Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia var landet som i dag heter Irak. Mesopotamia ligger mellom to store elver – Tigris og Eufrat. Ordet Mesopotamia kommer fra det gamle greske språket og betyr landet mellom elvene. Mesopotamia hadde en av de første sivilisasjonene i verden, altså sumererne, og grunnen til dette er nettopp disse elvene – Tigris og Eufrat. De ankom Mesopotamia for ca. 7000 år siden. Da sumererne kom til Mesopotamia var jordsmonnet veldig tørt og jorden var lite fruktbar. Dette førte til at de måtte føre vannet fra elvene og inn mot landet slik at jorden ble mer fruktbar. De laget altså et vanningssystem. Dette «prosjektet» førte til at befolkningen måtte samarbeide. Det vannede jordbruket førte til større befolkningskonsentrasjoner og overskudd på mat, og dermed ble det behov for arbeidsdeling, klassedeling, militærvesen og skriftspråk. Mesopotamia bygde seg opp og ble et mer komplisert og sivilisert samfunn. Militærvesenet trengte de i og med at de ble en sterk by med mat og vann, og dette kunne være et godt erobringsmål for andre nabobyer. Skriftspråket trengte de først og fremst innenfor handel, og dermed utviklet seg videre.

Eufrat og Tigris flommet som regel over da høsten kom, og dette gjorde til at de måtte bygge murer. I og med at de nå hadde både murer og sterke militærstyrker kunne de erobre andre småbyer som igjen gjorde til at deres egen by ble større og større. Forutsetningene for at Mesopotamia kunne bli en høykultur var nettopp dette. Etterhvert fikk de inn eneherskere som hadde en viss makt over befolkningen. Som oftest hevdet de at de var divine eller at de styrte på vegne av en gud. Slik ble religionen «presset» på befolkningen. En annen ting som var sentralt i denne høykulturen var prester. De var den første sivilisasjonen som innførte det, og disse prestene skulle da påvirke naturgudene for å gjøre jordbruket bedre. De viktigste høykulturene fant sted ved elvene Eufrat, Tigris og Nilen. De fikk også inn konger som skulle herske på livstid, og disse kongene samarbeidet ofte med religiøse personer, som for eksempel prester.

Sumererne sine interesser var å overleve. De begynte med ingenting og jobbet seg opp til å bli en høykultur med militær makt, herskere, konger, arbeidsdeling, prester og skriftspråk – altså et ordentlig samfunn. Det var også sumererne som først kom opp med hjul og kjerrer som ble dratt av esler. Dette var et viktig transportmiddel for sumererne.

Siden Mesopotamia var blitt en mektig høykultur var dette et veldig attraktivt område for andre herskere og sivilisasjoner. Gang på gang var det krig mellom sumererne og nomader som vandret fra by til by med dyrene sine. De sumeriske bystatene varte i ca. 1000 år før de ble tatt over av et semittisk folk, babylonerne. Det var her kongen Hammurabi kom inn i bildet. Han samlet alle de sumeriske bystatene og gjorde de om til ett rike, med babylon som hovedstad. Dette kan sees i sammenheng med at Mesopotamia hadde mye å tilby og en godt oppbygd høykultur.

The Bush Administration

Introduction

In this project I have chosen to write about the Bush Administration. The reason why is that America today is the «worlds police», and every thing the current administration decides to do, it effect the rest of the world. George Walker Bush has been Americas president for 8 years, and it has finally come to an end. In his 8 years of power he has done horrible and illegal things. For example the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Guantanamo bay, and many other bills and acts he has signed into law. This essay will be sort of like a summary of all the negative effects done the world by the Bush Administration.

Generally about the bush administration

On the 20^th of january, 2001, George Walker Bush startet his inaguration as the 43^rd president of the united states of America. His father George H. W. Bush is also a former president of America, and their way of leading the country is quite similar in some places. As Bush said himself, he was there to finish the work of his father. George Bush has written a list called the axis of evil. This list was originally started by George Bushs father. The axis of evil is a list of all the countries that are a threat against America. The axis of evil means a big deal to the Bush Administration, so I want to talk more about it later. George Bushs presidency was elected in the election in 2000. In this election Bush practically lost the votes of the nation, but the Supreme Court gave Bush the required amount of votes to win the election. Bush got re-elected in 2004 and ended January 20, 2009 with the inauguration of the democrat Barack Obama.

George Walker Bush is a member of the republican party, and this party is known for being socially conservative. The Bush Administration is characterized by this. George Bush himself is a christian and conservative. Being socially conservative oppose to things like same-sex marriage, abortion, child adoption to homosexuals, and generally keeping the old christian traditions. Acts that are examples of this are the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Faith-based welfare initiatives.

Some of the major acts George Bush has done during his presidency is for example the response to the terrorist attacks on September 11.2001, which ended with a declaration of a war on terrorism

and the invasion of Afghanistan to capture Osama Bin Laden, destroy the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and overthrow the Taliban. Another major act is the invasion of Iraq. Bush was convinced that Iraq was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.

The Bush Administration has received much criticism due to the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other issues and acts like the Guantanamo Bay which is a prison for terrorist suspects. Bush has actually described himself as a «war president».

« As president, Bush has received some of the lowest approval ratings in American history and left office as one of the most unpopular Presidents in history.»

- Wikipedia

September 11^th 2001

The attack on the Twin Towers September 11^th, 2001

On September 11^th, 2001, four passanger planes were hijacked were the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. Two of the planes were intentionally crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Shanksville. The Twin Towers collapsed, and many workers in the buildings died, and so did the passangers in the planes. The plane that crashed into the field in Shanksville was originally headed towards Washington. D.C, but some of the passangers and crew aboard the plane managed to take

control over the plane, but unfortunately non of the passangers survived in any of the flights. All together 2,974 people died due to the attacks, excluding the hijackers.

The most probable reason for the attack is revenge for all the things USA have done. No one really knows why this happened, but then again, has no one even bothered to ask why? The first response

done by the Bush Administration was revenge. Their response was by declearing a «war on terrorism» by invading Afghanistan to destroy the terrorist oganization behind the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qaeda, to take down the Taliban and to capture Osama Bin Laden. Bush also enacted something called the USA PATRIOT act – the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism act. This act allows the state to search telephone, e-mail, financial transactions records and to search a business or home without a warrant.

The expansion of power particularly involves individuals with foreign backrounds. This act is in fact very controversial because it breaks with some of the important rights to privacy found in the american constitution. The Patriot act violates the Fourth Amendment - «protection against unreasonable searches and seizures with regard to criminal prosecutions».

Controversial: After the 9/11 all airports were closed and no planes were allowed to leave the airports, but Osama Bin Ladens family were put on a private plane back home to Afghanistan.

Which leads us to my next topic:

War on terrorism

The term ''war on terror, or war on terrorism'' is a phrase that was popularized by the Bush administration during the invasion of Afghanistan. Bush is known for his so called bushisms which

are funny misreadings of speeches, or funny things that he has said on tv shows and such. One of these are: "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." This ''bushism'' appeared on an Interview with CBS News in Washington D.C., Sept. 6, 2006. Why would he need to ''connect'' Iraq to the war on terrorism? Before USA invaded Iraq, Collin Powell held a briefing that was aired on national television where he showed satellite photos and images of buildings that they described as construction sites for weapons of mass destruction, or the short term: ''WMD''. The images were nothing more than blurry photos of buildings and trucks that looked completely normal. The Bush administration went to a war against Iraq because of the supposedly WMD's. Was this the way to ''connect'' Iraq to the War on terror that President George W. Bush had mentioned? The weapons of mass destruction were never found. but the irony in the whole situation is that USA has got all of the weapons that they accused Saddam Hussein of being in position of. This was one of the main reasons why USA could invade Iraq, not by promising to capture Saddam Hussein, but by tricking the world into supporting an unjustified war. The images were not surprisingly revealed to be fake after the invasion had been carried out. This looks very much like what is being done in Iran now, were USA is telling the world that the nuclear power plant that is being built in Bushehr under Russian supervision can and will be used to create nuclear weapons. History has a way of repeating itself, but we don't have to allow it.

The whole ''war on terror'' is surrounded by controversy. The weapons of mass destruction that USA knew for certain that Saddam Hussein was in position of were not found. The only thing they found was a truckload of aluminum tubes. They tried to create a case of this saying that they could be used to make rocket shells, but it could also be to make really good tin cans to store canned food in as well. Now that we have learned how USA and the Bush administration has tricked the people of America and the entire population of the world into supporting their unlegit ''crusade'', how can we trust this man? Bush actually went as far as calling the war a crusade, but was warned by his advisers to do otherwise, and decided not to use this term again. The original Crusade was carried out during the middle ages by christian crusaders who slaughtered, murdered and conquered muslim countries and territories. This is of course not the right term to use, but war on terrorism is not either, because they are not really waging a war on terrorism, they are waging a war on pre-chosen countries.

Right after being elected, President George walker Bush stated that Iran, Iraq and North Korea were part of an Axis of evil. He has later mentioned Lybia, Syria & Cuba to be part of the axis of

evil as well. USA has already invaded Iraq, and they have said that they will invade Iran if necessary. Is it ok for USA to play the role as a world police, that invades countries to fight a ''war on terror''?The world should not merely stand and watch as USA, the only superpower in the world, do whatever they want to do. I believe the term '' war on terrorism'' is being used to trick people into fighting, and to recruit new soldiers. The soldiers are showing no progress, and the death tolls keep rising. How much longer will the American people stand to watch as their families return in wooden boxes dressed with an American flag? And what about the people of Iraq, they are the ones who suffer the most. To remove Saddam and check if the country had any WMD's could have been done through UN's weapon inspectors and diplomatic actions, not through an invasion. It is important to remember that the inspectors that were stationed in Iraq only years before the invasion, could not find anything, and therefore they gave up. The whole ''war on terrorism'' is wrong, and the war on terrorism cannot be justified.

War in Iraq

The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 led mainly by troops of USA and UK and the multinational «coallition of the willing». The reason for this invasion was that the US claimed that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass distruction, and was a threat to the rest of the world. The UN (United Nations) held an investigation in Iraq to see if they found these weapons of mass destruction that the Bush Administration claimed that Iraq supposedly had. The UN could not find WMD nor evidence of them. Is it not a little controversial that USA has all of the weapons they don't want other countries to have. What is it that allows the USA to control the rest of the world, and who gave them the power to invade countries for hardly no reason at all?

U.S officials also claim that Saddam Hussein was a supporter of Al-Qaeda even though no evidence of contact between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein was found. Ex-president Bush has said himself that God inspired him to take Saddam down and end the tyranny. Yes, Saddam Hussein may be a person who has done many horrible things in his life, and he was a dictator, but there are also some bright sides about the way Saddam ruled his country. He was not so conservative, and girls could go out in the streets with jeans and a t-shirt, they could wear make-up and be with friends, both girls and boys. I have read many blogs and articles about young teenage girls who could enjoy life during Saddam Hussein's time, but now she had to wear a burka when she walked out of the house, she could not walk alone, she was not allowed to talk to boys, and many other

small things that made their life more fun. Saddam Hussein may have been a murderer and a dictator, but he cared for his country and his people.

There has been som speculation about wether the war in Iraq is all about Saddam Hussein or about the oil reserves. Of course the officials denied this speculation, but one has to wonder sometimes. What is the war in Iraq really about? The Bush Administration are supporters of the death penalty, and now that they have captured Saddam Hussein and killed him, why are they still in there? Yes, they claim that the war is over, but why send more troops in? Why take over iraqi territories and make them american? When is it going to end? Through 2007, more than 1 000 000 Iraqi citizens have been killed, and it is estimated that the death rate will be 4.7 million Iraqi citizens through 2008.

The war in Afghanistan

The war in Afghanistan started in October 7, 2001. The war in Afghanistan was originally a response the 9/11 attacks, and the U.S military calls it Operation Enduring Freedom. Bush also said that his goal was to capture Osama Bin Laden, destroy the Al-Qaeda and overthrow the Taliban. We are now in 2009 and he still has not accieved any of his goals. No one knows where Osama Bin Laden is, and the overthrowing of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda still does not seem to lead anywhere. U.S military had 28,300 troops in the Operation Enduring Freedom. Another operation they have got going there is the Internation Security Assistance Force also known as ISAF, and was established by the United Nations Security Council to secure Kabul. By the beginning of 2009, ISAF had approximately 55,100 troops from 41 different countries, with NATO as a companion. Out of the 55,100 troops, 23,300 troops were from the USA. They managed to remove the Taliban's power, but they have later become strong again.

Guantanamo Bay

The guantanamo Bay Detention camp was a prison operated by the «US Join task force Guantanamo». Although the naval base with the same name, situated on the shore of guantanamo bay in Cuba has existed for some decades, the prison compound is fairly new. During the start of

the US invasion of Afghanistan a construction company was contracted by the Pentagon for a job they then knew little about. Workers have since told that they were flown in military carriers to an unknown destination, and they had only been told that they were to build a maximum security prison, which standards should be «close» to geneva restrictions. When the prison stood ready, it consisted of three camps, Camp Echo, Camp iguana and Camp X-ray, which now is closed.

The prison that was supposed to hold the worst enemies of America early became a rising international issue, due to reports on maltreatment, and harassment of detainees. The inhabitants of the prison spent most of their time, when not being interrigated, in a small cubicle build of steel wire. The litarelly had nothing but some water and a pot to piss in. As one might imagine, being unshielded in the hot pacific sun is not too good for your health. As if that was not enough, regular harassment from the guards was not uncommon. Some of the documentet incidents that occurred

includes guards flushing the holy Koran down the toilet, kicking it, and further defiling it. Prisoners were denied being able to pray, and subjected to tactical beatings. One of the prisoners who suffered from an epileptic related seisure, was subjected to a heavy gang beating by five-six of the prison guards when he didn't «calm down». Human rights groups, like amnesty international sucsessfully spread the prisoners stories, and especially after the incidents at the American run prison Abu graib in Iraq the Guantanamo facilities sparked worldwide media interest.

Perhaps the most recent and known issue is that of the CIA's waterboarding tecnique, where interrigation subjects are subjected to water to cause a drowning-like experience. It is this tecnique that has brought most of the testimonies of the detainees that were successfully brought to trial. Other methods exhibited by the CIA includes laying prisoners in chains, attach them to a steel hook in the floor, leave them there for nearly 12 hours while loud heavy metal is banging from the speakers. Prisoners who are now released told that they were always covered in their own fecies as they were finally allowed back to their cages.

The prisoners mentioned above successfully returned to the United Kindom, their home country. After having spent several years in the prison, being falsely charged with ridicilous accusations, they were suddenly sent to a different holding cell were they were served pizza and coca-cola. It is stories like this that makes this prison so controversial. Other inmates include a boy who was just a teenager when he was imprisoned, and a tunesian journalist for the Arabian news network, Al Jazeera. He was in Afghanistan to cover the ongoing war, but was brought to Guantanamo bay as he «was a terrorist». At that time his son was just an infant. When he finally was allowed to return in 2008 his son \, now a young boy, and his wife didn't recognize him. He was malnourished as he had gone on a hunger strike in 2006, and had since then been force fed. Upon his return he was greeted by the Tunesian Head of state and his family.

On january 21, 2009 the new presiden Barack Obama signed an order to suspend the operations at the prison, and that the prison would be closed during the year.

Economy

During the presidency of Bush, the economy in the USA has decreased rapidly. George Bush has spent billions upon billions of dollars on the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and all his other meaningless acts like building the prison in Guantanamo bay, War on terrorism, the Patriot act (funded several new agencies and federal agents) and many more. Isn't it a bit strange that after 8 years of George Bush as «the worlds president» the worlds economy has become a crisis too? Statistics show that the national debt has increased by more than 4 trillion dollars during George Bush's presidency, and that is the highest increase under any presidency in the American history. When George Bush started his inauguration in January 20^th, 2000, the national debt was at 5.727 trillion dollars, but it is now at 10.615 trillion dollars. This means that national debt has increased by 71.9 percent during George Bush's presidency. Where did all that money go? To his so called «crusades» and acts. The USA does not even have the money to pay back its own debt because it has been spent by George Bush. He even made it very clear himself in a speech:

“There is no 'trust fund,' just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay – will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs,”

- George Walker Bush.

Conclution

Bush was elected in 2000, one might argue that all the negative effects that I have mentioned above stem from the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. To support this theory further one need only look at President Bush's activities during his first months spent in the White House. Following the all so known terrorist attack the newly elected president became more active. If it had not been for the mentioned attacks, would the united states have invaded the countries they did? Maybe not, but then again Iraq had already been mentioned as part of the «axis of evil» early on in his presidency. As you can see, one bad decision led to another bad decision and made even worse consequences. If it had not been for Bush's response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, there would not have been a war in Afghanistan, no War on terrorism, no war in Iraq and no prison for «terrorists» in Guantanamo Bay. All these bad responses are some of the reasons why the economy in America is so unstabile. Bush made a complete chaos in America, and it is now newly elected President Barack Obama's responsability to clean up, and this may take some time. Of course, the Bush Administration have done good things too, but they are nothing compared to the bad things. All of the subjects I have written about are in some way connected to each other, and it is these subjects that were the negative effects of the Bush Administration. What can we expect from President Obama? Only the future can tell, but he has already closed the Guantanamo Bay, and that is a start. He has a lot of work to do, and hopefully he won't spend all his time planning how to take down other countries instead of taking care of its own. When will the war in Iraq and Afghanistan stop? We don't know. Iraq and Afghanistan will probably not be the same again after these years of war, but we can only hope that things will settle down.