War on Terror

Contention 1: The war on terror will never end Think about it. .. . The United States (U. S. ) is at war with terror. Not with a country, not with a specific terrorist organization, but with terror. So technically, the U. S. is at war with every single terrorist and terrorist cell around the world. Terrorism will always exist. There will always be extremists ready to commit acts of terrorism for whatever reason they may have. If the U. S. remains in this war on terror, then the war will NEVER END. Former U. S. President George W. Bush talked about the goals of the "war on terror" in a September 20, 2001 speech, in which he said it "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. " [1] So there you have it. This war will not end until EVERY terrorist around the world has been defeated. EVERY SINGLE TERRORIST. That simply is not possible for the U. S. to accomplish. This war is not beneficial for the U. S. , mainly because it will NEVER END. So we can also say that the costs of the war will be never-ending, along with casualties. Subpoint A : Cost The American economy is really struggling right now. It is being projected that the U. S. government will have a budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars. [2] That means that the U. S. government is spending 1.6 trillion dollars more than we actually have. Wondering how much a trillion dollars really is? If you went out and spent one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend a trillion dollars. [2] So yeah that's a LOT of money. How is the war on terror affecting this situation? If the fiscal year budget for 2012 is approved, the total costs will be $1.415 trillion. [3] That's right. If we were out of this war on terror, the U. S. government would have an extra 1.415 trillion dollars in their pocket. All of that money would almost completely eliminate the budget deficit the U. S. is facing. Continuing this never-ending war on terror will just result in trillions and trillions of dollars being spent, and guess what - since the war on terror will never end, the spending of trillions of dollars on this war will never end! That isn't very helpful to the U. S. economy, therefore it is definitely not beneficial for the U. S. Subpoint B: Casualties The war on terror launched by George W. Bush Jr. has led to the deaths of at least 227,000 people. [4] This includes 6,580 Americans. [5] I know that compared to other wars the U. S. has been involved in, 6,580 deaths seems like a small number. However, Americans are still dying. Americans are losing their lives in a war that has no end, and the numbers of American deaths will just keep rising and rising. These Americans would not have to die if the U. S. was not involved in this never-ending war. Contention 2: Foreign relations are not being helpedRemember the statistic where the war on terror has killed at least 227,000 people? Well, 116,657, or 51 percent, of those deaths were civilians. [4] A war where terrorists are being eliminated is one thing. Right now, over half of the people being killed in this war on terror are civilians. The U. S. has a hand in these civilian deaths. How do other countries view the U. S. when these civilians are being killed? Andrew Kohut noted that, "the ongoing conflict in Iraq continues to fuel anti-American sentiments. America’s global popularity plummeted at the start of military action in Iraq, and the U. S. presence there remains widely unpopular. " [1] The Pew Research Center conducted a survey that expresses the same results. Support for the war on terror has decreased drastically in Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia since 2002. Less than a fifth of the populations of Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey support the war. [1] Being involved in the war on terror is causing major harm to the American image. Countries around the world disapprove of the war, and they see the U. S. not as saviors of the world, but as oppressive bullies. International relations are being harmed by this war on terror, and that does not benefit the U. S. I will admit - the U. S. is fighting terrorism. Terrorists are being reduced where the U. S. is focusing their efforts. Al queda has taken a big hit since bin Laden was taken out. However, the U. S. is receiving more of a negative impact than a positive one! Yes they are fighting terrorism. The U. S. is protecting itself and other nations against acts of terrorism. That is a positive impact of this war on terror. But when will this war end? This war is a war against TERRORISM. There will always be terrorism. Right now there is 154 known terrorist groups around the world. [6] So let's say the U. S. wipes out every single terrorist in Iraq and Afghanistan. Will they move on to Ireland? The U. K. ? Israel? India? There are terrorists ALL OVER. If the actual goal of this war is to wipe out every terrorist, it will never end. And that means the costs and the casualties will never end. The war on terror will just keep on putting the U. S. trillions of more dollars in debt, while thousands and thousands of Americans and civilians will keep on losing their lives. How will other countries view the U. S. after continuing the never-ending war against terror? Support for the war has already dropped significantly in countries around the world. Support for the U. S. will continue to drop with it. The U. S. will just create more enemies while trying to eliminate enemies! That is counterproductive! These negative effects on the U. S. cannot be ignored. The U. S. is trying to rid the world of terrorists. While this is a noble cause, it has a negative impact on the U. S. that cannot be outweighed. The negative impact on the U. S. that results from this war on terror is simply too much. I look forward to my opponent stating his case. 1 - . http://en.wikipedia.org... 2 - . http://www.businessinsider.com... # 3 - . http://en.wikipedia.org... 4 - . http://owni.eu... 5 - . http://en.wikipedia.org...6 - . http://www.nationmaster.com...