Ron Paul - The only candidate FOR PULLING OUT OF IRAQ?

[Compassion]

This is very serious, The United States of America is at a crucial tipping point..


Yes it is true, the only presidential candidate that wants the US out of Iraq is Ron Paul. Oddly enough, he is with the Republican party, which has confuzzled many conservatives, including Rudy Guilliani who lashed out at Paul during the second Republican party debate in South Carolina. Ron Paul alluded to ten years of bombing of Iraq prior to 911 being the type of action the United States is doing to instigate hatred and attacks on America.

In 2002, Paul offered an amendment to International Relations to declare war or not to declare war.

"If we want to go to war and if we should go to war, then congress should declare it, Don't go to war like we did in Vietnam and Korea because the wars never end. I argued the case and made the point that it would be a quagmire if we go in [without declaring war first]."

When asked which federal programs he considers wasteful, Paul makes it clear he would dismantle the Department of Homeland Security, labeling it as a "monstrous bureaucracy."

"It was supposed to be streamlining security, but it is unmanageable - just think of the efficiency of FEMA....We can't cut anything until we change our philosophy about what government should do. If you think we can continue to police the world and spend hundreds of billions of dollars overseas and spend hundreds of billions of dollars running a welfare state and entitlement system that has 60 trillion dollars worth of obligations."

Paul blames inefficiency of Homeland Security prior to 911, making it clear he thinks funding was not the issue, but inefficiency

Paul continues when asked why he wants to be nominated to represent the Republican party.

"The party has lost its way...It is the advice of the founders to follow a noninterventionous policy. Stay out of entangling alliances. Be friends with countries. Negotiate and talk with them and trade with them. Just think of the tremendous improvement and relationship in Vietnam. We lost 60,000 men, we came home in defeat. Now we go over there and invest in Vietnam. There is a lot of merit to the advice of the founders and following the constitution. My argument is, we shouldn't go to wars co carelessly, when we do, the wars don't end."

In many regards Paul won the debate and the American public agreed as seen by text voting polls by viewers of the Fox News debate. The panel covering the debate found this laughable and questioned the reliability of the texting poll and brushed it aside as if the poll had been so obviously tainted.

It's sad to see the only candidate who seems to have the best interests of the people in mind be left out of much of the media, dismissed as not a real candidate and worse when he makes valid arguments, he is viciously slandered and wrongfully presented. Be weary for American media conniving to make it unpopular to suggest that the government induced attacks on our country. Anyone who knows history well knows the US has stomped around the planet unnecessarily for quite some time.

 

[Compassion]

"They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East [for years]. I think (Ronald) Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting."

Paul argued that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "delighted that we're over there" in Iraq, pointing out that, "They have already... killed 3,400 of our men and I don't think it was necessary."

Giuliani, going for an applause line with a conservative South Carolina audience that was not exactly sympathetic with his support for abortion rights and other socially liberal positions, leapt on Paul's remarks. Interrupting the flow of the debate,

Giuliani declared, "That's really an extraordinary statement. That's really an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of Sept. 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I have ever heard that before and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11. I would ask the congressman withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that."

The mayor, who is making his response to the 9-11 attacks on New York a central feature of his presidential campaign, was joined in the assault on Paul by many of the other candidates.

But congressman Ron Paul did not back down, and for good reason. Unlike Giuliani, the Texan has actually read the record.

The 9-11 Commission report detailed how bin Laden had, in 1996, issued "his self-styled fatwa calling on Muslims to drive American soldiers out of Saudi Arabia" and identified that declaration and another in 1998 as part of "a long series" of statements objecting to U.S. military interventions in his native Saudi Arabia in particular and the Middle East in general. Statements from bin Laden and those associated with him prior to 9-11 consistently expressed anger with the U.S. military presence on the Arabian Peninsula, U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people and U.S. support of Israel.

The 9-11 Commission based its assessments on testimony from experts on terrorism and the Middle East. Asked about the motivations of the terrorists, FBI Special Agent James Fitzgerald told the commission:

"I believe they feel a sense of outrage against the United States. They identify with the Palestinian problem, they identify with people who oppose repressive regimes, and I believe they tend to focus their anger on the United States."

Fitzgerald's was not a lonely voice in the intelligence community.

Michael Scheuer, the former Central Intelligence Agency specialist on bin Laden and al-Qaeda, has objected to simplistic suggestions by President Bush and others that terrorists are motivated by an ill-defined irrational hatred of the United States.

"The politicians really are at great fault for not squaring with the American people," Scheuer said in an interview with CNN. "We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live. And there's a huge burden of guilt to be laid at Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton, both parties for simply lying to the American people."

 

[dgridley]

Here's an interesting link:

U.S. Bombing Watch: Archive of U.S. Bombings, Invasions and Occupations of Iraq (1992 thru 2005)

http://www.ccmep.org/us_bombing_watch.html

 

[Compassion]

Here's an interesting link:

U.S. Bombing Watch: Archive of U.S. Bombings, Invasions and Occupations of Iraq (1992 thru 2005)

http://www.ccmep.org/us_bombing_watch.html

Great link! I wasn't aware there were no reported bombings in 1994 or 1995...