Members of the Northwestern Debate Society and the British National Debate Team grappled over the success of peace efforts in Iraq during their debate, “Resolved: the Bush/Blair Policy on the Reconstruction of Iraq is Doomed to Fail,” on Wednesday night in a packed McCormick Tribune forum.
Amid wisecracks about the United States and Britain, two NU debaters argued that efforts to rebuild Iraq have been unsuccessful.
“The fact is the reconstruction of Iraq is the worst example of British-American cooperation since John met Yoko,” said Jim Lux, a Weinberg senior.
The two British debaters, visiting NU on a three-month tour of the United States, responded that there is hope for Iraqi reconstruction over time.
“I’d like to suggest to you that (the NU argument) is defeatist,” said Tom Hay, an Oxford University graduate. “We agree that there are problems. That’s the reason why it’s going to cost money and why it’s going to take time. Just because something is difficult, it doesn’t mean that we give up on it.”
A defeatist attitude is appropriate because of discouragement among U.S. troops in Iraq, argued NU debater Bret Harper, a Weinberg senior. Harper cited a recent statistic in the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes that said 10 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq were the result of suicides.
“This is very reminiscent of Vietnam,” he said. “It suggests that the morale of the troops is extremely low, that people have almost no sense of what their mission is in Iraq.”
The Iraqi people also are dissatisfied with U.S. reconstruction efforts, Harper said.
“The U.S. has reinstituted some of the same policies Saddam used,” he said. “They’re using the same prison, they’re putting hoods on people they arrest and not allowing relatives to visit them.”
British debater Tom Hamilton replied that the situation in Iraq actually is better than before the war and, therefore, reconstruction efforts are not doomed to fail. International troops have built schools, provided electricity and facilitated work on an Iraqi constitution.
“And we’ve already arrested most of the people on that ridiculous pack of cards,” Hamilton said, referring to the U.S. military’s deck of cards featuring wanted Iraqi officials.
After an opportunity for audience responses and concluding arguments from the debaters, the audience voted in favor of the British argument.
“I like these Brits,” said NU debater Harper. “They’re kinda funny.”
Hay and Hamilton said they enjoyed the debate and their time in Chicago.
“It was one of the best debates we’ve had on the trip, mainly because people laughed at our jokes,” Hamilton said.
The debate, part of four-year-old series of Great Debates, was sponsored by the Debate Society, Norris Center for Student Involvement and the Provost’s Office. Two more debates, about the Democratic nominee for the 2004 Presidential election and the legitimacy of gay marriage, will take place Winter Quarter.
