Essay Instructions: Advocacy Essay Prompt
A proposal argument, written for an academic audience, in which you will recommend a public policy or initiative as best the solution to the problem arising from the events associated with the War on Terror. Your essay should build upon (and use excerpts from) your historical analysis, and it should present several voices as it argues for your own perspective.
Advocacy Essays must present a clear framework for recommending this policy: causation, coverage, cost/benefit comparison or feasibility. In addition, your argument must present clear and detailed information about how the policy will address the underlying causes of the problem. Your argument must also clearly address who supports the policy, who opposes the policy, and what alternatives there might be to the policy. Failure to turn in drafts as requested may result in a failing grade on the essay.
Advocacy Essay Requirements:
• 8-10 Pages and Works Cited
• Minimum of 12 sources
• Two Annotated Bibliographies for the two best new sources
• Online Proposal *
• MLA Format
* Online Proposal: Before drafting your Advocacy Essay, you will send a policy proposal to your instructor (via email or the Writing Studio). Your performance on this assignment will be graded as part of the Advocacy Essay grade. In this brief (1 to 2 page) proposal, identify and explain:
• The policy you wish to advocate. Explain who crafted the policy, when it was introduced, and where in this policy is in terms of its development.
• Why this policy is the best solution to the problem you've identified. (This is, in other words, your thesis statement for this argument and, as such, should explain the reasons this policy is the best, not merely a statement of what the policy will do.)
• One source that supports the policy you advocate
• One source that either challenges your policy directly, or that offers an alternate policy.
Policy interrogation worksheet we have to incorporate in our paper:
Problem, as YOU define it:
Proposed public policy solution:
name/title
what it will do
sponsor(s)
political orientation
proponents
opponents
Focus/definition of problem:
What does the policy assume is the main problem to be solved? Is this an accurate depiction of the problem?
What are the root cause(s) of the problem, according to the best evidence?
How will this policy solve or mitigate the root cause(s) of the problem?
Coverage of policy:
How many people will the policy help? Is this a significant number of people?
What kind of people will be helped? Why is it important that these people be helped?
Who will not be helped by this? Who may be hurt by this? Is that OK? Why?
Cost/benefit analysis of policy:
How much will this policy cost to implement?
What costs may arise in the future if we implement it now?
What are the benefits of the policy?
What benefits may arise in the future if we implement it now?
What costs may arise in the future if we don’t implement the policy now?
Considering both the short-term and long-term benefits of implementing the policy, will the policy have more costs or more benefits?
Comparative analysis of solution:
Has this policy or a similar policy been tried elsewhere (i.e., at the local, state, or federal level, or in another country)? How well did it work there?
Are contemporary conditions similar enough to the other situation to make this a fair comparison?
Feasibility of solution:
What are the steps that must be taken in order to implement the policy? How difficult are those steps to implement?
How well can we afford to implement the policy?
Is there enough political will (i.e., enough support in the current political climate) to implement the policy?
Is there enough public support for the policy?
Do enough influential people or organizations support the policy?
What are critics saying are the main problems.
Intro and Thesis should name 3 causes that led to current state. Thesis addresses the problem, introduce the bill, AND say why it is the best solution to mitigate the problem.
Use Pathos, Logos, Ethos
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Working Draft:
The Private Contractor Dilemma
During the course of the war in Iraq, the United States has seen many of its allies remove their troops from Iraq. By itself, the United States military would be unable to fight the war and bring stability to the region as it is does not have the requisite number of troops on the ground and those troops are not adeptly trained for all of the dangerous tasks involved. According American investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill, with an expertise in private military companies, he informs that such tasks include the protection of diplomats and other dignitaries that require highly-specialized training to the simple delivery and cooking of meals for the troops in a chaotic, unpredictable war-zone (Scahill, Blackwater). In the current Iraq conflict, these missions have fallen to private military contractors, most notably, Blackwater, which have caused a myriad of issues and controversies due to the lack of oversight and the near-total immunity bestowed upon these mercenaries. These factors have led to a number of incidents where Blackwater employees “abused their position, used unauthorized force on the civilian population and even killed innocent by-standers” (Broder, The New York Times). However, according to democrat house of representative, Henry Waxman, he points out that Blackwater still remains unpunished; rather, it receives even more lucrative contracts (Waxman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform). These actions have led to the deterioration of the relationship and the increase in the level of distrust between the Iraqi population and the United States military. If no changes are made, then more of our taxes will continue to go to Blackwater and their contractors will continue to recklessly slaughter innocent people and increase distrust in Americans by Iraqi civilians. If this situation happened in America, it would be completely unacceptable and mercenaries would be court-martialed without question. Are Iraqi lives worth less than American lives? To correct the situation of unnecessary slaughter, one solution is to strip the private contractors of their immunity so that they must finally face the consequences of their actions. The Senate the Stop Outsourcing Security Act S. 2398 proposes to ….
Many Blackwater contractors working on the streets in Iraq heavily armed and are extremely unpopular among Iraqis. The extensive use of contractors in Iraq has made it difficult to conduct proper oversight and has significantly increased the risk of fraud, abuse, and preventable acts of violence, and has outsourced protecting Americans in Iraq to private companies. Vermont’s Junior Senator, Bernard Sanders introduced to the Senate the Stop Outsourcing Security Act S. 2398 (The Library of Congress Thomas). The Stop Outsourcing Security Act will help solve the lack of oversight of contractors in Iraq by requiring that by June 2008, “the President shall submit to each specified congressional committee a report on the status of planning for the transition away from the use of private contractors for mission critical or emergency essential functions by January 1, 2009, in all conflict zones in which Congress has authorized the use of force” (The Library of Congress Thomas). This bill will examine contractor activities and ensure that renewals will only happen if the president certifies that contractors have undergone background checks and are clean of crimes. It will also allow congress to have access to information of private military companies including, the number of persons working in Iraq and Afghanistan under contracts, the total costs of the contracts, total number of contractors who have been wounded or killed during their deployment, and a description of disciplinary actions that have been taken against contractors performing work under contracts. Jan Schakowsky is one of the many members in the house who support Sanders, who vows to ban private contractors on battlefield where American troops are present and put them out of business. ELABORATE BILL
Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama has been an active leader in private contractor reform. Obama has proposed that private contractors accused of misconduct should be tried under U.S. law and urging the Pentagon to pursue such civilian prosecution. Following a Nisour Square shooting that infuriated the Iraqi government, Senate aides are working on adding parts of Obama’s plan to the defense authorization bill. Scahill quotes Obama, "’If Barack Obama comes into office next January and our diplomatic security service is in the state it's in and the situation on the ground in Iraq is in the state it's in, I think we will be forced to rely on a host of security measures,’ said the senior adviser. ‘I can't rule out, I won't rule out, private security contractors.’ He added, "I will rule out private security contractors that are not accountable to US law" (Scahill, Huffington Post). This policy will seek to monitor war crimes and persecute contractors who have abused their position and gone against the law. Scahill states that Obama’s policy looks great on paper, but he does raise serious questions on how 180,000 contractors deployed over there can be monitored effectively. While there may be missing details Obama will have to fill in for his bill, at least he is trying to find solutions for the contractor problem instead of ignore it.
Primarily, the Bush administration is the chief opposing opponent to reform Blackwater, instead they praise Blackwater for its outstanding work. It is also worth noting that the Bush administration has tried to privatize every aspect of the U.S. government it can, using taxpayers' money to give lucrative contracts to its friends such as Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater with strong Republican connections. “You might think that national security would take precedence over the fetish for privatization -- but remember, President Bush tried to keep airport security in private hands, even after 9/11” (Krugman, The New York Times). Support from International Peace Operations Association President Doug Brooks states, “We’ve used military contractors in the past and we will continue to use military contractors now” (Schor, The Hill) and Gordon Hammers, chairman of a county land-use planning advisory group in eastern San Diego County states that, “[T]hey were doing their job this week and doing it well" (Torreiro, Chicago Tribune). There is no doubt that private contractors are highly skilled and have a perfect record of protecting their convoys, and there is no alternative for that. Even if the contractors’ jobs are handed to the U.S. military, the U.S. military would not even want to put their soldiers in that kind of position (Scahill, PBS).
Military officials and executives of other contracting companies have long complained about Blackwater's hiring of younger, financially strapped recruits, encouraging a shoot-first culture, and then using the company's deep political connections with the administration of President George W. Bush to shield its guards from punishment when they kill innocent people. Clearly, one flaw of continuing this is that while the Republican Party is having a grand time praising Blackwater for keeping their status quo, the Bush Administration is not directing any action to propose a solution for the problems Blackwater caused the Iraqis as if they pose there is no problem, that casual deaths are supposed to happen in a chaotic war-zone. “If that means shooting up a civilian vehicle because you said, ‘Oh, well, it could have been al Qaeda or it could have been Mahdi Army,’ and it turned out to be an Iraqi family, well, that's just part of the job. And so you realize a benefit for Bush is having a force that is effectively above the law, that operates, for all practical purposes, in a zone void of any effective congressional oversight, and the crimes of these individuals don't get prosecuted at all” (Scahill, PBS). Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq represents the outrage of the Iraqi civilians stating that Blackwater forces have to leave and be prosecuted.
Yet, the fact of the matter is, Blackwater’s contract was renewed by Bush for yet another year until April, 2009. It won’t be until the next president gets elected that the world will see any reform or changes to correct the private contractor dilemma. well first, i'm all for the transparancy and if Blackwater was a operating in a more regulated business environment it would help bring accountibilty to the uneccessary slaughter from a few months ago. i agree that strong regulations like background checks and process transparancy are vital but i kinda don't agree with S. 2398 for severing contracts with Blackwater. If Congress makes the regulation stringent enough (read: near impossible to make obscene profits from), then PMCs will have to either have to bend more to the will of the american people or get out of the business. In this measure, private companies can still operate but with a guiding hand from congress. This way, the president is the commander in cheif of the military, while congress gets ahold of private firms that want to make a profit in the region (similar to interstate commerce). Also, this method lets congress set regulation (however strict or loose) that better coordinates with our military's generals. There are times when private firms go on rogue missions that interject with military plans. simple regulation coordinates them together. I'm usually FOR severing contracts with malicious firms that have no accountability to any government, but the truth is our military needs all the help they can get in this time of drawback of troops (if obama becomes president). We can't simply wipe firms like Blackwater out of existance because in truth, they provide a force in the name of the united states which can provide stabilty in the region. How protected is Blackwater from prosecution for its crimes? The company’s lawyers have argued that Blackwater can’t be held accountable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, because they aren’t part of the US military; but they can’t be sued in civil court, either -- because they are part of the US military. In Iraq, men with guns not answerable to the people's law or government can shoot at will at Iraqi civilians. That is not freedom. As Blackwater or other renamed versions of paramilitary contractors, sometimes with intimate ties to this administration and to Halliburton, start to patrol the streets of our nation, without our debate or consent, we can easily wake up to find that we have a National Guard that is supposed to be answerable to governors, and a Congress that is supposed to oversee the military -- but it's too late anyway; the guns in our streets are already in the hands of people who are answerable to those writing the checks -- and no longer answerable to the now-vulnerable American people.
Blackwater’s actions in Iraq should be a wake-up call to us here at home -- to restore the constitution and the rule of law before we are too intimidated to do so.
we need more regulation and along with more resources that can provide stability (read: not military) to iraq so we can get outta there quickly. let's spend money intelligently.
Works Cited
Broder, John M. “Report critical of guard firm; Blackwater sought to cover up Iraq
shootings, study finds.” 3 October 2007: 4. Lexis Nexis 13 June 2008.
Krugman, Paul. “Hired Gun Fetish.” The New York Times. A29. 28 September 2007.
Proquest. 5 July 2008.
Scahill, Jeremy. “Tavis Smiley Archives.” PBS. 30 June 2008.
---. Blackwater The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. New York:
Nation Books, 2007.
Schor, Elana. “Sen. Obama presses Bush on Blackwater.” The Hill. 25 September
2007.
blackwater-2007-09-25.html>
Torriero, E.A. “Blackwater supporters say shooting incident is good for business.”
Chicago Tribune. 17 September 2007.
Waxman, Henry. “Memorandum: Additional Information about Blackwater USA.”
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Chart. Oct. 1, 2007. .
Hi, I don't have any specific sources that I want to incoporate other than the Stop Outsourcing Security Act S. 2398 which can easily be found at thomas.loc.gov and ANYTHING from my school library database https://www.ivc.edu/library/pages/offsitedblogin.aspx My email userID is sco17 and password is 533100. Once logged in, I usually go on ProQuest and LexisNexis to find articles. We can basically use any thinktank (ACLU, KATO, etc) and mainstream newspaper sources such as the New York Timse, Huffington Post, Washington Post, etc.
I also cited some information from Jeremy Scahill's book, Blackwater. If you want, I can fax some pages that I think can help. Please let me know.
