This week Frontline is airing a two part series called Bush’s War about the War in Iraq. Regardless of where you stand politically, the Frontline website has some good resources for Social Studies teachers. One of the aspects of the Frontline website is the annotated video timeline of US and Iraq relations. The timeline span begins in the 1980’s and continues through today. Along the timeline Frontline has inserted 175 videos related to US/ Iraq relations. Frontline has also posted on their website a list of news articles and editorials related to the War in Iraq. The readings are sorted into categories roughly matching the sequence of the documentary.

Applications for Educators
Frontline’s documentary, Bush’s War, in and of itself is a good resource for social studies teachers. The various features of the accompanying website are excellent resources for Social Studies teachers. The video timeline is good way to for students to explore the ins and outs of the War in Iraq. A teacher could break a class into groups to study in depth one year on the timeline through videos and readings. Then the class could collaborate to make a timeline in their own words highlighting what they think is most important. (I did something like this last year where I had my high school students create a presentation about the War in Iraq that they could share with elementary school students).

Here is the video introduction to Frontline’s documentary Bush’s War.