Sunday, December 9, 2007

Mediation Paper

Samuel Chhoun

English 103

Adam Million

9 December 2007

Mediating on the Iraq War

The initial argument was about what the US should do about the Iraq War. The most popular choices are immediately withdrawing US troops from Iraq and staying in Iraq until a democratic government could be established. There are many possible outcomes that can happen with the two popular choices. Each and every outcome is being weighed to see if the right choice is withdrawing immediately or staying in Iraq. Due to the complexity of the Iraq war, a compromise could not be reached because of the adverse consequences that would happen if US troops were to pull out immediately or stay in Iraq to see that Iraq establishes a government.

A fact that was compromised upon was that war costs lives and money. The national debt in the US is $9 trillion and is rising every second (Nation Debt Clock). The majority of Americans do not support the war now compared to when the US started to invade Iraq. Support for the Iraq war started declining when weapons of mass destruction were not found. This means that Americans do not want to further fund the Iraq War, but have to because US troops are still in Iraq. There death toll of US soldiers in Iraq is approximately 3,800 over the span of 1724 days (Iraq Coalition Casualties). Despite the death toll and cost of the Iraq war, the US government still keeps US troops in Iraq. Other Americans see it as that they do not want all the soldiers die or the money to be spent in vain. People are not supporting the war because they think nothing will be accomplished by staying in Iraq; however, people who want US forces to stay in Iraq think that the US has spent trillions of dollars and has to accomplish something.

Both sides of the debate agreed that the US is in Iraq to protect the oil supply. Iraq is the sixth leading supplier of oil to the US, but Iraq has the third largest oil reserves in the world (Crude Oil Imports). Sabotage, insurgent attacks, and looting have limited Iraq’s oil production. The US wants to protect the oil supply for Iraq’s interest as well as US interest. Protecting Iraq’s oil supply will cause Iraq to become a main supplier of oil to the US and American oil companies could profit from the oil obtained from Iraq by selling it to American consumers.

There are negative consequences that can occur if US troops are to pull out of Iraq immediately. The possibility of terrorists taking over Iraq if US troops withdraw immediately is a possible negative consequence for withdrawing. Terrorist would be able to take control of Iraq because there is an absent of a great military power to stop terrorism from breeding in Iraq. There is also a possibility that a Civil War breaks out between the Shiites and Sunnis. “Americans are the safe house for the whole situation in Iraq. Once they say they are going to withdraw, the whole country will become a hell"(Planning for Defeat).They are two different religious groups in Iraq and they have grudges from hundreds of years ago. The possible negative consequences make it hard to compromise on a single solution for the Iraq war.

There are positive consequences that can also occur if US troops are to pull out of Iraq immediately. An opposite effect of terrorists taking over Iraq because they aren’t scared is terrorists staying away from Iraq because of the disapproval by almost every Iraqi citizen (All Iraqi Ethnic). Another positive consequence that may happen is that the rest of the world would be satisfied for US withdrawal from Iraq. Positive relationships with other countries may occur because of the controversy of US occupation of Iraq. A definite positive consequence of US withdrawal from Iraq is that the debt of the war will stop increasing at an enormous rate and that the lives of US soldiers will not be hostile territory anymore. Another possibility, but very unlikely, is that Iraq is able to create and sustain a fair government. These factors complexes the Iraq War and makes it unable to come to an agreement.

The positive outcomes for US troops staying in Iraq and help the Iraqis establish a democratic government complexes the Iraq War debate. A possible positive outcome is that Iraq establishes a democratic government under US occupancy and maintains it after US leaves Iraq. An effective democratic government would establish a unity within the government. Another positive consequence for staying in Iraq and establishing democratic government is that Iraq would become a key ally in the Middle East for the US. After the establishment of a democratic government, there is a positive possibility of a minimal amount of terrorism in Iraq. Former Al-Qaeda could give up on the cause and start siding with the US and help reform the country "a lot of guys that may have been involved with the insurgency yesterday and may become involved tomorrow. But we have reconciled with enemies before. Right now they're part of the solution, not the problem" (Baghdad). These positive consequences would be beneficial to US and Iraq, but would cost more money and lives that a lot of Americans do not want to risk. The complexity of these positive consequences makes the US government want to keep US troops occupied in Iraq.

There are many negative outcomes that can occur if US troops are to stay in Iraq and help the Iraq establish a democratic government. A definite negative outcome is that the total war debt will continue to rise at a large rate and more soldiers and civilians will have to die. Something that could be worse is that the US stays in Iraq and a democratic government is established, but as soon as US troops withdraw, the democratic government will become unstable and a number of disastrous possibilities can occur. Another negative outcome would be that it could cause negative relationships with other countries and citizens of Iraq. This would be bad because the US gained a negative view for not listening to the UN and invaded Iraq. The negative consequences for staying in Iraq really play a role in not being able to come to a compromise in the Iraq War debate.

It is very difficult to decide on a solution and stick to it because of the various consequences that could happen if US troops were to withdraw or still occupy Iraq. The complex nature of the Iraq War is makes it really hard to come to a compromise in the assignment. In the US government, there still has not been a compromise between the Democrat’s view and Republican’s view on the Iraq war.


Works Cited

“Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries.” Energy Information Administration. 3 December 2007 .

Farrell, Stephen. “As Iraqis Vie for Kirkuk’s Oil, Kurds Are Pawns.” New York Times 9 December 2007 .

Makris, G.P. Islamic in the Middle East: a living tradition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2007.

“National Debt Clocks and Savings Clocks.” zfacts.com .

Oren, Michael B. “Jonah’s Dilemma.” Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition 21 September 2007: A14.

Packer, George. “Planning for Defeat.” New Yorker 17 September 2007: 56-65.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Yay@@@@

2 more weeks until I go to Oregon =O



12 Claymores being detonated randomly. This is training leading up to Operation: Iraqi Freedom. OUR TAX DOLLARS BEING BLOWN UP =[

Monday, December 3, 2007

Brief on Iraq War

Brief on Iraq War

Thesis: Due to the complexity of the Iraq war, a compromise could not be reached because of the adverse consequences that would happen if US troops were to pull out immediately or stay in Iraq to see that Iraq establishes a government.

Reason: There are many negative outcomes that can occur if US troops were to pull out of Iraq immediately.

Evidence: Iraq could become grounds for breeding terrorists.

Evidence: Iraq could enter a state of civil war due to the conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis.

Reason: There are many positive outcomes that can occur if US troops were to pull out of Iraq immediately.

Evidence: US casualties and funds would cease to increase.

Evidence: The hatred for terrorists groups in Iraq would deter the terrorists from gathering in Iraq.

Evidence: Majority of the world would be satisfied.

Evidence: The people of Iraq could establish their own government and become stable country.

Reason: There are many positive outcomes that can occur if US troops were to stay in Iraq and help the Iraqis establish a democratic government.

Evidence: Iraq would become another democratic government that is established in the world.

Evidence: Iraq would become a key ally in the Middle East.

Evidence: A low amount of terrorists would be in Iraq.

Reason: There are many negative outcomes that can occur if US troops were to stay in Iraq and help the Iraqis establish a democratic government.

Evidence: US funds would decrease due to the cost of the war and US casualties will continue.

Evidence: It will not have the world’s support.

Evidence: Tension builds up and weakened relationships with other countries.

Reason: A topic that was mediated was the war costs lives and money.

Evidence: Casualty count in Iraq.

Evidence: Debt built up in Iraq.

Reason: A topic that was mediated was that US is there to protect the oil supply in Iraq.

Evidence: One of the reasons US invaded Iraq.

Evidence: US oil companies refuse to go into Iraq until there is an oil law established.

Reason: An agreement was reached on the fact that Iraq has ideological problems.

Evidence: The Shiite vs. Sunni conflict in the Islamic religion.

Evidence: Extremist groups before US invasion.

Evidence: Possible Al-Qaeda training camps established.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Ew

College sucks...

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Brief on the Iraq War

Thesis: The US government should pull US soldiers out of Iraq immediately because the benefits are not worth the costs.

Reason: Many lives have been lost and the trillions of dollars spent on the Iraq war have accomplished nothing in Iraq.

Evidence: The total casualty count of the Iraqi war is 4168 (http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx).

Evidence: Not many accomplishments have been made for the amount of casualties and the money spent (http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/).

Reason: Who is America to say that the Iraq government was not sufficient enough to sustain the citizens and try to intervene and implement a democratic government?

Evidence: ("We are there to complete a mission, and it's an important mission," he said. "A democratic Iraq is in the interests of the United States, and it's in the interests of laying the foundation for peace." – G.W. Bush) Bush only wants to stay in Iraq for American interests and he is not concerned about the Iraqi citizens’ interest (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/06/24/bush.iraq/).

Evidence: Not every citizen of Iraq wants a democratic government and lives lost in the war are lost in vain.

Evidence: A democratic government in Iraq most of the time will never come to a consensus because of the Shiite and Sunni conflict.


Edited: Just testing the edit option =o

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

=o

Hi Adam. =o

Edit: Edit?

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The War in Iraq

The Iraqi war was a response to the 9/11 attacks in the US. Many people were for the war because the public was persuaded that Iraq was the main cause for 9/11, and they had weapons of mass destruction that could be more of a threat to the US. The invasion of Iraq started March 2003. It is now 2007 and the US is still in Iraq trying to establish a democratic government so that Iraq could have order.

Since Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, the US should have never invaded Iraq. The main reason to invade Iraq was to secure and destroy the threat Iraq had on the US and its allies. After 9/11, many people were for the war and wanted revenge for what happened. The government blamed Iraq for what had happened and many people believed the government for what had happened and supported the invasion of Iraq. Now, the Iraqi war has lost supporters and want to pull US troops out of Iraq. Since no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, the government changed its agenda to liberating Iraq from a dictator.