Deck 17: Into the Twenty-First Century

Question 1

Who was the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda?

A) Osama bin Laden
B) Saddam Hussein
C) Ahmed Shah Masood
D) Muammar Gaddafi

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In 2001, why did the United States invade Afghanistan?

A) The Afghani government was protecting those responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center.
B) The United States felt compelled to protect Israel.
C) Al Qaeda had overthrown the Taliban during a recent coup.
D) The Taliban had secured weapons of mass destruction.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What did the campaign to remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan reveal?

A) the strengths and weakness of the U.S. military at that point
B) the well developed planning of the U.S. military for any contingency
C) the weakness and lack of direction of the U.S. military in the aftermath of the Cold War
D) the downgrading of jointness after the Gulf War of 1990-91

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Who did most of the ground fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaeda?

A) Special Forces and CIA operatives
B) Marines and Army troops
C) Marines and Special Forces
D) Locally raised fighters

Question 5

How would one best describe the early operations in Afghanistan?

A) so successful that they blinded the U.S. to the fact that no solution had been reached there
B) so unsuccessful that they prompted major military reforms in the U.S.
C) successful as a result of coalition "jointness"
D) unsuccessful and thus invading Iraq looked to hold a better chance of quick victory

Question 6

Why was General Stanley McChyrstal relieved of command in 2010?

A) He was labeled as insubordinate after making public comments critical of the Obama administration.
B) He resigned after failing to secure the Afghani countryside from rebel fighters.
C) He was unable to neither locate nor capture Osama Bin Laden.
D) He was incapable of earning his fellow officer's respect.

Question 7

What were the reasons given for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq?

A) Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction and the threat Hussein posed to the U.S.
B) Iraq's support for Al Qaeda and Weapons of Mass Destruction
C) the U.S. failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power in the early 1990s
D) Iraq was threatening to invade Israel

Question 8

How did Rumsfeld's partially implemented reforms in the U.S. force structure affect the military?

A) It was too small for post-combat occupation duties.
B) It was too large and unwieldy to be effective.
C) It became too technologically dependent.
D) It became too dependent on air power.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime?

A) rapid and at little cost in coalition casualties
B) slow and costly to the coalition
C) slow but with minor casualties to the coalition
D) demonstrative of the Iraqi battlefield prowess

Question 10

What is the gravest single error cited as paving the way for the Iraqi insurgency?

A) disbandment of the Iraqi army
B) rapid defeat of Saddam Hussein
C) lack of enough troops for occupation duties
D) de-Baathification

Question 11

What was the defining characteristic of fighting in Iraq in 2004-2005?

A) sustained close combat on a protracted scale
B) heavy use of air strikes
C) conventional, big unit war
D) population control activities on a large scale

Question 12

How did the Arab people help turn the tide against the insurgents in Iraq?

A) Sunni Arab tribes actively cooperated against Al Qaeda
B) a surge of roughly 20,000 Arab troops were deployed by General David Petraeus
C) Shia Arab soldiers directly assisted in the death of Osama Bin Laden
D) the practice of ethnic cleansing between the Shia and Sunni forces was abolished

Question 13

Why does the war in Iraq remain a controversial issue in American domestic politics?

A) The war cost over 4,000 American lives and $3 trillion dollars.
B) Despite thousands of American casualties Bin Laden is still at large.
C) The Taliban is still the formal government of Afghanistan.
D) Sadam Hussein successfully moved the weapons of mass destruction to another country.

Question 14

Despite the progressive sentiment behind "don't ask don't tell" policy why did many critics scrutinize the policy?

A) It stated that homosexuality was not compatible with military service.
B) It led to many assaults after military personnel admitted to being gay.
C) It did not theoretically protect those who privately hid their choice.
D) Homeland security often investigated allegations of homosexuality within the military.

Question 15

Which of the following hinders the military's ability to confront natural disasters within the United States?

A) a power struggle between federal agencies and the states may emerge while conducting relief operations
B) the United States must weigh Ta. he importance of domestic aid versus foreign assistance
C) the military does not possess the technology to warn against eminent danger
D) the military does not have the manpower to assist when disaster strikes

Question 16

How were the assumptions that underlie the Revolution in Military Affairs undermined by the reality of the Global War on Terror?

Question 17

How did the attacks of September 11, 2001 affect American defense assumptions?

Question 18

What is the Revolution in Military Affairs? How did this figure in American defense policy at the outset of the twenty-first century?

Question 19

How did the initial ground fighting in Operation ENDURING FREEDOM differ from previous U.S. campaign?

Question 20

What remains the weak link in the Afghan security system? Why is this the case?

Question 21

Why did the U.S. invade Iraq in 2003? Were these reasons justified by the subsequent investigations?

Question 22

What factors combined to bring about the Iraqi insurgency that followed the invasion by western powers? Were these predicted? Could they have been averted? Why or why not?

Question 23

What could have been done differently during the initial post-war occupation of Iraq?

Question 24

What has the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated regarding the strengths and limitations of advanced military technology?

Question 25

How have military operations since 2001 generated new questions concerning the role of the all-volunteer force? Concerning women in combat?