Professor
08-31-2007, 11:20 PM
On behalf of bobby:
Over the course of this debate you will begin to see how seriously unrealistic and seriously unfeasible the idea of invading Cuba is. I'm sure my opponent will go over all of the tyranny that the Castro regime has wreaked on its nation but that isn't at all relevant to my argument.
First off..Our military is not strong enough in numbers at this point in time to support an invasion of Cuba. The Cuban military is currently about 80,000 strong and very well trained but Cuba has been known in recent years to raise their troop strength to upwards of 200,000 when the country is under threat. They can also count on a force of up to 1,000,000 Cuban Revolutionary Militia members who are willing to die defending the country. Not even considering the fact that it would take at least 100,000 troops to take over Cuba(one of the most militarily powerful countries in Latin America) we must also face the wrath of Venezuela under Hugo Chavez because he has said he would defend Cuba against any US led invasion. Venezuela is capable of rising up hundreds of thousands of troops at any given time and has a loyal militia estimated at well over a million men. You are probably saying so what, we are the most powerful country in the world and we could crush them if we want to. You would be correct in thinking that, however, the American people are not willing to tolerate another unnecessary war against a country that is of absolutely no threat to us.
Taking on Venezuela is about a whole lot more than just their military threat. We would also certainly face an oil embargo by Chavez, even if he was to decide not to attack us militarily. Can you imagine how much the price of oil would go up? Also keep in mind that Cuba has many other allies throughout the world. Cuba is a member of an organization called the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Castro is the elected President for the second time. Here is a list of current member nations(and official observers in bright blue) which would surely come to the aid of Cuba in one way or another.. even if its just diplomatic.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Mere85/500px-Map_Non-Aligned_Movement.png
The invasion of Cuba would damage our reputation beyond repair in much of the world that doesn't already hate us because of Iraq. I mean we don't have any proof at all of any threats from Cuba within the past 20 years(at least).
I will expand a little more on our current troop shortage. Our military is absolutely stretched to its limits with the War in Iraq, hell... we can't even sustain the 30,000 troop surge in Iraq. How are we going to attack Cuba and still keep our forces relatively intact to combat a serious threat from a major nation? Simple, the only way is with a draft and the American people won't support that. Even if you agree that we should invade Cuba, you must surely agree that doing it at this point in time is just completely ridiculous.[hr]The topic was omitted.
Scenario: Castro dies two weeks from today, that'd be the middle of september.
Question: Should the U.S. invade Cuba?
Over the course of this debate you will begin to see how seriously unrealistic and seriously unfeasible the idea of invading Cuba is. I'm sure my opponent will go over all of the tyranny that the Castro regime has wreaked on its nation but that isn't at all relevant to my argument.
First off..Our military is not strong enough in numbers at this point in time to support an invasion of Cuba. The Cuban military is currently about 80,000 strong and very well trained but Cuba has been known in recent years to raise their troop strength to upwards of 200,000 when the country is under threat. They can also count on a force of up to 1,000,000 Cuban Revolutionary Militia members who are willing to die defending the country. Not even considering the fact that it would take at least 100,000 troops to take over Cuba(one of the most militarily powerful countries in Latin America) we must also face the wrath of Venezuela under Hugo Chavez because he has said he would defend Cuba against any US led invasion. Venezuela is capable of rising up hundreds of thousands of troops at any given time and has a loyal militia estimated at well over a million men. You are probably saying so what, we are the most powerful country in the world and we could crush them if we want to. You would be correct in thinking that, however, the American people are not willing to tolerate another unnecessary war against a country that is of absolutely no threat to us.
Taking on Venezuela is about a whole lot more than just their military threat. We would also certainly face an oil embargo by Chavez, even if he was to decide not to attack us militarily. Can you imagine how much the price of oil would go up? Also keep in mind that Cuba has many other allies throughout the world. Cuba is a member of an organization called the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Castro is the elected President for the second time. Here is a list of current member nations(and official observers in bright blue) which would surely come to the aid of Cuba in one way or another.. even if its just diplomatic.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/Mere85/500px-Map_Non-Aligned_Movement.png
The invasion of Cuba would damage our reputation beyond repair in much of the world that doesn't already hate us because of Iraq. I mean we don't have any proof at all of any threats from Cuba within the past 20 years(at least).
I will expand a little more on our current troop shortage. Our military is absolutely stretched to its limits with the War in Iraq, hell... we can't even sustain the 30,000 troop surge in Iraq. How are we going to attack Cuba and still keep our forces relatively intact to combat a serious threat from a major nation? Simple, the only way is with a draft and the American people won't support that. Even if you agree that we should invade Cuba, you must surely agree that doing it at this point in time is just completely ridiculous.[hr]The topic was omitted.
Scenario: Castro dies two weeks from today, that'd be the middle of september.
Question: Should the U.S. invade Cuba?