Reading

The Looming Tower, chapters 7-18

Introduction

It is October 12, 2000 -- less than one month before the U.S. Presidential election -- and Islamic terrorists in the Yemeni port of Aden have just launched a suicide attack against an American destroyer, the USS Cole. Reports indicate that the terrorist organization al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the action, which killed 17 American sailors and injured 39. In the aftermath of the attack, President Bill Clinton has asked your group of intelligence officers to provide an in-depth examination of the geopolitical realities facing the United States. Specifically, Clinton wants to know what developments have caused Islamic terrorists to focus their attention on the U.S.

Discussion

I will be available to discuss any questions or concerns you have about the reading via skype. My skype username is deltahistory. In addition, on Thursday, September 22, I will devote the entire afternoon to a discussion of the chapters assigned in the Looming Tower. Please login to skype between noon and 4:30 p.m. to discuss the book.

Group Breakdown
Group 1 - chapters 7, 8, 9 of Looming Tower (42 pages)
Group 2 - chapters 10, 11, 12, and 13 of Looming Tower (50 pages)
Group 3 - chapters 14, 15, 16 of Looming Tower (50 pages)
Group 4 - chapters 17, 18 of Looming Tower (46 pages)

Directions | Each group will present three items to me for grading by October 2 at midnight.

First, each group will submit a single 1000-word summary of the assigned reading material.
- The summary must be written in GOOGLE DOCS so that I may see what each group member contributed.
- The summary must be broken down into distinct sections on each chapter assigned.
- The summary must be written in paragraph form and should cover the main points presented in the readings.
- The summary should include all the key figures, events, dates, and topics in the reading.

Second, each group will submit a selection of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions on its reading.
- The questions must be written in GOOGLE DOCS so that I may see what each group member contributed.
- The questions should highlight the most important topics, events, or developments in the reading.

Third, each group will develop a timeline on Islamic terrorism and the U.S. response between 1989 and 2000.
- You will develop your timeline in a collaborative fashion at http://www.timelines.com.
- You must watch the introductory video on timelines.com under the Tech Tutorials link in our course.
- You may find that timelines.com will work best with Mozilla Firefox.
- Each member of the group must register at timelines.com and post at least 10-15 entries on the site with their own name. Participation in this project will be based on the number and quality of posts each individual contributes.
- When posting at timelines.com, you must provide original written content. No copying and pasting from other websites or books. All written content must be your own. (You may use quotations in the quotes section of the timeline).
- Multiple students in a single group may write descriptions of a single event.
- When posting at timelines.com, you must cite the photographers or artist who created the images you use.
- Your group's timeline should consider events from 1989 to 2000 (you may go back before 1989 if you so desire).
- Each group must add a specific theme to every event in its timeline. Group 1 will use SHSU1; Group 2 will use SHSU2; Group 3 will use SHSU3; Group 4 will use SHSU4..
- Each group must complete its timeline by midnight on October 2.