Resolved: The U.S. should not invade Iran

It should be interesting and entertaining. I will be arguing that the U. S. should indeed invade Iran. This round will contain my opening argument, the next round I will refute my opponents points. In the comments section of this debate, my opponent has agreed that I can use an Iran in the future (not too far in the future) as the Iran I debate about. This will play a role in one of my contentions. The argument I will present will be in three segments. Past, Present, and Future Definitions Should- must; ought (used to indicate duty, propriety, or expediency) [1] National security- "The security of the United States, its citizens, and U. S. allies and partners; A strong, innovative, and growing U. S. economy in an open international economic system that promotes opportunity and prosperity; Respect for universal values at home and around the world; and An international order advanced by U. S. leadership that promotes peace, security, and opportunity through stronger cooperation to meet global challenges" [2] 1. Iran has committed acts of war against us. PAST Iran, as a government, is unfriendly with our people. This is more than a mere quarrel, however. They have attacked our personnel and killed our citizens, something that cannot be overlooked, nor excused. Multiple instances show Iran to be behind those who pulled the trigger against our people. They are as follows: A. Attack on U. S. Embassy in Beirut, 1983- Killed 63, 11 of which were Americans. A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the embassy. This was considered a religious based attack by the group Islamic Jihad. The group was backed by Hezbollah and Iran. [3] B. Attack on U. S. Barracks in Beirut, 1984- Killed 241 Americans. The most deadly terrorist attack prior to 9/11, this attack was backed by Hezbollah. The Iranian Ismalal Ascari drove the truck that entered the compound and blew it up, resulting in what was "the largest non-nuclear explosion that had ever been detonated on the face of the Earth" [4]. "Court rulings later pointed to Iran and the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah as having a role in the embassy and barracks attacks. " [3] We see Iran to be behind these unprovoked attacks. This is an atrocity to our people, the biggest terrorist attack before 9/11, as I stated. Something of this magnitude warrants action. If Iran can't handle it's own problems (Hezbollah), then we need to handle them. We do this by invading into Iran, and neutralizing the threats. In accordance with my definition of should, it's the duty of the American government to uphold national security, meaning that they "should" uphold national security. To uphold national security, a country's people must be protected. If we see reoccurring attacks on our people, its then justifiable to say that we should intervene and end said attacks. In this case, it was in relation to Hezbollah and Iran. PRESENT I will now discuss the issues presented by the modern day Iran, and why we should invade Iran because of it. A. Iran threatened to block the Straight of Hormuz. Iran, through the means of their navy, threatened to block the Persian Gulf (straight of Hormuz) if the UN was to put sanctions on it's nuclear program in 2010. This is threatening to the whole world economy, as 40% of the world's oil comes out of that gulf [5]. The Iranian navy also searched a French and Italian ship, and stated they would search any other warship or cargo ship that were to pass through this area. The Iranian's even boast as to have the gulf under their command. "Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the war games aimed to demonstrate that Iran has full control over shipping activities in the Gulf area. "[5] B. Iran detained 3 American citizens for the course of 2 years. [6] It's no surprise that Iran would arrest three hikers that got too close to their borders; Iran is likely hiding something. For such an aggravated, unjust arrest, there needs to be a driving cause. The cause for the Iranians is instability and secrecy. These actions, along with the ones in the past, show Iran to be unstable and dangerous. Evidence of Iran helping train, fund, and harbor terrorist groups are plentiful. "A set of classified documents leaked by the website WikiLeaks. org in July 2010 reports extensive collaboration between Iran and the Taliban, Afghan warlords, and al-Qaeda. " And according to declassified intelligence reports released by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in October 2008, Iranian support to militants in Iraq has included "paramilitary training, weapons, and equipment". [7] With such unpredictable behavior, and the precedent they have set of harboring and helping terrorists, they are a threat to our national security. As such, they should be invaded by the U. S. and the government toppled. FUTURE I will now discuss a future Iran as previously stated. It's no secret that Iran is developing nuclear capabilities. Just this year, they state that they will develop enriched uranium to 20%. This is no longer peaceful purposes on the part of the Iranians. Let me simplify what this means. There are only a couple uses of 20% uranium on the civilian level. But none of the civilian nuclear power stations that Iran claims to be developing can this 20% be used in. "Predominantly it is used as fuel for research reactors, producing among other things isotopes for medical use" [8] Iran doesn't answer well to these facts either. The International Atomic Energy Agency tries to make sure these nuclear capabilities are indeed being put to civilian use, but to no avail. "Iran has a persistent record of evasion and obfuscation with the IAEA. It has failed to provide the IAEA with access to relevant locations, equipment, persons or documents. It has not replied to questions from the IAEA on its procurement of nuclear-related items and aspects of its work that could be useful only for developing a nuclear weapon" [8] At this point, we see Iran to be developing nuclear capabilities. Now, in the future, Iran will have these capabilities and their track record shows that they are not afraid to deliberately harm others. At this point, they would have defied the sanctions of the UN, lied to the IAEA and the rest of the world, and be in possession of the most destructive weapon that this world has seen. We mustn't be naive; thinking they would be peaceful is ignorant to the facts, and to the past. Who knows who their targets would be, or if they would sell these weapons to the highest bidder. There is no good scenario there though. Invasion and destruction of Iranian nuclear plants and silos would be necessary, in order for the United States to be performing it's duty to protect national security. |Conclusion| Iran has performed inexcusable atrocities against us on multiple occasions. They fund the very terrorists that kill our soldiers, kill our civilians. Invasion of Iran is necessary to stop a future nuclear Iran from either detonating a nuclear bomb on us or our allies, or handing the bomb to a group such as Al-Quaeda, the Taliban, or Hezbollah. Multiple logical connections between Iran and an infringement of our national security exist; they must be dealt with. Thank You. Sources 1. . http://dictionary.reference.com... 2. . http://en.wikipedia.org... 3. . http://articles.latimes.com... 4. . http://www.cbsnews.com... 5. . http://www.israelnationalnews.com... 6. . http://www.democracynow.org... 7. . http://www.cfr.org... 8. . http://www.guardian.co.uk...