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This inquiry into narrative explores the often-silenced migration narratives of three refugee students from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. It is centered around two particular wonderings based in a critical literacy framework. First, what tenets of critical literacy seem most prominent in the narratives of refugee students from the Middle East? Second, what critical understanding of their migration experience do refugee students bring to the classroom? The conceptualized framework is understood as "The Centrality of Experience in Critical Literacy," wherein experience is central and valuable. This study applies the framework using stories as the source from which to better understand how individuals make sense of their worlds. Through a five-phase analysis, which included: free coding, literature derived coding, analysis of time and sequence, narrative pattern coding, and analysis of language, I find rich understandings of 1) the political, non-neutral nature of the world, 2) a fight for access to knowledge, and 3) a hope for envisioned future possibilities as the students seek belonging, refuge, and dreams, reclaiming the power of their own narratives. This inquiry into narrative additionally contributes the three stories and two audio recordings as a cultural data set, which can be used in the classroom.

While there have been myriad and significant changes in technology, geopolitical relations, environmental shifts and political upheaval, we are still plagued with social inequalities, injustice, warfare and xenophobia, all of which frames our context and contextual analysis. September 11 was a global event or moment because it happened in the United States, and this is not inconsequential to how global hegemony and international relations are configured and unpacked. Had 9/11 taken place elsewhere, would we have taken as much notice? Invading Iraq, like invading Vietnam, and like myriad other examples of deleterious and nefarious experiments in militarization, ultimately foments the contrary of peace, solidarity and social justice. This paper explores the two decades after 9/11, emphasizing the centrality of peace and the need for critically engaged and transformative education.

Higher education necessitates an understanding that students cannot be confined to the classroom, as a large part of their curriculum comprises extracurricular activities to educate intellectually, in spirit, and body. As a result, community building, advising, and career development became a part of the traditional routine of student affairs. This article explores the role of student affairs in a newly formed university in a conflict zone ravaged by war and terrorism for decades. The data explored in this article reveals some interesting facts, which are different from that of the traditional student affairs manager. In this university, student affairs personnel are viewed as a "job giver," someone who will arrange funds, bursaries, and scholarships in keeping with the war-ravaged economic scenario of the province in northern Iraq.

In places where Islamic State (ISIS) took hold in Syria and Iraq between 2014 and 2017, its domination was followed by an elaborate educational system. As such, the terrorist organization's 'state program' is a unique case in recent history. Indeed, not only did it overturn the existing education system in Syria and Iraq, resulting in a hiatus in the schooling of children and teens, the organization went a step further by creating its own alternative educational system in its stronghold regions replacing the Syrian and Iraqi formal system. This topical paper presents a case study whose purpose is to produce a description and interpretations through interviews and official document analysis of the way ISIS established its education system. To understand these unique, unprecedented circumstances, we retrace the steps taken by ISIS to institute its education system. Our results show among other things that ISIS acted as a proto-state and attempted to redefine education through the lens of a sectarian vision of Islam. By this study, we hope to shine light on the unique context in which the curriculum was prepared and implemented.

This qualitative study was conducted in 2006-2007 and found that teachers relied on a variety of readily available media to stay informed about the Middle East and used some of them in their teaching. Teachers tried to explain to their students that every Middle Eastern Muslim is not a terrorist and Iraq was not behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The guiding questions were: (1) What are the sources of news that teachers use to teach about the Middle East? (2) How do teachers use the media to teach about the Middle East in the post 9/11 schools? Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data and teachers' instructional plans were examined. The Uses and Gratification theory provided the conceptual framework and data were analyzed using the grounded theory. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

The article written by three librarians who work in the Middle East, recount their experiences as library managers at academic institutions in Qatar, Afghanistan, and Iraq. While trying to provide services to the students and faculty of their academic institutions, they must also contend with security risks, such as kidnappings and bombings. They also reflect on how they went into library science.

On June 28, 1951, France ratified the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibited the torture of prisoners of war. On August 2, 1955, the United States of America ratified the same document. Between 1954 and 1962, France fought a war against Algeria, which sought its independence from colonial rule. From September 11, 2001 until the present, the United States has been engaged in what its government has termed "The Global War on Terror," which has involved wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and holding detainees for interrogation at Guantanamo Bay. Although the two cases must be distinguished from one another based on different situational, ideological, and historical characteristics, there are critical commonalities. This study focuses on two distinct research questions: first, what explains the rationale by which France and the United States, two democratic states, violated international and domestic law by torturing prisoners of war? Second, how did these two states justify this noncompliance? This article engages the question of how international humanitarian law (IHL) operates or fails to operate in constraining state actors. This article illuminates some of the challenges IHL faces today in ensuring state compliance. (Contains 119 notes.)

This study was designed to investigate the fears of children and adolescents in Alabama in the aftermath of 9/11 and after the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003. The American Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-AM; Burnham, 1995, 2005) was utilized to measure the fears of youth in Grades 2-12. (Contains 4 tables.)

This paper explores the way education and conflict have become entangled during the post-9/11 "war on terror" response to "radical Islam" at home and abroad. The paper charts the complex ways that education has been deployed to serve Western military and security objectives in multiple locations in the global south and how these strategies have now returned to the "West" in the form of "countering violent extremism" interventions. Drawing on Foucault's concept of the "boomerang effect" I will explore whether and how education techniques and strategies deployed abroad in pursuit of imperial interests return to the West and are deployed to monitor, control and suppress marginalised communities in a form of "internal colonialism". Finally, the paper brings the two sections together in the Findings to explore commonalities and divergences.

The oil-rich northern districts of Iraq were long considered a reflection of the country with a diversity of ethnic and religious groups: Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrians, and Yezidi, living together and portraying Iraq's demographic make-up. Yet the territory has suffered from heightening ethno-political influence and sectarianism throughout its recent history. The ethnic basis to territorial claims has amplified the discourse over linguistic presence, cultural representation and minority rights across the region and elevated debates over territorial representation to the height of ethnic survival issues. This paper will explore the changing face of education in the region over the last 12 years, highlighting the way in which education policy has reflected, and reacted to, national fragility and conflict.

In this article, the author submits that the push for moderation and social cohesion through deradicalization is an inadequate response to violence inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) because it elides the political disaffections to which the group speaks. In advancing this argument, the author suggests that the rhetoric of ISIS can be seen as a form of public pedagogy that seeks to educate Muslims who experience oppression in various contexts on both the causes of their suffering, and the solutions to it. This paper offers a brief account of the emergence of ISIS as a geopolitical phenomenon, outlines the concept of public pedagogy, and demonstrates how Ernesto Laclau's theory of populism can provide a useful analytic frame for explaining how the rhetoric of ISIS operates as a form of public pedagogy. The author draws on a close reading of the sermon originally delivered by al-Baghdadi in Arabic at the Grand Mosque in Mosul, Iraq. Using the discourse theory of populism advanced by Ernesto Laclau and others as an analytical frame, the author argues that the rhetoric of ISIS as exemplified by al-Baghdadi's sermon seeks to actively construct a new public from a diverse global population of Muslims who may feel dislocated from the public spheres where they reside for different reasons.

The dissemination and control of information are indispensable ingredients of violent conflict, with all parties involved in a conflict or at war seeking to frame the discussion on their own terms. Those attempts at information control often involve the dissemination of misinformation or disinformation (i.e., information that is incorrect by accident or intent, respectively). We review the way in which misinformation can facilitate violent conflicts and, conversely, how the successful refutation of misinformation can contribute to peace. We illustrate the relevant cognitive principles by examining two case studies. The first, a retrospective case, involves the Iraq War of 2003 and the "War on Terror." The second, a prospective case, points to likely future sources of conflict arising from climate change and its likely consequences.

This study aims to determine how a hostage drama in Iraq involving an overseas Filipino worker was framed in English-language newspapers in the Philippines. Data came from the July 9-25, 2004 issues of five leading English-language broadsheets in the Philippines. The study found that the event was given maximum salience and prominence by the newspapers. In addition, the participant "Philippine government" was foregrounded; the rest of the participants were backgrounded. In terms of activity, the performative verbs "saying" and "asking" were assigned to the topicalized/thematized participants in the data, thus making these participants agents or actors.

In the classroom, issues including 9/11 and the occupation of Iraq often bring affective and cognitive investments among students and teachers to the forefront. Dialogue, conflicting viewpoints, and critical questioning, all central components of healthy democracies, become fraught with allegiances to long-held and frequently unseen norms. This article grapples with the often-charged field that exists between the difficulty and promise of seeing differently, particularly related to issues such as 9/11. This article takes up the possibility that critical pedagogical frames aimed at questioning power and practicing democracy may be perceived by students as leaving no room for their particular form of agency. The author offers both theoretical and practical challenges to the discourse on cultural studies and critical pedagogy, asserting that in addition to careful critiques of power, students and instructors need a much more deliberate and accessible rationale for the reasons for that critique. (Contains 2 notes.)

The authors examine the effect of educational attainment and income on support for suicide bombing among Muslim publics in six predominantly Muslim countries that have experienced suicide bombings: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey. The authors make two contributions. First, they present a conceptual model, which has been lacking in the literature. Second, they consider attitudes toward two different targets of suicide bombings: civilians within the respondent's country and Western military and political personnel in Iraq. The authors find that the effect of educational attainment and income on support for suicide bombings varies across countries and targets.The findings therefore draw attention to the difficulties of making generalizations about Muslim countries and the importance of distinguishing between targets of suicide bombings. (Contains 1 figure, 15 tables, and 13 notes.)

One of the great challenges of teaching in the post-9/11 United States is contending with persistent stereotypes and misinformation about Islam, "Arabs," "Arab Americans," and the "Middle East" within student bodies. Since 2003 the authors have been employing Iranian author Marjane Satrapi's work in the classroom as a way to begin discussions about race, terrorism, and war, and particularly about how these issues are gendered. Her critically acclaimed graphic novel/memoir "Persepolis," which relates how she grew up in Tehran during the fall of the U.S.-backed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi monarchy, the rise of the Islamic regime, and the advent of the Iran-Iraq war, has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been taught in hundreds of classrooms around the nation. In this essay, the authors share some of their insights from teaching "Persepolis" in a variety of classes at the University of Maine at Augusta and at Bates College over the last few years and provide some paradigms that may help others who are considering adopting such a text. The authors have found that Satrapi's "Persepolis" offers a rich opportunity to engage their students in an expanded understanding of the gendered dynamics of war and an opportunity to enter into the transnational project of transversal politics. (Contains 5 notes.)

Many researchers have called for educational leaders to develop a moral grounding for their work. This essay begins a discussion of how Starratt's (2005) spiraling framework of moral responsibility represents a process through which educational leaders can evolve from taking a transactional approach to problem solving, to using moral and transformational means of resolving controversial issues. In pursuit of a special ethics of the education profession, Starratt poses five domains of moral responsibility: as human being, citizen and public servant, educator, educational administrator, and educational leader. In this essay, the authors apply each domain to the ethical analysis of dilemmas of educational leadership, specifically those brought forth by current national crises and conflict (i.e., Hurricane Katrina, war in Iraq, and September 11 terrorist attacks), in order to reveal archetypal behaviors of educational leaders as proactive moral agents.

The resilience of teachers in the face of terror was examined in a narrative study of two Israeli kindergarten teachers over the course of one school year. During this time, there occurred frequent terror attacks as well as the threat of impending war with Iraq and the concomitant threat of chemical warfare. Each teacher's unique pattern of coping based on her own personal theory of resilience was examined. One teacher actively processed with her students stressful news items that the children had encountered. This was based on her belief that children would become more resilient if they had experience dealing with stress in a mediated fashion. The second teacher chose to create what she perceived to be a comfort zone for her students by actively avoiding open discussion about stressful events. She chose to focus on enhancing self-esteem, self-efficacy, and optimism, which she believed would produce greater resilience in her students. In developing these personal resilience theories, both teachers were able to move out of a paralyzed position that is typical of crisis and the immediate posttraumatic period, and move into active coping, thereby incorporating their unique theories of resilience into their personal professional knowledge. These practices were examined in light of current resilience theory.

Adolescents' views of war and peace were assessed among 209 children aged 10-14 who attended a parochial school or its after-school religious program located in a predominantly middle-class, suburban area within commuting distance of New York City. Findings were compared to those of youth surveyed during other armed conflicts, specifically the Vietnam War, the first Persian Gulf War, and the U.S. military involvement in Latin America. The study took place in early fall 2003, and results were interpreted in light of the social climate and complex realities of post 9/11 in New York State, the Catholic Church's initial opposition to the Iraq conflict, and popular opinion. In spite of differences between the Iraq War and other conflicts, findings are remarkably similar. Although the present group is highly preoccupied with terrorism and nuclear war, even in a time of war, participants show concern for what they perceived as affecting their lives directly, rather than with conventional war. While they believe that President Bush was honest about the war in Iraq and right in sending troops, they do not glorify war. On a theoretical level, they overwhelmingly believe that wars are bad and the majority is optimistic that world peace is possible, though they realize that wars are difficult to prevent, believe that they are sometimes needed, and will occur in the future. Unlike the Catholic group surveyed by Tolley (1973) during the Vietnam War, however, participants are not as ready to die for their country, although findings show that, overall, like past groups, more boys tend to be pro-war than are girls and participants' views tend to reflect contemporary public opinions. (Contains 7 tables.)

This case study provides perspectives on the War in Iraq with information collected from Sabah, Malaysia, educators. The author has analyzed input from Sabahan teachers regarding their discussions of United States-led war efforts in Iraq. The implications for discourse in Sabahan classrooms are described. The author then argues that Sabahan perspectives can impact discussions of the war's overall effects in American classrooms and, in turn, broaden the curriculum in American schools. (Contains 1 table.)

In this article I explore some of the limitations of violence, in particular focusing on how it can possibly be undermined by dialogical action. Firstly, I argue that, although violence is at times justified by some people, its disrespectful use against innocent others, makes it illegitimate and therefore un-dialogical. Secondly, the use of violence is considered by some as circumstantial and restricted to the achievement of short-term goals. However, I argue that such action would lead to more violence and therefore should at all times be abandoned and conditions be established which are more favourable for dialogical action. Thirdly, violence ought to be prevented through the practice of responsible (respectful) action--action which takes into account non-instrumentality, impartiality and deliberation.

Students in college writing courses need to understand world issues, including the oppressive effects of the global economy. But their teachers need to give them a sense of agency and authority, rather than simply telling them what political positions to take. One example of a writing assignment that might engage as well as inform students involves analyzing "Parade" magazine's annual list of the world's worst dictators. (Contains 1 note.)

The Bush administration's public discourse after September 11 weaves a new story embedded in the national myth of the Old West. Seen in its historical context of a frontier political mentality reaching back to the early 19th century, and in its broader communication context as the rhetorical narration of a defining cultural myth, the tactical narration of the frontier justice story gains its fullest gravity. Bush and Cheney's proliferation of this rhetorical vision is not merely a quantitative increase in frontier references from past presidencies. Instead, this essay argues that an appreciably different character of narration is underway, one that tactically deploys and directs frontier mythology as a fantasy theme at discrete audiences: to cope with a national crisis, reassure a partisan political base, and discipline international allies for a controversial war. (Contains 129 notes.)

This article discusses a problem teachers encounter relating to how to teach the delicate topics of 9/11 and Iraq war. Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in the midst of intensifying debate over the nation's approach to battling terrorism, teachers around the country are trying to determine how, and when, to teach about events that are still fresh in the nation's collective memory, even as they worry about the likelihood of controversy and conflict. With few sufficiently updated textbooks to guide the lessons--even Hollywood was slow to memorialize the events of 9/11 in film--many teachers have been left to figure out for themselves how best to incorporate the conflicts into history, government, geography, and other courses. This article also presents some suggestions to help teachers become more effective in teaching this topic.

The image of citizen-soldier captures our perception of a military that is at once effective and very much part of the American social fabric. Joseph Morrison Skelly integrates Higher Ed in that equation as a citizen-soldier-scholar, who has returned to his history classroom from recent combat duty in lraq. Interviewed by "AQ's" editor-at-large, Skelly yields fascinating insight into the counterinsurgency and sheds light on our effort to rebuild that country and bring its educational system into proper working order.

Colleges and universities across the country are seeing an overwhelming interest among students in learning about the Middle East and Arabic languages. The most popular courses, professors say, are Arabic language, Middle Eastern politics and the dynamics of the Israeli and Arab relationship. Also in demand are courses on comparative religions and gender issues. Courses in Arab film have also enjoyed renewed popularity, reflecting an ongoing renaissance in cinematography in Iran, North Africa and Israel. The surging interest in the Middle East is at least partially tied to post-Sept. 11 national security concerns, so while Middle Eastern studies programs have exploded in popularity in the past six years, whether they will remain in the national spotlight remains to be seen. Interest in the programs appeared to begin to flatten in 2005, but it is still too early to draw any conclusions. The continued fighting in Iraq, the escalating conflict with Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict suggest that affairs in the Arab world will continue to make national headlines. As a result, many professors have reason to believe that interest in Middle Eastern studies will also continue to grow.

Four years after the 9/11 attack on the United States, the country continues to be in considerable turmoil. Children have lived through the devastation of the September 11th attacks, the panic over the anthrax mailings, the hunt for terrorists in Afghanistan, elevated homeland security threat levels, the war in Iraq, the tsunami disaster, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Not surprisingly, many children feel anxious and afraid, and some have personally experienced the death of a loved one due to these events. In her 1977 book, Bernstein stated that reading books as a form of therapy (bibliotherapy) gives children the opportunity to identify with others undergoing the same problems, helps them realize that they are not alone, provides catharsis, and facilitates the process of sharing their problems with others. In this article, which gives detailed descriptions of books written about the September 11th attacks, the Iraq War, and other disastrous events, the author shows how children's literature can be used effectively to help students understand and deal with world crises. (Contains 3 tables.)

This article illustrates how global corporate education initiatives, though profit-motivated, sometimes function both as an instrument of foreign policy and as a manifestation of a broader imperial project. According to neoconservative scholars, as well as their critics, the events of September 11, 2001, allowed the implementation of pre-made plans to radically reshape the United States National Security Strategy to pursue more aggressively and openly global military and economic dominance, and to force any and all nations to submit to a singular set of American values. With the declaration of military response, the United States invaded Afghanistan (in 2001) and then Iraq (in 2003), in part, on the justification that these were fronts in the so-called "War on Terror." Following both invasions, the United States, through the Agency for International Development (USAID), contracted with a private for-profit corporation, Creative Associates International Incorporated (CAII), to lead the rebuilding of education. The role of CAII in remaking education in Central Asia, the Middle East, and around the world on behalf of the United States concerns a number of broader issues about the international involvement of corporations in public education. In one sense CAII represents just one kind of international corporate involvement in schooling: educational development. Yet, the array of for-profit projects that CAII is involved with in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the globe makes it exemplary of a range of global corporate schooling initiatives, including textbook production, curriculum design, remediation services, teacher education programs, and privatization schemes. In this article, the author recounts the history of CAII and discusses its "democracy promotion" projects in Nicaragua, Haiti, and Iraq. (Contains 90 notes.)

In the midst of the violence of the 21st century, many children fear that they or someone they know will lose a relative or friend through terrorism. Professionals in dance movement therapy, dance education, and physical education can help children to overcome their fears in order to feel safe and to build self-esteem. This article examines how several nations use dance education and therapy to help children manage the trauma of violence and loss. Unfortunately, dance programs alone cannot guarantee the end of conflict, but they can act as a catalyst for better understanding for future generations. Much can be learned from dance educators and movement therapists who have, by their own sense of humanity and extensive training, bravely explored the concept of healing for children traumatized by war. Dance movement therapists must fulfill the requirements of higher educational institutions and the standards of the American Dance Therapy Association in order to handle challenges that lie ahead. Well-trained dance and physical educators will continue to play a major role in providing an outlet for expression.

This paper considers the long-standing debate in the field of translation concerning whether texts should be fully acculturated into the target system or should retain traces of their foreign origin. The author suggests that these debates become redundant, if not counter-productive in the field of news translation, where the demands of the target audience, the time constraints and the hybrid nature of the linguistic processes involved in creating global news approximate more closely to what happens in interpreting, where the target needs take precedence and acculturation becomes the dominant strategy. The paper also raises a fundamental question about the nature of news translation, and asks whether we have an adequate definition of the whole, complex process. The argument is illustrated by two case studies: translated transcripts of the first court appearance of Saddam Hussein and a statement issued by al Qaida following the terrorist bombing of the British consulate in Istanbul in November 2003.

Reflecting on the current debate on how to teach about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, this article examines Thomas B. Fordham Institute's Terrorists, Despots, and Democracy: What Our Children Need to Know, one of the several publications produced by the Fordham Institute that are designed to influence social studies instruction. This collection of twenty-eight brief essays is prescriptive in its approach as it identifies the appropriate documents, articulates appropriate perspectives, and outlines the appropriate methods that should be drawn on when one is teaching about September 11 and the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The short essays featured in this collection consist of four problematic themes, which when taken together, serve to stifle debate about the meaning and causes of September 11, the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, and the Bush doctrine of preemption. In conclusion, the author, suggests that rather than following the prescriptions offered by the Fordham Institute, teachers might turn to the National Council for the Social Studies' Standards for Excellence and Progress (1994) for guidance in developing appropriate instructional methods to teach about international terrorism and war. In supporting students in constructing a global perspective, NCSS suggests that teachers design curricular experiences for students that enable them "to conceptualize contexts of issues or phenomena; to consider causality; to inquire about the validity of explanations; and to create new explanations and models for grappling with persistent and/or recurring issues." In the end, it is the act of free inquiry itself that supports students in developing the knowledge, values, and experiences required for democratic citizenship.

In this article, the author examines another dimension of human rights--the problem of torture. He looks at U.S. commitments to international conventions prohibiting torture in light of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He shows how a position adopted by the Bush administration that these international conventions did not apply to the war against terrorists resulted in the development of interrogation practices at Guantanamo Bay that ignored the conventions. These practices later carried over into Iraq. The U.S. has signed the four Geneva Conventions, which expressly prohibit any kind of physical or psychological coercion and torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war. In 1996, Congress also passed the War Crimes Act to ban all war crimes, which are referred to as grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions? But does the Geneva Convention apply to the War on Terror? The U.S. government had previously taken the position that such covenants did not apply to the prisoners taken during the war in Afghanistan because it was not a war against a nation but rather against terrorist groups, Al Qaeda and the Taliban (which the U.S. had not recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan). Those who oppose the consideration of the use of torture as an interrogation method regard it as a slippery slope that can lead to many other abuses. (Contains 27 endnotes.)

A number of Muslim countries have stepped up plans for revising school textbooks as part of the continuing U.S. driven campaign to combat terrorism. Critics maintain that the efforts are superficial and that the books continue to portray dangerous stereotypes and promote extremist views. Some books for religious and social sciences classes in use in public and private schools in several Muslim countries have included derogatory references to non-Muslims, glorified terrorist activities, and outlined students' obligations to defend Islam against the "infidels," according to reviews by U.S. based organizations. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, American officials have pressured those nations to remove material in texts that endorses jihad, or holy war, violence, or retaliation against non-Muslims, Americans, and other Westerners. Textbooks used in schools in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime have been censored or destroyed, and now new ones are being published with the help of the United Nations and the World Bank.

Once, Baghdad University was one of the most prominent institutions of higher education among all the Arab countries, perhaps second only to Cairo University. In all Iraq, built up about thirteen universities, fifty-five specialized colleges, and more than a hundred scientific centers. Each academic year, more than 250,000 students attended these universities and colleges, and Iraq used to award more than a thousand master's and doctoral degrees annually. For scientists during the regime of the Baath Party, academic life was active in many ways. There were active research agendas, dozens of scientific societies and journals, cooperation with universities around the world, and extensive programs of continuing education and consultation work. Today, Baghdad University is only a shell of its former self. There are a few bright lights in academic life: a recent increase in monthly salary, better computer facilities, and satellite and Internet communications. Still, Iraq is missing the most basic part of life, which is security. Iraquis are in fear from the moment they leave their homes to head to the university: fear of explosions, fear of what may happen while they are stuck in a traffic jam created by U.S. military police, fear of the military police checkpoint, and fear of the students who now belong to so many religious and nonreligious parties. There is also the problem of electricity shutdowns, which make it impossible to do laboratory work. Keep in mind that almost all of the scientific equipment is old, and they also lack the raw materials needed. Our academic activities no longer have their old rhythm. Most faculty members do nothing at all except teach basic subjects. Now, there is no personal initiative to do research or to properly supervise a student's thesis. Communicate is by phone, from home. Scientific societies are inactive. There is no mail from outside countries, and no communication with Arab or foreign universities. In many ways, universities are worse off today than they were during sanctions. There are no conferences; there is no consultation work.

Americans will debate for many years to come the causes and implications of the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., as well as the foiled attack that led to the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field. Between the first and second "anniversaries" of 9/11, another development deepened their awareness of the dangerous world they inhabit and of America's role therein--the successful war to liberate Iraq from its dictator and his murderous regime. Of course, the consequences--and contentiousness--of that conflict continue to resonate daily in newspaper headlines and on the evening news. In these challenging times, educators rightly wonder about their proper role. What should they teach young Americans? How should they prepare tomorrow's citizenry? What is most important for students to learn? These are weighty questions, and there is every reason to expect them to linger. In this article, the author believes that if Americans wish to prepare their children for unforeseen future threats and conflicts, they must arm them with lessons from history and civics that help them learn from the victories and setbacks of their predecessors, lessons that, in Jefferson's words, "enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom."

Terrorism has emerged as a paramount challenge in recent times. With current terrorist organizations adeptly embracing internet technologies and seamlessly integrating them into their strategies, the landscape of terrorism has evolved into a multifaceted global concern. For instance, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has had a negative impact not only on the citizens of the countries they directly target but also on the psychology of individuals in non-targeted countries through their internet-focused strategies. Despite not carrying out any attacks on Japan, the majority of the Japanese perceive ISIS as a significant threat to their nation. This finding serves as a prime example of how a terrorist organization like ISIS, utilizing internet strategies proficiently, can detrimentally affect individuals in non-targeted countries. This study demonstrates how the soft terrorism concept elucidates the heightened fear of ISIS in Japan. By conducting a Google Trends analysis, the Japanese case is examined in this research. The findings indicate that the soft terrorism activities of ISIS have both short-term and long-term adverse effects on the Japanese, primarily attributed to the dissemination of brutal images and videos posted by ISIS on the internet, as posited by the soft terrorism concept [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that inhaled particulate matter plays in the development of post-deployment lung disease among US service members deployed to Southwest Asia during the Global War on Terrorism has been difficult to define. There is a persistent gap in data addressing the relationship between relatively short-term (months to a few years) exposures to high levels of particulate matter during deployment and the subsequent development of adverse pulmonary outcomes. Surgical lung biopsies from deployed service members and veterans (DSMs) and non-deployed service members and veterans (NDSMs) who develop lung diseases can be analyzed to potentially identify residual deployment-specific particles and develop associations with pulmonary pathological diagnoses. We examined 52 surgical lung biopsies from 25 DSMs and 27 NDSMs using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to identify any between-group differences in the number and composition of retained inorganic particles, then compared the particle analysis results with the original histopathologic diagnoses. We recorded a higher number of total particles in biopsies from DSMs than from NDSMs, and this difference was mainly accounted for by geologic clays (illite, kaolinite), feldspars, quartz/silica, and titanium-rich silicate mixtures. Biopsies from DSMs deployed to other Southwest Asia regions (SWA-Other) had higher particle counts than those from DSMs primarily deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, due mainly to illite. Distinct deployment-specific particles were not identified. Particles did not qualitatively associate with country of deployment. The individual diagnoses of the DSMs and NDSMs were not associated with elevated levels of total particles, metals, cerium oxide, or titanium dioxide particles. These results support the examination of particle-related lung disease in DSMs in the context of comparison groups, such as NDSMs, to assist in determining the strength of associations between specific pulmonary pathology diagnoses and deployment-specific inorganic particulate matter exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to explain the historically poor performance of the US Department of Defence's security force assistance (SFA) to state and non-state armed forces to counter terrorism. The article argues that the dominant understanding of SFA as a one-way, top-down relation between a principal (sponsor) and an agent (recipient) has neglected the socio-political dynamics and effects of the intervention. Studying the socio-political processes reveals the messy reality on the ground and how difficult, if not impossible, it is to fully control the operation and the participating recipients. Rather than controlling recipients, this article argues that SFA should be concerned with negotiating the multiple and diverse interests, needs, and priorities. This claim will be substantiated with an in-depth, qualitative case study of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq between 2014 and 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]