Future Republican leader Ron Paul does not want to make the same mistakes that were made in Iraq to happen again in Iran.
December 17, 2011- Texas Congressman Ron Paul and fellow presidential candidate Michele Bachmann clashed in a debate on Thursday over foreign policy. The disagreement was over a nuclear Iran. Dr. Paul was clear and concise with his case against any war with Iran while Bachmann is pushing war mongering. Paul said the largest threat to the U.S. was not an Iran with nuclear weapons but an overreaction by America to the threat of nukes held by Iran.
Paul said he would prefer there were far less nuclear weapons and was clear he did not want Iran to have them. He said, “By reducing the number of nuclear weapons it would help keep the chances of war at a minimum. However, to declare war against a country of one million Muslims is very dangerous and wrong.”
He admits there are radicals but says they are not killing us because of our freedom and prosperity. He said, “You do not see them going to Sweden and Switzerland, do you?”
He says they come to the U.S. and want to harm us because we bomb them.
“Why was the drone over Iran anyway,” he asked Bachmann. He continued by saying, “Why would we want to start a war trying to retrieve a drone?”
His comments were thought provoking as he mentioned the U.S. has over 900 military bases in 130 countries yet the country is going bankrupt. He feels the country needs a very strong national defense system but it is very dangerous to overreact.
Paul feels all the talk about war with Iran is just another Iraq on the horizon. He is worried the President will overreact and end up bombing Iran. Paul said another war would be costly and devastating. Paul is the only candidate in the Republican Party against opposed to military action in Iran.
Except Ron Paul, all the other candidates, including Obama, are offering is the prospect of war with Iran. For the last 30 years, all Iran has heard from the U.S. and other nuclear powers is threats of war. Why wouldn’t Iran want a nuclear weapon to protect itself or level the playing field? Maybe talking might get us farther than saber rattling; it helped us avoid war with nuclear powers like the Soviet Union and China.
If Iran must be opposed militarily, let a nuclear power like Israel or a coalition of the Gulf states oppose Iran. Iran is oceans and continents away from the United States. Why is American blood and treasure required? We cannot afford it, and we have already lost thousands of young men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A nation like Iran, that “cannot even provide gasoline” for its people is hardly poised to become an expansionist empire. Our war in Iraq gave Iran more influence in Iraq, and near sovereignty in southern Iraq. We continue to fight in Afghanistan and bomb Pakistan. By destabilizing Iran’s neighbors, U.S. policy is enabling Iranian expansionism. The U.S. policy makers are facilitating the very ends they claim to oppose.
A re-evaluation of our policies in the Middle East, and toward Iran, is long overdue.
Paul 2012.
Pingback: Ron Paul Hammers Bachmann on Iran – Nolan Chart LLC – IranianRadio.ca
Pingback: Bachmann to Huckabee: I don’t hate Muslims but Iran hates Jews & Americans – Fox News (blog) – IranianRadio.ca
The Obama-Paul line of accommodation, apology, and appeasement towards radical Islam and Iran. “…for you to say maybe in a year they might have a weapon, there’s a lot more saying they don’t have it.” The only evidence that Paul will accept is an atomic weapon in Iran’s hands. His policy of submission to radical Islam is the blueprint for national suicide for the U.S. I trust Michele Bachmann. She is as smart as a whip and tougher than steel–the little lady with a spine of titanium. She is loved by patriotic Americans; she is hated by the jihadist’s “useful idiots.”
Derek Wain, you need to study more history and find out the root causes of EVERY empire going the way of the Dodo Bird.
One of the primary root causes is DEBT! The USA is already hopelessly bankrupt, and this is why they go around the world enforcing payments for crude oil in US DOLLARS! Libya anyone? Iraq? Just to name a few recent countries that tried to be paid in different currencies and happen to have lots of OIL. Did I mention that wars cost LOTS of money?
Fascism has destroyed many nations in the past. Fascist leaders make up external threats to justify going to war in the first place. Remember Hitler’s hatred for the Jews? Most Muslims (and I presume most people around the world) wish to be left the F alone and not have their lives meddled with.
Ron Paul nails it on the head: extremists (and extremists belong to ALL religions, even Buddhism) aren’t going over to Sweden and Switzerland because countries like that are not meddling in their nation’s affairs.
Here is something to watch if you feel like taking the time: