CNN Presents Classroom Edition - Educator Guide

Showdown Iraq: Five Questions

Segment Summaries and Discussion Questions

Segment One: If regime change is the goal, then why not assassination? While it seems like the cheapest form of regime change, and one that would most likely result in the fewest casualties, Executive Order 12-333, section 2.11 states: "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination." This segment explores the history of Executive Order 12-333, past plans to assassinate Saddam, and the loopholes that might open the door for a "military operation to kill an enemy commander..."

1. Who is Bob Baer? What is the CIA? What was Baer's role in the CIA in the mid 1990s?

2. What is an Executive Order? What does Executive Order 12-333 state? Who issued this order? To what events was President Ford responding?

3. What was the Church Commission? What were the findings of this commission? What happened as a result of these findings?

4. According to experts in the video, what are some of the drawbacks to following a policy of assassination?

5. During the mid 1990s in Northern Iraq, Bob Baer revealed that a defecting Iraqi General who had a plan for assassinating Saddam Hussein approached him. What was the plan? What did Baer recommend to the Iraqi General? Was Baer's recommendation considered a violation of the executive order? Explain.

6. What is a "presidential finding with lethal status"? What does "a presidential finding" allow the CIA to do? Has President George W. Bush used this presidential power in the War Against Terrorism? Explain.

7. What loopholes appear to be in the ban on assassinations?

8. To what is Bob Baer referring when he says, "The question is do you use one bullet? Do you use a tank? Do you use an airplane? It doesn't really matter...I think the question should be how many other people are going to die"?

9. Based on the information in the segment, what are the potential drawbacks of assassination for a nation that implements it in its foreign policy?

10. According to Baer, in what ways did the September 11 attacks necessitate changes in the way we define our position on assassinations and how we get rid of a terrorist threat? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

11. What do you think the U.S. position should be on assassinations? Do you think they should be an option when dealing with terrorist threats? Why or why not?

Segment Two: Should the United States choose to kill Saddam, it will be no easy feat. In this segment, CNN reporters interview a number of former Iraqi officials who have since defected to find out how Saddam avoids assassination. From never sleeping in the same place twice, to using decoy multi-car convoys, to having food tasters, Saddam proves to be a hard man to reach.

1. How many declared assassination attempts have there been on Saddam Hussein?

2. According to the Iraqi officials who have since defected, what actions does Saddam take to avoid assassination attempts?

3. Why do you think Saddam travels with his own food? Why does he use food tasters? Why does he have a mobile hospital accompany him?

4. How might U.S. intelligence officials use the information they know about Saddam Hussein's deception techniques in a potential war on Iraq?

Segment Three: Will Saddam Hussein use biological and chemical weapons, and are the U.S. troops prepared? He used chemical weapons in the Iran/Iraq war, killing several thousand soldiers. However, during the Gulf War, he threatened to use chemical and biological weapons, but did not. Following the Gulf War, weapons inspectors destroyed tons of chemical weapons; but what Saddam Hussein has stockpiled since the UN inspectors left in 1998 is anyone's guess. In addition, there is every indication that Saddam will use his chemical and biological agents this time. This segment explores the types of weapons Saddam most likely has in his arsenal and the question of whether or not the U.S. military is ready for a chemical and biological war.

1. What are some examples of chemical weapons? What are some examples of biological weapons? How can these weapons be used in war? What effects can these agents have on soldiers? Why do some experts believe that Saddam has these weapons?

2. When has Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons? What effect did they have on the Kurds and the Iranian soldiers?

3. Did Saddam use chemical and biological weapons in the 1991 Persian Gulf War? Why not? What did weapons inspectors discover about how he planned to deliver these agents to the U.S. troops on the battlefield?

4. What does former weapons inspector Dr. Richard Spertzel speculate Saddam has in his stockpile?

5. What is the Army's Technical Escort Unit? What role would it play in a war against Iraq? What training have the unit's troops received?

6. What inadequacies in equipment, training and readiness have lawmakers pointed out regarding the level of preparedness of U.S. troops for chemical and biological warfare? How might these inadequacies impact the U.S. plans for a war against Iraq?

7. Why do you think experts feel that Saddam will most likely use these weapons in a new war against the United States?

Segment Four: What if Iraq strikes Israel, and Israel strikes back? That is one of the wild cards in a possible U.S. showdown with Iraq. Iraq denies having missiles with the range to hit Israel. But many experts believe Iraq hid some of its Scud missiles from UN inspectors. If used against Israel, could these Scuds set off a chain reaction of conflict throughout the region? In this segment, CNN reporters interview Moshe Arens, former Israeli Defense Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Israeli Defense Minister and several experts on the Middle East conflict to examine the potential chain of events that could result from an Iraqi attack on Israel.

1. How many missile attacks did Iraq launch against Israel in the 1991 Persian Gulf War? How did Israel respond? Why? What was the U.S. position on Israeli retaliation? Explain.

2. Did Iraq launch weapons against Israel following the U.S. attack on the gulf nation in 1998?

3. According to Israeli officials, how will Israel respond to an Iraqi attack on its soil?

4. How might an Israeli decision to join a war against Iraq impact the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? What are the Israeli concerns? What are the Palestinian concerns?

5. What is Hezbollah? What weapons does Hezbollah have in its arsenal? Where does it get these weapons? How might a war with Iraq affect the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in northern Israel?

6. If the Israelis join the U.S. to take part in a military operation against Iraq, how might it affect public opinion of the U.S. throughout the Arab world? Why might Israel joining the war lead to massive street protests?

7. What do you think Jordanian columnist Rami Khouri means when he says, "The real concern now is not the Arab street, but it's the Arab basement"? Why does he say this is the real concern?

8. What do some officials hope will happen if an American-led war topples Saddam? Do you think they are being optimistic? Explain.

9. How is Israel preparing for a possible war with Iraq?

10. How do you think the question over the potential consequences for Israel's involvement in a war against Iraq might affect U.S. strategy in the war? Could a war affect the relationship between the U.S. and Israel? Explain.

Segment Five: The so-called "smart bomb" was commonplace during the 1991 Gulf War. What is a smart bomb? How far have smart bombs progressed since the 1991 conflict? Pentagon officials say their new precision weapons would play a key role in any new war with Iraq. This segment examines the new smart bomb, the J-DAM, or Joint Direct Attack Munition. CNN Reporters assess the benefits of the J-DAM: It is more economical, more precise, relies on satellites instead of lasers, and requires fewer bombing runs and puts fewer airmen at risk. However, they also reveal the drawbacks, providing cases where human error in the J-DAM programming has resulted in deadly mishaps.

1. What is a smart bomb? What does "precision-guided" mean? Why were these bombs less effective in bad weather? What technology did the smart bombs use to find their targets? What were the limitations to this technology?

2. What is the J-DAM? How does it compare with the smart bombs used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War? What technology do these bombs rely upon for their accuracy?

3. What are some of the benefits of using the J-DAM?

4. What are some of the potential drawbacks of the technology?

5. In what instances has the J-DAM shown a vulnerability to human error?

6. Do you think the benefits of using this technology outweigh the costs of possible human error? Why or why not?

Segment Six: What would a war with Iraq do to an already fragile U.S. economy? The economy is struggling---earnings are down, unemployment is up and the stock market is weak. What will a war with Iraq cost? Will it drive down the U.S. economy? This final segment explores the predictions for the financial costs of a war against Iraq in the context of both previous wars and the current U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), and the potential impact a war could have on oil supplies and prices-and on our wallets.

1. How much did the 1991 Persian Gulf War cost in today's dollars? Who primarily paid for that conflict? How did this fact incite a controversy?

2. How costly will operations in Afghanistan be? How do these costs compare to costs of wars in the last century, such as WWII and Vietnam?

3. What is the definition of gross domestic product (GDP)? What is the current U.S. GDP?

4. What are the predicted costs of a war with Iraq? How do these costs compare with the U.S. GDP? How could these costs translate to a "per taxpayer" cost? Why might these facts be significant?

5. According to the video, how might President Bush pay for this war?

6. According to economist David Wyss, what is the most likely negative scenario for the impact a war with Iraq would have on the economy? How could this scenario affect U.S. residents?

7. Where does the U.S. get its oil? How much comes from the Middle East? Why would a war against Iraq affect the price of gasoline in the U.S.? What does the price of oil have to do with the state of the U.S. economy? Explain.

8. What is a possible chain of events that could happen as a result of a bomb taking out the Saudi oil supplies?

9. What options does the U.S. have in case of an oil emergency?

10. How might you explain the increase in the price of gas in the weeks leading up to the 1991 war with Iraq and then the drop in the cost of gas soon after the first bomb hit Baghdad?

11. What scenario does Larry Goldstein, President of Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, paint for oil prices in a post-Saddam Hussein world? How might you explain his rationale?

12. Ultimately, how does economist David Wyss say the U.S. must weigh the economic costs when choosing whether or not to go to war?

13. How heavily do you think the economic costs of going to war with Iraq should weigh when deciding whether or not to attack? Explain.

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