The Iraq War
History 399 – CRN 40922
Summer 2007 (7/23-8/15)
Provisional syllabus: this is not a final version
MTWR 2-3:50; 111 Lillis
Professor Dracobly
MCK 329
Phone: 346-5910
E-mail: dracobly@uoregon.edu
Aims of course
This course is designed not to tell the history of the current war in Iraq or to establish the truth of the war, but to use the example of this war to think about how we tell the history of events whose conclusions and implications remain as yet unknown. How are histories of the present shaped? What kinds of assumptions must we make in order to tell the history of the present? How do those histories change over time and why? What kinds of materials do we use to create these histories?
An additional aim of the course is to look at a diverse range of “histories” of the present. The history of the Iraq war is presented to us in a variety of ways and variety of forums. To what extent does it matter? Is there any way of distinguishing between form and content? Bias and perspective?
Assignments and expectations
Attendance and fulfillment of course assignments is expected. Much of the material for this course is only available on-line – you will need consistent access to a computer with internet access (available on campus if not in your home) to be able to keep up.
In addition to three in-class quizzes on assigned material, there will be an eight-to-ten page research paper and a (short) final exam. The research paper will be an analysis of how a media source or individual has portrayed the war in Iraq as history (more on this later).
Grades will be compiled as follows:
Quizzes (three): 10% each
Final: 25%
Paper: 35%
Class participation and presence: 10%
Schedule of readings : the following are to be read for the day listed
Week 1
July 23: Mission Accomplished; or, how do we know when it is over?
Introduction to themes of class.
July 24: Contexts 1: Iraq in history
Read: Keegan, 1-87
July 25: Contexts 2: 9/11 and after
Read: Keegan, 88-125; and selections from Sifry and Cerf, The Iraq War Reader
July 26: The fall of Saddam Hussein
Read: Keagan, 127-203
Week 2
July 30: The end of active hostilities
Read: Keegan, 204-232; and Results in Iraq [electronic resource] : 100 days toward security and freedom : highlights of the renewal of Iraq and the end of Saddam's regime; and selections from Ongoing military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq : hearing before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, September 25, 2003
July 31: Early analyses: the war from an operational perspective
Reading: Max Boot, “New American Way of War,” Foreign Affairs 82 (July/Aug. 2003): 41-59; Robert A. Pape, “The True Worth of Air Power,” Foreign Affairs 83 (March/April, 2004): 116-130; selections from Anthony Cordesman, The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics and Military Lessons ; (possibly selections from "Lessons learned" during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and ongoing operations in the United States Central Command Region : hearing before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, July 9, 2003).
August 1: The battle of Falluja in the press
Reading: accounts from Time , Newsweek , Wall Street Journal , New York Times
August 2: History by analogy
Reading: Record, Jeffrey and W. Andrew Terrill. “Iraq and Vietnam: Differences, Similarities, and Insights.” May 2004. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.
Week 3
August 6: What is this war about?
Reading: Podhoretz, “World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win.” Commentary Sept. 2004; Watkins, Susan. “Vichy on the Tigris.” New Left Review 28 (July-August 2004): 5-17; (selections from Iraq War Reader : Sullivan and?). Something from Al Jazeera or some other Arab perspective.
August 7: The war continues
Reading: Ahmed Hashim, on-line articles on insurgency
August 8: Documentary as history
In-class video: Frontline
August 9: Representing the war – how should the war be “measured”? Metrics of where things are going. War blogs as history.
Reading: Look at the following sites: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/; NY Times graphs; U.S. Department of Defense “Operation Iraqi Freedom: Three Year Anniversary – Progress Fact Sheet” (on Blackboard but try searching “U.S. Department Defense Fact Sheet Iraq” on google; also http://www.defendamerica.mil/); the Iraq Index: http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex (use pdf?); Avant News, “Nearly 21 Million Iraqis Not Yet Killed” (http://www.avantnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=276);
Week 4
August 13: Blogging history
Weekend assignment: spend some time perusing one of the following sites:
August 14: Prospective outcomes; does the past determine the future? Or, how does history translate into policy?
Reading: Hoffman, “The Trap”; and a still optimistic conservative (Kagan? Krauthammer? Or maybe Kilcullen? Check Defend America site). Possibly Terrill, “Reconstructing Iraq”
August 15: Final