Resolved: Current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East undermines our national security

Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us. John F. Kennedy Because my partner and I agree with John F. Kennedy, We affirm the resolution which states Resolved: Current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East undermines our national security. To clarify this debate I will offer the following definitions 1) Undermine - to subvert or weaken insidiously or secretly (merriam-webster) 2) National security - The safeguarding of anything pertaining to the nation as a whole (us legal) 3) Middle East - "the area from Libya to Afghanistan" (Dictionary.com) Contention #3: Our current, "Leading from behind" policy, makes America look weak, and undermines or influence In a recent speech, GOP candidate Mitt Romney said that Obama"s policy in the Middle east was leading "from behind". This term has since been widely used to describe current policy, which is to let the Middle Eastern countries like Israel lead, while supporting them "from behind". When we do this, we lose two important things: credibility, and influence. Obama promised to try and end Middle Eastern conflict, and, by not taking the lead on his promise, undermining our credibility, and therefore is causing us to lose our influence in the Middle East. This also makes us look weak. to Middle Eastern countries, who want to look up to us, and most importantly, weak to terrorTsts. Ted Carpenter, senior fellow at CATO said, "Washington"s military leverage ...is less secure than it has been in many decades. Its political-diplomatic position is in jeopardy...the foundation of Washington"s policy throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia relied on partnerships with friendly autocrats. That foundation is crumbling, as one by one America"s partners lose their grip on power." In this he states that recent events and our policy is causing us to lose our "military leverage" and that our partner nations are losing their power. Returning to our comment earlier about looking weak in the eyes of others,such as terrorists, see our lack of commitment as weakness, and, makes it more likely for them to attack. This only gets worseas when we take into consideration recent drone attacks, which only adds an incentive on top of this. This weakens our national security, making attacks like 9/11 more likely. Contention #2: Our Policy is unnecessary. One may ask, "What's holding us back? What's preventing us from taking a lead?" The fact is, nothing is holding us back but Obama"s policies. In 2011 America"s tax revenue was APX 2.3Trillion dollars. (http://www.heritage.org...) Of these 2.5 Trillion dollars, we spent 711 billion on defense. (http://nationalpriorities.org...) This is higher defense spending than ANY OTHER COUNTRY. China, the 2nd biggest defense spender, spent only 143 billion dollars. With this level of annual spending there is no good reason for why we can"t take the lead in the Middle East. Contention #3: Middle East Policy is harming our economy What is, "National Security"? Earlier we defined it as the safeguarding of anything pertaining to the nation as a whole, using what Uslegal.com (A leading site in legal definition) said on it, which specifically stated economic security fell under it. Oil is a BIG part of our nation, and no one can deny that. Our policy has allowed recent events in the Middle East to happen, which has made the exportation of oil harder, and has raised our gas prices. Recently, barrels of oil rose to 85.690$ per barrel. This can be seen when one looks at our gas prices, which are at an average of $3.746(11/2/2012 Idahogasprices.com) while some may say there is more to the economy than gas prices, a LOT of the economy is affected by gas prices. When gas prices go up, the cost of shipping goes up. Grocery stores or any other store receive products are raised. Ross DeVol, chief research officer at the Milken, stated in the Atlantic Business 9/23/2012 "Escalating oil prices also feed into the economy through higher input costs for energy-intensive firms. Supply chains spread the cost throughout the economy as businesses that consume lots of oil attempt to raise their prices in an effort to maintain profit margins. For example, higher oil prices increase the production cost of fertilizers and food processing and are passed on to consumers as higher prices at the grocery store. As these cost increases ripple across multiple supply chains... Thus if there is a situation in the Middle East we will not only be affected militarily, but also economically.