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Title: An Oldie (2002): Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 2] View count: 1120 Rating: 5.0 (8 ratings) Description: (September 5th, 2002) Rep. Ron Paul [R-TX] speaks before the U.S. House of Representatives on the transition from a nonintervention policy to aggressive interventionism. Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdKFG4qZhqU Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzf-JnbpzMs Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pVY7A4NF7E Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQVP4h3tnlU (Transcript) Our meddling in the internal affairs of Iran was of no benefit to us and set the stage for our failed policy in dealing with Iraq. We allied ourselves in the 1980s with Iraq in its war with Iran and assisted Saddam Hussein in his rise to power. As recent reports reconfirm, we did nothing to stop Hussein's development of chemical and biological weapons and at least indirectly assisted in their development. Now, as a consequence of that needless intervention, we are planning a risky war to remove him from power; and as usual, the probable result of such an effort would be something that our government does not anticipate like a takeover by someone much worse. As bad as Hussein is, he is an enemy of the al-Qaeda and someone new well may be a close ally of the Islamic radicals. Although our puppet dictatorship in Saudi Arabia has lasted for many decades, it is becoming shakier every day. The Saudi people are not exactly friendly towards us, and our military presence on their holy soil is greatly resented. This contributes to the radical fundamentalist hatred directed toward us. Another unfavorable consequence to America, such as a regime change not to our liking, could soon occur in Saudi Arabia. It is not merely a coincidence that 15 of the 9-11 terrorists are Saudis. The Persian Gulf War fought, without a declaration of war, is in reality still going on. It looks like that 9-11 may well have been a battle in that war perpetrated by fanatical guerrillas. It indicates how seriously flawed our foreign policy is. In the 1980s we got involved in the Soviet-Afghanistan war and actually sided with the forces of Osama bin Laden, helping him gain power. This obviously was an alliance of no benefit to the United States, and it has come back to haunt us. Our policy for years was to encourage Saudi Arabia to oppose communism by financing and promoting Islamic fundamentalism. Surely the shortcomings of that policy are evident to everyone. Clinton's bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan on the eve of his indictment over Monica Lewinsky shattered a Taliban plan to expel Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan. Clinton's bombing of Baghdad on the eve of his impeachment hardly won any converts to our cause or reassured the Muslim people of the Middle Eastern countries of a U.S. balanced policy. The continued bombing of Iraq over these past 12 years, along with the deadly sanctions, resulted in hundreds of thousands of needless Iraqi civilian deaths, has not been beneficial to our security and has been used as one of the excuses for recruiting the fanatics ready to sacrifice their lives and demonstrating their hatred toward us. Essentially all Muslims see our policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as being openly favorable toward Israel and in opposition to the Palestinians. It is for this reason they hold us responsible for Palestinian deaths since all the Israeli weapons are from the United States. Since the Palestinians do not even have an army, and most have to live in refugee camps, one should understand at least why the animosity builds, even if our pro-Israeli position can be explained. (...) [ http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8214720 ] ----------------------------------------------------------- Ron Paul voted against the 2002 Iraq War resolution, this is his speech before the House vote on October 8, 2002: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TZ5cpaPlf4 Tags: ron, paul, constitution, liberty, dollar, usa, election, 2008, price, of, war, 2002, Author: jaralero |
