Policy Speech Final

8/3/2019 Policy Speech Final

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Eric Mintzer

Comm200: 0101

November 29th, 2011

The Right To Live

I would all like you to meet Namir Noor-Eldeen. [Hold up picture of Namir]

Namir was a respected photographers recruited and trained by Reuters, the worlds largestinternational multimedia news agency.1 He was passionate about reporting the reality ofwarfare, and was recognized as an exceptional photographer as well as a journalist. Namir wasloved by members of the Baghdad bureau. 2

In fact, he would have just recently been celebrating his 26 th birthday had it not been for the

merciless actions of American soldiers whom brutally and prematurely ended this innocentmans life.2

Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl reports in the New York Times that the helicopter raid on July 12 th,2007, the attack which removed Namirs life from the world, was a brave military actiondefending themselves against grenades. However, with the confrontation of whistleblowers, itwas later revealed that Namir was only armed with a camera.3

Namir was somebodies worker, somebodies friend, and somebodies son. Although difficult todo so, we can try and understand, try and feel, the pain and emotion his collegues expressedwhen informed of their loss of their good friend.

Soon after this incident, Wikileaks, a non-for-profit organization which emphasizes freedom ofinformation by publishing government misconduct, broadcasted the original air footage of thekilling, which revealed some disturbing recordings of American soldiers begging for permission,permission to press the shoot on their controllers; the button that lead to the murder of Namir inaddition to seven other men.4

Can you still feel the loss, the pain, the empathy for these seven men as you did for Namir?What about the 2 children who were shot at by American militants when the children came toaid these eight wounded people? Do you feel 216 times the sorrow when I tell you that 216CIVILIANS were killed as a result of the Iraqi war this month alone? Or 120,000 times the pain,when informed that this is the total DOCUMENTED CIVILIAN deaths due to this war?5

Joseph Stalin once said, One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.6

It is nearly impossible to comprehend the amount of casualties due to war, but each life is noless significant than Nasirs.


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In the past 10 years, it is estimated the United States government, through military operations,has directly contributed to the killings of over 900,000 people; and this is based on the LOWESTcredible estimates.7

For most of our history, America has had a world-dominant offensive military force, totaling anunfathomable amount of deaths.

But things dont have to be this way.

And our safety would not be at risk either.

During WWII, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Ireland, Afghanistan, NorthYemen, Oman, Nepal, Tibet and some Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Africa choose to notget involved with the war. As a result, all of these neutral countries received minimal attacksand invasions, relative to the countries which did not remain neutral. Instead of creating anarmy to attack enemies, they built a strong defensive military to prevent invasions and protectthe citizens of their respected countries. As a result, the value of human life was significantlyretained in these communities.8

Respectfully, many countries follow these ideals of peace every day; many of which have beendoing so for centuries. Austria, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland are all recognized aspermanently neutral states. All of these countries have not been involved with warfare in abelligerents territory since their neutral declaration.9

I propose for the United States to join these countries and their intent to remain neutral for allfuture wars by declaring a permanent state of neutrality.

In order to earn this title, we must first urge the President and our congressman to immediatelybring all offensive US soldiers in foreign countries back in the safety of our homeland. This willnot only effectively grant thousands of foreign humans their right to live each month, but also

ensure the safety and lives of our brothers and sisters who enrolled in the military to protect oursafety and rights.

With our shared goal of peace, we must also ensure that not only do we bring our troops backhome; but that we also promise to remain neutral in all future wars. An offensive military is andwill always remain unnecessary as long our goal is to permanently remain neutral from worldconflicts. This neutrality is only guaranteed through the abolishment of our offensive military.

I understand that abolishing our offensive military may appear contradictory to our safety.However, I also understand that historically, our offensive military has almost always been usedin a retaliatory matter. Our defensive personnel are the individuals whom protect our citizens.In fact, the offensive military may be risking our safety by instigating the opposing force to returnthe retaliation attacks, as we did to them. Also, the soldiers that are fighting overseas can nowprioritize preventing an attack or invasion instead of responding to the consequences of one;and the billions of dollars the US spends annually in offensive wars can be reallocated to assistthese soldiers in increasing our defense.

In the United States, Congress has the ultimate power to declare war. This is a total of only 535men and women. All it takes is one more than half of these individuals to permanently end theslaughter of mankind that are of a different country or of a different religion than our own.10 Infact, the US has never engaged in war without the request of the President, so historically, we


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have always been just one person away from re-writing our history textbooks to one withoutviolence.11

Imagine all the people living life in peace.

You may say I'm a dreamer,

But I'm not the only oneI hope some day you'll join us

And the world will live as one12

These lyrics, pulled from a John Lennon song, Imagine, illustrates what many children,families, and soldiers dream about around the globe.

Since Ive stood up to this podium, at least one persons life was likely taken as a result from theUS involvement in war.5 If this speech was given during WWII, approximately 115 people wouldhave no longer ceased to exist.13 One of these individuals may have solved the problem toworld hunger, or perhaps found a solution to the world energy crisis. But for a fact, every single

one of them were somebodies son or daughter. As the next person completes his/her speech,this process will continue. This can continue throughout your day, throughout your month, oreven throughout your lifetime.

We need to follow the footsteps of other countries that are setting a precedent for world peaceby immediately bringing all troops in foreign counties home, abolishing our offensive military,and declaring a permanent state of neutrality. With the influence the US has around the globe,we can change the world.

Let us tell our congressman we have had enough.

Let us tell the President we want a peaceful future.

How many more people will the United States murder overseas before we put an end to this?

As many as you let them.


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Note

1. Thomson Reuters About Us, Thomson Reuters, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://thomsonreuters.com/about/.

2. Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saad Chmagh, Thomson Reuters, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://blogs.reuters.com/blog/archives/7983/.

3.ALISSA J. RUBIN, 2 Iraqi Journalists Killed as U.S. Forces Clash With Militias, New York Times, July

13, 2007, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DEED81E3EF930A25754C0A9619C8B63/.

4.Collateral Murder, Wikileaks, accessed Nov 27, 2011, http://www.collateralmurder.com/.

5. Paul Reynolds, Wikileaks: Iraq war logs increase pressure for openness,BBC, Oct 27, 2010, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11613349/.

6. Joseph Stalin Quotes, BrainyQuote, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.html/.

7. Unknown News, accessed Nov 29, 2011,http://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html#iraq/.

8. Neutral Countries, World History Online, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-

2.html#neutral countries/.

9. Neutral European Countries, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://nato.gov.si/eng/topic/national-security/neutral-status/neutral-countries/.

10. FAQ About Congress, US House of Representatives, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.house.gov/pallone/congress.shtml/.

11. John Dean, FindLaw Forum: President needs congressional approval to declare war on Iraq, CNN,

Aug 30, 2002, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/columns/fl.dean.warpowers/.

12. Imagine Lyrics, ELyrics, accessed Nov 27, 2011,http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-

lyrics/imagine-lyrics.html/.

13. The Gulag archipelago 1918-1956

, National Library of Australia, accessed Nov 27, 2011,http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classics/.
http://blogs.reuters.com/blog/archives/7983http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://www.collateralmurder.com/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11613349http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.htmlhttp://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html#iraqhttp://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html#iraqhttp://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-2.html#neutral%20countrieshttp://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-2.html#neutral%20countrieshttp://nato.gov.si/eng/topic/national-security/neutral-status/neutral-countries/http://www.house.gov/pallone/congress.shtmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/columns/fl.dean.warpowers/http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-lyrics/imagine-lyrics.htmlhttp://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-lyrics/imagine-lyrics.htmlhttp://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-lyrics/imagine-lyrics.htmlhttp://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classicshttp://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classicshttp://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classicshttp://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classicshttp://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classicshttp://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-lyrics/imagine-lyrics.htmlhttp://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-lyrics/imagine-lyrics.htmlhttp://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/columns/fl.dean.warpowers/http://www.house.gov/pallone/congress.shtmlhttp://nato.gov.si/eng/topic/national-security/neutral-status/neutral-countries/http://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-2.html#neutral%20countrieshttp://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-2.html#neutral%20countrieshttp://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html#iraqhttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.htmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11613349http://www.collateralmurder.com/http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://c/Users/Eric/Documents/My%20Dropbox/UMD/comm200/ALISSA%20J.%20RUBIN,http://blogs.reuters.com/blog/archives/7983


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Bibliography

Thomson Reuters, Thomson Reuters About Us, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://thomsonreuters.com/about/.

Noor-Eldeen, Namir, and Saad Chmagh, Thomson Reuters, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://blogs.reuters.com/blog/archives/7983/.

Rubin, Alissa J,2 Iraqi Journalists Killed as U.S. Forces Clash With Militias, New York Times, July 13,

2007, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DEED81E3EF930A25754C0A9619C8B63/.

Wikileaks, Collateral Murder, accessed Nov 27, 2011, http://www.collateralmurder.com/.

Wikileaks: Iraq war logs increase pressure for openness,Paul Reynolds, BBC, Oct 27, 2010, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11613349/.

BrainyQuote, Joseph Stalin Quotes, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.html/.

Unknown News, accessed Nov 29, 2011,http://www.unknownnews.org/casualties.html#iraq/.

World History Online, Neutral Countries, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.worldhistoryonline.org/modern-history/what-countries-were-involved-in-world-war-

2.html#neutral countries/.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Neutral European Countries, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://nato.gov.si/eng/topic/national-security/neutral-status/neutral-countries/.

US House of Representatives, FAQ About Congress, accessed Nov 27, 2011,

http://www.house.gov/pallone/congress.shtml/.

Dean, John, FindLaw Forum: President needs congressional approval to declare war on Iraq, CNN, Aug

30, 2002, accessed Nov 27, 2011, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/columns/fl.dean.warpowers/.

ELyrics, Imagine Lyrics, accessed Nov 27, 2011,http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/john-lennon-

lyrics/imagine-lyrics.html/.

National Library of Australia, The Gulag archipelago 1918-1956,accessed Nov 27, 2011,http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7153964?q&l-edition=Perennial+Classics/.
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