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Summary Of The Article 'No' By James Jay Carafano

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The whole world watched as the Twin Towers came crashing down. Over 85% of Americans feared another terrorist attack was imminent after that devastating day in September 2001(Gallup). Terrorism is now playing more and more of a role in our everyday lives, while it's a sad reality, as a country are we winning against terrorism? The “Yes” author, James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, seems to think we are. He claims that the U.S. has done a good job of keeping Americans safe and we are still a powerful prosperous country. While the “No” author, William C. Martell, Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, says the U.S. is not carrying out the most effective methods to tackle terrorism. William C. Martel presents the …show more content…

Carafano believes the United States is effectively fighting terrorism. He states in his article “Al Qaeda is a shadow of the organization it was on Sept. 11, 2001.” (Carafano). Carafano implies that since the U.S. was directly attacked, they took matters into their own hands to try to destroy Al Qaeda. This information is included to show that when the United States feels threatened they are going to take matters into their own hands. The United States may lose once, but not again. He goes on to add in his article “U.S. remains a prosperous country. Our economy is still the world's largest, and our current economic ills have nothing to do with the cost of defense.” (Carafano). He is trying to prove that the United States still remains as one of the few world superpowers and that the terrorist have not affected the United States strong economy. Along with the fact that, the United States large national defense budget does not directly affect the economy being at a low point (at the time of this article). The counter claim is stated by saying, “Some critics say the Patriot act (which gave the government added tools to …show more content…

By his credentials, Carafano adds an ethical appeal to the argument. His position makes him a trustworthy author and a strong debate opponent. He transitions to using logical appeal or logos when he claims that “Al Qaeda is a shadow of the organization it was…” The positive connotation of the word “shadow” (in this situation) makes the reader feel like the U.S. has efficiently and effectively squashed their opponents. Included to give a positive outlook on the United States and their war against terrorism. Next up, Carafano adds information about the United States and its economy. The use of “prosperous” and “world’s largest” to reinforce the fact that the United States is still the world's leading superpower and by doing so he address logical appeal or logos. However, this information is irrelevant to the topic of the article. How strong an economy is does not mean that a country will ultimately defeat an enemy. By including this information, Carafano has weakened his argument overall. The author includes two counter-claims in his argument. While the choice to include counter-claims strengthen his article, the refutes are a mere one sentence in total. In addition, to the weak refutes, they are vague and do not play a major role in the article. Overall, Carafano provides some strong points, but that is overshadowed by the additional sluggish components of the bulk of

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