Suggested Answers to Second Short Quiz

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Suggested Answers to Second Short Quiz

Post by johnkarls »

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On Sat July 18, NY Times OpEd writer Thomas Friedman wrote an article about his reactions after attending a few days earlier the opening of yet another school in the mountains straddling the Afghanistan/Pakistan border by our author Greg Mortenson. The article is posted in this section of the bulletin board.

Question 1

What is Thomas Friedman's basic attitude toward the war in Afghanistan?

Answer 1

He is very sceptical. Every week or so, he writes a new OpEd article in the NY Times about some new aspect of his scepticism.

Question 2

Is his basic attitude appreciably different from a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times that is also posted on our bulletin board?

Answer 2

No.

Question 3


Or, indeed, from our own “six degrees of separation” campaign following our April 8th meeting -- for each of us to contact President Obama (and urge all of our friends and acquaintances to do so in an unending chain) in order to urge him to rely on human intelligence and infiltration, instead of surging to 70,000 American troops in Afghanistan?

Answer 3

No.

Question 4


What is Greg Mortenson's basic philosophy/policy regarding educating girls in the mountain home of Al Qaeda and The Taliban?

Answer 4

Mortenson believes that education and literacy for girls globally is the most important investment all countries can make to create stability, bring socio-economic reform, decrease infant mortality, decrease the population explosion, and improve health, hygiene, and sanitation standards globally. Mortenson believes that 'fighting terrorism' only perpetuates a cycle of violence, and that there should be a global priority to 'promote peace' through education and literacy, with an emphasis on girls' education. "You can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads or put in electricity, but unless the girls are educated, a society won't change", is an often quoted statement made by Mortenson.

Question 5


How many schools, primarily for girls, does Mortenson (per Friedman) claim have been bombed, burned or shut down by Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the last 19 months?

Answer 5

Greg Mortenson stated recently that since 2007, the Taliban and its allies have bombed, burned or shut down more than 640 schools in Afghanistan and 350 schools in Pakistan, of which about 80 percent are schools for girls.

Question 6

On the other hand, what has been the attitude of the Pakistani government to Mortenson's efforts?

Answer 6

In March 2009, Pakistan’s government presented Greg Mortenson with its highest civilian award, the “Sitara-e-Pakistan” (Star of Pakistan).

Question 7

Thomas Friedman notes that another attendee of the new-school opening was U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen - who is he?

Answer 7

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the highest-ranking active-duty person in all of the U.S. Armed Forces, the chief military adviser in the Pentagon to the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Question 8

What is the attitude of the U.S. military to Mortenson's book that we are reading?

Answer 8

“Three Cups of Tea” is required reading for all senior U.S. military commanders, for all U.S. officers (regardless of rank) in counter-insurgency training, and for all U.S. Special Forces (including non-officer ranks) deploying to Afghanistan.

Question 9

Does Thomas Friedman say that the war in Afghanistan is justified because of the efforts of Mortenson?

Answer 9

Although the text his July 18th OpEd Article in the NY Times did not say so flat out, the title he chose for his article did – "Teacher, can we leave now? No."!!!

Question 10

In this regard, Friedman's OpEd article was re-printed in the Salt Lake Tribune on July 21 with the title (the Trib often re-prints OpEd pieces from the NY times but makes up its own title) - "School for girls shows U.S. must not leave Afghanistan now?"!!! The title of Friedman's OpEd article in the NY Times on July 18 had been - "Teacher, can we leave now? No."!!! Does the SLTrib title ending with a question mark imply that the SLTrib is as aghast at Friedman's logic as "yours truly"???

Answer 10

Apparently.

Question 11

Why does Friedman see any relationship between the war in Afghanistan and Mortenson's efforts? After all, how many of Mortenson's schools are in Afghanistan where the war is raging and how many of them are in Pakistan where the only American military activity is constant aerial bombing? And how long was Mortenson building schools before 9/11 and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan? And will Mortenson's efforts be able to survive the looming defeat of the U.S. in Afghanistan?

Answer 11

Who knows???

Only 15 of the schools are in Afghanistan where the war is raging, and 66 are in Pakistan where the only American military activity is constant aerial bombing.

Greg Mortenson has been building schools in Pakistan/Afghanistan since 1994 – long before 9/11/2001 and the commencement on 10/7/2001 of our war in Afghanistan (as opposed to Russian’s war in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and all the other unsuccessful wars by foreign powers in Afghanistan since Alexander the Great).

Greg Mortenson’s noble efforts will likely be unable to survive the looming defeat of the U.S. in Afghanistan.

Question 12

Might Friedman be sacrificing logic and reason because his OpEd pieces are published so widely around the Muslim world and he is really preaching to his Muslim audience about Islam’s treatment of women (and so what if he has to look foolish to Americans in order to do so)?

Answer 12

Yes.

Question 13

Friedman claims that Mortenson has changed his own views on the war in Afghanistan - how have they changed? And do you believe that the views Friedman attributes to him are sincere, or merely that Mortenson feels compelled to avoid ruffling feathers?

Answer 13

Friedman claims Mortenson has “changed his views: ‘The U.S. military has gone through a huge learning curve. They really get it. It’s all about building relationships from the ground up, listening more and serving the people of Afghanistan.’”

The most likely explanation for this “change of heart” (if indeed there has been a change) is that with President Obama’s surge to 70,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Mortenson wants to avoid ruffling feathers.

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