TPAJAX: Roots of Middle-Eastern Terror

Process Paper
Senior Division Individual Website
Logan Johnson
 Today in The United States, we see Middle Eastern Violence on the news consistently. There

is a lot of anti-Americanism and its origins are seldom understood. Where did it all start? With the

National History Day topic in mind I began searching for an answer to my questions. I saw all kinds

of conflict in the Middle East since the beginning of time. I soon realized my answer wasn’t going to

be as cut and dry as hoped. Knowing this I examined my findings closer and looked for things that

stood out the most. I began looking deeper and deeper into what would become my NHD topic: An

American led Coup against the Iranian Government. This explained most everything I was seeing

on the news, and what burdened me most was Americans seemed to know nothing about it. I set to

unmasking the truth in the matter of how debate and diplomacy on all corners of the globe, would

contribute to lasting affects in history.

Formal research of the project began with the consultation of my brother (a student of

Political Science and Homeland Security) who gave me a rough background which led me to begin

extensive internet research. Scouring the National Archives, Presidential Libraries, and sifting

through thousands of documents, late into the night, further spurred my interest in the topic. Many

Primary sources were hard to come by however, as CIA had destroyed many documents associated

with the operation years earlier. When I felt confident in my understanding of the topic (basically

by studying any major document associated with my topic) I began planning how I would present

my findings.

In order to effectively illustrate the sheer “coolness” and “WOW” moments I experienced

while researching I settled on constructing a Historical Website. This would be my first website.

While I was not an expert on all the “bells and whistles” of HTML, I knew my topic and I

represented it the best I could. I felt the complexity of the subject needed a category of equal

complexity that allowed for visual representation. The process proved to provide new challenges.

It got me thinking in ways that proved useful to understand the topic further and how it related to

today.
 My Topic has many direct correlations to Debate and Diplomacy, the core of the National

History Day Theme this year. One debate led to another. This altered diplomatic actions initiated

by nations such as Iran, The U.S., Britain, and even the USSR. Diplomacy was refused in Iran and has

lasting affects today. The Communist USSR and the U.S. had plenty going on “behind the scenes”

and Britain was to be the savior of its own economic assets. With out “just” Debate and Diplomacy,

how could such situations be handled? Each side had plenty to gain and even more too loose. Was

it to come to war? How long will we live with the consequences of our previous generations

decisions?