Research

So far, I have found three very good sources for my paper. Using the LexisNexis, I was able to get a transcript of Gen. Petraeus talking to congress on his latest report about the conditions in Iraq. I was also able to get an article from Lexis discussing the opinions of the iraqi military generals on the ground. It is very interesting to compare these two opinions and find similarities and differences between the two. There are obviously some confidence level discrepencies between the two military establishments. My third article is an opinion on how to exit Iraq from a former soldier and military proffesor who have been touring the country with marines. They seem to have an objective look at the country from a civilian view. So for my first three sources I have found, I think I have covered a good number of angles. I would however like to get some opinions from current soldiers serving in Iraq right now, but surprisingly, they are hard to find. Hope to find some

Iraq

Even before April mentioned it, I was already thinking about doing something related to the war in Iraq. I further decided to look at the exit strategy. More specfically looking at the military view vs the political views as to how the war should end and soldiers are pulled out.

I am very interested to find blogs or commentaries from soldiers and generals who have deep involvement in Iraq along with personal statements from noteworthy politicians. Another possible aspect could be the view of the iraqi people and govt. Although, that might be getting to broad.

Pretty much everyone has talked about this war at somepoint on all government and civilian levels which means I have a lot to look through and alot of work to do to narrow down to just a few sources.

I think the most impactful and accepted statements will be from the everyday slodiers on the ground, hopefully ones who have been there for multiple tours and can give their own personal feelings on how the war should end. They are the ones ones who really know.

Comedic try

I have never felt that I am much of a comedian, especially when having to write it down or draw a picture, so this assignment is definitely the most difficult out of the three. I decided that my best chance at being funny was going to be to attempt to make a comic. I decided rather than showing off my less than spectacular drawing ability, I would use existing images and put them together on a backround. Another obvious problem was trying to make a joke out of the usually unfunny topic of oil drilling. The only idea I could come up with was to use the animals of ANWR and take a Dr. Doolittle approach by allowing them to talk. So my comic is not just trying to be funny, but to also express one of the points that I made of the minimal enviornmental impacts that new drilling would have. Then I decided to put Palin in and try to be funny by letting the animals talk about her looks. We'll see how the reactions go. . .