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

Hello, First ttime here, just testing my case for the BCFL tournament im going to soon(ish) 1. Opening argument 2. Cross X (Ask a couple Qs, answer them) 3. Responses 4. More responses 5. Close up GL; hf -Resolved: Current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East undermines our national security- There has been lots of tension and media attention around the middle east recently. Recently, there has been reports of Iran building nukes, unrest in Syria and Libya, drone strikes, and terrorist attacks all over. We contend that the resolve, Resolved: Current U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East undermines our national security, is correct and will prove it using 3 main contentions. These contentions are, as follows, Our current, "Leading from behind" policy, makes america look weak, and undermines or influence; Our policy is unnecessary; Before we begin our contentions, we would like to define key terms in the resolve, these are 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 #1: Our current, "Leading from behind" policy, makes america look weak, and undermines or influence In a recent speech from GOP candidate Mitt Romney, he said that Obama"s policy in the Middle east was leading "from behind". This term has since been what's 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, undermines our credibility, and therefore causes us to lose our influence in the middle east. This also makes us look weak. Making us look to middle eastern countries, who want to look up to us, and most importantly, weak to terrorists. 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 is saying 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, terrorist, see our lack of commitment as weakness, and, makes it more likely for them to attack. This only gets worse 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. A question one may ask is. "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 2.5 Trillion dollars. Of this 2.5 Trillion dollars, we spent 711 Billion on defense spending. This is the highest 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 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 it specifically stated economic security fell under it. Oil is a BIG part of our nation,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 100$ per barrel. This can be seen when you look at our gas prices, which are at an average of 3.62 (10/23/12 Marylandgasprices.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, cost of shipping goes up. grocery stores, or any other store who gets products sent to them are raised. Basically, EVERYTHING RAISES. How are raising prices good for our economy? Anyone will tell you, THEY, AREN"T. I conclude, these 3 reasons affirm the resolve.