Martial Law in Iraq Would Have Been a Sound Strategy, #2

Cultural Awareness Program CS1) The Defence Language Institute (DLI) is not included in CON's number. - I am willing to concede that I was unaware of the DLI's numbers but their presence in no way alter the fact that by 2004 the US government had too few translators for the Prop's Cultural awareness program. "The New York Times recently reported that the FBI has yet to translate more than 120,000 hours of pre-Sept. 11 "terrorism-related" recordings"- [1] This news article shows that the US government did not have enough translators by 2004 to have translated all the information gathered pertaining to the Sept. 11th attacks in spite of the DLI's graduates. This means that unless the Prop planned to subtract translators from the security services and front line troops, where they were needed most (and even then poorly supplied)[11] there simply were not enough translators to launch the Prop's ambitious Cultural Awareness plan until several years after 2004, let alone the 2003 date set by the Prop, by which time it may well be too late to win round the majority of supporters that the Prop's plan requires to function. The merging of the DLI and Title IV programs would be of little help to boosting the number of interpreters recruited. The Prop does not appear to have considered the logistics of the Cultural Awareness program. Security S1&S2) The Prop appears to have misunderstood the mainstay of the Con's argument over the Japanese case. I am contesting the fact that Japan was far more subdued before the imposition of martial law by the US than Iraq would have been in this hypothetical situation. For example as the Prop stated Japan was at war for 5 years before its surrender, Iraq a mere one month. Over this period of time Japan suffered a population decline of over one million, mostly young men serving in the military [12] unlike Iraq, in which the population continued to increase, even during the year of 2003-2004 and skyrocketed there after [13]. In other words Japan had lost the majority of the section of its population most likely to resist occupation by the US. Comparatively Iraq underwent no such loss, in fact the average age in Iraq today is 21 whilst the average age for an insurgent is "early twenties" [14]. This shows that whilst Japan's population tended away from the average age for an insurgent Iraq's has tended towards it. This contrast in domestic makeup, not to mention the ethnic tensions present in Iraq, admitted to by the Prop, demonstrates that Iraq is less likely to respond favourably to martial law than Japan in 1945 was, undermining the Prop's belief that similar tactics may be deployed in both situations. Furthermore the Prop has not as of yet put forward a gesture that might have an effect similar to the US co-opting of the Emperor and until the Prop does Con will consider no such action to exist. Prop also has yet to produce any evidence that proves that cultural sensitivity minimises resistance or that an army fighting an insurgency is capable of implementing such a cultural action. If the Prop considers the state to be other wise Con would request they state their proof clearly in their next argument. S3) Con has already dealt with the differences between Bosnia and Iraq and as Prop has failed to bring up any new points on this issue Con will consider it dealt with. S4) Con would request that Prop provides evidence to back up this point, Con would also suggest that the Prop examines the Domino/Rotten apple theory and the importance of the geographical location of Japan before suggesting that American occupation comes before Cold war interest in Japan. S5) Con refutes Prop's statement that "I also point out that CON's stance is also opinion. CON's point is thus not a valid rebuttal.". Con would point to the argument of Edward Said put forward in his book "Orientalism" that western scholars were "implicit in the further subjugation of the region" .[1] Con referenced this point in the refuted statement. The point clearly shows that Western scholars are associated with imperialism in the middle east. It can be drawn from this that the Prop's idea of parachuting western scholars into Iraq may well prove to be inflammatory. Furthermore Con has re-examined the Prop's statement that: " That these Middle-Eastern academics were "peaceniks" would have gone far in establishing the US's intent of securing the region following 9/11, as opposed to what had readily been perceived as vindictiveness and retributive justice by the US against most of the Arab world." The Prop does not provided proof to back up this statement. The Prop appears to be operating on the assumption that academic peaceniks are viewed as benign in the Middle East. An assumption disproved by Edward Said's point. S6) Con would contest the following statement " We wrote Japan's constitution. Japan turned out just fine." Con refutes that any nation with an economy that has been in stagnation for over a decade and who's main cultural export is tentacle porn can be said to have "turned out just fine." NB: although Con was joking about the tentacle porn the economic point still stands. S7) Con would point out that at no point in the Prop's round 2 speech was a military build up referenced. Also Con would point out that Prop has not put forward any arguments or theories pertaining to how to increase troops numbers without introducing elements to the US army that would make the enforcement of Martial Law in Iraq more difficult. War Bonds The Con would like to bring the Patriot bond scheme [9] to the attention of the Prop, a war bonds scheme launched in the US in the wake of 9/11 to fund a military response. The Con has already brought this point up but Prop appears to have completely ignored it and instead come up with the fantasy figure of "$500 Billion". Con has already stated the amount of money raised by the Patriot scheme over 8 years as $10.9 Billion. The Con would ask that the Prop actually read the argument put forward in round two over this very issue. Conclusion The US did not contain enough fluent Arabic speakers to staff its own security forces let alone its' army or the Prop's Cultural Awareness Program. This renders the Program unfeasible. Secondly the Japanese comparison to Iraq does not stand up to close scrutiny and cannot be used as evidence that the Prop's Cultural Awareness program would work. Furthermore the Prop has yet to put forward an action that would be as significant culturally to the Iraqi people as the Co-opting of the emperor was to the Japanese. The Prop has yet to put forward any proposal for how he would allow the US to fight a 12 division war considering it had only a 10 division army. The Prop has yet to deal with the financial issues laid out by the Con in round 2 in any substantial way. I await the Prop's response. [11]- http://www.campus-watch.org... [12] http://www9.ocn.ne.jp... [13] https://www.google.co.uk... [14] http://ojs.st-andrews.ac.uk...