WMD

Contemporary Issues

Extra Credit: – Those interested in health care challenges watch this week’s FRONTLINE ‘Sick Around America” - Tuesday, March 31st at 9pm on PBS.

Write a two page reaction [paper to topics explored. Discuss your position on the issues presented. Complete Projects on the Presidents Review topics and go over

key terminology. Last Project is Truman

Tuesday, March 31st

Aim: Exam on the Presidents- need number 2 pencil be sure to go to 206North

Wednesday, April 1st

Aim: What problems does President Obama have on the question of the Bush Doctrine?

Key Ideas

  • Preemption -
  • Unilateral Approach
  • Support of Democracy in Middle East - Freedom is the ultimate guarantor of security

Be Able to Answer the following questions

Identify the the three types of WMDs

NBC - Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical

Discuss why WMDs are a threat to world peace and security?

Identify which countries today currently have nuclear capability

What countries today are pursuing nuclear capability?

Should North Korea and Iran be prevented from obtaining nuclear capability? Why?

FYI: INSIDE NORTH KOREA

Thursday, April 2

Aim: History of our use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons Room 118S

Please note if you miss this it can be found on PBS Website – The Living Weapon

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weapon/

Friday, April 3

Aim: Continued study and discussion of our use of WMD Room 118S

Class Discussion on the Film: The Living Weapon

Your responses will be collected on Tuesday – This is part 1 – from chapters 1-6

If you are absent you need to watch on line and e-mail assignment no later than Wednesday, April 8 to

mysevensins@aol.com

1. What factors contributed to our biological weapons program deveelopment?

How did our Secretary of War – Henry Stimson differ from FDR’s approach to this program?

Describe the early tests run by the British during WWII. What did they discover as a result of these tests? How did they prevent public outcry?

Why was the United States brought into the program? Where was the center of this research? Why did it have to be so secretive?

Why was the choice of Dr. Baldwin as head of this program ironic?

What were the two toxins they specialized in? How did these toxins impact on the specimens tested?

What was the purpose of the 1925 Geneva Protocol? What was the US response to this document?

What role did science play in WWII? How do chemical and biological weapons differ?

How did Hiroshima and Nagasaki impact on our biological weapons program?

What post WWII events impacted on our germ program? Why didn’t the Germans have a germ warfare program? How did the Japanese differ?

Who was the driving force in Japanese warfare? What did British and US intelligence discover in the investigation in 1947?

Why were the autopsies conducted while the patient was alive?

What were some of these diseases the Chinese were infected by?

How did the Japanese carry out these studies? How did these tests differ from the American tests in Camp Dietrich?

How did the Cold War contribute to the Tokyo War Crimes Trial?

Extra Credit: due no later than April 13

Chapters 7-11 – This needs to be completed and e-mailed to me no later than Monday, April 13

  1. Why did the data from the Japanese experiments disappoint American researchers?
  2. What did the Pentagon Test reveal? What shift took place at this time on the issue of civilians?
  3. How was 1954 a turning point in biological warfare?
  4. Who were the White Coats? Why were they ideal candidates for these experiments? How were they deceived?
  5. Why was a sick soldier more damaging than a dead soldier?
  6. What test was conducted on Johnston Atoll in 1965? How was this test encouraging to the BW program?
  7. Why wasn’t this data published?
  8. What role did Vietnam play on this program and the role of secrecy?
  9. Why did Nixon close the door on germ warfare in 1969?
  10. What event in occurred in 1975 under President Ford? How did it further the 1925 Protocol?
  11. What was the irony of germ warfare?
  12. How does it contribute to a sense of dishonor for the military?

Student Extension Activities: This is due Monday, April 21

All projects that are created on ppt must be sent to be by April 20th so they can be checked before presented

Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind through Armageddon-like events, wars between worlds, and often portray the dangerous and sinister nature of knowledge ('there are some things Man is not meant to know'). Strange and extraordinary microscopic organisms or giant, mutant monsters ('things or creatures from space') may be unleashed, either created by misguided mad scientists or by nuclear havoc Sci-fi tales have a prophetic nature (they often attempt to figure out or depict the future) and are often set in a speculative future time. They may provide a grim outlook, portraying a dystopia (a view of the world that appears grim, decayed and un-nerving. Commonly, sci-fi films express society's anxiety about technology and how to forecast and control the impact of technological and environmental change on contemporary society.In the 1950s and 1960s these films emerged as classics

Fail Safe Dr Strangelove The Day the Earth Stood StillProject One: WMD on the Big Screen

Let us explore the concept of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) on the big screen. Fears related to

nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons have inspired many movies, including Godzilla (where the monster was created by a nuclear test)

and other science-fiction classics. Working with a partner, use one of the choices listed above. (mysevensins@aol.com)

Once your selection has been approved, watch the film with your partner.

As you view the film,

1. Identify the role of weapons of mass destruction in it -- did they help create the problem, or are they used to fight it?

2. Who is the enemy in the film?

3. Does the film directly or indirectly criticize governments for developing weapons of mass destruction?

4. Does the film end on a hopeful or gloomy note regarding humanity's future in a world where such weapons exist? Be sure to give examples from the film

5. Be sure to include a time-line of the film – period it was released and what the key international events that had occurred or were happening at the time that

might have influenced the film

6. You will write up a report that will be collected April 21 and present your findings as a team. If you wish to create a power point instead explaining your

answers that will be acceptable – must be e-mailed to me

Project 2 – America’s Use of Chemical Warfare

In 1969 President Nixon's decision to end the US biological weapons program reflected several factors, including growing public opposition to the use of napalm in Vietnam and anticipated the controversies surrounding Agent Orange in that same conflict.

Individually or with a partner study the topic of Napalm and Agent Orange.

1. Find at least 10 newspaper articles, magazine articles, or book excerpts that discuss these chemicals; five of these should date from before President Nixon's decision to discontinue the U.S. biological weapons program, and five should date from after that decision. – A scrapbook of these articles must be included in the report that follows

2. In this project you must be sure to discuss the following

a. What is Agent Orange and Napalm? What was their purpose?

b. Where was it dropped? How much was dropped? What is dioxin? With what illnesses is it connected?

c. How were napalm and Agent Orange portrayed both in the 1960s and afterwards -- as effective tools in war, or as dangerous and/or immoral to use.

Project 3 – Victims of a WMD Exhibit

Victims of a WMD attack. Individually or a pair, prepare an exhibit of accounts by people who experienced or witnessed attacks by weapons of mass destruction, such as soldiers who survived poison-gas attacks during WWI, Japanese survivors of the atomic bombings during WWII, or Kurds who were victims of Saddam Hussein's chemical-weapons attacks in the 1980s. Your choice -

This will be in the form of a power point that includes

1. a historical background to the creation of these chemicals

2. How it was used, what these attacks were like and the death and destruction they caused.

3. This will include maps of the affected areas

4. A timeline of WMD attacks

5. Primary source accounts as well as photographs.

6. How has your research affected your personal view regarding WMD - In your view, are some weapons so terrible they should never be used under any circumstances, or are there situations (such as self-defense) under which any weapon could be considered acceptable? Use examples from your exhibit to support your views.