Frank Newgent
18th April 2003, 09:47 PM
Are you a good Iraqi? If so, you ought to have no problem with this quiz:
1. In ancient times the land area now known as modern Iraq was nearly equivalent to:
A. Assyria
B. Babylon
C. Mesopotamia
D. Kurdistan
2. Which of the following is true:
A. Likely Saddam successor Ahmad Chalabi was sentenced April 9, 1992, to 22 years hard labor by a Jordanian state security court on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and speculation with the Jordanian dinar.
B. American forces have "bombed the heck" out of at least two of the bases of the main armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq, a Mujahedeen group 150 members of the US Congress from both parties have described as an effective source of pressure against Iran's government and described as "pro-democracy, antifundamentalist, antiterrorist, helpful to the U.S. in providing information about the activities of the Iranian regime, and advocates of a secular government in Iran".
C. The retired American general chosen by the US to run Iraq's interim government, Jay Garner, went on a 10-day visit to Israel in 2000, organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, after which he endorsed a statement by the group praising the Israeli military for showing "remarkable restraint" in dealing with Palestinian violence.
D. Kuwaiti princesses once wore pro-Saddam T-shirts in appreciation for his services in keeping Khomeini's Iran at bay during the the Iran-Iraq war.
E. All of the above.
3. Bechtel Corporation, which won the first major Iraq reconstruction contract, is best known for:
A. Its plan to build a pipeline to carry Iraqi crude oil through Jordan to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, promoted by now Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld while working as a special U.S. envoy in the Middle East, who traveled to Baghdad in 1983 to discuss the project with Saddam Hussein and Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
B. Asking a Suffolk Superior Court judge for a preliminary injunction blocking the release of federal audits of Bechtel that allegedly detail massive cost overruns on the $14.6 billion project known as the "Big Dig" currently on file with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Highway Department.
C. Building the first Indian nuclear plant at Tarapur, the largest nuclear facility in Asia, allowing for the detonation of India’s first atomic bomb using plutonium produced by the Tarapur reactor
D. Its installation, in 1977, at the San Onofre (CA) Nuclear Generating Station, of the 420-ton reactor vessel of Unit 2 one hundred and eighty degrees backwards, which went unnoticed for seven months.
E. All of the above.
4. On July 25, 1990, eight days before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a quiet, largely unreported meeting took place between Saddam Hussein and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, which has since been destroyed by the war. Which of the following was said:
A. "I have direct instructions from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of your confrontation with Kuwait. (pause) As you know, I have lived here for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. (pause) We can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south. Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in the context of your other threats against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction to ask you, in the spirit of friendship - not confrontation - regarding your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's borders?"
B. "As you know, for years now I have made every effort to reach a settlement on our dispute with Kuwait. There is to be a meeting in two days; I am prepared to give negotiations only this one more brief chance. (pause) When we [the Iraqis] meet [with the Kuwaitis] and we see there is hope, then nothing will happen. But if we are unable to find a solution, then it will be natural that Iraq will not accept death."
C. "What solutions would be acceptable?"
D. "If we could keep the whole of the Shatt al Arab - our strategic goal in our war with Iran - we will make concessions (to the Kuwaitis). But, if we are forced to choose between keeping half of the Shatt and the whole of Iraq (which, in Saddam's view, includes Kuwait) then we will give up all of the Shatt to defend our claims on Kuwait to keep the whole of Iraq in the shape we wish it to be. (pause) What is the United States' opinion on this?"
E. "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America."
F. All of the above.
ANSWERS
1: C
2: E
3: E
4: F
1. In ancient times the land area now known as modern Iraq was nearly equivalent to:
A. Assyria
B. Babylon
C. Mesopotamia
D. Kurdistan
2. Which of the following is true:
A. Likely Saddam successor Ahmad Chalabi was sentenced April 9, 1992, to 22 years hard labor by a Jordanian state security court on 31 charges of embezzlement, theft, misuse of depositor funds and speculation with the Jordanian dinar.
B. American forces have "bombed the heck" out of at least two of the bases of the main armed Iranian opposition group in Iraq, a Mujahedeen group 150 members of the US Congress from both parties have described as an effective source of pressure against Iran's government and described as "pro-democracy, antifundamentalist, antiterrorist, helpful to the U.S. in providing information about the activities of the Iranian regime, and advocates of a secular government in Iran".
C. The retired American general chosen by the US to run Iraq's interim government, Jay Garner, went on a 10-day visit to Israel in 2000, organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, after which he endorsed a statement by the group praising the Israeli military for showing "remarkable restraint" in dealing with Palestinian violence.
D. Kuwaiti princesses once wore pro-Saddam T-shirts in appreciation for his services in keeping Khomeini's Iran at bay during the the Iran-Iraq war.
E. All of the above.
3. Bechtel Corporation, which won the first major Iraq reconstruction contract, is best known for:
A. Its plan to build a pipeline to carry Iraqi crude oil through Jordan to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, promoted by now Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld while working as a special U.S. envoy in the Middle East, who traveled to Baghdad in 1983 to discuss the project with Saddam Hussein and Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
B. Asking a Suffolk Superior Court judge for a preliminary injunction blocking the release of federal audits of Bechtel that allegedly detail massive cost overruns on the $14.6 billion project known as the "Big Dig" currently on file with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Highway Department.
C. Building the first Indian nuclear plant at Tarapur, the largest nuclear facility in Asia, allowing for the detonation of India’s first atomic bomb using plutonium produced by the Tarapur reactor
D. Its installation, in 1977, at the San Onofre (CA) Nuclear Generating Station, of the 420-ton reactor vessel of Unit 2 one hundred and eighty degrees backwards, which went unnoticed for seven months.
E. All of the above.
4. On July 25, 1990, eight days before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a quiet, largely unreported meeting took place between Saddam Hussein and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, which has since been destroyed by the war. Which of the following was said:
A. "I have direct instructions from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of your confrontation with Kuwait. (pause) As you know, I have lived here for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. (pause) We can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south. Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in the context of your other threats against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction to ask you, in the spirit of friendship - not confrontation - regarding your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's borders?"
B. "As you know, for years now I have made every effort to reach a settlement on our dispute with Kuwait. There is to be a meeting in two days; I am prepared to give negotiations only this one more brief chance. (pause) When we [the Iraqis] meet [with the Kuwaitis] and we see there is hope, then nothing will happen. But if we are unable to find a solution, then it will be natural that Iraq will not accept death."
C. "What solutions would be acceptable?"
D. "If we could keep the whole of the Shatt al Arab - our strategic goal in our war with Iran - we will make concessions (to the Kuwaitis). But, if we are forced to choose between keeping half of the Shatt and the whole of Iraq (which, in Saddam's view, includes Kuwait) then we will give up all of the Shatt to defend our claims on Kuwait to keep the whole of Iraq in the shape we wish it to be. (pause) What is the United States' opinion on this?"
E. "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America."
F. All of the above.
ANSWERS
1: C
2: E
3: E
4: F