Chapter 1: What is the main topic of the Munk Debate on Foreign Wars?
This is what human decency demands. You don't let a radical regime close off the global economy by firing Shaheed missiles into nations that did nothing, right? They're firing into civilians in the United Arab Emirates even just this week. That's just not something that the world can accept. And so this monster is worthy of the hunt. You do know, Mike, that we started the war. No, absolutely not.
Absolutely not. Oh, no. No, no, no. Stephen. They weren't firing those missiles until Israel and the United States attacked Iran. You do understand that, right?
Welcome to 1979, when the revolutionary regime began to kill Europeans.
You do know that we overthrew the democratically elected government in 1954. Just for the record, you're talking about this... You don't think Iran has... You think Iran's forgotten about that?
No, I suspect they've not.
You don't think Iran remembers that we supported Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war? I know this.
You think they've forgotten about this? I know this. Other countries have history. Do you think Iran is a monster? No.
Welcome to this special edition of the Monk Debates podcast. On this episode, we are sharing the opening statements from the Monk Debate on foreign wars, which took place last Wednesday, May 20th, in front of a packed audience at Toronto's Meridian Hall.
Against the backdrop of America's war with Iran, and after nearly three decades of disastrous Middle East interventions, the debate asked whether the U.S. should continue intervening abroad and what that means for the future of geopolitics. The resolution was, be it resolved, don't go hunting monsters. Arguing against the motion was Mike Pompeo, the 70th U.S.
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Chapter 2: What arguments does Mike Pompeo present against the motion?
I knew a few. And hunting does indeed work best when you create a hunting party, when you want friends with you, because you never know if the monster himself is hunting in a pack, like China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea are doing today.
And as much as we don't want to hunt, I'm a former soldier, no one likes war, the alternative, letting the monster grow until it has much greater capacity for destruction, is deadly and dangerous and un-American. One way or another, you must confront the monster.
You know, I've been to Dover, Delaware, where we transfer the remains of our fallen soldiers and look the families in the eye and told them that these young men and women did what was noble and decent in helping America and the world, Canada, Western civilization hunt monsters. When they come from the shadows, we have work to do. You know, it was a monster who held the two Michaels.
He held them captive. These Canadians did nothing wrong, but Xi Jinping didn't care one iota about that, in the same way that he lost no sleep when millions of people died as a result of a virus that he refused to allow the world to do the good work necessary to protect against. Western civilization, indeed basic decency, demands that our nation not be cowards of the world.
And just as Tommy did his best for years to avoid picking a fight, there comes a moment. We either hunt now or fight later. And to us, the answer is clear. These folks have never met a monster that they weren't willing to downplay, deny, or explain away. But we recognize the eternal truth.
In Isaiah 520, it says, "'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, "'who put darkness for light and light for darkness.'" Monsters are real, and when we find them, we must hunt them.
Right on the nose, Mike. Well done. Up next, John Mearsheimer, your six minutes. Let's have your opening statement, sir.
It's a great pleasure to be here and thank you all for coming out to hear this debate tonight. What I'd like to do is pick up where Steve left off and talk about the costs and consequences of being a crusader state. And let me start first with the costs, the human costs of being a crusader state. Let me give you two examples.
First has to do with a study that was done by the Watson Center at Brown University. that looked at the number of people who have been killed, either directly through combat or indirectly, as a result of the various wars that the United States has been deeply engaged in in the greater Middle East since 9-11 or since 2001.
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