Thesis Synopsis Jenna Langdale

Thesis Synopsis Jenna Langdale

Thesis:

The United States of America is responsible, to a great extent, for the animosity it receives because of its aggressive self-serving foreign policy and its economic exploitation of developing nations, but does not deserve the negative attention it receives from corrupt nations as a scapegoat for their own internal conflicts.

Con Argument #1 – The United States’ beneficial foreign policy. / Pro Argument #1 – The United States’ aggressive & self-serving foreign policy.
Evidence & Analysis:
“The Marshall Plan indisputably helped Germany return to and then supersede its prewar level of development and in doing so it helped redefine "Germanness" around something positive.”[1]
·  The United States assisted Germany in redeeming its world presence as well as restoring German pride and self-confidence.
“The Kosovars said yes to peace; Serbia put 40,000 troops and 300 tanks in and around Kosovo, and that's why the United States must be part of the solution there.”[2]
·  President Bill Clinton and his administration denounced Serbia’s intrusion in Kosovo and decided to intervene to stop Serbia’s bullying.
“What if someone had listened to Winston Churchill and stood up to Adolf Hitler earlier?...How many people's lives might have been saved?...We learned that if you don't stand up to brutality and the killing of innocent people, you invite the people who do it to do more of it…We learned that firmness can save lives and stop armies.”[3]
·  The United States assisted Kosovo from further attack by Serbia because it was attempting to put an early end to Milosevic’s aggression. / Evidence & Analysis:
“Al-Shifa was the only factory making veterinary drugs in the vast, mostly pastoralist, country. Its speciality was drugs to kill parasites which pass from herds to herders, one of Sudan’s primary causes of infant mortality.”[4]
·  America’s attack on the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant may not have killed many people initially, but in the long run, many innocent children will die from parasites that at one time were able to be controlled with drugs created at al-Shifa.
“Japan at that very moment was seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face’…It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that thing.”[5]
·  The Japanese were looking for a way to end the war while keeping a slim portion of dignity, but the Americans attacked again, in a new and horrific way which up stripped them of their dignity.
“I was a little fearful that before we could get ready, [with the atomic bomb] the Air Force might have Japan so thoroughly bombed out that the new weapon would not have a fair background to show its strength.”[6]
·  The Americans had hoped to avoid civilian targets so that when they dropped the atomic bomb, this time on innocent civilians, it would affect thousands of people and have a bigger impact, showing their superiority.
Con Argument #2 - The United States’ proactive use of its economic power through foreign aid and other assistance programs. / Pro Argument #2 – The United States’ abuse of its economic power through the exploitation of the developing world.
Evidence & Analysis:
In 2004, the United States was providing some form of foreign assistance to about 150 countries. Israel and Egypt continue…as the largest recipients, although Iraq, receiving over $20 billion for reconstruction since mid-2003, is the biggest recipient in FY2004…Bolivia, Peru and most recently Columbia among the top U.S foreign aid recipients…The subsequent use of foreign aid to support the war on terrorism is clearly seen in the country aid-allocations for FY2004. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, and Indonesia are key partners in the war on terrorism.[7]
·  The excerpt from the Congressional report above shows the extent of the United States’ assistance to many nations worldwide.

·  The graph above shows that in the year 2002, the United States donated $13.29 billion dollars to foreign aid and was the world’s leader in foreign aid. / Evidence & Analysis:
In China, workers at Wellco Factory making shoes for Nike are paid 16 cents/hour (living wage for a small family is about 87 cents), 11-12 hour shifts, 7 days a week, 77-84 hours per week; workers are fined if they refuse overtime, and they’re not paid an extra rate for overtime hours.”[8]
·  The United States exploits the developing world by offering only a few cents a day in exchange for menial labour in horrific conditions, tremendously long hours and forced overtime hours, while Americans reap the benefits of cheap labour
“I spend all day on my feet, working with hot vapor that usually burns my skin, and by the end of the day my arms and shoulders are in pain…we have to meet the quota of 1,000 pieces per day. That translates to more than a piece every minute. The quota is so high that we cannot even go to the bathroom or drink water or anything for the whole day.”[9]
·  Anzures’s account shows the gruelling conditions under which thousands continue to work all over the world as a result of America’s exploitation of cheap labour.
“The proliferation of conventional weapons has contributed to the global spread of violence by offering relatively cheap and expeditious solutions to local grievances or issues.”[10]
·  The cheap weapons being exported to the developing world by the US put weapons in the hands of people who abuse their purpose.
Con Argument #3 – America’s presence in the Middle East fosters great hatred and resentment among its people and America’s pro-Arab foreign policy. / Pro Argument #3 – The Arab world’s use of America as a screen to distract attention from their own internal problems.
Evidence and Analysis:
“The US government has received at least $5 billion in oil revenues and assets seized from the Iraqi people. Only $1 billion of this could be traced, while the rest had simply vanished into a "financial black hole”. [11]
·  The United States is manipulating the Arab world and exploiting them for their oil.
“How can America deliberately confuse…terrorism with acts of resistance against occupation, giving Israel freedom to do what it likes at the cost of peace and stability in the region?”[12]
·  America’s presence in the Middle East and its support for Israel only fosters resentment and hatred among Arabs and Muslims alike, causing instability in the region. / Evidence & Analysis:
“Over the years, the United States has also spent blood and treasure saving Muslims in Afghanistan from the Soviets; in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Iraq; and in Bosnia and Kosovo from Yugoslavia. It has supported Muslim Pakistan against India and Muslim Turkey against Greece.”[13]
·  In many circumstances, the United States has taken the side of an Arab or Muslim regime.
Arab and Muslim hatred of the United States is not just, or even mainly, a response to actual U.S. policies—policies that, if anything, have been remarkably pro-Arab and pro-Muslim over the years. Rather, such animus is largely the product of self-interested manipulation by various groups within Arab society, groups that use anti-Americanism as a foil to distract public attention from other, far more serious problems within those societies.[14]
·  The hatred for America in the Middle East stems mostly from the manipulation of corrupt leaders using America as the central focus for the frustrations of their people

[1] Harpster. The Marshall Plan and the Revitalization of the German Economy. 20 May 2005 <http://istsocrates.berkeley.edu/~warcrime/Germany/German_Marshall_Plan.htm>.

[2] Jim Garamone. Clinton Makes Case for Kosovo Intervention. 14 Jan. 2003. 26 May 2005 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar1999/n03241999_9903243.html>.

[3] Garamone. Clinton Makes Case for Kosovo Intervention. 14 Jan. 2003. 26 May 2005 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar1999/n03241999_9903243.html>.

[4] James Astel, “Strike One,” Guardian, October 2, 2001.

[5] Scowen. Rogue Nation. Toronto, On: McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 2002.

[6] Scowen. Rogue Nation. Toronto, On: McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 2002.

[7] Curt Tarnoff., and Larry Nowels. Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy. 15 Apr. 2004. 15 May 2005 <http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/trade/files/98-916.pdf>.

[8] Radley Balko.. Sweatshops and Globalization. 2000. 30 Mar. 2005 <http://www.aworldconnected.org/article.php/525.html>.

[9] Global Exchange. The FTAA and the Scourge of Sweatshops. 1 Apr. 2005. 19 May 2005 <http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/FTAAWTOSweatshops.html>.

[10] Government of Canada. Proliferation of Conventional Weapons. 30 Sep. 2003. 25 May 2005 <http://www.vcds.forces.gc.ca/dgsp/pubs/rep-pub/dda/milassess/2002/003c_e.asp>

[11]The Insider. Iraq's Oil Money - US Steals 80% of Reconstruction Fund. 29 Oct. 2003. 23 May 2005 <http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=8575&TagID=2>.

[12] Mahmoud Al-Tohami. The Reasons for the Enmity and Hatred World Press Review Online. http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/705.cfm Sept. 1, 2003 (30 Nov, 2003)

[13] Barry Rubin. The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism. Nov. 2002. 25 Mar. 2005 <http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20021101faessay9993/barry-rubin/the-real-roots-of-arab-anti-americanism.html>.

[14] Rubin. The Real Roots of Arab Anti-Americanism. Nov. 2002. 25 Mar. 2005 <http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20021101faessay9993/barry-rubin/the-real-roots-of-arab-anti-americanism.html>