Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Essay Example for Free

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Essay Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board: Hedging Foreign Currency Exposure Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board: Hedging Foreign Currency Exposure Issue Identification The Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan (OTPP) is a defined contribution plan that was created in 1917 to provide and administer a pension plan for Ontario school teachers. Sponsored by the Ontario Government and the Ontario Teacher’s Federation, the plan currently supports 343,000 teachers, former teachers and pensioners. The recent government decision to eliminate the 30% constraint on foreign investments and the increased volatility in the currency market has prompted the OTPP Investment Committee to address the following: 1. Whether to continue the International Equity Swap Program 2. Whether to administer changes to the Foreign Exchange Hedging Policy Goals and Objectives In order to come to a decision, it is necessary that any solution put forth must align with the goals and objectives of the fund. OTPP is a long-term fund determined to minimize risk, costs and the additional contributions required to fund the plan while maximizing its returns. OTPP Investment Strategy In the early 1990’s the OTPP board realized that it was essential to begin investing abroad to diversify risk and to capitalize on international opportunities to achieve greater returns, given the size of the fund. However, it was not until 1996 that the Foreign Exchange Hedge Program (FX Hedge Program) was implemented in response to a significant rise in currency exposure. As the fund faced increased foreign currency risk, risk management became essential and thus, a hedging policy of 50% of its foreign currency exposure was introduced. Due to the fact that OTPP has a continual commitment in supporting its pensioners, it must expose itself to limited risk and effectively hedge against any unexpected changes in its investments. Hence, a conservative policy of hedging 50% of foreign exchange exposure was enforced. Additionally, the International Equity Swap Program (IE Swap Program) was implemented as a solution to the government restriction of 30% ownership of foreign investments. Since most assets were tied up in non-marketable Ontario Debentures, a swap program enabled OTPP to reallocate its assets. OTPP Performance Evaluation The strategic decision to diversify beyond Canada and into global markets has proved to be beneficial to the OTPP investment portfolio. It has contributed substantial value to the fund over the 10 year period (1995-2005) by reducing potential losses, since five of the six foreign currencies appreciated against the Canadian dollar. For the past 15 years, OTPP investments have also consistently outperformed the benchmark rate of returns, generating a 10-year average rate of return of 11. 4% and a gross return of $15. billion over benchmark returns. Despite the portfolio’s negative rate of returns in 2001-2002, it has still produced considerable investment growth in relation to the benchmark, demonstrating the strength of OTPP’s investment policies in risk management. However, since interest rates have declined by approximately 3% (1990-2004), the value of the pension fund has increased. This has resulted in larger amount of payments made to pen sioners. Additionally, the demographics of the OTPP plan membership have changed significantly over the past 30 years. The ratio of active members per retiree has decreased from 10:1 in the 1970s to the present ratio of 1. 6:1. Moreover, the expected years retirees rely on the pension have also increased to 29 years. All these factors have exerted a great deal of pressure on the pension plan to sustain its funding with contributions from fewer working teachers. With the foreign currency market being increasingly volatile, OTPP is concerned regarding its future ability to support pension payments. Decision Criteria The Investment Committee must consider the following criteria when deciding whether to implement changes to the International Equity Swap Program and Foreign Exchange Hedging Policy: the fund’s exposure to foreign exchange risk, transaction costs, and an alignment of goals and objectives of the fund. Alternative: Although OTPP has performed well in the past, the future outlook of the pension plan remains uncertain. Therefore, OTPP has four alternatives to the future direction of the fund. OTPP can continue or discontinue the IE Swap Program and maintain or revise the current 50% FX Hedge Policy. Continue/Discontinue the Swap Program Previously, the swap program was used as a means to bypass the government restriction on foreign investment. With the regulation being lifted, OTPP has to now evaluate whether the swap program remains necessary. The program has allowed OTPP to reallocate their assets cost-effectively as it eliminates OTPP’s cost of transacting directly in foreign exchange market. Moreover, since OTPP does not gain ownership of the securities, it has reduced the amount of cash required and limited its risk by transferring the risk to counter-parties (UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, etc. ).

Temperature On The Growth And Survival Of Bacteria Biology Essay

Temperature On The Growth And Survival Of Bacteria Biology Essay Abstract: The aim of this experiment was to asses the growth and survival of 5 bacteria. The method involved placing each of the bacteria in water baths of various temperatures for certain periods of time, taking them out and placing them in their optimum temperatures and monitoring their growth/survival rate over the course of the week. The results obtained showed that how well the bacteria grew after they had been placed in their optimum temperatures and left for a week. From this it was concluded what the temperature class of each bacteria was. Introduction: The objective of the experiment was to look at the growth and survival rate of 5 bacteria namely, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Escherichia coli, commonly referred to as E.coli is a gram negative bacterium which is rod shaped. It is usually found in the large intestine of warm blooded animals. It is also found in foods and water. It is a facultative aerobe meaning that O2 is not necessarily required for growth but is preferred for better growth thus it is able to metabolise both aerobic and anaerobically. Every microorganism has a minimal, optimal and maximal temperature. These are known as cardinal temperatures and they tell us a lot about the nature of a microorganism. A mesophile is an organism which grows at its best in medium temperature conditions. A psychrophile on the other hand is an organism which is capable of growing in extremely cold temperatures. Thermophiles are virtually the opposite of psychrophiles. Theyre organisms which are capable of growing and reproducing the hot environments. The term thermophile means that it is heat loving or heat tolerant. The temperature and pH are good indicators of the environment E.coli can be found. The fact that it has a ph of 6-7 means that it is found in mildly acidic to neutral places which explains why it is in the large intestine of mammals. The bacteria manage to survive in these various environments due to their adaptive metabolism. (Madigan, Martinko, Dunlap and Clark, 2008). Enterococcus faecalis (E.faecalis) is a gram positive and is naturally occurring in the intestine of mammals, the soil, in plants and in water. The presence of E.faecalis and E.coli in the water is usually an indication that the water has been contaminated. It is found in similar habitats to E.coli. Bacillus stearothermophilus (B.stearothermophilus) is also a rod shaped gram positive organism it is usually found in hot springs and the soil. Pseudomonas fluorescens (P.fluorescens) is a gram negative rod shaped bacterium. It is usually found in cooler environments such as water. It is an obligate aerobe which means that it cannot grow in the absence of oxygen. Bacillus subtilis (B.subtilis) is also a rod shaped gram positive bacterium which is mainly found in the soil. It too is an obligate aerobe (Brooker, Widmaier, Graham and stilling, 2007). Method: Please refer to the schedule for this. Results: Below are the tabulated results that were obtained from the experiment. Table 1 shows the effect of inoculating the bacteria at different temperatures had on their growth rate. Table 2 shows the results of exposing the bacteria to extreme heat conditions on their survival rate. Temp (Â °C) 25 37 42 55 E.coli +++ +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ ++ ++ E.farcalis +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ + B.subtilis ++ +++ ++ ++ +++ +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ +++ P.flourescence ++ +++ +++ ++ ++ ++ B.steaothermophilus + + + ++ + ++ +++ + The table above shows how well the bacteria grew at different temperatures. Really strong growth is represented by +++, medium by ++, slow growth by + and no growth by -. Looking at E.coli for example it is clear that it only grows well in the region of 25-42Â °C anything beyond this showed absolutely no growth occurring. Time (minutes) E.coli Temp (Â °C) 0 2 5 30 90 40 Y, N, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y 60 Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y N, N, N N, N, N 80 N, Y, Y N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N 100 N, N, Y N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N B.subtilis 40 Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y 60 Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y 80 Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y 100 Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, Y Y, NTable 2: The effect of heat on survival of bacteria. Key: Y= growth present N= no growth E.faecalis 40 Y Y Y Y Y 60 Y Y Y Y N 80 Y Y Y N N 100 Y Y Y N N B.stearothermophilus 40 Y, N Y, N Y, N N, N N,N 60 Y, N N, N N, N N, N N, N 80 N, N N, N N, N N, N N, N 100 N, N N, N N, N N, N N, N P. fluorescens 40 Y, N, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y 60 Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y Y, Y, Y N, N, N N, N, N 80 N,Y, Y N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N 100 N,Y,N N, N, N N, N, N N, N, N N, N, NDiscussion: With the information that is in table 1 the nature of each bacterium can be established. E.coli showed exceptionally strong growth in the range of 25 to 42Â °C. These results are perfectly in line with the characteristics of a mesophile as such it is safe to assume that E.coli is a mesophile. This also explains why it is found in the human intestine. The core temperature of the human body is 36.8Â °C Â ± 0.7 which according to the literature is the optimal temperature of E.coli. The same thing goes for E.faecalis. It too is a mesophile and one of the locations where it is found is also the gastrointestinal tract. The information in table 1 coupled with the fact that it is found in the same location as E.coli means that it too has the same optimal temperature as E.coli. B.subtilis grew throughout all the temperature ranges but grew the best in 55Â °C. It was however strange to see it grow in the areas of 25-37Â °C as it is by nature a Thermophile. The minimum temperature that is required for thermophiles to grow is approximately 42Â °C. B.stearothermophilus on the other hand showed a classic example of a thermophillic bacterium. It grew best at 55Â °C. The last bacterium in table 1 was P. Fluorescens. It grew well at 25Â °C but seemed to be decreasing quiet substantially at 37Â °C. The information on the table did not quiet fit in with the characteristics which are exerted by mesophiles. Mesophiles usually grow best at around 30-40Â °C however P.fluorescens optimal temperature was around 25Â °C which meant that it could not be a psychrophile. It did however fit the characteristics of a psychrotroph. Psychrotrophs are organism which grow at 0Â °C i.e. similar to psychrophiles but, usually have an optimum temperature of 25Â °C whereas psychr ophiles have and optimum temperature of 10-12Â °C (www1). Table 2 showed the effects of exposing the bacteria to high temperatures had on their survival. Temperature is most likely the most important factor that contributes to the growth and survival of the bacteria. From the literature it can be gathered depending on the organism, exposing it to very high temperatures will kill it. In the case of E.coli this is the case. It managed to stay alive at 40Â °C for 90minutes. This is understandable as this is below its maximal temperature. Once it had been placed into higher temperatures for a long enough duration, it died off. This was not the case for B.subtilis. It proved to be growing throughout all temperature ranges for the full 90 minutes of the experiment. The fact that it managed to survive at temperatures as high as 100Â °C implies that it may be a hyperthermophile (Madigan, Martinko, Dunlap and Clark, 2008). P. fluorescens also died off after being exposed to increased temperatures for some time. At 30 and 90 minutes, all of people who were doing the experiment reported that there were no bacteria alive at 60Â °C. At 2 minutes into the experiment at 80 and 100Â °C none of the bacteria were alive. Most of the results obtained from the experiment seemed to be in line with the information found in the literature some werent for example E.faecalis was still alive in almost all of the higher temperature ranges when clearly it shouldnt have been as it was is a mesophile and shouldnt grow after around 46Â °C. B.stearothermophilus, a thermophile was not growing in temperature ranges where it should have been. These mistakes may have been due to applied correct aseptic techniques while inoculating properly. In order to eliminate such errors the experiment could be run 2 to 3 times.

Domestic Violence :: Family Violence

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Domestic violence include sex abuse and intentionally or unintentionally use of physical force such as slapping, hitting and causing other injuries to your partner, children, friends, etc. A psychologist and law school professor, Mary Ann Dutton, who is an expert in domestic violence described it as "a pattern of behavior in which one intimate partner uses physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation and emotional, sexual or economic abuse to control and change the behavior of the other partner." (Taken from an article in www.womenslaw.org, by Valerie Despres)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These are actions considered as domestic violence:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE is a pattern of abusive behavior which keeps one partner in a position of power over the other partner through the use of fear, intimidation and control. PHYSICAL ABUSE: Grabbing, pinching, shoving, slapping, hitting, hair pulling, biting, etc. Denying medical care or forcing alcohol and/or drug use. SEXUAL ABUSE: Coercing or attempting to coerce any sexual contact without consent, e.g., marital rape, forcing sex after physical beating, attacks on sexual parts of the body or treating another in a sexually demeaning manner. ECONOMIC ABUSE: Making or attempting to make a person financially dependent, e.g., maintaining total control over financial resources, withholding access to money, forbidding attendance at school or employment. EMOTIONAL ABUSE: Undermining a person's sense of self-worth, e.g., constant criticism, belittling one's abilities, name calling, damaging a partner's relationship with the children. PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE: Causing fear by intimidation, threatening physical harm to self, partner or children, destruction of pets and property, mind games or forcing isolation from friends, family, school and/or work. (Source from womenslaw.org) What are the causes of domestic violence? There are many factors that lead people to use violence. They use violence when they are stressed, angry, feeling hatred, drink too much alcohol, use drug. Children are more likely to grow up as violent men if they are influenced by their parents, brothers, sisters and friends, all of whom use violence. Culture plays an important role in domestic violence. For example in Asian culture or Asian American, parents usually hit their children when the children make mistakes or do not obey the parents’ orders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Men are much more likely to use violence than women. In the USA, women are the victims of violence at rate of 5 times more than men. â€Å"About 95% of victims of domestic violence are women. Over 50% of all women will experience physical violence in an intimate relationship, and for 24-30% of those women, the battering will be regular and on-going.

Times Oldest Debate :: essays research papers fc

Time's Oldest Debate Raffikki Period 2 According to recent studies, planet earth formed approximately four and a half billion years ago. Since then, the earth has undergone many evolutionary changes. Earth began as a swirling gas which condensed to create an immense land mass. The ancient earth was basically the same as today's earth except for the environment. The atmosphere of the ancient earth was quite different, containing more carbon and nitrogen gases than oxygen. The former atmosphere is where much of present day organic molecules such as proteins, lipids, and enzymes were created in abundance. By chance or simply because of the laws of nature, those life producing compounds bonded together to create the oldest known life form on earth -- a bacterium. Other life forms evolved from the bacterium through natural selection. These microscopic organisms formed symbiotic relationships with each other and produced larger, multicellular organisms, such as man. It may seem like a gigantic leap, bacterium to man, but given billions of years, it is certainly possible. It is true that The Bible holds certain truths which would imply a reliable source of information; however, some parts of The Bible are not true at all. According to science, life evolved in the following order: bacterium to fish, fish to various land animals, and animals to man. Coincidentally or divinely, The Bible states that God said, "Let the waters teem with fish and other life...let the earth bring forth every kind of animal...Let us make man" (Genesis 1:20-26). The Bible accurately depicts the order in which life was established. But how could the primitive people who wrote The Bible know the order of which life was created without science to aid them? This evidence would stand to prove that The Bible truly is the word of God Himself. However, evolutionists would prefer to believe that the writer of The Bible was an incredible guesser. That is because many parts of The Bible seem to be written based on conjectures of what people of the time thought was correct. An example of this would be from Genesis, "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night" (Genesis 1:16). Obviously the greater light is the sun and the lesser light is the moon; however, the moon is not a light, it is a planet that reflects light. The people who wrote The Bible did not know that the moon was a planet; nor did they know that other planets even existed. So, they described the moon as a source of light just as the sun is a source of light.

Andrew Llyod Webber BIO :: essays research papers

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born on March 22, 1948 to William & Jean Lloyd Webber. Even at a young age, Andrew loved to make his own music. Andrew also had a great interest in inspecting ancient monuments around England. It and history were what many thought he would choose to do for a career. However, his Aunt Vi introduced him to the theatre, and under her advice started writing music of his own. In 1956, Andrew went to Westminster and started composing music for the school's plays. In 1962, Andrew won a Challenge Scholarship that reduced his tuition at Westminster. Andrew won another scholarship in 1964 to transfer to Oxford. Tim Rice and Andrew met in 1965 and consequently, Andrew dropped out of Oxford to pursue music with Tim. The first musical Andrew wrote (The Likes of Us) was a failure, but soon afterwards Joseph was created. The first showing was at Colette Court in 1968. Jesus Christ Superstar came next. In 1971, Andrew married Sarah Jane Hugill. Andrew and Alan Ayckbourn, in 1975, started work on a new musical, Jeeves. Jeeves was not a success and Andrew went back to Tim. Together they wrote Evita in late 1975. The next musical, was Cats. It was an incredible hit and beat A Chorus Line for longest running musical and highest grossing musical! Cats made Andrew rich and famous and ready to start a musical about trains. Starlight Express was created in 1984, the most expensive musical created up to that point. The same year, Andrew divorced Sarah Hugill and married Sarah Brightman. Andrew's next work was Requiem. It isn't a musical, but serious music for a Mass. Sarah Brightman sang the female soprano part. Andrew's next work, Phantom of the Opera also included Sarah. One of Andrew's most famous works, Phantom was created in 1986. Aspects of Love, Andrew's next venture, opened in 1989. Its intimate setting and songs were critically praised. In 1991, Andrew and Sarah decided to call it quits and on February 15, 1991, Andrew got married yet again to Madeleine Gurdon.

Introduction to Ice cream business Essay

â€Å"l scream for Ice cream! † is a popular expression widely known and used throughout all ages professing their undeniably strong love for ice cream. Who doesn’t love ice cream? Kids, being kids, love sweet treats from cakes, chocolates, brownies but most popular among all is ice cream. The cold and sweet combination of this treat makes all child tantrums go away. Adults as well see ice cream as a reward and sweet comfort food taken every once in a while to quench their sweet cravings. As our generation today becomes more health conscious, ice cream has been one of he hot picks for criticisms due to its high calorie and sugar contents. This poses so many issues for adults, especially those who belong to the diabetic group. And as these issues have started to arise, ice cream businesses have strived to fit and suit the needs of the customers along with their sweet wants. Fat-free and sugar-free ice creams and yogurts have been in the trend to provide the sweet cravings without endangering the consumer’s health. Fit Cream is an Ice Cream business that caters to the health specifications of consumers. Adapting to the market that caters to the concerns of the customers with heir health, Fit cream wishes to provide delicious and healthy ice cream in a very affordable price. This will help the self-conscious customers to enjoy their sweet cravings and at the same time watch their health. Parents who are constantly trying to come up with inventive ways of persuading their children to eat vegetables probably have not tried disguising them in ice cream. Through this, the kids will be eating healthier and maybe starting these vegetable ice cream products as a stepping stone to taking the actual vegetable soon. The mix of healthy and sweet will surely attract the attention of people of all ages.

Morality of war in Afghanistan and Iraq Essay

The war in Afghanistan and Iraq are referred by President Bush as wars against terror. They came as a result of the events that happened in the land of America in September 11th 2007. During this time America was attacked by terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center and Washington’s defense unit; the pentagon. These two attacks led to the loss of about 3000 lives. Immediately the US president declared war on Afghanistan which was said to harbor the world’s terrorist Osama bin Laden who masterminded the attacks. Later, he also attacked Iraq after Saddam Hussein said that he also happy to learn that America was attacked though he was not responsible. When both nations were attacked by USA in the name of war against terror, they retaliated. Now the question of morality comes in, who had a right to fight back, is it USA or the so called terrorists? It is this question of morality that will be my main focus on this paper. On 11th September 2001, America was hit by what seemed to be a well coordinated terrorist attack. There were about 19 terrorists who worked in groups of 4 or 5 to execute their plans. They used American jetliners as bombs to hit their two targets that is, the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon which is the USA’s military headquarters at Arlington, Virginia. The other plane which was also hijacked failed to hit its target after the passengers realized what was going on and fought back. It crashed somewhere in rural fields of Pennsylvania. All these acts showed every traits of terrorism. And the 19 men who were involved were Arabs who came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab countries. They were all linked to the al-Qaeda network which is an Islamic group headed by Osama bin laden. This organization is dedicated to wage war against USA and their main targets include financial, political and military section. It has never witnessed such deaths since the civil war ended. This is why Bush found it morally right to protect and to fight for he thought it wise to stand up to their bullies. The al-Qaeda network started when Osama bin laden offered himself to support Afghanistan in 1980’s against the occupation by the Union of Soviet Socialist State (USSR). He financed the anti-soviet resistance. After he succeeded in chasing the Soviet out, Osama devoted himself to fight for Muslims in other regions in the world. He was especially angered by the stationing of USA military in Saudi Arabia and the idea of United States for supporting Israel against Palestine in the Arab- Israel war. Osama is an extremist who believed that no US citizen should step in the Muslim land and is totally opposed to the Western influences. Osama bin laden is not an Afghanistan citizen. Afghanistan as an independent nation and it had its every right to fight back USA. Any independent nation should be able to protect its citizens against any external aggression. So, this is one of these obligations that Iraq and Afghanistan were meeting (Press release. 2007 Sept 27) Again, Afghanistan had every right to fight USA back in support of Osama bin laden- the said master minder. This is because a friend in deed is a friend in need. Osama and his al-Qaeda, network saved them from external aggression by the USSR. Now it was their turn to help him. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. By not fighting back was not only a sign of cowardice but also being ungrateful. The Taliban regime depended on Osama’s wealth. He helped to organize and equip all military training camps USA should have used diplomatic strategies to arrest Osama bin laden and bring an end to the operations of the al-Qaeda. According to Martin Luther King junior, you do not pay evil with evil, it will escalate to a very terrible thing. There was no way the attacked nations could have remained quiet. Yes war is not the answer and should be the last option but cannot face your enemy who is armed with open arms. For this reason, I don’t see anything unusual or bad with Iraq and Afghanistan retaliating. Therefore, they were justified to fight back. To the affected Arab nations, the September 11th, 2001 attacks if anything, was a revenge of harms done by USA to the Arab states. USA has been against the Arabs since the Israel Palestine conflict. The US government thought that it must teach these deviant nations a lesson by attacking them. They knew that US is superior to them but they had slow down its move. They were aware that that if you give your enemy an inch, they will take a mile so by fighting back, they were only reducing further military interventions. According to the Muslims (Scott D. M. , 2005) staging a holy war is not morally wrong. Muslims do value holy war or what is called Jihad. To Muslims jihad war should be directed to a visible enemy, against devil inducements and on one’s self aspects. So, by Afghanistan and Iraq fighting back, they were only fulfilling the teachings of Koran. According to them, America fits the description of a foe and it should be shunned from entering in any of the Muslim territories. According to Saddam, it was alright to fight your foe. He was a very strong supporter of this course. In one of his speech that was read by the Information Minister Saeed Al sahaf he said, â€Å"O great warrior nation, O sons our great nation men of arms who uphold the honor of resistance, God’s peace be upon you as you face the aggressors the enemies of God and humanity the passing infidels, with chests filled with faith and love for God. † In his speech he argued people to fight against their enemy, â€Å"The aggressors will flee from what is right and be damned along with their devils. Faith and honor will brighten the faces of Mujahedden (holy fighters), men and women. † He said. Saddam Hussein justified the course he took of fighting Americans and Persians. He died cursing both of them. Before he died he argued all Muslims from all over world to unite and fight their common enemy. By fighting Americans they are only acting according to the Koran’s teachings. After the September 11 attack (Press release. 2007 Sept 27)Saddam was heard saying that the act was heroic though he was not responsible there was no indication that Iraq was responsible for the attack Saddam Hussein celebrated the attacks on USA just a few days after the attack. He said that the attacks were the fruits of the crimes they had committed against humanity. There was no evidence pointing Iraq to the attack so, there was no way they could have allowed USA to attack them. Any move to punish them was resisted by fighting back. America attacked Iraq on allegations that it was involved in the 2001 September 11 attack. What I think prompted US to act against Iraq is the Saddam’s speech after the attack. It should be known that everybody should feel free to express his ideas whenever he feels like. That is why there is freedom of expression. Therefore, Saddam was only exercising his freedom of speech. In Afghanistan, the US government crushed the Taliban government and put another government of their choice. This can be said to be interfering with other states affairs. Taliban was the ruling government before it was ousted by the American troops. Thus, they were fighting back to take their former leadership positions. On the other hand, I think America had all the rights to attack Afghanistan. This is because all the evidence was pointing on Afghanistan. For example in 2007 a videotape was discovered in Afghanistan. It provided insights in Osama’s thinking and ties to the attack. This video was discovered in November 2001 and was conversation between Osama bin laden and the Arab Sheik who had visited Afghanistan. In the tape Osama bin Laden could be heard saying how he premeditated the attacks. He even knew the number of people who would be victims of the attack. Also, because he is a construction engineer, he knew that the best floors to target were three or four because the fine caused by the caused by the gas on the plane would melt all the iron above it and make the while building to collapse. This was enough evidence that linked Osama bin laden, Taliban government and USA attack. Though this tape linked Afghanistan with September eleven attacks, it was not enough evidence to prove that they are the one who did that. May be the tape was recorded by people who wanted to make a name for al-Qaeda? Even before the tape was discovered, USA had already started to revenge on Afghanistan as on 7TH October 2001(Bergen P. , 2006)