Novice Tournament R2: Military aid ought to be prioritized over development assistance in Africa.

Clarification My opponent commits several fallacies in his clarification. The most egregious being that I did not provide rebuttals to his initial constructs. Because Round 2 was for initial constructive only, it would be a violation of the format set forth at the beginning of the debate for me to provide rebuttals. He also moves the goal posts from Prioritized response to correct response. He agrees with the information I provided and affirms that developmental aid is a correct response. Therefore all that is necessary is that I provide reasons for developmental aid to be Prioritized, as I clearly did during round 2. Rebuttals Corruption- Of the 182 nations profiled for transparency, Sahel nations don’t even break the 50% mark. Dealing with corruption should be addressed through the advisement of policies(developmental aid). The worst nation of corruption, Sengal is a U.S. ally in which, “U.S. assistance seeks to increase the professionalism and capacity of the Senegalese Armed Forces, as well as to support increased agricultural production, improved health care, and better basic education.[1]” The U.S. is addressing this problem with developmental assistance which should continue to be prioritized. [1] http://www.state.gov... The identification of corruption in any country does not prove the prioritization of military aid. The article that pro quotes states that resolution to the corruption is increased oversight from developed nations. [2] [2] http://csis.org... Stability- Your article proves that despite military aid, Afghanistan is still unstable. The Afghanistan war started in 2001, the article is from 2011. That’s 10 years of military aid in an unstable country. Despite what temporary setbacks there may or may not be, the road (in Afghanistan) will be a long term stabilization tool that military aid cannot accomplish. Your article says it will cost $176 million dollars. This number is paltry compared to the $6 billion wasted on the Afghanistan war considering that the country is still unstable [3]. Developmental aid needs to be prioritized because it has lasting effects that will support the long term stabilization of the countries in question. [3] http://www.afghanistanstudygroup.org... Furthermore, terrorist groups are chickens. They gain their power from the nation’s instability. They oppose developmental aid as a priority because it takes away their support base. Let’s face it, people want to have the best life possible for themselves. If education and financial stability are available, people will support it and cling to it as a whole. Terrorists have an arsenal filled with empty threats and poor values which keep their own groups unstable and incapable of taking over the nation. Saves Lives- If you are going to say that military aid prevents human rights violations, I’m going to need a definition of what Human Rights Violations(HRVs) are. I understand HRVs to include the right to personal liberty and Due Process of Law; to freedom of thought, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex; to basic education; to employment; and to property [4]. Developmental assistance is needed to provide education, employment, and property rights. Military aid must identify its target and discriminate on some basis, which would be a human rights violation. Developmental aid is needed as the priority to encourage the recruitment of child scholars through education and social stability. I have absolutely no idea how sending military aid can possibly save lives in the Sahel when people are dying from aids, malnutrition, hunger, respiratory diseases, infections, diabetes, hepatitis, cancer, and hundreds of other deaths that are associated with low economic factors. If we prioritize military aid, the economic problems still remain. There is no hope, and no jobs, and no education and people turn to their primordial basic instinct of fighting. It’s very easy to understand, based on the Afghanistan analogy that poor developmental aid is the cause of the fighting, and that continued fighting will not increase stability in the country. [4] http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com... Fundamental Problems I think it is important to point out here that Pro addresses the need for stability in the country and provides clear notation that this will not happen until people are more willing to invest in business. He also claims that human rights training should be the priority and civilian control over the army should be emphasized. The phrasing of this statement makes it clear that civilian army control is subjective to education and based on the economic stability which comes from people being willing to invest in business. This affirms that Developmental assistance should be prioritized and that military aid should be subjective to economic assistance. Hillary Clinton has no say in the matter of Military Aid to foreign countries, but let’s look at how you misrepresent your quote and to which nations her statement applies. Her quote was in reference to Arab Spring Nations (Map [5]) which are not the primary nations of the Sahal. Sahel nations included in the Arab Nations are showing only minor protests. And her call for strategic engagement is for supporting democratic transitions, not for supporting military aid [6]. [5] http://3.bp.blogspot.com... [6] http://www.dailymotion.com... Before Closing All of the aid we provide to the Sahel region must be within international law. International law restricts us from becoming arbitrarily involved in the civil wars of other countries, but it does not restrict us from giving developmental assistance to those nations.[7] Military aid would only be justifiable if we are attacked first and only for the periods that we are being attacked. Unless the U.N. Security Council approves the use of military aid, it is illegal. The only justifiable right an outside has in participating in a military style engagement would be if the individuals from the aid nation were attacked by members of the host nation. The likely cause of this would be during developmental assistance to that nation. Until the U.N. sanctions military aid, it cannot be accomplished legally and therefore Developmental assistance should be prioritized. [7] http://www.foreignaffairs.com...