End+War+In+Iraq

a) The problem that we are attempting to end is the War in Iraq because based on statistics, 64,137-114,137 people have died in Iraq. The people dying aren’t just U.S. soldiers, but are also Iraqi civilians ranging from people who live in Iraq to Iraqi police and soldiers. We are also trying to learn whether or not the money that is being put into the war is being spent in the best way possible. We chose to focus on the Iraq War because it is something we truly care about and we also believe that we need to be more informed of the problems being caused by the war. a) & b) At first, we decided that we wanted to pull soldiers out slowly and stop putting as much money into the war but after our presentation, our classmates made us realize that we needed to think more on this strategy and research more on our topic. There were a few questions that we really had no idea what the answer was, and that’s what got us thinking. These questions were; “What soldiers would be picked to be pulled out of Iraq first?”, “When will this occur?”, and “Wouldn’t pulling soldiers out increase hostility and deaths because of the limited protection we would have?” We decided to take those questions in and change our strategy. We are now going to write letters to people who can make the war end like the President and the House Representatives. We would also get the support of as many people that we can and ask them to write letters too. We feel that the more letters that are sent, the more people will realize the problem. Another thought we had was to, in addition to the letters; create a television broadcast that would hopefully catch the eye of many U.S. citizens.  a)  There is a lot that we learned from this project. One thing we learned was that we didn’t research the project as in-depth as we should have. There were a lot of unanswered questions that were valuable to our project, which is why we decided to expand our research. The steps we plan on taking next is contacting key players, and writing letters to legislatures. Also, we plan to hold a demonstration at one point, once we have enough supporters. Hopefully, our support of this idea & other supporters will change the minds of those who are keeping the soldiers in Iraq b) Suggestions for what could be done next a) Each member of the group must submit a reflection which includes their thoughts about: i) what they learned about democracy from participating on this project ii) what they learned about themselves from working on this project iii) what they learned about cooperating with others from working on this project a) Each portfolio must include a minimum of one artifact from each of the following sub sections. You should include all artifacts that were actually created and you may also add ones which you did not use but could have used. i) __Public Education__ (1) Leaflets, Flyers, Posters, (2) Newsletters (3) Reports (4) Public Hearings, Candidates nights (5) Film or video screenings (6) Internet, blogs, Pod casts ii) __Direct Action__ (1) Boycotting/Buycotting (2) Picketing (3) Demonstrations and Protests (4) Strikes (5) Nonviolent Civil Disobedience iii) __Citizen Lobbying__ (1) Writing a bill & finding a sponsor (2) Testifying at committee hearings (3) Persuading Legislators iv) __The Media__ (1) Letters to the Editor (2) Op-Ed Articles (3) Earning Media in Feature Articles (4) Call-in shows/ Guest Shows (5) PSAs (6) Radio Shows (7) News Releases / News Conferences (8) Media Events b) For students working alone there must be one entry per category c) For group with 3 or less members there must be two entries per category d) For groups with 4-5 members there must be three entries per category **6) ****Format of the portfolio** a) Please compile the portfolio in a professional manner i) Title & Date ii) Credits: Contributors, Class Period, Date iii) __Introduction to the problem__ iv) __Strategies employed__ v) __Outcomes of the project__ vi) __Reflections on the Project__ vii) __Appendix: Ways of Acting__ b) All entries should be typed, double spaced, 1” margins, and Times New Roman c) All media productions (audio or video) should be saved on a CD/DVD and should have descriptions entered into the Appendix d) All contributors to your project should be credited
 * 1) ****Introduction to the problem**
 * 2) ****Strategies employed**
 * 3) ****Outcomes of the project**
 * 4) ****Reflections on the Project**
 * 5) ****Appendix: Ways of Acting**
 * e) **** All portfolios should be uploaded to: http://nkdemocracyproject.wikispaces.com **