34. The United States should adopt a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. In today's case, I will prove the resolution, The United States should adopt a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, true behind any reasonable doubt. The judges for this debate are Luke Cumbee, Dorian Walker, and Matt McGirr. This debate may be forfeited by myself, as I leave for camp on the day that PFG gets back from vacation, Sunday. Let's start off this debate with key definitions, all from dictionary.com: SHOULD- must; ought to ADOPT- to choose or take as one's own; make one's own by selection or assent (In this case, to use a timetable by the United States) TIMETABLE- any schedule or plan designating the times at or within which certain things occur or are scheduled to occur WITHDRAWL- (Noun form of WITHDRAW-) to draw back, away, or aside; take back; remove (In simpler terms, it means to remove U.S. troops from Iraq.) I will now move onto my contentions and show you why the United States should adopt a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. CONTENTION I: The cost. Ah yes, the state of the economy right now. Most all economists agree that the United States is indeed in a recession. Some fear worse than a recession, a possible depression. Reasons for this could be the collapse of the housing market and rising oil prices. However, one major factor often is overlooked, that is, the War in Iraq. The War has cost the U.S. over $500 Billion. The War approximately costs $341.4 million per day (http://www.nationalpriorities.org...). Just think of what we could accomplish with this money: dramatically improve our schools, curb high gas prices, fight global warming, provide grants for the advancement of science… the list goes on. We could also kick-start the fallen economy, get the stock market back up, get business going again, and prevent that feared depression. CONTENTION II: The initial invade was under false pretences. Before the war started, the Bush Administration claimed that Iraq was a ‘threat to world peace,' that they had ‘weapons of mass destruction,' and that they are able to produce ‘mushroom clouds.' Now we know that these statements are completely false. First off, the so-called ‘threats to world peace,' if there were any, were al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But wait: both of these terrorist organizations are from Afghanistan. So, why are U.S. troops stationed in Iraq? That is the question that baffles me. Right now, we're not fighting the War on Terror, we're fighting the war on innocent civilians. Let's look again at the aforementioned reasons. The main reason the Bush Administration claimed that the war was necessary was because of W.M.D.'s. During the extensive search of 18 months, no weapons of mass destruction were found (http://www.cnn.com...). At this point, myself, as well as 7 in 10 Americans (http://findarticles.com...), are asking the question, why is the U.S. in Iraq? What logical reason remains? Here, I say none. CONTENTION III: Deaths. About 4,118 Americans are dead as a result of the war, and over 30,000 are wounded (http://icasualties.org...). According to the Iraqi body count, about 90,000 Iraqis are dead (http://www.iraqbodycount.org...). Some even say those numbers are low (http://ipsnews.net...). This is where PRO wins the debate. There is nothing more sacred than human life. This war is completely unjust. What kind of country have we become where we have to send 4,000 of our American heroes to their death, and take down 25 times that of Iraqis? I have a relative that is fighting in this war, and I can see how truly traumatizing it would be to get a call from a fellow soldier. THAT is unjustified. CONTENTION IV: Opinion. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans, as I have stated, have a negative opinion about the war. I realize we are discussing whether we should or should not adopt a timetable, but one argument is often misinterpreted. Many people on the CON side say that Iraqis love what Americans are doing. However, this is not nearly the case. Nearly 7 in 10 IRAQIS want the U.S. out (http://rawstory.com...). That same amount also believe that the surge has failed, and that they are less safe (http://news.bbc.co.uk...). Recently, Iraq has raised, and insisted upon, the idea of a timetable withdrawal (http://news.yahoo.com...). If Iraqis don't even want us to be there, whom are we exactly fighting this war for? With all these reasons combined, I must urge you to vote PRO. These factors combine for all the more reason to adopt a timetable in order to successfully remove American troops from the country of Iraq. Thank you, I now patiently await PublicForumG-d's response.