Kevin Jang

Mr. Yanni
Contemporary America
21 September, 2015
Losing Iraq
What were the responses of the Sunnis and Shiites to the implementation of
Bremers Coalition Provisional Authority? Are their responses justified? Why or why not?
On one hand the response of the Shiites was pretty much positive as they were given
a chance to be represented in a government that was mainly dominated by the Sunnis.
Though I do not agree with the method this was achieved, I do believe that the Shiites
response was justified because they were finally given ground in a government in which they
were previously denied participation in the previous rule of Saddam Hussein. Though on the
other hand there were 350,000 members of Baath party, which means 350,000 Sunnis were
forcefully removed from their jobs. This created a huge pool of hatred from half of the
Islamic state and their response to the removal of their positions was to become insurgents.
And to a point they were right that they were unfairly removed from offices but they kind of
lost justification of their actions when they began to target civilians.
What were then effects of losing veteran United States military leaders? How did this
prolong the war in Iraq?
By sending in a civilian who had no idea of the culture and people of a land he had no
idea about, the advice of military leaders could have been critical to the situation in Iraq.
Unfortunately they were placed by the Coalition Provisional Authority who, again, had no

clue what the heck they were doing, what they were going to do, and how they were going to
deal with future problems. This drastically prolonged the war because the crucial information
the Military leaders held was completely disregarded and sent away and ultimately caused an
insurgency among the Sunni people. The knowledge of war can only be given through
experience and the CPA had none.
What are your opinions on the image of the United States during this time? Explain in
detail.
During this mess that was occurring in the Middle East, Im sure in more ways than
one, the United States drastically tarnished its public image and foreign policies due to the
dim-witted actions of a single man. Bremers actions were quick and birdbrained and seemed
as if he was only looking a step ahead, when in actuality with the power of an entire nation
one pen stroke away, he ruined how the people of Iraq, surrounding countries, and the entire
world saw the United States. In literally a day, he decided it was best for the country of Iraq
to completely dismantle their entire government. Even as an American it seems as if the
United States was a child trying to cover up a mess by creating an even bigger mess, and to
be honest that was exactly what we seemed like. Bremer was a complete and utter fool, and
thats how the image of the United States looked like, like fools.
Why is ISIS a bigger threat now than any of the pervious terrorist organizations to
come out of the Middle East? You can use examples outside of the movie if you would like.
I believe that the main reason why ISIS is an even bigger threat than any other
terrorist organizations that came before it is due to social media and the media coverage of

ISIS in all forms of, well, media. ISIS has become mainstream whether we like it or not, and
whether it comes in the form of LiveLeak beheading videos or to our own news stations,
there is news everywhere about ISIS. They are spreading their influence not only to Islamic
Radicals but to also American citizens every time the TV is turned on or we see breaking
new coverage on the internet. Though it is not just ISIS and its members that have become
affected by the coverage of themselves on social media, we Americans are also greatly
affected by the news. An example is something that happened just a few days ago when a kid
in Texas named Ahmed Mohamed brought a homemade clock to school and was arrested
because the school thought it was a bomb. Now that is some serious racial profiling but we
cant help it because this kind of racial profiling exists because of the unfortunate attacks on
Americans.