Iraq War in Literature and Film

• The Big Suck: Notes from the Jarhead Underground
• Choose three quotes and respond from each section--things that stand out; why?
• "Redeployment" by Phil Klay
• Does the story reflect soldiers’ real-world attempts to return to normalcy in civilian life? Is normalcy even possible, given what they have witnessed and/or participated in? What is your experience—as someone who has known, or perhaps read about, a returning soldier?
• The Hurt Locker (2009) directed by Kathryn Bigelow
• Questions and Roger Ebert essay on the importance of the film

Post 9/11: Afghanistan and Iraq

• 15 Septembers since 9/11
• Remembering 9/11
• Events leading up to the Iraq War
• The Iraq War: Bush's War
• Differences between Sunnis and Shiites
• History of Afghanistan