The United States going into Iraq and Afghanistan, and starting the War On Terrorism

I will be debating the resolution that: "The war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the War On Terror are a complete waste of American time, money, and lives."Since Con is making these claims the burden of proof falls on him, however I am going to start the debate.Why we invaded Iraq and the subsequent War on Terror:9/11First of all everyone knows about 9/11. This is the event that launced the War on Terror and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. But why? Like my opponent points out we were attacked by "one group" but that one group was a powerful and deep rooted group that had influence and friends all over the Middle East. After 9/11 the United States had to act, you cannot take the death of 3,000 innocent lives lying down and action was demanded. So with action needed and only "one group" to attack where do you start?=====================================================================================Iraq We invaded Iraq on two premises:Weapons of Mass Destruction and Links to al-Qaedaa) WMDsThere was a strong concensus amongst Western leaders that Iraq planned to obtain or already had weapons of mass destruction at their disposal and was a sentiment shared by the US, France and Britain in the late 90's. When we invaded Iraq in 2003 there was no evidence of nuclear weapons which caused everyone to believe that there were no WMDs whatsoever but this is not the case. Since 2003 over 500 chemical WMDs were discovered in Iraq bolstering the claims that Iraq had a dangerous weapons arsenal. [1] There was also the Iraq-Niger scandal where a bunch of confusing documents were coming out of Niger pertaining to potential uranium sales to Iraq during the time. [2] With the discovery of chemical weapons and the potential for nuclear weapons the United States invaded Iraq in order to prevent them from passing these weapons on to terrorist groups that wished to harm the United States.In a time when the US had just been attacked these fears and claims were legitiment. b) Links to al-QaedaIraq had allegedly been supporting and or linked to al-Qaeda and in order to stop terrorism from spreading through out the region and in the interest and defense of the United States we invaded in order to disrupt the terrorist networks that were running strongly in the region at the time. The Iraq - al-Qaeda was later uncovered in Guantanamo Bay when an Iraqi intelligence official was discovered to have ties that led all the way to Osama bin Laden. [3]So with fears of WMDs falling into terrorist hands and a proven connection between Iraq and the terrorist group (that "one group" that attacked us) we moved in in order to establish a base to continue to our hunt for al-Qaeda. Also, we disposed of Sadam Hussain, a classic Middle Eastern dictator. President Obama has supported the newly born Arab Spring which has ties back to our disposing of Sadam. If we can say that this set off the recent Arab Spring then it just one good thing that came out of this war that renders the resolution false. =====================================================================================AfghanistanThis one is simple, Afghanistan was essentially a terrorist state run by the Taliban, a group who was openly against the United States and was supporting and training terrorists to fight the United States and was also hiding Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11. In order to coninue the fight against terrorism and to continue to hunt down al-Qaeda, that one group again, we moved into Afghanistan to hunt the enemies of the United States.=====================================================================================The War on Terror: A SuccessThe United States essentially destroyed the terrorist movement in the Middle East which was the goal of the war in order to secure a long lasting defense of the United States. We had killed or capture over 5000 terrorist soldiers by 2006 [4] a major blow to forces who would do ill to the United States. al-Qaeda has been virtually destroyed from the ground up. Their entire chain of command has been eliminated making them a non-threat to the United States furthur securing peace and defense. [5] al-Qaeda is having trouble recruiting Muslim youth for their terror plots. [6] This shows how the US has crushed the terrorism movement so far as to destroy the will of those who wished to commit acts of terror. Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces. [7] He was the head of al-Qaeda, that one group who attacked us on 9/11. =====================================================================================Benefits and Successes of the War on Terror and Invasion of Iraq-Afghanistan:- Sadam Hussain removed from power- Arab Spring inspired by US introduced freedom to the Middle East - The Taliban curbed in Afghanistan, freedom promoted- Iraq holds free democratic elections [8]- Afghanistan holds free democratic elections [9] - Terrorism movement crushed- al-Qaeda destroyed and is no longer a threat to the US- Osama bin Laden killed - No successful terrorist attacks on the United States since 9/11As you can see the War on Terror has done good, achieved goals and established freedom for two nations overseas while protecting American soil at home. These events were in no way shape or form a waste of time, effort, money or lives. * Note: saying that soldiers who volunteered their lives for the United States, and made the ultimate sacrifice in order to secure peace and safety for you and me, was a waste is disgustingly insulting. The resolution is undeniably false. [1] http://www.foxnews.com...[2] http://www.slate.com...[3] http://www.weeklystandard.com...[4] http://abcnews.go.com...[5] http://www.huffingtonpost.com...[6] http://www.thefrontierpost.com...[7] http://www.boston.com...[8] http://topics.nytimes.com...[9] http://www.washingtonpost.com...