Public Forum Podium: Evidence for January 2010 topic

Evidence for the Pro:

The surge will work:

Counter-narcotics - the Taliban’s financial power base is the drug trade http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/09_afghanistan_felbabbrown.aspx?p=1 – This is a comprehensive paper that outlines the pluses and minuses to Obama’s Counter- narcotics plan.

More troops to combat Taliban – help win war and defeat al-Qaeda http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/1201_afghanistan_ohanlon.aspx?p=1 – This is a four point out line to why the US need more troops in Afghanistan.

Train Afghan forces – they help fight Taliban and will eventually have to take over http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/268389 - Article outlines how security is needed to get Afghan forces.

Why the surge is in Americans best interest: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/afghanistan_is_still_worth_the_fight?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full – Article on Afghanistan and what the US should do.

Regional Security – Afghanistan’s neighbor has nukes and if the Taliban take over they could destabilize already troubled Pakistan.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124121967978578985.html#printMode – The worst case scenario involving a nuclear Taliban.

Evidence for Con:

The Surge will fail:

Afghan security forces – inept, corrupt, and few the ANFS are not trainable and untrustworthy. http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/268389 - same article as before, highlights problems with Afghan Forces.

Local populous – Tribal factions spread apart by mountains, will always drive the US out and will be angered by more troops. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/world/asia/07doubts.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss – The Afghan public’s view on the surge.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/asia/03helmand.html - article on resentment faced by US in Afghanistan.

Corruption – Surge can’t succeed because the government is robed of legitimacy by corruption http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2933472.ece - this explains how bad the corruption epidemic is.

Withdrawal date – Nothing can be completed in time frame given and fast pull out will result in loss of any progress http://www.newsweek.com/id/225782/output/print - simple attacks the withdrawal date.

Why the Surge is bad for US Interests:

Military, political, and financial strain – The US military is overstretched, spending is already out of control, and the administrations political capital is already in high demand at home. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4649066.stm - How the US military is overstretched

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/17/opinion/main5991156.shtml - the real cost of the surge.

Regional instability – fast pull out could result in reversal of progress and the Taliban taking over. They could then threaten Pakistan, a nuclear nation, and cause instability in central Asia.  http://english.nupi.no/Publications/Books-and-reports/2008/Afghanistan-and-regional-instability-A-risk-assessment - a fairly large report on instability in central Asia and Afghanistan.

Terrorism – will only embitter and embolden Americans enemies who will seek a new base of operations to plot their counter-attack. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/12/13/al_qaeda_looking_to_yemen_as_next_base?mode=PF – how it doesn’t matter if we take Al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, they’ll just find a new place.

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Public Forum Resources: January 2010 Topic

Overview of Possible contentions:

Arguments for the Pro:

The surge will work:

Counter-narcotics - the Taliban’s financial power base is the drug trade

Battling Corruption – robs government of legitimacy and effectiveness

More troops to combat Taliban – help win war and defeat al-Qaeda

Train Afghan forces – they help fight Taliban and will eventually have to take over

Why the surge is in Americans best interest:

Regional Security – Afghanistan’s neighbor has nukes and if the Taliban take over they could destabilize already troubled Pakistan.

Terrorism – it will deny Al-Qaeda of a base of operations and training
center.

Global political standing - could be detrimental to our political power to not finish the job, makes the US look weak.

Arguments for Con:

The Surge will fail:

Afghan security forces – inept, corrupt, and few the ANFS are not trainable and untrustworthy.

Local populous – Tribal factions spread apart by mountains, will always drive the US out and will be angered by more troops.

Withdrawal date – Nothing can be completed in time frame given and fast pull out will result in loss of any progress

Why the Surge is bad for US Interests:

Military, political, and financial strain – The US military is overstretched, spending is already out of control, and the administrations political capital is already in high demand at home.

Regional instability – fast pull out could result in reversal of progress and the Taliban taking over. They could then threaten Pakistan, a nuclear nation, and cause instability in central Asia.

Terrorism – will only embitter and embolden Americans enemies who will seek a new base of operations to plot their counter-attack.

Both teams need to make sure they define Obama’s plan in a way that favors them AND state what are in America’s best interests.


The extensive follow up to this will be the first entry of The Debate Hub’s Mini-Brief series

Extemp Resources: Questions for the week

FX:

Is the atmosphere in Copenhagen biased towards more powerful nations?

Is Pakistan winning the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda?

Do Yemenis separatists in the south have a legitimate claim for succession?

Is Al-Qaeda’s influence in north Africa on the rise?

Is Iran on the edge of radical social change?

What needs to be done to stop piracy of the coast of Somalia?

Is Jacob Zuma moving down the right path to an AIDS free Africa?

DX:

Should detainees from Guantanamo be placed into US prisons?

Should America follow Britain in labeling Tzipi Livni a war criminal?

What real effect will Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner have on the airline industry?

How should the US address climate change issues with China?

Is Joe Lieberman the only thing keeping an effective healthcare bill from passing?

Does Obama’s new Afghanistan plan hurt or help the US’s relationship with
Pakistan?

Is Obama’s warning to Financial lenders all talk?

Pop culture Question of the Week: Was Amanda Knox wrongly convicted by the Italian justice system?

Extemp Resources: Headline Reviews

The House passed new laws that will give the consumer more protection. The bill will allow shareholders to have a say about executive compensation. The bill may end up changed when in passes through the Senate.

A report came out from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimated that the new health reform bill would raise healthcare cost by $234 billion dollars.

Gov. Mark Stanford’s wife divorced him this week. This along with ethics charges doesn’t look too good for Stanford.

A senior Al-Qaeda officer was killed in a drone attack along the Pakistani border. This follows an increase in Drone attacks in the region.

UN meeting in Copenhagen: UN countries purposed that larger countries fund poor ones attempts at CO2 reduction along with cutting their own emissions.

Obama delivers speech at the Nobel Prize acceptance ceremony. He defended the principles of Just War, while at the same time acknowledging the need for peace. The speech was well received.

Just after the announcement of Obama’s new strategy, the long term outlook in Afghanistan isn’t looking very good. Difficulty getting recruits for the Afghan National Security Force and the issue of Infrastructure for things like education are complicating the long term strategy for the war.

Public Forum Resources: January 2010 Topic

January 2010

Resolved: President Obama's plan for increasing troops in Afghanistan is in the United States' best interest.

This is, in my opinion one of the best topics we've had in a while. I'll put up more resources on the topic when I get and am able to analyze them.



Gretchen peters book, Seeds of Terror, is a great book for understanding the root of our problems in Afghanistan. She reveals secrets about corruption in the government and the drug trade that would prove invaluable to debaters planning on understanding this topic.

Another book that one might want to read EXCERPTS from is The Bear Came Over The Mountain by Lester W. Grau. The reason i say excerpts is because, unless you are a military history buff, this is a boring book. The book is a collection of Soviet military Vignettes with commentary. However, some of the lessons that you can learn from them can be used to point out the futility or effectiveness of US military tactics in Afghanistan.


This next video collection is fantastic for answering questions about Afghanistan. It is from the RAND corporation.I do not have the plug in so you will have to click on the link.


If you have any requests, suggestions, or input on the Topic... please leave a comment.

Extemp Resources: Questions for the week

FX:
Does NATO have the stomach to follow through on President Obama’s new troop “surge”?

What is store for Guinea without Capt Camara?

Will the international community finally make a stand on climate change during the Summit in Copenhagen?

*or if summit has ended*

Has the international community finally made a stand on climate change during the Summit in Copenhagen?

What will be Pakistan’s role during President Obama’s troop “surge”?

Can Iran be trusted enough to form a realistic nuclear deal?

Did the International Community’s economic cooperation prevent a much worse recession?

Is Iraq losing progress?

Is the Crisis in Honduras coming to an end?

What and where will the next big European political upset occur?

DX:
Has President Obama’s troop surge come too late?

Can the US risk pulling out of Iraq?

How has President Obama changed American foreign policy?

With the debate seemingly coming to a close, has the new healthcare bill been too watered down to be effective?

Are traditional political power brokers in trouble of losing their re-elections next year?

Who is the de-facto leader of the Republican Party?

What can the US government do about the Drug war along the Mexican border?

Are the US’s long standing ties with the UK in danger?

How can the US gain a more powerful position in international trade?

After President Bush’s term, how will the Republican Party regain its prior appeal?

The Weeks Pop culture Question: Has tiger wood’s shown that there are few if any good role models left in professional sports?

Tournament Impressions: Patriot Games at George Mason University

GMU has always had a somewhat interesting debate tournament, and this year was no exception.

First off, there were quite a large number of competitors this year. There were over 1,200 entries from 91 different schools. That’s a lot of debaters.

And secondly, there were not a ton of pre-elimination rounds in a lot of events. Extemp apparently had over 140 entries. With only 3 prelims the Extempers broke to quarters. The prep room was… interesting. The overcrowded lecture hall littered with tubs and file folders was a bit of a turn off. The prepping was loud and while the people running the room seemed to be doing their best (Brennan Morris among them) they ended up doing a lot of screaming and even more running around. Every section was given the same 3 question for each speaker time. The least fortunate part of this whole deal was the logistical nightmare that was people double, triple, and even quadruple entering. At one point there was an ENTIRE section of Extempers missing because they were allowed to double enter in congress.

LD, while new, attracted some very good competition. High ranking individuals such as Ben Lewis were in attendance. Once again there were a few prelims, 4 in LD. However, LD did break to Octa-finals.

Public Forum, the situation was similar to LD

Congress, there were several houses… named after the Greek Gods no less.

For full tournament results:

The GMU tournament Blog

Welcome to the Debate hub. The Blog is just getting started now, but soon enough it will be a fantastic site and the first choice of many debaters for their news and material. The focus will be spread across the various events; however Extemp, LD, and Public Forum will be getting the most attention (at least in the near future).

That’s all for the first post

I hope to get the blogging underway soon