Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Middle East History Quiz

I was motivated this afternoon by a lecture given by Bob Blincoe, head of the Frontiers mission organization. I had the feeling that I wasn't worthy to be in the presence of such an apostolic man of God. I was informed and inspired (and I laughed, which made it all worth it- Bob cracked me up). I wanted to get on a plane and go to a hostile place to tell people about Jesus (with a smile of course)

Let me share some of what I learned. I decided to do it in the form of a quiz. That way you can see if you are as ignorant as I was 4 hours ago...

1. Where did the Kurds flee after Saddam Hussein systematically wiped out Kurdish neighborhoods in the early 1990's?
A. the mountains
B. Baghdad
C. their basements
D. Syria

2. What did the U.S. military do to lure them out of the place they had fled?
A. built a big bonfire
B. set up a tent city for 25,000 people
C. shined a spotlight in the sky
D. Fireworks to show victory

3. Who (wrongfully) took credit for the successful relocation of hundreds of thousands of Kurds to their homeland by American troops?
A. England
B. Germany
C. The U.N.
D. Russia

4. True or False. The Kurdish Gov't is hostile to Christians.

5. T or F. The Kurds consider themselves Iraqis.

6. Baghdad was founded in...
A. 2000 BC
B. 352 AD
C. 762 AD
D. 1902 AD

7. Baghdad was destroyed in
A. 480 AD
B. 1258 AD
C. 1972 AD
D. 1980 AD

8. 1919 marked the end of...
A. British rule in Iraq
B. German control of the Middle East
C. The Ottoman Empire
D. The rule of Saud in the Middle East

9. True or False. Gertrude Bell made up the modern boundary lines in the Middle East following WWI.

10. What nation exerted their authority in the Middle East following WWI, by installing Ali to rule Arabia, Abdullah to rule Jordan, and Faisel to rule Syria/Iraq?
A. Brits
B. Germans
C. Americans
D. French

11. T or F. The current king of Jordan speaks more English than Arabic.

12. King Faisel of Syria/Iraq, who ruled in the early-mid 20th century, made the statement
A. "You have given me a country that does not really exist."
B. "These people will be able to survive better as a democracy than as individual tribes working against each other."

13. Lt. Col. John Nagle said recently that we forgot all the lessons learned...
A. 2500 years ago by the Jews living in Babylon
B. 60 years ago by American troops who preceded our military.

14. Iraq and Iran fought from
A. 1976-1984
B. 1978-1984
C. 1980-1988

15. T or F. The Brits came to Iraq's rescue to finally overcome Iran.

16. The U.S. sent a special envoy to take Iraq off of the list of nations favoring terrorism and human rights violations. The leader of the envoy went to personally shake hands with Saddam and assure Saddam of our support. That special envoy of Reagan was led by...
A. Madeleine Albright
B. James Baker
C. Henry Kissinger
D. Donald Rumsfeld

17. T or F. Saddam received the permission of the U.S. to invade Kuwait.

18. Saddam invaded Iraq on August 2nd,
A. 1989
B. 1990
C. 1991
D. 1992

19. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad employs 1,000 U.S. employees. How many of them speak Arabic?
A. 2
B. 5
C. 88
D. 680

20. The Gospel is spreading ______ among the Kurds.
A. Slowly
B. Rapidly

21. T or F. Northern Iraq is a dangerous place to live.

Answers:
1. A 2. B 3. C (America singlehandedly did all the work) 4. F (They protect minority rights) 5. F 6. C 7. B (by Genghis Khan's grandson Molugu Khan) 8. C 9. T (This might've been the most profound insight- the boundaries are synthetic, not historic. Therefore, we're trying to defend and unify a country that has will never have unity- that comes from tribes, not boundaries made by a westerner 90 years ago) 10. A 11. T 12. A 13. B 14. C 15. F (America) 16. D 17. T (After Saddam asked about a possible Kuwait invasion, US Ambassador said, "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflict" 18. B 19. B 20. B (God is doing great things there, and the hate of Islam that almost wiped them out has made them more open) 21. F

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