Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Chapter 1 World War I

All the Powers Massing Great Armies in Fear of Possible Conflict The Mew York Times 10

Voice of Verdun: France's Reply to Peace Hints G. H. Perris 13

Wilson Approves Staff's Army Bill The New York Times 18

German Counter-Artillery Fire Silenced by Our Guns in 38 Minutes Cameron Mackenzie 21

Should America Have Entered World War I? Michael Kazin 24

Long Echoes of War and Speech Ted Widmer 27

The War to End All Wars? Hardly. But It Did Change Them Forever steven Erlanger 31

Chapter 2 World War II

The International Situation The New York Times 37

War of the World: Japanese Attack Merges Conflicts - We Must Not Discount Foe's Strength Hanson W. Baldwin 40

For Those Who Died The New York Times 44

Enemy Maneuvers The New York Times 46

First Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan; Missile Is Equal to 20,000 Tons of TNT; Truman Warns Foe of a 'Rain of Ruin' Sidney Shalett 49

Which Date Should Live in Infamy? Jon Meacham 57

At the Site of Germany's Biggest World War II Battle, a Changing View of History Alison Smale 60

Chapter 3 The Vietnam War

160 U.S. and Saigon Planes Bomb 2 Bases in North in Record Raid Jack Langguth 65

McNamara Report to Johnson on the Situation in Saigon in '63 The New York Times 69

End of a Nightmare The New York Times 74

The Americans Depart The New York Times 75

What Was the Vietnam War About? Christian G. Appy 77

Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam Mark K. Updegrove 83

How Vietnam Changed Journalism Andrew Pearson 87

Chapter 4 The Iraq War

Bush Orders Start of War on Iraq; Missiles Apparently Miss Hussein David E. Sanger John F. Burns 92

The War Begins The New York Times 99

Wave of Protests, From Europe to New York John Tagliabue 101

Cheers, Tears and Looting in Capital's Streets John F. Burns 105

President Says Military Phase in Iraq Has Ended David E. Sanger 112

The Failure to Find Iraqi Weapons The New York Times 118

A Shifting Enemy: U.S. Generals Say Civil War, Not Insurgency, Is Greatest Threat Mark Mazzetti 121

A Matter of Definition: What Makes a Civil War, and Who Declares It So? Edward Wong 124

3,000 Deaths in Iraq, Countless Tears at Home Lizette Alvarez Andrew Lehren 129

Obama Declares an End to Combat Mission in Iraq Helene Cooper Sheryl Gay Stolberg 139

Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country Sinan Antoon 144

15 Years Ago, I Helped Start a War That Hasn't Ended Matt Ufford 148

Chapter 5 The War on Terror

U.S. and Britain Strike Afghanistan, Aiming at Bases and Terrorist Camps; Bush Warns 'Taliban Will Pay a Price' Patrick E. Tyler 152

Long War Is Seen Steven Lee Myers Alan Cowell 159

A Merciful War Nicholas D. Kristof 163

How a 'Good War' in Afghanistan Went Bad David Rohde David E. Sanger 166

Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan Sheryl Gay Stolberg Helene Cooper 183

Keeping a Promise to Afghans The New York Times 189

In Afghanistan's Unwinnable War, What's the Best Loss to Hope For? Max Fisher 191

Drone Strikes Reveal Uncomfortable Truth: U.S. Is Often Unsure About Who Will Die Scott Shane 196

Telling the Truth About the Cost of War The New York Times 200

Our Drone War Burnout Pratap Chatterjee 203

I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It's Happening Again. Lawrence Wilkerson 207

Glossary 211

Media Literacy Terms 213

Media Literacy Questions 215

Citations 217

Index 221