Conflict in the Persian Gulf

Hooks:
Affirmation - 40 children killed… on a bus… by a bomb by a Saudi Arabia led

Coalition Warplane which according to the Guardian… that bomb was from the United

States. Senators of the chamber. We are not here today to decide something that will be effective

in the short-run, we must decide on something that will be effective in the long run, which means

that we must do whatever is necessary to keep the American people safe under that flag.

Affirmation - Includes Ending Saudi Arabia Arms Sales:

1) Violation of the Foreign Assistance Act. Arms to Saudi Arabia violates the Foreign

Assistance Act as it leads to death and support of Authoritarian Regimes. Cornell Law

provides 22 United States Code § 2304, Human rights and security assistance which states “the

Federal Aviation Administration prohibits security assistance “to any country the government of

which engages in a consistent pattern of gross Violations of internationally recognized human

rights.” “Security assistance” includes “sales of defense articles or services, extensions of

credits including participation in credits, and guarantees of loans under the Arms Export

Control Act.” Even putting to one side the actions of Saudi Arabia in Yemen, Saudi Arabia

itself has a poor human rights record. The government accountability, and consequently, civil

society is undermined by foreign aid flows as governments become more dependant on donors

and less responsive to the people. By strengthening authoritarian regimes, the United States

further endangers and degrades the lives of the people living under the rule of the

authoritarian regime. Military aid helps regimes to continue oppressing their citizens and

the United States is one of the biggest contributors of military aid across the globe, we

cannot allow this to continue

3) Negating this resolution will continue to kill more Yemeni citizens. According to a 2018
report by the United Nations, a high commission for human rights, there have been more than 17
thousand civilian casualties since 2015. Statistics from the Guardian of 2018 collated by an
independent monitoring group, the Yemen Data Project, suggest that the targeting of the school
bus was part of a wider pattern. According to its records, there have been more than 100 air raids
against civilian vehicles and buses in the first seven months of 2018 which is a higher rate than
in 2017 which was 91 air raids. According to Amnesty International, at least 4,600 civilians had
been killed and 8,000 injured over the course of the conflict as of March 2017, the majority of
which the United Nations and credible human rights organizations have repeatedly attributed to
the Saudi-led coalition. Many of the bombs that the coalition has used in these attacks are
American-made and licensed for sale and export by the United States government. The United
States has also provided Saudi Arabia with military aircraft, refueling, intelligence, and advisors.
Judge, we’re practically building a path for Saudi Arabia to cause more harm than good, we must
put this to an end.

4) We are currently fueling an arms race. Security considerations must come first and on this
front, and there are some serious questions that the negation would not be able to address by the
boosters of the deal. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, the United States has
provided Saudi Arabia with advanced weapons to use in the war in Yemen while at the same
time Yemen has been deliberately committing war crimes that will help create the United
Nation’s “largest humanitarian crisis” in the world. Which beyond that it will encourage the
Kingdom to favor military solutions to its problems and heighten the tensions according to
Defense One.

Emotional Impact:
Affirmation - President Eisenhower who said that “ Every gun that is made, every warship

launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and

are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” We must negate. This is the future that we

will live in if we vote in the negation which is why we must vote in affirmation. Senators, I ask

you this, is this really the future we want? No. It’s not. Affirm.
 Negation - The United States remains as a symbol of peace, prosperity, and stability. And

it’s important that we maintain that reputation through international powers and abilities that are

open to us.

(Senators, we must affirm/negate this legislation for the following two reasons:)

Negation - Includes Continuing Saudi Arabia Arms Sales:

1) The United States Arms Aid supports stability in Saudi Arabia. According to the Heritage,

Saudi Arabia is currently becoming a victim of political disruption and balkinization.

Advocates of the arms cut-off believe that they can somehow “end” the war through a one-sided

strategy of depriving America’s allies of the United States-provided weapons. But this is not a

one-sided war. Iran and its Yemeni allies have a vote, and clearly, intend to keep fighting against

Yemen’s government. It is delusional to think that the Yemenis, who have been fighting for

years, will end the fight. This war will go on, with or without United States weapons and we

must be there for them, but depriving arms requires its own defense for the country which will

undermine United States national interests by weakening ties to a major non-North Atlantic

Treaty Organization ally, giving a psychological boost to Iran. Moreover, many U.S. and

European firms have opened or expanded operations in Saudi Arabia since it opened its stock

market to foreign investors in 2015. Senators, we as the United States must continue to move

forward in order to maintain this balance and stability because the moment we choose to

step away, all chaos will break loose and matters would become far more dangerous than

the Affirmation would want you to believe.

2) Saudi Arabia is the United States’ largest weapons consumer. According to the Columbia
Broadcasting System, over the five years ending in 2017, nearly one-fifth of American weapons
exports went to Saudi Arabia. Overall, half went to the Middle East and North Africa. According
to Defense One, in May of 2017, President Trump used his first foreign trip as an occasion to
visit the kingdom and sign an arms deal advertised as $110 billion — a figure experts have since
disputed as inflated, since it was not based on actual, signed contracts and included at least $23
billion previously approved by the Obama administration.

3) Saudi Arabia is a meaningful ally. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, Saudi
Arabia is the only meaningful regional power to work with seeing as the United States needs
allies that have interoperable forces that can both fight effectively alongside the United States
and ease the United States burden by defending themselves. The threat of terrorism and outside
infiltration means highly mobile Saudi forces are critical to the security of Saudi energy and civil
facilities. Helping Saudi Arabia create a combination of effective air and naval power also helps
ensure the security of tanker and other shipping in the Gulf of Oman. The legislation will create a
level of interdependence that gives both the current Saudi government as well as Saudi
governments for the next fifteen to twenty years a strong incentive to work with the United
States government.

4) The alliance is key to every goal the United States has in the east. Somewhere along the line it
seems like the affirmation has forgotten that our strategy in the Middle East is dependent on
Saudi Arabia as our most important single security power. According to the Washington Post,
Israel’s security is certainly a key American concern, but it does not play an active role in most
of America’s ongoing military engagements in the region, in dealing with Iran, or in a direct
fight against violent extremist movements like ISIS and Al Qaeda.

Emotional Impact:
Negation - In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “Faith is the first step even when you don’t see

the whole staircase.” Senators, we must put our whole faith in Saudi Arabia based on the facts,

based on the advantages, and most of all, based on the benefits that would not only allow Saudi

Arabia to grow, but allow the United States to grow. This is the future of our society that we

must fight for. This is the future of our country, that we must stand for. Negate.