Philosophical Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philosophical Questions - Essay Example This paper will provide four arguments that God exists. To begin with, one should point out one simple, yet rather important fact: the belief in divine powers has been known since the dawn of humanity; so, this continuous existence of the tradition might be considered to be an indirect indication of existence of God. Common sense suggests that there is no smoke without fire. If there had not been any divine power, millions of people around the world could not simply have imagined it out of nowhere. Keeping in mind that there was no communication between the groups of the early people, the very existence of religious cults might be regarded as a valid evidence that God exists. Is it possible that people have been mistaken for thousand or years about one of the most defining aspects of their identity? It is rather hard to believe in that. Therefore, the existence of religious beliefs that dates back to the primitive society may be a suitable argument for existence of God. The second indirect indication that God exist focuses on our very lives. Should not the latter be considered to be a true miracle? The process of ovum fertilization by spermatozoid has not only been studied in great details, but also filmed. It may seem that science has taken cover from the greatest mystery – the beginning of live. However, no scholar is able to point out that moment when a small number of cells become a living organism. In other words, science did its best to analyze the world around us, but it could not get a hold of one of the fundamental powers – life. It would not be a mistake to suggest that without any divine intervention the above mentioned set of molecules would have never become a living creature. So, all the organisms in the world are the living arguments for the existence of God. Another point that should be taken into

A Modest Proposal Essay Example for Free

A Modest Proposal Essay Swift is a renowned satirist, whose works are read even today since they represent social problems persistent through centuries. Although his parents were English, Swift was born in Ireland and lived there most of his life, though he wanted to live in or near London. His bitterest piece, A Modest Proposal is about curing the growing population and preventing the children of the poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country. Swift is strongly against poverty as well as discrimination and presents these points his piece, A Modest Proposal. Swift pretends to be an expert or social planner who has a scheme to solve the problem of poverty in Ireland. This piece was written for the English aristocracy. It was meant to be humiliating and embarrassing for them, and it was! Swift killed people figuratively. Initially, when people started reading the piece, they agreed with Swift since he was stating facts and presenting reality in a serious tone. But when the readers reached the part where he proposes his solution to the malady, they felt he was out of his mind! This was an eye opener for the Britishers, and it wasnt too hard for them to realize that he was making fun of them and they were offended. His proposal might have sounded preposterous, but he intended it to be satiric and it was! Swifts writing was very effective and helped enhance his purpose. One of the strategies that Swift uses to draw the readers attention is by using a lot of details and imagery to clearly present his points enabling the readers to have a better understanding. One such example in this piece would be, It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the street, the roads and cabin-doors with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms. As people are reading this, they can clearly get a picture of what is going on and exactly what hes trying to put across. But, this is a social insult towards women since they are supposed to be at home and not on the streets with kids. He sarcastically refers to women who have dozens of kids as breeders. To make things worse, he points out how a pregnant animal is apparently more worthy than a pregnant woman. If a man found out that his wife was pregnant, he would do anything to abort the child, which would end in the mother being killed most of the times. Women were treated like dirt. By this we can say that he also differentiates between the roles played by man and woman in the society. Not only does he include men and women, but he takes children into consideration too. According to Swift, selling children negates the cost of breeding them. He says, the maintenance of an hundred thousand children, from two years old, and upwards, cannot be computed ay less than ten shillings a piece per annum, the nations stock will be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum. Another way Swift grabs the readers attention is by making stark contrasts between the rich and the poor. He says, I grant this food will be somewhat dear and therefore very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children. He expounds how money circulates in the society with an idea of the rich giving money to the poor, and take it back. He comes up with his own unique resolutions to the problems that exist. Its basically like trying to solve a hard math problem without following any of the rules. There are a few things that Swift talks about in his piece that arthat a child just born will weigh 12 pounds and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, increases to 28 pounds. This is very unrealistic, because the average weight of a newborn in any country was never 12 pounds and they did not weigh 28 pounds in a year either. He might have meant it to be satiric, but it doesnt work very well and doesnt fit in. His statistics were incorrect; they were either too high or too low. Although he might have used these facts to get his point across, they ruin the effect of the entire piece. He insults peoples religious e very unrealistic. For example, Swift claims, I have reckoned upon a medium, beliefs which might have helped him prove his point, but can be offending to readers even today. He tends to be repetitive and tries to emphasize on certain things so many times that they lose their value. Swift tends to get carried away with his satire and comes up with unrealistic and ridiculous so lutions. In this piece, Swift manages to maintain the readers attention by using elaborate language and expressions. His tone and satiric language helps convey his message and point of view. This piece was very effective, keeping in mind his main purpose, regardless of whether or not people were offended or that they thought he was being ridiculous. He proved his point with an extraordinary plan, which he felt could have resolved the problem. Whether it would have worked or not, would have been a different issue. Thus, in reality this can be viewed as one of Swifts greatest pieces.

The Affirmative Action Debate Essay -- argumentative persuasive 2014

For the sake of this essay, affirmative action in education is defined as: â€Å"policies and programs designed to advance equality of educationalopportunity for individuals from groups that have suffered systematic historical discrimination† (Mickelson 29). What is being referred to here is race-based affirmative action, or the act of taking into consideration an applicant’s race in the college admissions process. This is a hot topic all over the United States and has been for quite a while, the debate raging between two sides: those in support of affirmative action and those opposed. The ethics of affirmative action itself are difficult to determine, but here an attempt will be made to prove that affirmative action is indeed unfair. In addition, perhaps people are looking at the wrong issue. Maybe the real problem is the early education gap between the minority and majority students, something that, if fixed, could solve the issue of affirmative action once and for al l. Just to make things clear, because the topic of this is race-based affirmative action, â€Å"majority† will refer to the racial majorities in college admissions (mainly whites and to some extent Asians) and â€Å"minority† will refer to racial minorities (such as African Americans, Hispanics, etc.) Also, diversity, unless stated otherwise, means racially diverse. Before any analysis can take place, it is beneficial to first know a little bit about the subject area. With that in mind, the history of affirmative action can be condensed into the basics: Supreme Court cases and major legislation. Civil Rights Act of 1964 got the ball rolling on affirmative action, both in education and in general. Title VI of this Act ordered desegregation of public educational institutions, from... .... 2008. Web. 01 Nov. 2011 Garrison-Wade, Dorothy F., and Chance W. Lewis. â€Å"Affirmative Action: History And Analysis.†Journal Of College Admission  184 (2004): 23-26.  Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Mickelson, Roslyn A. â€Å"Affirmative Action in Education.†Ã‚  Education and Sociology: anEncyclopedia. By David L. Levinson, Peter W. Cookson, and Alan R. Sadovnik. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Print. Moreno, Pamela Barta. â€Å"The History Of Affirmative Action Law And Its Relation To College Admission.†Ã‚  Journal Of College Admission  179 (2003): 14-21.  Academic Search  Premier. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Ogletree, Jr., Charles J. â€Å"The Case For Affirmative Action.†Ã‚  Stanford Alumni Association. Stanford Magazine. Web. 01 Nov. 2011. Sacks, David, and Peter Thiel. â€Å"The Case Against Affirmative Action.†Ã‚  Stanford Alumni  Association.  Stanford Magazine. Web. 01 Nov. 2011.

World War One â€Life in the Trenches

World war one –life in the trenches When men volunteered to fight in world war one, on the Western front, little did they know about the conditions they would be living and fighting in the trenches, and for how long this would all go on for. The Great War lasted for four years even though many believed they would be home by Christmas 1914 on till 11/11/1918(today know better as remembrance day). (See source A) Even if the men did know about many of the conditions in the trench they would most likely have still joined as many were pressured by two ways to join. irstly by women as they would press little white feathers into their hand another way was they would walk past with a desecrated look in their faces as described by Rifleman Norman Demuth in source B (see source B) and secondly by propagandas(posters)see sources C,D and E for some examples. Even though the war lasted longer than expected the conditions didn’t get any better for soldiers as the shortage of food got worse, diseases became more common e. g.Trench foot (where your foot rotted off in your boot), more rats moved into the trenches, no way to remove toilet waste from the trenches and corpses lined many of the sides and floors of the trenches helping to spread disease. It got so bad in the trenches many solider turned to shooting themselves so they could be sent home and see their friend and family they had left behind. But if you were found guilty of a self-inflicted wound (SIW) in the British Army the ultimate penalty was capital (death by firing squad. )But 3,894 British soldiers were found guilty of SIW but none were executed but instead sent to prison for lengthy periods.Basic trench and layouts(see sources f and G) The first job of any soldiers getting to the western front who wanted to survive the machine gun fire from the triple alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) was to dig down, making trenches. Frontline trenches were usually about seven foot deep and six foot wi de. The front of the trench was known as the parapet. The top two or three feet of the parapet and the parados (the rear side of the trench) would consist of a thick line of sandbags to absorb any bullets or shell fragments.In a trench of this depth it was impossible to see over the top, so a two or three-foot ledge known as a fire-step, was added. Trenches were not dug in straight lines. Otherwise, if the enemy had a successive offensive, and got into your trenches, they could shoot straight along the line. Each trench was dug with alternate fire-bays and traverses. Duck-boards were also placed at the bottom of the trenches to protect soldiers from problems such as trench foot. Soldiers also made dugouts and funk holes in the side of the trenches to give them some protection from the weather and enemy fire.The front-line trenches were also protected by barbed-wire entanglements and machine-gun posts. Short trenches called saps were dug from the front-trench into No-Man's Land. The sap-head, usually about 30 yards forward of the front-line, were then used as listening posts. Behind the front-line trenches were support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches, were dug at an angle to the frontline trench and was used to transport men, equipment and food supplies. Food in the trenchesIn the trench food was basic but was for many it was better than what families were eating back at home. Daily rations for a British soldier consisted of 20 ounces of bread or 16 ounces of flour or 4 ounces of oatmeal instead of bread, 3 ounces of cheese, 5/8 ounces of tea, 4 ounces of jam or 4 ounces of dried fruit ,? ounce of salt, 1/36 ounce of pepper, 1/20 ounce of mustard, 8 ounces of fresh vegetables or 1/10 gill lime if vegetables not issued, ? gill of rum or 1 pint of porter , 20 ounces of tobacco, 1/3 ounces of chocolate (optional), 4 ounces of butter/margarine and 2 ounces of dried vegetables.One B ritish soldier said (source H) Tinned bully beef was the usual. we were always hungry. many times we only got one slice of bread,often without butter or jam,for breakfast and hard biscuits for tea. they were so hard that you had to put them on a hard surface and smash them with a stone. Meaning many did not get what they should have. Weapons One thing that played a big part in the war was the weapons They used * Handguns (e. g Webley Revolver, Webley Self-loading, Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver, Enfield revolver, Colt M1911 , Colt New Service, Smith ; Wesson M1917 revolver, Smith ; Wesson Model 10, Smith amp; Wesson Triple Lock, Lancaster pistol, Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, and Mauser C96) * Rifles(e. g. Lee-Enfield, Lee-Metford, Pattern 1914 Enfield, Martini-Enfield, Martini-Henry, Ross rifle , Winchester Model 1894, Winchester Model 1895, Winchester Model 1907, Type 30 rifle, Type 38 rifle, Type 38 cavalry rifle, Mauser-Vergueiro, andPeriscope rifle) * Machine Guns(e. g. Vickers machine gun, Maxim gun, Lewis Gun, Hotchkiss Mark I, M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun and M1917 Browning machine gun) * Shotguns(e. g Sawn-off shotgun and Double-barreled shotgun) * Anti-tank weapons(e. . Elephant gun) * Grenades(e. g Grenade, No 1 Hales; Rifle grenades, 2, 3, 4 Hales; No. s 5, 23, 36 Mills; No. 6 Grenade; No. s 8, 9 Double Cylinder Jam Tin; No. 13 Battye; No. 15 Ball grenade; No. 27 Smoke Grenade and No. 34 Egg grenade) * Mortars(e. g 2 inch Medium Mortar, Newton 6 inch Mortar, Stokes Mortar and Livens Projector) * Support Guns(E. g Vickers-Crayford rocket gun * Swords(e. g 1897 Pattern, 1908 and 1912 Pattern Cavalry Swords and Claymore) * Bayonets(e. g M1907 bayonet) See sources G-L for examples of weapons. DiseasesIn the trenches there was a lot of disease from a common cold to trench foot(foot rotting off). 1. Trench foot- Many soldiers fighting in World War One suffered from severe trench foot. Trench foot is an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and insanitary conditions. In the trenches soldiers stood fur hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The soilders feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and the result was amputation. 2. Shell shock-Early symptoms of shell shock included tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration and headaches. Eventually the men suffered mental breakdowns making it impossible for them to remain in the front-line. Some came to the conclusion that the soldiers condition was caused by the enemy's heavy artillery. These doctors argued that a bursting shell creates a vacuum, and when the air rushes into this vacuum it disturbs the cerebro-spinal fluid and this can upset the working of the brain. 3. Trench mouth- It was a severe form of gingivitis that causes painful, infected, bleeding gums and ulcerations. . Trench fever is a bacterial infection that causes repeated cycles of high fever. Two different types of bacteria cause Trench fever. Bartonella quintana is carried by body lice and Bartonella henselae is carried by ticks. Symptoms are headaches, skin rashes, inflamed eyes and leg pains. Rats In the trenches Rats gathered in their millions infested everywere in trenches. There were two main types of rats in the trenches the brown and the black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human they could grow to the size of a cat. Toilets Loss of life Conclusion

Research Paper Animal Experimentation Essay

I Introduction Thesis Statement: Animal testing is a debatable issue in modern society. Some people argue that animal testing should be kept due to medical benefits and research study conveniences. However, I think animal experimentation should be banned by refuting supporters’ arguments. II Body A. Opposing argument 1 Animal experimentations are conducted for human health. Rebuttal to this argument: Animal testing can cause serious problems regarding to human health. a. The results of animal experimentation are often inconclusive and cannot be accurately applied to human. b. Animal drug testing causes a lot of dangerous side effects. B. Opposing argument 2 Animal experimentation is vital for research purposes. Rebuttal to this argument: Ethnics problems: Are humans too selfish? a. Animal testing can be extremely cruel and inhumane. b. Examples to illustrate the cruelly experiments conducted on animals. c. Animals deserve the equal rights as humans. C. Opposing argument 3 There are no effective alternatives to animal experimentation. Rebuttal to this argument: The facts of efficient non-animal methods and relevant benefits. a. Examples of successful alternative methods. b. Lists of possible technology as alternative methods. c. The benefits of non-animal methods. III Conclusion Animal Testing should be banned due to its cruelness, moral issues and the existence of effective alternative methods. Should Animal Experimentation Be Abandon? Animal Experimentation, also known as animal testing, is the use of animals to conduct experiments or do research in the laboratory. The number of animals used in experiments increased dramatically after World War II. Nowadays, animal experimentation is widely used in many areas such as medical research, behavior study, and drug tests. It is estimated that scientists in America utilize more than 15 million animals each year in their research. Also, animal research and testing is used in almost 10% of all biomedical research. (â€Å"Animal experimentation†, 2011, para.4 ) While some people insist animal experimentation is necessary for social progress due to its unique contributions to human health and scientific researches, opponents of animal research argue that it is cruel, immoral, and unnecessary. As a matter of fact, animal experimentation has been a controversy issue for a very long time. At the same time, there are an increasing number of regulations which restrict animal testing to some extent in order to protect animals’ rights. From my perspective, animal experimentation should be abandoned because of its inhuman cruelness, moral issues, and the existence of possible alternatives. The most common arguments supporting animal experimentation can be refuted and shown to be unnecessary harm to animals. There are many arguments to support animal experimentation. Supporters of animal testing assert animal experimentations are beneficial for human health and vital for research purposes. Also, supporters tend to believe that there are no effective  alternatives for animal experimentation. One of the most common opinions supporters of animal experimentation hold is that a lot of animal experimentations are conducted for human health. They assert animal testing is critical for drug development, the safety of cosmetic products, and treatment for diseases. For instance, Carl Cohen (2005), a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, argues that vaccines for diseases such as polio and malaria could not have been developed without animal testing (para.1). There is no denying that humans did benefit a lot from animal experimentations. People practice on dogs first to learn how to perform surgery successfully, test the toxicity of ingredients of shampoo on mice to ensure the safety of cosmetic products, and study the infected chimpanzees to study the virus effects. These actions seem to be reasonable. However, there are also plenty of problems of animal experimentation associated with human health are ignored by supporters. The results of animal testing are often inconclusive and cannot be accurately applied to human. â€Å"Many of the drugs approved through animal experimentation have proven dangerous to humans† (Thomas, 2008, para.3). The inner structure of human body is quite different from animals’. In fact, animal experimentation results cannot predict many common life threatening side effects of new products like drugs and cosmetics. Animal testing could be the reason that many so called â€Å"safety products† drugs which work perfectly on animals would cause so many dangerous side effects on human body. More seriously, it is possible for humans to suffer from allergic reactions, some blood disorders, skin lesions and many central nervous system effects that cannot be demonstrated by animal models (Singer, 2006). Most medications are derived from one big contradiction: Our government demands that we test all medications on animals prior to continuing to human trials, and it admits that applying animal data to humans is a â€Å"leap of faith.† However, animal drug testing cannot guarantee all the medications would apply to humans. Still, many human diseases go uncured. Besides human health perspective, supporters argue it is necessary to conduct research through animal experimentation. The history of animal experimentation can be traced back a very early time. The earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the Greeks in the 2nd and 4th centuries BCE (â€Å"History of nonhuman animal research,† 1984). The achievements of animal testing research cannot be ignored. For example, the Roman physician Galen dissected pigs and apes to demonstrate that veins carry blood, not air as people previously thought. In the early 1600’s English doctor William Harvey dissected numerous types of animals, including frogs and fish, to show how blood circulates the body. During the 1800s, scientists used animals to examine the role of microorganisms in causing disease (Gilland, 2002).Scientists take advantage of the animals’ biological similarity to humans to gain advanced biology and behavior knowledge. Furthermore, scientists can create controlled environments for animals (regulating their diet, temperature, and other factors) in a way that would be difficult for human research subjects. Evidence shows   the research progress benefits from animal experimentation. It cannot be denied that the animal experimentation plays a crucial role in research. However, as the scale of animal experimentations increasing drastically over years, there are more animal-rights movements and more ethics questions have come to the top. Opponents of animal experimentation consider it is unethical due to reasons such as it is cruel and inhuman, and it violates animals’ rights. Firstly, animal testing is always merciless. The condition of where animals are kept within laboratory could be poor, and animals are often exposed to harmful chemicals to see the results. In 1997, people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filmed staff inside Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in the UK. The staff was hitting puppies, shouting at them, and taking blood samples from the dogs. (â€Å"It’s A Dog’s Life,†2005). Another example is the primate experiments conducted at the University of Cambridge in 2002. The monkeys in laboratory had undergone surgery to induce a stroke, and were left alone after the procedure for 15 hours overnight. They were only given food and water for two hours a day so that researchers can better observe their reactions in different situations (Sandra, 2005). The extremely pain and suffering caused by animal testing has become a serious ethics issue. The second debatable ethics issue is regarding to animals’ rights. People have started to ask whether animals deserve the same rights as humans. According to human’s basic rights, a person may not be killed, cruelly treated, intimidated, or imprisoned for no good reason. Put another way, people should be able to live in their own needs and preferences. What about animals? Do they deserve the basic respects like humans? There is no doubt that animals experience life as humans do. Animals can feel pain and fear, and they would be desperate in difficult situations. It is true that animals do not have the same abilities as humans. They cannot speak, write or invent things, but neither can some humans. Can we deprive the rights of those humans who lack these abilities? Do we say disabled humans have no inherent value and rights? Certainly not, because their lives still has value to them. As philosopher Tom Regan (1985) has said in his argument for animal rights: we are each of us the experiencing subject of a life, a conscious creature having an individual welfare that has importance to us whatever our usefulness to others†¦ animals too must be viewed as the experiencing subjects of a life, with inherent value of their own(p.13). It is not justifiable to harm animals’ lives for the benefits of humans. Humans tend to regard themselves as the most important and valuable species on earth. However, this opinion is too self-centered and unmoral. Millions of species are all living on this planet, and they all deserve the dignity to live. Even though there is no doubt that better research progress would be gained from animal testing, we human cannot take the benefits from the misfortune of other species. We are part of this planet, and we have the obligation to protect ecological balance, not to harm it. Supporters of animal experimentation are also aware of the defects and ethical problems of animal experimentation, but they assert there are no effective alternatives to animal testing. As a matter of fact, with the development of technology, there are many more possibilities to conduct experimentations without animals. Thanks to modern technology, more and more non-animal research is being used now all over the world. For example, Pharmagene Laboratories is the first company to use only human tissues and sophisticated computer technology for the purpose of drug development and testing. People in Pharmagene use sophisticated scanning devices to analyze inner structure of human. With tools from biochemistry, analytical pharmacology, and molecular biology, Pharmagene is able to study human genes and drug effects on the proteins they make. They have made great achievements in the field of non-animal experimentation. Besides, the scientists in Pharmagene believe that the study process would be much more efficient with human tissues instead of animals’. They also state there would be lower risk associated with non-animal experimentation. (Coghlan,1996). As I pointed out before, animal testing can be inconclusive and inaccurate. Also, it is usually expensive to do experiments on animals. On the contrary, non-animal methods often take less time and cost less to conduct. Effective, affordable, and humane research methods include sophisticated in vitro, genomic, and computer-modeling techniques as well as studies of human populations, volunteers, and patients. Why do we have to conduct the cruel, immoral animal testing which cost us money and effort? People c an use these effective alternatives instead. Today, animal experimentations are still used widespread in areas of biology, behavior study, medical research, and drug testing. Although supporters of animal experimentations argue that animal testing is beneficial for human health, critical for research purposes, there are strong evidence showing that animal experimentation might not be necessary. Animal experimentation can cause a lot of dangerous side effects in drug testing. Moreover, People’s diseases cannot be accurately treated through animal experimentation. Also, there are serious moral issues associated with animal testing, and we should not take the benefits from the misfortune of other species. People need to be aware of the disadvantages of animal testing and seek for better alternatives. Non-animal methods often take less time and cost less to conduct. With the development of technology, there would be more and more effective alternatives to animal testing. Due to the various disadvantages of animal experimenta tion, we ought to abandon animal testing and focus on better solutions. I believe humans can benefit more from non-animal experimentations References Animal Experimentation.(2011). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Balls, M. Statement on the Application of the Epidermâ„ ¢ Human Skin Model for Skin Corrosivity Testing. New York, NY: Metropolitan. Cohen, C. (2001). The Animal Rights Debate. Lanham, MD: Rowman. Coghlan, A, (1996). Pioneers Cut Out Animal Testing. New Scientist, 9, 31-33. Deborah, L. (2009). Novel Multicellular Organotypic Models of Normal and Malignant Breast: Tools for Dissecting the Role of Microenvironmen in Breast Cancer Progression. Breast Cancer Research, 11, p.3. Festing, S. (2008). Animal Research—a Defense. Retrieved from http://www. Newstatesman.con/life-and-society/2008/03/animal-rights-debate. Gilland, T. (2002). Animal Experimentation: Good or Bad? London: Hodder. It’s a Dog’s Life. (2005). Small World Productions, pp. 54, 56. Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group. (1984). History of nonhuman animal Research. Boston, MA: Bedford. Regan, T. (1985). The Case for animal rights. New York: Basil Blackwell. Sandra, L.(2005). Lab monkeys in tests. The Grardian. p. R3. Singer, P. (2006). In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Thomas, P.(2008). Animal Testing—Dangerous to Human Health. Retrieved From http://www.newstatesman/life-and-society/2008/animal-right

Chemical Warfare in the Iran-Iraq War

Chemical Warfare in the Iran-Iraq War party that distrusted and misunderstood the army. On the side of Iran, army was under control of Ayatollah Khomein, who was a religious fanatic. These two personalities on both sides took advantage of the army and involved the army in their personal differences. Military force played a crucial role in the outbreak of the war from both sides. For instance, Baathist planned their military campaign, and they had a positive attitude on themselves. According to Iraqs, they referred Iranians as one who lacked cohesive leadership, and who lacked spare parts for America- made equipment. Baghdad on the other side possessed well equipped and trained forces, which made their morale run high against Irans armed forces including revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) troops, who were led by the religious mullahs with inadequate military experience; the Iraqis could muster twelve complete mechanized divisions equipped with latest soviet materials. By the late 1970s, the Iraqs had assembled an army of 190,000 men, 450 aircraft and 2,200 tanks (Hogendoorn 2008). The relationship between Iran and Iraq deteriorated in April 1980; when Iranian supported Ad Dawah attempt to assassinate Iraqi, foreign minister Tariq Aziz. When they failed to assassinate foreign minister they further went on and tried another attempt to assassinate the minister of culture and information, Latif Nayyif jasim. In reaction, the Iraqis immediately rounded up members and supporters of Ad Dinah and deported to Iran thousands of shias of Iranian origin. Saddam went further and ordered the execution of presumed Ad Dawah leader Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Bagr as Sadr and his sister. Robison Grant emphasized that, on 22 September 1980 Iraqi fighter jets that were used to attack nine dissimilar Iranian bases by surprise, with intention to destroy air forces for the Iranians while on the very ground. During this period or moment, there entered 6 Iraqi divisions of army and they drove around 5 miles transversely the border belonging to Iranians on 3 fronts and ended pu occupying 1000 square kilometers of Iranian territory, although this attempt did not succeed the Iranian jets retaliated by hitting strategically crucial targets close to paramount Iraq cities. Following this, the war broke out and went on for eight years. Both sides despite being imported high- tech fighting machines, they had inexperienced and untrained personnel to operate and repair them. As a result, they had to look for other tactics, which were effective caring less about casualties (Smart 2004). During the war, to avoid defeat Iraq hunted out every promising weapon, this included developing of self- sustaining facilities to produce militarily fundamental quantities of chemical warfare agents. This presented a solution to the masses of evenly armed Basif and Posdoran. These weapons were singularly successful when used on troop meeting areas and supporting artillery. When carrying out distasteful operations, Iraq routinely supported the attacks with deep fires and incorporated chemical fires on forward defenses, artillery positions, command posts, and logical facilities (Maritson 1984, 141). During this war, Iraq developed the ability to produce, store, and use chemical weapons. These weapons included G-series blister and H-series agents. These weapons were built on various offensive munitions which include aerial bombs, rockets, war heads and artillery shells on the Al Hussein Scud missile variant. During the war, Iraqi fighters attacked Iran by dropping mustard-filled 500 kilogram and tabun-filled 250 kilogram, it is also noted that, they also installed spray tank on an unknown numbers of helicopters. Iran unsuccessfully tried to attack the osirak reactor on September 30, 1980 that belonged to Iraq. In response to Iranian missile attack against Baghdad, Iraqi fired 190 missiles against Iranian cities for a period of six weeks (Iraqi Scientist Reports on German 2003). The Iraqi air force, which consisted of about 28,000 troops, had a back from soviet and French aircraft. The air force was divided into squadrons of light bombers, interceptors, fighter, transports, and helicopters. Despite these heavy munitions, the Iraq did not have appropriate measures to utilize these munitions to their maximum. For instance, most attack squadrons and all the bomber squadrons had been retained to protect the palace. Also, they had inadequate training, especially pilots, and they received inadequate training in Soviet Union. Iraqis lacked both target analysis and reconnaissance capabilities. They also lacked a viable command and to manage system for either close air hold up or on an integrated air defense (Grant 2003). On the side of Iran, its air force was backed by United States, where they received their training and assistance. For instance, they were provided by number of air crafts which included, 166 f-5Es, 188 F-4D/Es and 77 F-14s. Iranians had only about 77 air craft dedicated to the mission, unlike the Iraqis who had 115 air craft defense. Iranians had fourteen dedicated reconnaissance aircraft, the Iranians enjoyed the fact that their aircraft had advanced avionics, and could carry smart bombs, and they had trained pilots to fly them. Also, Iranian took advantage of being near the border, based on that the Iranians would have an easier time to reach their targets, Stephen R. Shalom, The United States and Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988 Iran Chamber Society 1,2 (n.d). In conclusion, chemical warfare of Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1981, was largely fueled by internal factors. It is notable that, even though there were external influence, super powers such as Soviet Union and United state, they provided weapons which did not help too much. Case in point is in Iraq where they did not have the skills to use the weapons, thus creating more problems than it solved. It is due to this they had to look for other ways to apply, hence introduction of chemical warfare. Therefore, Iraq and Iran played a significant role in the rise and facilitated the war for eight years.

QUIZ Use This Chart to Determine Your Stress Level

QUIZ Use This Chart to Determine Your Stress Level Stress is unavoidable. We all have forces pulling at us from all directions: family, friends, work, pets, health, hobbies, you name it. But if your stress levels bubble up so high that they’re taking over your life, all day every day, you have a problem. When your health and general demeanor start taking a beating and can’t get back up again because of the pressures you feel, it’s time to make a change. Take the quiz below, found via Lifehacker, to determine just how big a part stress plays in your life, and what you should do about it.