The election of 2000
The election of 2000 was between George W. Bush and Al Gore, Bush being the Republican, a former Governor of Texas. Gore was a Democrat. It was the most disputed election in history, with the whole nation split on what it wanted the new century to look like. The election was completely dependent on the electoral votes of Florida. Florida had been using punch cards to tally votes, which was unreliable for counting, and ultimately made it uncertain to tell who would get the electoral votes for FL. Who ever won them would win the whole election for the country.
Since then, many people now believe there should be a national standard for how to vote in all states. Many Democrats found it suspicious that when the votes were finally in, after a month of waiting, that Bush won when his brother was governor of Florida at the time. This was also the first time that the Supreme Court had to step in and say that vote counting had to end because America needed a President in office. The official margin in FL when the vote counting was stopped was 537 more votes for Bush. It was the first time in over a hundred years that a candidate who won the popular vote lost the election due to not winning the electoral vote, which brings up the debate that the Electoral College may not be the best way to elect a president.
Since then, many people now believe there should be a national standard for how to vote in all states. Many Democrats found it suspicious that when the votes were finally in, after a month of waiting, that Bush won when his brother was governor of Florida at the time. This was also the first time that the Supreme Court had to step in and say that vote counting had to end because America needed a President in office. The official margin in FL when the vote counting was stopped was 537 more votes for Bush. It was the first time in over a hundred years that a candidate who won the popular vote lost the election due to not winning the electoral vote, which brings up the debate that the Electoral College may not be the best way to elect a president.
The war in iraq
Afterwards, air strikes were directed at government and military buildings, soon followed by a full-scale invasion of the country through Kuwait. The invasion was an easy win for the US, as most Iraqi forces simply chose to not resist US troops. The capital of Iraq, Baghdad, fell on April 9th. Hussein was captured in December, and in 2004 was turned over to authorities of his former country, and found guilty of many crimes against humanity. He was executed in 2006. Soon after Iraq was occupied, riots and looting that were directed at the government broke out in the major cities,but the US was caught in the middle. As the situation worsened, it developed into guerrilla warfare and then became known as a civil war taking place. By fall of 2004, US casualties were at 1,000 and climbing. The war became controversial quickly, and American views on the issue were that perhaps the US never needed to get involved, since no evidence of a WMD program was ever found in Iraq. However, they supported the war reluctantly since it did remove a terrible leader responsible for horrible crimes.
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IRAQThe terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, prompted action by the new president. However, major steps would not be taken until later. In 2002, President Bush made the case that Iraq could be a threat to the US. We were still vulnerable from 9/11, he claimed. His intelligence told him that Iraq possessed and still continued to produce weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). When Iraq continually refused inspections for such weapons by the UN, Great Britain and the US together wanted to disarm Iraq, both because of these refusals and it’s alignment with terrorist groups. When inspection agreements and compliances were extended into 2003 to give Iraq more time, the President tired of diplomacy. It May 2003, he declared an end to it and gave an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq in 48 hours. When he refused the US attacked on March 20th. Bombs were dropped on a bunker where Hussein was thought to be meeting with advisors.
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