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Teachers Rip UK Iraq Lessons as 'Propaganda'

School proposal ignores casualties, 'rewrites history'

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 14, 2008 8:57 AM CDT
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(Newser) – On the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, a row has erupted in Britain over a controversial school lesson plan about the conflict drawn up by the country's defense ministry. The National Union of Teachers is up in arms over the proposal and is threatening a boycott over what it calls a "propaganda" exercise. The lesson plan highlights the reconstruction effort in Iraq but makes no mention of civilian casualties, writes the Independent.

Under the plan, students would be taught that the invasion was "necessary to allow the opportunity to remove Saddam Hussein"—but the lack of a Security Council resolution is not discussed. It also reiterates the now-debunked claim that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. The ministry of defense said the program is a "completely voluntary" lesson plan and that it offered to let an anti-war organization collaborate on the design, but it refused.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempts to help 13-year-old Natasha Varshani with her mathematics classwork during a visit to a school in London, Tuesday July 10, 2007.
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempts to help 13-year-old Natasha Varshani with her mathematics classwork during a visit to a school in London, Tuesday July 10, 2007.   (AP Photo/Dylan Martinez, pool)
Men wait to be released from an Iraqi police base in Fallujah, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 13, 2008. 53 detainees were released. (AP Photo)
Men wait to be released from an Iraqi police base in Fallujah, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 13, 2008. 53 detainees were released. (AP Photo)   (AP Photo)
Two Iraqi school girls sit outside an elementary school in Al-Shmya, 195 kilometers (120 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, March 13, 2007. Hundreds of children in Iraq are attending schools that lack even basic water or sanitation facilities, have crumbling walls, broken windows and leaking roofs, according to...
Two Iraqi school girls sit outside an elementary school in Al-Shmya, 195 kilometers (120 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, March 13, 2007. Hundreds of children in Iraq are attending schools...   (AP Photo)
Britain's newly appointed Children, Schools and Family Secretary Ed Balls, left, talks to four-year-old Karem Gadd during a visit to Fawood Children's Centre north London Friday June 29, 2007.
Britain's newly appointed Children, Schools and Family Secretary Ed Balls, left, talks to four-year-old Karem Gadd during a visit to Fawood Children's Centre north London Friday June 29, 2007.   (AP Photo/Dylan Martinez)
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More on the teachers' union protest
BBC

Propaganda allegations strike a chord
Daily Mail (UK)

 
Iraq • propaganda • United Kingdom • school • history • school lessons • teacher

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