17. In matters of collecting military intelligence, the ends justify the means.

I really am terribly sorry, my parents decided to leave earlier than I thought we were going to leave and then there was a 2 day road trip actually pluto Im now only like 10 minutes away from minneapolis visiting my granny for her 80th birthday. So I urge the judges not to make this a decideing factor I got to a computer as soon as I could, I hope my arguments can cover any doubts. Now to the arguments My opponent tries to argue that the ideals of consequentialism is flawed his reason is that it contradicts the goal of consequentialism. Yes killing will be involved but the resolution is to gain military intelligence, the means to do so will most often not include killing that person. The US puts itself first because we look after our own interests first, as I stated above "to save the many at the cost of the few" sure some terrorist, and may I point out that these are people with intentions to harm us, will be harmed but that is the consequentialist view on how to save the millions in the US. Fighting doesn't have to continue but so long as terrorism remains a giant threat to US security we must follow the consequentialist view to stopping the war. Also as a side note the people we are fighting are not US citizens so they are not entitled to the same rights US citizens are entitled to. Personally I think the example my opponent gave in the second paragraph helps me more than it helps him, Ill explain. In this example it was a person with known ties to terrorists, but a different person with known ties to terrorists was arrested. Either person would still show that ends justify means because using utilitarianism since the ends resulted in a beneficial way for the US the means were justified. Also this is debating in the sense that the people we would try to gain information from would just be "suspected. " In alll reality there is more likely to be "known" terrorists. . The resolution is meant for those in a forigen country trying to find information. Again I would like to reiterate that even a few innocent for the larger picture is worth while in the grand scheme of things. If my opponent can name 2 or 3 who have been wrongly tortured I could name millions of lives from just 1 accuratly tortured person. Also it is incorrect to say that more terrorists would be created, there is no basis for this and if anything it would decrease because of the consequences they would endure if caught by the US. It would lead to a swifter war with less US casulties which we as a nation need to start seeing in these troubled times. This whole next paragraph is not within the resolution and has no merit within this debate. The resolution states "for military intelligence". This is matters pertaining to overseas and people who are not citizens of the United States. This paragraph is referring to internal affairs and does not fall within the resolution so should not be a voting factor for the judges. All this paragraph is trying to do is gain sympathy with no real ties to the resolution. This next example is the polar opposite of the resolution. This example is to build a bomb using stolen scientists. Again this example doesnt meet the resolution because it isnt a matter of collecting military intelligence, military intelligence is to infer knowledge to help with military matters, generally to the next step in an on comming battle/ war. On top of that it doesnt meet either of the 2 worlds set up in the 1st argument where the point of utiltarinism is to sacrifice a FEW lives if it will save millions. This example kills millions to save the few. In conclusion ends do justify means in the terms of utiltarinism and consequentialism. Saving millions of lives should take precident over any other matter in this debate. The way to save these lives is to collect military intellegence by what ever means so we can pre-emptivly strike our enemy and end this ongoing war. They are time tested theories and there is no basis for why these theories dont apply to military intelligence.