Debate: Can we achieve peace through war?
Side: No

In my opinion war is crucial to ridding the world of people/places that have made an effort to disrupt human RightsAnd in doing so, we effectively become the ones who disrupt human rights ourselves, namely the right to life. Of course we always think we are the ones who are doing the right thing, but often times when we look at a situation from another perspective, our opinions can do a complete 180. Here is a passage from a book I would suggest anyone to read entitled “Endgame” by Derrick Jensen: (its pretty long but worth it in my opinion)“Let’s tell this story again: Last Tuesday nineteen Arab terrorists unleashedtheir fanaticism on the United States by hijacking four planes, each containingscores of innocent victims. These terrorists, who do not value life the waywe Americans do, slammed two of the planes into the World Trade Centerand a third into the Pentagon. Courageous men and women in the fourthplane wrestled with their attackers and drove the plane into the ground, sacrificingthemselves rather than allowing the killers to attack the headquartersof the CIA or any other crucial target. Our government will find and punishthose who masterminded the attack……Here is another version of the same story: Last Tuesday nineteen young menmade their mothers proud. They gave their lives to strike a blow against theUnited States, the greatest terrorist state ever to exist. This blow was struck inresponse to U.S. support for the dispossession and murder of Palestinians, tothe forced installation of pro-Western governments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, andmany other countries, to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killedby U.S. bombs, to the nine thousand babies who die every month as a direct result of U.S. sanctions on Iraq, and to the irradiation of Iraq with depleteduranium. More broadly, it was a response to the CIA-backed murder of650,000 people in Indonesia, and to the hundreds of thousands murdered byU.S.-backed death squads in Central and South America. To the four millioncivilians killed in North Korea. To the theft of American Indian land and thekillings of millions of Indians……Here’s another version: Last Tuesday was a tragedy for the planet, and atleast a temporary victory for rage and hatred. But let us not seek to pinpointblame, nor meet negativity with negativity. The terrorists were wrong to actas they did, but to meet their violence with our own would be just as wrong.Violence never solves anything. As Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye only endsup making the whole world blind.” Even if you believe the United States andthe global economy are fundamentally destructive, you cannot use the master’stools to dismantle the master’s house. The most important thing any ofus can do is eradicate the anger that lies within our own hearts, that woundsthe world as surely as do all the hijackers in Arabia and all the bombs in theUnited States. If I wish to experience peace, I must provide peace for another.If I wish to heal another’s anger, I must first heal my own.”------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To see the entire free excerpt that I retrieved this passage from click the link below for the pdf.