Tournament: UNT | Round: 1 | Opponent: na | Judge: na

Contention 1 – The Periphery

In poignant testimony, Rehman’s son, Zubair, described the day of the attack, the day before the Muslim holy day of Eid, as a "magical time filled with joy". He told lawmakers that the drone had appeared out of a bright blue sky, the colour of sky most beloved by his grandmother and himself, he said.
"As I helped my grandmother in the field, I could see and hear the drone hovering overhead, but I didn’t worry" he said. "Why would I worry? Neither my grandmother nor I were militants."
"When the drone fired the first time, the whole ground shook and black smoke rose up. The air smelled poisonous. We ran, but several minutes later the drone fired again. "
"People from the village came to our aid and took us to hospital. We spent the night in great agony in at the hospital and the next morning I was operated on. That is how we spent Eid."
Zubair said that fear over the drone attacks on his community have stopped children playing outside, and stopped them attending the few schools that exist. An expensive operation, needed to take the shrapnel out of his leg, was delayed and he was sent back to the village until his father could raise the money, he said.
"Now I prefer cloudy days when the drones don’t fly. When the sky brightens and becomes blue, the drones return and so does the fear. Children don’t play so often now, and have stopped going to school. Education isn’t possible as long as the drones circle overhead."
According to Zubair, the fundraising took months.
His sister, Nabila, told lawmakers that she had been gathering okra with her brother and grandmother when she saw a drone and "I heard the dum dum noise."
"Everything was dark and I couldn’t see anything. I heard a scream. I think it was my grandmother but I couldn’t see her.
"All I could think of was running."
Rehman told lawmakers that he is seeking answers to why his mother was targeted. The strike has affected his wider family, who no longer visit because they fear the drones might kill them too.
In testimony that caused the translator to stop and begin to weep, he said
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I do not understand why it killed my mother and injured my children?"
He said that his mother was not the first innocent victim of drone strike, but that "dozens of people in my own tribe that I know are merely ordinary tribesman had been killed". He said that numerous families in his community and the surrounding area had lost loved ones, including women and children over the years.
"They have suffered just like I have. I wish they had such an opportunity as well to come tell you their story. Until they can, I speak on their behalf as well. Drones are not the answer."
Rehman said that although the Pakistani government accepted his claim and confirmed details, it said it was not responsible and he has had no compensation to help with the medical treatment for his children.
Rehman said: "In the end I would just like to ask the American
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must be delivered to those who have suffered at the hands of unjust."

Cited from The Guardian, "Drone strikes: tears in Congress as Pakistani family tells of mother’s death," 10/29/13

Contention 2 – The Center

Alan Grayson (D-FL) organized an historic hearing on US drone strikes. It was the first time that drone strike victims told their stories to U.S. elected officials at a hearing. The Rehman family traveled halfway around the world from Pakistan to tell the story of their families loss; the killing of the families grandmother.  Only five members of Congress bothered to show up.  What does this show about the United States political leadership?  It is shameful.  Below are three articles describing the scene and the families ordeal.  We need to help them change the hearts and minds of Americans especially our elected leadership.  Please share this with the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call) and your representatives in Congress.

Cited from Popular Resistance, "Congress Disgraces United States Fails to Show for Drone Hearing," 10/30/13

Although the Hearing is a Step in the Right Direction – It is Problematic that only 5 Policy Makers Showed Up – Status Quo Counter Terrorism Policy Making is based on "Expert" Opinion That Fails to Engage with the Communities Affected by these Policies – The 1AC is an Affirmation of these Communities

Ahmed 13 (Akbar Ahmed. Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies @ American U, First Distinguished Chair of Middles East and Islamic Studies @ U.S. Naval Academy, Formal Political Agent at the South Waziristan Agency, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 2013. Print. Pg. 342)
Another paradox is that the experts, who have monopolized resources, media attention,
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, is imperative for any attempt to create a realistic picture of society.

?

The "War on Terrorism" is the Center’s War against the Periphery – Through Targeted Killings The US has disrupted the Balance that was Present between Pakistan’s Center and Periphery – US Counterterrorism Policy is Empowering the Pakistani Central Government to Wage its War Against the Tribal Communities Between the Borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan

Ahmed 13 (Akbar Ahmed. Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies @ American U, First Distinguished Chair of Middles East and Islamic Studies @ U.S. Naval Academy, Formal Political Agent at the South Waziristan Agency, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 2013. Print. Pg. 260)
For Muslim societies on the periphery, the present phase of history, this age
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, America’s war on terror had become a global war against tribal Islam.

The problem is not just the outcome of these deliberations – it is the process itself – Status Quo Deliberation privileges Americans who do NOT live under drones ABOVE the Pakistanis who do – we should shift the debate from the center to the Periphery

Gregory 2013 "Moving targets and violent geographies " 1 Derek Gregory Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies University of British Columbia, Vancouver http://geographicalimaginations.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/derek-gregory-moving-targets-and-violent-geographies-final.pdf
It is here, too, that the ’remote split’ that characterizes these operations
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that matrix should remain the primary target of critical analysis and political action.

Contention 3 – the Jirga

In order to understand the conflict taking place in the tribal regions of Pakistan, It is important to understand how governance in that region works – Although seeming lawless, the tribes govern themselves through a code known as Pukthunwali – This includes the Jirga as the primary mode of conflict resolution – it is not hypothetical – this debate IS a Jirga – we are performing our method

Latif and Musarrat 12 (Abid Latif, Masters Phil Scholar in Department of Political Science @ The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Dr. Razia Musarrat, Professor and Chairperson in Department of Political Science @ The Islamia U of Bahawalpur. "Socio-political issues of Fata, a historical And contemporary perspective," 10/7/12. Online. DOI:10.5296/jpag.v2i4.3208)
2. Peculiarities of FATA FATA is administratively divided into seven political agencies, Khyber
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principles, as these are imbibed into the heart of every tribal person.

Thus: The United States Federal Government should affirm the opposition of the grand Jirga to the authority of the President of the United States to conduct targeted killing in Pakistan.

The plan affirms the consensus of the grand Jirga in opposing US drone strikes in the FATA.

Frontier Post 12/22 ("Fata Jirga demands local government polls," 12/22/13 fata.thefrontierpost.com.pk/?p=298)
All FATA Political Alliance in Qabaili Jirga urged federal government to announce holding of local
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worth of Rs200 billion to be issued for rehabilitation and construction of them.

Only our method - a genuine affirmation of the periphery allows us to reform the way we deliberate with and about the periphery – The Status Quo represents a policy of exclusion – the 1AC opens the realm of deliberation to the voices of periphery – The Center’s Affirmation of the Jirga is a method to bridge the gap between the two

Ahmed 13 (Akbar Ahmed. Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies @ American U, First Distinguished Chair of Middles East and Islamic Studies @ U.S. Naval Academy, Formal Political Agent at the South Waziristan Agency, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 2013. Print. Pg. 350-2)
An examination of the administration of tribal societies over time and across many societies confirms
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minority community the Holocaust that took place in Europe in the last century.

The Jirga will provide an Effective Method of Conflict Resolution – It will End the Cycles of Revenge

Ahmed 13 (Akbar Ahmed. Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies @ American U, First Distinguished Chair of Middles East and Islamic Studies @ U.S. Naval Academy, Formal Political Agent at the South Waziristan Agency, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute. The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 2013. Print. Pg. 24-5)
"As already mentioned, the obligation to take revenge is also an integral part
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to provide a measured response aimed at correcting an injustice and ensuring stability.

The affirmative is necessary to resist the imperial logics of Islamaphobia.

Maira 9 Sunaina, Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis,  "Good" and "Bad" Muslim Citizens: Feminists, Terrorists, and U.S. Orientalisms", Feminist Studies35: no. 3, Fall, http://www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/sites/www.uccnrs.ucsb.edu/files/publications/Maira.FeministStudies.2009.pdf
Given the FBI’s pattern of using informants to provoke Muslim Amer icans into declarations of
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War on Terror that also implicate Arab and Muslim femininities and masculinities.25

Contention 4 – Role of the Ballot

Debating about the bureaucratic mechanisms frames the question of targeted killing only in terms of "civilians" versus "militants" – The Aff’s recentering the discussion on the experience of the people who live amid the strikes is the only way to ethically approach the violence enacted against them.

Tahir 2012 Louder Than Bombs Madiha Tahir is an independent journalist reporting on conflict, culture and politics in Pakistan. Her work has appeared in several media outlets including Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Democracy Now21, BBC/PRI’s The World, Caravan, and The Columbia Journalism Review, among others. http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/louder-than-bombs/
In other words, the government says the basis of its actions is secret.
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It doesn’t really matter if you’re killed by a lie or a definition.

Now under the framework of the Pakhtunwali – we conclude with an open and unconditional invitation to join this Jirga – melmaste. If you Panah (accept our invitation to the jirga) we offer Nanawatay (apologies and forgiveness for any wrongdoing) to end bandal (cycles of revenge, mistrust and hostility)