Map Paper

In these modern times, when a person opens up his or her local newspaper, the views presented in that newspaper are completely different then those in other parts of the world. In other countries, the focus is on more international topics versus the local newspaper whose focus is on more local events and news. Iraq is the one who is most compared to at the present time, and one who will be compared to our country, the United States in this paper.

When I started to look at the different countries that interest me today, and what is most compared is Iraq. I opened up my local newspaper, the Denver Post, and compared the local events of the day to an online Iraqi newspaper, Ashraq Alawast. When I opened the Denver Post, I saw the front page as having more emphasis on local events such as a popular local high school that is being shut down to a lack of enrollment to members of the military at Fort Carson army base in Colorado Springs, Colorado reenlisting for another four to six years in the army. When I went to search for an English language Iraqi paper, one of the few online newspapers from that region is called the Ashraq Alawast. The Ashraq Alawast online newspaper from Iraq mostly focused on international events, from Iran wanting to break its nuclear treaty with the United Nations, to Pakistan rejecting the United States views of Al Qaeda and did not have more of a focus on Iraqi local events. The other countries that the Ashraq Alawast focused on were the United States, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

When I think of Iraq as a country, from the geography, to the social or economic structure, or how their educational system is, I think of very desolate, poor, and impoverished. I think of Iraq as having very flat land, with its share of sandstorms, wind, and oppressive, unbearable heat. When I looked at National Geographic Map Online, I was not too surprised at the map that I saw. Iraq is a country surrounded by the countries of Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Syria. When I read the Denver Post, or any local Denver news media for that matter, I am shown an Iraq where the woman have to be covered up completely and not seen except for there eye region, where United States military men and woman are being captured, kidnapped and killed for helping a country that was under a "Hitler-like" regime of Saddam Hussein. Most of the land I have seen on the local news media is shown as desert-like, with no real agricultural use at all. When I saw National Geographic maps, most of the country is considered grazing land for cattle and other livestock. Other areas, such as Baghdad are considered arable plans land, meaning that the land is good for crops and other types of use for farming.

Most of the national resources in the Middle East area are oil products and oil products. Oil products and production are one of the main reasons that the United States went and invade Iraq and overthrew the regime government that was there at the time. Oil is the vastest resource that comes out of that region of countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. When the United States invaded Iraq, gas prices were around $1.25 to $1.40 a gallon for regular unleaded, as of this present date, gases prices are around $1.20 more per gallon, with an average of $2.70 per gallon. The country of Iraq has over 1,739 kilometers or 1,080 miles of gas pipelines, 5,148 kilometers or 3,366 miles of oil pipelines and 1,343 kilometers or 834 miles of refined product pipelines. When there is any disruption or breaks in those pipelines, the economy is heavily affected, and the prices for a gallon