Iran Before the War
This ideological conflict framed much of U.S. foreign policy after WWII, including engagements in the Middle East.
What was the Cold War.
This Middle Eastern dictator launched the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, hoping to establish Iraq as the dominant power in the region.
Who is Saddam Hussein?
What are the years spanned by the Iran-Iraq War?
What was 1980-1988.
The arms sales to Iran were secretly used to fund this group, which was fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Who are the Contras?
Following the leak, President Trump expressed doubt over whether the information was classified, initially asserting it wasn’t, and later suggesting it might not have been secure. Which platform did Trump say might be “defective” for secure communications?
What is Signal?
What is the critical strategic point of dispute in the Iran-Iraq War is located between Iraq and Iran offering access to the Persian Gulf?
What is the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
Saddam Hussein's forced the resignation of Iraq's president and eliminated his political opponents.
What is Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party purge in 1979?
The Iran-Iraq War saw the use of this controversial Industrial Age-style warfare tactic by Iran, involving thousands of volunteers who faced near-certain death to protect the country.
What are human wave attacks.
Although he portrayed Oliver North as a rogue operator, this U.S. president never explicitly condemned North for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair.
Who was Ronald Reagan.
This U.S. Secretary of Defense revealed specific operational details about the U.S. strikes on Yemen in a Signal chat, which was later leaked to the public.
Who is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth?
Which Iranian leader rose to power following the 1979 revolution? What was his religious and ideological background?
Who was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...a hardline Islamist and Western antagonist
The U.S. government, particularly the CIA, underestimated this characteristic of Saddam Hussein.
What is brutality and a willingness to use violence against his own people?
The Iran-Iraq War saw the use of this type of weapon by Iraq, aided by the U.S. providing dual-use chlorine, causing thousands of casualties and violating the Geneva Protocol of 1925.
What were chemical weapons.
This act by Oliver North was a key part of the cover-up effort after the Iran-Contra scandal was exposed in the mid-1980s.
What was document shredding.
Both the current Signal scandal and the Iran-Contra affair involved the potential abuse of this branch of government, which James Madison believed should be “most cautiously watched,” a concept he emphasized in letters and the Federalist papers.
What is the executive branch?
In a poster, Saddam Hussein is satirically portrayed as a growling dog held by both American and Soviet leashes, with a dog tag bearing the Star of David hanging from his collar. The red fist of Iran punches Saddam in the face.
What is an Iranian propaganda poster.
Which best describes the ideological foundation of Saddam Hussein's government?
What is the Ba’ath Party and secular socialism.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the U.S. provided intelligence to Iraq, despite the country’s use of chemical weapons, due to this reason related to Iran.
What is preventing an Iranian victory because Iran was globally isolated and unpopular?
This piece of legislation was an example of a check and balance on executive power by the legislative branch, passed in the 1980s, aimed to limit U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua.
What was the Boland Amendment?
Whether it’s the covert arms deals in Iran-Contra or unsecured communications in the Signal scandal, these actions circumvent this intended key principle of the U.S. Constitution, which James Madison believed was critical.
What is the separation of powers or congressional oversight that checks the executive branch.
This Shia militant group, founded in the 1980s with the support of Iran, played a significant role in Middle Eastern politics and became an important proxy for Iran in its regional conflicts.
What is Hezbollah?
Saddam Hussein was one of the key figures in the 1959 event involving Iraqi leader General Abdul Karim Qasim.
What was a failed assassination attempt?
During the Iran-Iraq War, the U.S. supported Iraq because the U.S. and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein shared this goal.
What is preventing the spread of Iranian-style Islamic revolution?
This commission was established by President Reagan to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair and provide an independent review of the actions taken by senior members of his administration.
What is the Tower Commission?
The argument over whether the Signal chat involved classified material stemmed from this larger concern, emphasized by security experts, that even though the Signal app has end-to-end encryption, foreign adversaries might still be able to see the messages.
What is the potential for compromised personal devices?