spokeswoman, told the Associated Press.
6.
What is happening in Afghanistan? How might Saddam's capture affect the situation
there? In
Afghanistan, where 500 delegates of the loya jirga are meeting to debate a new
constitution, officials said the capture would improve the security situation
by dampening the morale and recruiting ability of anti-Western militant groups.
"What happens
in Iraq is also something to do with the situation in Afghanistan. Since the war
in Iraq, the terrorist organizations have tried to open a new front in Afghanistan,
so any failure of terrorism in Iraq is going to affect the situation in Afghanistan,"
Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali told the AP.
Discussion
Questions (more research might be needed):
1. Were you surprised by
the way in which Saddam was found? What are the implications of finding a feared
dictator hiding in a hole? 2.
What should the U.S. do with Saddam? What kind of trial should he have? Send
your answers, in essay form, to extra@newshour.org
for possible publication! |