Persuasive speech sample outline

PERSUASIVE SPEECH SAMPLE OUTLINE NAME: TOPIC STATEMENT: The United States should end its military engagements in Iraq over the next two months. INTRODUCTION: In 2001, when the WTC Towers and Pentagon were attacked, there were many Americans who wanted revenge. Many who wanted to fight back. Many who wanted “ justice. ” In 2001, and into 2002, the phrase “ weapons of mass destruction” became a household term, and all of a sudden, we were talking about Sadaam Hussein again. Since 2002, we have learned that Hussein probably never actually possessed WMDs. We have also learned that the US government knowingly twisted information to both the American public, and the world regarding how much of a threat Iraq ever was. Since 2002, we also know, based on NY Times reports, that well over 100, 000 Iraqi civilians have been killed. 100, 000 is about 33 times the amount who perished on September 11. We also know now that Iraq never had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks. In this speech, I will expand on these issues, and hope to persuade you to oppose the war in Iraq. First, allow me to define a few key terms. I. There are several key-terms that I wish to define before making the arguments. A. Weapons of Mass Destruction: defined as any chemical or biological weapons, and any and all nuclear weapons. B. Military Engagements: defined as any and all funding from the Congress which goes to the occupation of Iraq. This includes all funding of troop-movement, troop-deployment, artillery investments, air raids, and incidentals. TRANSITION: (INSERT TRANSITION HERE) ARGUMENTATIVE CLAIM #1: II. The Iraq war was never justified A. Iraq did not possess nor were they developing weapons of mass destruction (INSERT QUOTE HERE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) B. The war in Iraq has succeeded in killing over 100, 000 civilians–not soldiers or terrorists (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) C. GW Bush and Colon Powel lied to the American public and to the United Nations (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) D. Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) TRANSITION: (INSERT TRANSITION HERE) ARGUMENTATIVE CLAIM #2 III. The war is unwinnable, and too costly A. So far, the US has spent over 500 billion dollars on Iraq alone. (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) B. Just this week, many key senators argued that the insurgency will not end for at least 10 years. (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) C. The US economy is not being helped by this war (INSERT QUOTE THAT SUPPORTS THIS CLAIM) CONCLUSION: There are potentially many other reasons to be against this war that I have not addressed. While many feel strongly about this topic, I hope we can separate our emotions from the reality that the current war is not a good idea. I urge everyone to remember that while defense of a nation is OK, aggression toward other nations is not ok. This speech is not intended to disrespect anyone doing the fighting; however, it is a call to action to be against this unjust war.