1. US CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST (1991- Present)

2. IRAQ 1 Operation Desert Storm Persian Gulf War/Gulf War (1991)

3. Key Terms Kuwait Saddam Hussein George H. Bush (the first George Bush)
Operation Desert Storm
Oil
Allies

4. The Cause

5. It begins after Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades its neighbor, Kuwait, in 1990.
Flag of Kuwait

6. Iraqi tanks invading Kuwait

7. US and other countries demand that Saddam Hussein withdraw his Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

8. Saddam refuses to withdraw his forces and prepares to fight the US and its allies.

9. Saddam as a kid!

10. In response, the US and its allies launch Operation Desert Storm, to fight against Saddam Hussein and force his Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.

14. General Norman Schwarzkopf

16. Burning Kuwaiti oil field destroyed by Saddam.

21. Highway of Death

22. French troops

23. Egyptian soldier with Iraqi prisoners of war (POW)

24. Happy Kuwaiti

25. Iraq surrenders and withdraws its troops out of Kuwait.

26. The Persian Gulf War ends with a US and Allied victory!

27. Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq as its dictatorial president.

28. AFGHANISTAN Operation Enduring Freedom (2001 - Present)

30. Key Terms September 11, 2001 Afghanistan Osama bin Laden
World Trade Center (Twin Towers)
Terrorism
Al-Qaeda
The Taliban
George W. Bush (the second Bush)
Operation Enduring Freedom

31. The Cause

32. On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists attack the USA using hijacked planes, killing about 3000 people.

33. The terrorists hijack four planes!

34. Two are crashed in the World Trade Center (Twin Towers)
Two are crashed in the World Trade Center (Twin Towers). One is crashed into the Pentagon. One is crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

35. World Trade Center under attack!

39. World Trade Center before the 9/11 attack.

40. World Trade Center before the 9/11 attack.

41. World Trade Center during the 9/11 attack.

42. World Trade Center during the 9/11 attack.

43. World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack.

45. World Trade Center today.

46. One plane attacks the Pentagon!
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US Military.

47. The Pentagon before the attack.

48. The Pentagon during the attack.

49. The Pentagon after the attack

50. A fourth plane, United Flight 93 is also hijacked!

51. Flight 93 crashes in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
It is believed it was heading for the White House.

52. A Flight 93 Monument.

53. Mohammed Atta, leader of the terrorist group that led 9/11

54. The US suspects that the terrorists were part of the terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, whose leader is Osama bin Laden.

55. Osama bin Laden and his group are based in Afghanistan, which is ruled by a Muslim fundamentalist group called the Taliban.

56. Taliban executing prisoners

57. Woman being buried alive by Taliban

58. Women under the Taliban

60. American who joined the Taliban

61. The US asks the Taliban government of Afghanistan to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial.

62. The Taliban government rejects the US demand and prepares for war.

63. In October 2001, US forces begin Operation Enduring Freedom by attacking and invading Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban government and capture Osama bin Laden. It is called the War on Terror.

69. Taliban soldier

71. French troops in Kabul

72. US and British troops

73. US and French soldiers

74. Within a few months, the US overthrows the Taliban, but Osama bin Laden is never found nor captured.
There is a $50 million bounty on his head, dead or alive!

75. There is a new US supported government in Afghanistan led by Hamid Karzai.

77. The War on Terror continues in Afghanistan!

78. IRAQ 2 Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003 - Present)

79. Iraq

80. Key Terms Saddam Hussein George W. Bush (the second Bush)
United Nations (UN)
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
Insurgency
The Surge

81. The Cause

82. US government states that dictatorial president, Saddam Hussein of Iraq is seeking to produce illegal weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which it fears may be used by terrorists to attack the US.

83. Weapons of mass destruction include nuclear (atomic) weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons, all of which have been banned by most countries and are considered illegal.

84. Victims of poison gas

85. Victims of poison gas in Iraq

86. Saddam Hussein and his Iraq government say they have no such weapons.

87. President Bush asks the United Nations (UN) and many countries to support an invasion of Iraq to find and destroy his WMDs, but most countries decline to support him.

88. President Bush asserts that Saddam Hussein wants to build WMDs, and he is a brutal dictator who should be removed from office, in what is known as regime change.

89. Nuclear test explosion

90. The United Nations (UN) refuses to support an invasion of Iraq and says the war is not necessary.

91. Many in the US and around the world protest against the upcoming war.

92. War protesters

95. President Bush then takes unilateral action (doing it alone) and launches Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003 to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein from power.

96. A few countries such as Britain and Australia support the US.

97. On 9 April 2003 US forces gain control of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and topple Saddam Hussein’s government.

98. Saddam Hussein statue

103. Captured Iraqi general

104. Soon after, an insurgency (fighting) against the US forces begins.

105. Saddam Hussein is later captured, tried and hanged on 30 December 2006 for his crimes against the Iraqi people

106. Saddam as a kid!

108. Capture of Saddam Hussein

113. Saddam Hussein during his trial

116. Saddam Hussein during his execution

118. Saddam’s funeral

119. No weapons of mass destruction are ever found!

120. The US wants Iraq to become a democracy
The US wants Iraq to become a democracy. Us therefore installs a new government which is later elected by the Iraq people.

121. Many Iraqis still view the US troops as foreign occupiers and continue to fight against the US and the new Iraqi governments which they view as collaborators with the US.

122. Memorial of US war dead

124. British troops

133. Destroyed oil pipelines

134. Roadside bomb!

139. Iraqi insurgents

143. In January 2007, President Bush announced a surge, or an increase in the number of US troops to Iraq, to help in the fighting. This has helped to greatly reduce violence in Iraq.

144. Though the US is now winning the war, small pockets of resistance and violence remains.