On January 27, President Bush announced that he would increase, or “surge,” the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by 21,500. The announcement of the surge was carried live and widely reported the next day.

But, beyond indicating the number of U.S. troops already on the ground (about 130,000), few of the main media outlets did much to help their readers or viewers evaluate the significance of that increase.

World Conflicts Today users can place this and all Iraq decisions in a detailed historical and political context. For example, WCT makes clear the following points:

• The debate over troop levels dates back to the war’s planning stages, when Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki stated that the invasion and subsequent stabilization of Iraq would require “several hundred thousand” troops, a figure dismissed by the Pentagon’s top brass as “wildly off the mark.”
  
  
• The 150,000 troops who were eventually sent represented something of a compromise—far fewer than the 560,000 wanted by many army commanders but far more than the numbers being pushed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.
  
  
• The “surge” plan found little support in the Democratic Congress or among the population at large, but a few influential soldiers and politicians said it was worth a try. Among them were General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq; Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born ambassador to Iraq; and Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.
  
  
• However, supporters of the surge -- including Petraeus, Khalilzad, and al-Maliki -- have all stated that there can be no purely military solution to the problems in Iraq. As a result, talks with Iraqi insurgents got underway at the same time that the additional U.S. troops were leaving for battle.

Check out the Obstacles section of WCT for a detailed discussion of the costs and benefits of everything from sending even more troops to Iraq to bringing the ones already over there home.
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Our May podcast delves into our new Canadian Provinces Edition.

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1. Europe’s largest wetlands, the Pripiyat Marshes, are located in which country?
   
   
2. Former Catholic pope John Paul II was a native of which country?
   
   
3. Which Eastern European language, along with Latvian, is part of the Baltic language group, which is grammatically similar to Sanskrit and ancient Greek?
   
   
4. In which country is New Year’s celebrated by attending parties with Santa Claus (Mos Cracium) and his granddaughter, Snow White (Alba-ca-Zapada)?
   
   
5. The nation of Czechoslovakia split into which two countries in the early 1990s?
   
   
6. Which alphabet, developed by Christian priests Cyril and Methodius, is used throughout Eastern Europe?
   
   
7. What is the name of the famous Hungarian stew, made from meat, vegetables, and spices?
   
   
8. Which Eastern European state was one of the last nations to convert to Christianity, having followed a religion closely tied to nature before the 13th century?
   
   
9. What are the names of four of the world’s largest rivers found in Russia?
   
   
10. What is the name of the first female president in Eastern Europe, elected in 1999 by Latvia?

1. In Macedonia, folk dances (igra oro) involve special calls and complicated leg and arm movements. The moves often tell a story, such as that of the Teshkoto Oro, in which a series of steps depicts the fate of Macedonian fighters struggling against the Ottoman Turks. Females participate in some parts of this dance by portraying those who assisted the rebels in their battle. Dancers wear colorful embroidered costumes reflective of the clothing of past generations. Instruments such as the gajda (a type of bagpipe), tapan (a drum), and tambura (a stringed instrument) are used in the traditional music that sometimes accompanies the dances.
   
   
2. Because they have never been accurately counted, the Roma may actually comprise up to 8% of the total population of Romania. Many are poor, undereducated, and underemployed; they do not integrate into mainstream society and are sometimes subject to discrimination. They tend to live separately from other Romanians and often are not well accepted.

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• The National Wild Turkey Federation has its headquarters in Edgefield.
  
  
• The town clock in Winnsboro is one of the longest continuously running town clocks in the United States.
  
  
• Joel Roberts Poinsett, a native South Carolinian, brought back from Mexico a lovely tropical plant that was eventually named after him: the poinsettia.
  
  
• South Carolina is one of only a few states where the Venus flytrap, a plant that traps and eats insects, grows in the wild.
  
  
• The first submarine ever used in warfare was Hunley’s Boat, used by Confederate forces in 1863 in Charleston Harbor.
  
  
• The walls of the fort on Sullivan Island were built out of palmetto wood, which is very spongy. When the fort was under attack during the Revolutionary War, cannonballs practically bounced off the walls, protecting those inside!

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World Holidays Featured This Month

Liberia – National Unification Day – May 14
Celebrates the reconciliation of indigenous Liberians and Americo-Liberians (who descend from immigrants from the United States).

Norway – Constitution Day – May 17
Celebrated much like the Fourth of July is celebrated in the United States, with parades, flags, and family gatherings.

East Timor – Restoration of Independence – May 20
Celebrates East Timor’s independence from Indonesia, which was achieved on this date in 2002.

Bulgaria – Day of Bulgarian Culture and Science – May 24
Also called Cyril and Methodius Day, this holiday honors the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, as well as the achievements of Bulgarians in science and culture.

Azerbaijan – Republic’s Day – May 28
Marks Azerbaijan’s declaration of independence from Russia in 1918. Two years later, Russia’s Red Army made Azerbaijan part of the Soviet Union.

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Grade level: K–5

Objective: Students will practice collaboration while learning more about their home state or city.

National curriculum standard(s):

McREL Life Skills Standards

Working with Others
Standard 1: Contributes to the overall effort of a group.
Level IV [Grade K–12] Benchmark 2: Works cooperatively within a group to complete tasks, achieve goals, and solve problems.
Developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning

Time requirements
Preparation: 40 minutes
In-class: 1 hour, 30 minutes, two different days

Materials
CultureGrams Kids Edition
Painting/drawing materials

Instructions

1. Organize students into groups of four to five members. Assign each group to collaboratively write a CultureGrams report for the students’ home state or city, depending on the emphasis of your class. The groups should use the same categories as in the Kids Edition texts, though the categories can be modified depending on the students’ interests and abilities. The students may draw on information you have presented in class or do their own research.
   
   
2. Group members will be responsible for dividing up tasks, gathering information, writing the text, revising the initial drafts, and compiling the finished project into a unified whole.
   
   
3. Once the text portions are finished, assign the students to illustrate the texts with pictures that they draw or paint.
   
   
4. Have groups show their CultureGrams reports to the rest of the class. Or post the student-created CultureGrams reports for everyone to see.

Questions for further discussion

• What was the hardest category for students to write and why?
  
  
• Ask the students what they learned about their state or city in the process of making this CultureGrams report. Did they have to leave out some information due to space constraints? If so, how did they decide on which information to include?

Extension activity

• Discuss the collaborative process with students. For example, talk about the experience of writing a paper as a group, how they made decisions, how they dealt with differences of opinion, etc.

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