I really like this topic in the scheme of that it actually is something relevant and worth arguing. It’s early and I know there will be ground for both sides but at first glance the affirmative doesn’t look to much fun.

how interesting dis iz it makes me super…. happy n excited to debate dis topic yezer//

There’s a hard partition (India/Pakistan) and (Israel/Arabs) and a soft partition (Bosnia). Partitioning Iraq into federal or confederate states (like the three states that make up Bosnia AKA what President Clinton came up with to put an end to the bloody conflict there) is called soft partition. A hard partition will lead to the Kurds’ and the Shiites’ independence and the birth of new counties like the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

It’s a “soft partition” because it doesn’t lead to the end of Iraq as a geographic and political entity. Bosnia is still on the map but the actual Bosnia is made up of three countries.

There are many versions of the plan of partitioning Iraq. Senators Biden and Brownback are the biggest supporters of this approach to deal with the conflict in that country and the idea of decentralizing Iraq is the only one that has supporters among the Dems and the GOP Congress members. It could be the only plan that brings all Americans together to put an end to this war and make a real progress in Iraq.

Could someone familiar with the topic provide the rest of us with a list of characteristics that define something as being a soft partition? I understand that a country must be divided, separate governments, etc, but is the inclusion of the international community part of the definition, or can a soft partition be a soft partition without doing so? I would be grateful for a list of attributes!

I would like to comment on the comment on the top of this page. I think that this topic is a poor one. Sure, it’s relavant, and politicians are debating it now as well, but I think that it would be better to debate problems that have already been resolved in history. This would encourage more creative arguments, and be much more challenging. Such topics could be: slavery (doesn’t have to be racist), should America have entered WW1, the American revolution, and some others. I just hope that whoever decided these topics will listen to me. (Wouldn’t it be cooler?)

i have some good public forum october resolution contentions.

I’m new to debate period, so I’m not too sure I like this topic..lol. I guess that’s what I get for being a freshman in highschool.

Ok, I guess I understand “soft partition”. Here’s my best explanation.
Soft Partition of Iraq; Dividing Iraq into areas or regions based on religion and beliefs so the entire country, or all religions can share power equally.

So if it was a hard partition would that mean splitting the country into seperate countries like Czechleslovakia into Czech Republic and Yugoslovia (or what ever the two countries were that split from it)?

I was reading an artical from the Christian Science Moniter about it and their direct quote is,
” In poll after poll a majority of Iraqis has indicated that they wish their country to remain unified.”
Can anyone find the polls they’re talking about. I have yet to, and would particuarlly like to use them in my debate.

Well, I’ll stop going on and on. Fell free to email me too. I need more and more info.

malyn smith and i are having the same problem… dictionary.com does not have a good def. neither do any other sites i could find . are there good sites for this kind of thing???!?!?!? HELP please!!

_soft -
• Not loud, harsh, or irritating: a soft voice.
• Not brilliant or glaring; subdued: soft colors.
• Of a gentle disposition; tender.
• Affectionate: a soft glance.

_partition
• a division into or distribution in portions or shares.
• a separation, as of two or more things.
• something that separates or divides.
• a part, division, or section.

help needed.
im having trouble coming up with some simple tags.

Hey, does anyone have any quotes from, as my debate teacher says “dead important white guys”about the subject in any way shape or form? Also, if anyone is willing, what contention ideas do you have so far?

Quote was churchill btw. Also feel free to email me about PFD topics in general. I love to hold a conversation with fellow debaters. Reach me at emosh76@gmail.com

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrR….
im doing a case outline for SOFT Parition..in iraq.
and im on the con side.
really need help.
like NOW.

buttered toast is awesome. actual buttered toast not this person.well maybe this person too. would anyone like to help us with our case? more websites would be appreciated

Ok, now I really hate this tipic considering it was announced a few weeks or so ago that the U.S. will not “encourage the implementation of a soft partition of Iraq”

This topic makes me mad…same with Novembers….

I can’t ever seem to think of any contentions for the topic…well at elast not aff.

does anyone have good links for aff evidence? please post. love ya[:

I have some decent sources but am having trouble knowing the subject well enought to debate it. Any good sites that will start at the basics?

K, so in our 1st debate, the other side quoted at us from the oxford dictionary that soft= voluntary, hard= military enforced (but i haven’t got an oxford dictionary to check and the online version costs alot to subscribe to) so can anyone verify if that is accurate? that was a real awkward moment when they quoted that and my partner and i had no clue that we were actually wrong.

I have ALOT of aff stuff, you could make contentions for it, so here goes:
perserve core stratigic goals:an Iraq that lives in peace with its neighbors, opposes
terrorism, and gradually progresses towards a
more stable future. It would further allow for the possibility
over time for the reestablishment of an Iraq increasingly
integrated across sectarian lines rather than
permanently segregated. If carefully implemented, it
would help end the war and the enormous loss of life
on all sides.

[on opposing partition based on tradition] Iraqi realities are beginning to trump theory. Ethnic killing and cleansing are the most important evidence of this trend.

People will voluntarily be relocated to parts of Iraq where they will no longer be the minority, and therefor safer.
Admit it is not appealing BUT if the
choice are A) sustaining a failing U.S. troop surge B) abandoning Iraq altogether creating
intensified violence and regional turmoil, or C) the best option, soft particion. So compared to our other choices this is the best option.

This prevents the substantial worsening of Iraq’s civil war.

Sunni and Shi’i Arabs have traditionally opposed partition,
of any kind HOWEVER!!,with 50,000 to 100,000 persons being displaced and dying every month,
sectarian identities are hardening as ethno-sectarian
separation is increasing as it is.

violent minority indicate a drift towards separation. citizens through their political choices and their movements are actually “voting” for separation. Voters twice rejected credible, non-sectarian alternatives to the current governing coalition by an increasing margin in the January and December 2005 legislative elections. Iraqis have also demonstrated that they seek security not just by moving away from the violence—but by sheltering with members of the same ethno-sectarian group. When this is done, the remaining minorities are even more vulnerable, Increasing the likelihood that they will eventually leave as well.{2}

Most Iraqis today still do not favor soft partition, BUT for different political views than just the soft particion. the Kurds are nearly unanimous in their demands for maximal
sovereignty. Sunni Arabs tend to oppose soft partition mainly out of fear that it will lead to a hard partition,loss of oil revenues and excessive Iranian influence in Iraq BUT they want is the restoration of their previous dominance in Iraq, which is “entirely unrealistic
goal.”[1] They will have to find a new model and as
good as any other approach is soft partition involving
reliable guarantees for equal sharing of oil revenues. As for the Shi’i Arabs, many oppose the plan for regional autonomy promoted by the leader of a prominent Shi’i Islamist Party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Yet they do not want a multi-ethnic, diverse Iraq.

[fix] in Iraq the ongoing civil war is the worst risk for regional stability. the current insistence on maintaining the façade
of a centralized government is fuelling the
conflict and perpetuating the security dilemma. Ethno-sectarian groups harbor depth of mistrust between each other, while the nearly complete
polarization of the security forces is prevelent in iraq.

the number of expected U.S.
fatalities should decline dramatically fairly soon after
the beginning of the soft partition process. As for the propriety
of population movements, no less an organization
devoted to human dignity than Human Rights Watch
stated that the willingness of Arab settlers in Kirkuk to
give up their homes to Kurds in return for assistance
in finding new homes and livelihoods elsewhere “offered
great hope of peacefully resolving the crisis in
northern Iraq.”{3}

The displaced are a representative sample of all of Iraq’s major ethno-sectarian groups, Prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has repeatly asked those displaced to return to their homes, particularly in Baghdad, but to the contrary, a recent report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) concluded that “these large movements will have longlasting
social, political and economic impacts in Iraq.” IOM monitors the movements of the displaced
in fifteen of Iraq’s eighteen provinces, confirming that internally displaced peoples are moving to homogenous communities. According to the IOM: “Shias tended to move
from the center to the south. Sunnis tended to move
from the south to the upper center, especially al-Anbar.
Both ethnicities moved from mixed communities
to homogenous ones in the same city. Christians fled to
Ninewa and Kurds were usually displaced to Diyala
or Tameem.”{5}

_________________SNIPETS_____________________________
Iraq’s new constitution, approved
by plebiscite in October 2005, already permits the creation
of “regions.”

Indeed, even if the surge
achieves some positive results, the resulting political
window might best be used to negotiate and implement
soft partition.

According to January
2007 data from the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 2 million refugees
(Iraqis fleeing across the international borders),
and 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Another 50,000 to 100,000 are being driven from their
homes each month.5 UNHCR anticipates a possible
increase of one million displaced persons in Iraq over
the course of 2007.[4]

_________________________SOURCES____________________________
my source is:Michael E. O’Hanlon- specializes in U.S. national security policy
my source:Edward P. Joseph- Project Director for the International Crisis Group, Professorial Lecturer at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University as well as a career professional in conflict management, democracy and elections. He served as a peacekeeper with the United Nations.
the sanan center for midle east policy at the brooklyhing insituiton.
_______________ STATEURSOURCE!_________________________________
1. Saban center of middle east policy at the bokking institute

2. Drawn from the realist school of international relations, the underlying theory of the security dilemma is that in a state of anarchy, one state’s defensive
action makes everyone less secure. Barry Posen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology applied the concept of security dilemma to ethnic conflict,
arguing that as multi-ethnic entities (such as Tito’s Yugoslavia or presumably Saddam’s Iraq) collapse, a situation of anarchy emerges among competing
ethnic groups. The search for security then motivates these groups to seek either to control the state or resist it (given that the new state is “biased
against them.”) Today’s Iraq evinces examples of both phenomena as Sunni Arabs resist Shi’i Arab domination of the state. In addition, as the displaced
seek security through homogeneity, they are unintentionally accelerating inter-communal anxiety and the security dilemma. See Barry Posen, “The
Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,” Survival, Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring, 1993, pp. 27-47. See also Carter Johnson, University of Maryland, “Sovereignty
or Demography? Reconsidering the Evidence on Partition in Ethnic Civil Wars,” DC Area Workshop on Contentious Politics, University of Maryland,
Spring 2005, available at .

3. Human Rights Watch, “Claims in Conflict: Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq”, Summary, August 2004, available at .

4. UNHCR data cited in Sudarsan Raghavan, “War in Iraq Propelling a Massive Migration,” The Washington Post, February 4, 2007, p.A-1, available at
. The IOM, infra, cites a figure of 1.5 million
internally displaced, with 200,000 displaced between 2003 and 2005.

5. the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
have fun kiddies (I’m not done yet either! I haven’t even started actually…D:)