U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
Posted on 04/11/2007 4:05:18 PM PDT by malibu2008
Ron Paul continues his campaign stop in Iowa at the Iowa State University in Ames at 7:00 pm on Thursday night, April 12 in the campus Memorial Union South Ballroom.
http://iowansforronpaul2008.blogspot.com
My personal favorite candidate, I’m glad he is running for President.
Nancy Pelosi will be glad to know he is running, they both share the same anti war policy
That is not true. The Doctor wants a formal declaration of War by congress and letters of Marque issued. You know, like the Constitution says we should.
Not a bad idea.
But that means we scratch this current war against the Islamofascists.
Congress has, since WW2, lacked the gonads to declare war, issue letters of marque, or to do anything smacking of positive and constitutional action.
United States voters lack the gonads to send responsible representatives to congress. They view the government as a piggy bank.
Gosh, there’s at most two or three conservatives at Iowa State. Not sure he’ll need a whole ballroom.
Just another way of being Harry Reid
Cindy Sheehan said the same thing.
About the only thing they share is that they both believe that we went to war based on false or flawed info. But Nancy has no illusions of anything remotely Constitutional. About the only thing Nancy feels is worth going to war over is protecting her rights to go shopping - in Syria...
From Ron Paul's web site:
War and Foreign Policy
The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. This war has cost more than 3,000 American lives, thousands of seriously wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars. We must have new leadership in the White House to ensure this never happens again.
Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women.
We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home. No war should ever be fought without a declaration of war voted upon by the Congress, as required by the Constitution.
Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.
Too often we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised. Too often we have supported those who turn on us, like the Kosovars who aid Islamic terrorists, or the Afghan jihads themselves, and their friend Osama bin Laden. We armed and trained them, and now we’re paying the price.
At the same time, we must not isolate ourselves. The generosity of the American people has been felt around the globe. Many have thanked God for it, in many languages. Let us have a strong America, conducting open trade, travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations.
Too each their own.
I disagree, but the last thing I wanna do is get into it with a grunt who shares the screenname of the greatest Marine of all time. :-)
Thanks for the transcript. It helped me make up mind with respect to Ron Paul.
Please see the transcript you provided, with some of my comments (marked with a ==>) and my “clarifications” of Mr. Paul’s statments, included within [...]:
“War and Foreign Policy
“The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information...
==> This is itself a false statement.
“The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it...
==> Another false statement
“We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists,...
==> Another false statement.
“...and [we] created thousands of new recruits for them...
==> Another false statement. I detect a “trend” here...
“This war has cost more than 3,000 American lives,...
==> while saving tens of thousands of Americans by preventing countless 9/11-type attacks over the past five years
“...thousands of seriously wounded,...
==> while preventing hundreds of thousands of injuries to American civilians through follow-on 9/11-type attacks
“...and hundreds of billions of dollars...
==> while preserving trillions of dollars of American urban real estate and while allowing the American economy to grow out of Clinton’s dot-com-bust recession.
“[I, Ron Paul, agree with Democrats and Osama bin Laden who think...] We must have new leadership in the White House to ensure this [patently obvious success] never happens again.
“...Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations.
==> Actually, neither would have thought that “self-defense” is “entangling” ourselves. Among many, MANY other topics, Ron Paul needs to read up on the Barbary War. You know: “...shores of Tripoli...”
“...Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America [but I, Ron Paul, am not intellectually honest enough to actually propose a bill that would would restore America’s troop strength to pre-Clinton levels]
“...And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women.
==> Knock-knock, Ron Paul. America has been attacked and there IS a war going on. Has Ron Paul expended a single iota of effort to increase the number of positions offered to VOLUNTEERS for service? No? If Ron Paul cannot bring himself to “act” on this important matter, then IMHO, he should STFU.
“...We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home...
==> From this, I gather that Ron Paul also believes that crime would “wither away” if we just kept our policemen locked up in their station houses. But history shows that the best defense is a good offense! Scipio did not defeat Hannibal in Italy — but in Africa! The Allies did not defeat Hitler in Florida — but in Germany!
I would really like to hope that Ron Paul is not as stupid or ignorant of history as he appears to be. Unfortunately, the false statements and the strange statements presented above provide me with no support for such hope.
“...No war should ever be fought without a declaration of war voted upon by the Congress, as required by the Constitution...
==> If he were honest, Ron Paul would add either:
[I, Ron Paul, submitted such a “Bill to Declare War”, but I was such a poor leader that it was not supported by anybody else] -or-
[I , Ron Paul, did NOT submit such a bill, because I recognized that a person with my poor leadership skills could never get the votes to pass that bill, and, besides, it’s much easier to “rant” about the failings of others than it is to actually “do” anything myself.]
“...Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.
==> Does Ron Paul really think that the ONLY reason we liberated Iraq is that the UN told us to do so in a “UN Resolution”? I am starting to hear a clanging of “crack-pots”.
==> Or is this a reference to the liberation of Kuwait? If so, does Ron Paul really think that abandoning our weak ally, Kuwait, to Saddam Hussein’s invading thugs would have been “honorable”? Or “wise”? Or “good” for America? Really?
“...Too often we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised.
==> If Ron Paul thinks this is the ONLY reason we “become despised”, I think he needs some fresh air. Consider that same illogical line of “thinking” in this series of statements:
1) Lying Democrat politicans are despised by Republicans.
2) Rush Limbaugh tries to HELP lying Democrat politicians by making them deal with facts they would prefer to ignore.
3) Therefore, Rush Limbaugh is despised by Republicans.
“...Too often we have supported those who turn on us, like the Kosovars who aid Islamic terrorists, or the Afghan jihads themselves, and their friend Osama bin Laden. We armed and trained them, and now we’re paying the price.
==> We certainly paid the price of abandoning the newly-liberated Afghani citizens to the torments of the Jihadist thugs of the Taliban regime. That regime then encouraged the 9/11 attacks on America. Strangely, Ron Paul seems to want to repeat that stupid abandon-our-allies mistake in Afghanistan and reprise that mistake in Iraq. That abandon-our-allies policy didn’t work out so well in Vietnam or Cmabodia either, did it?. Hmmmm.... Is Ron Paul a slow learner? A really S..L..O..W learner?
“...At the same time, we must not isolate ourselves. The generosity of the American people has been felt around the globe. Many have thanked God for it, in many languages. Let us have a strong [but not TOO strong] America, conducting open trade [but not FREE trade], travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations [using “words” ONLY, of course, since our enemies find that “big-stick thingy soooo.. “offensive”].
You know, Battman, I used to think I would vote for ANY Republican in a match-off against Hillary. But I think that she, at least, is smart enough to understand the concept of national “self-preservation”.
Based on the transcript you provided, I must regretably conclude that Ron Paul does not.
As I do not believe that the Constitution is a “suicide pact”, if there should be a Hillary Clinton-Ron Paul race, Hillary would get my vote.
I can understand your sentiment. On the other hand, it also appears that you have been drinking the GW Bush Kool-Aid.
I won’t go into every statement, because most is tied back in to some root foundational facts and beliefs:
Using the terminology of “sold to us with false information” might be a bit strong - but I really cannot deny that the information was, at the least, flawed. I do believe that Saddam had some sort of WMD program. But was it the full-blown program that was claimed at the onset? I personally do not believe so, nor have I seen any convincing evidence that he did have the quantities claimed. I believe Saddam took the limited and mostly old weapons and used them as a cat-and-mouse game.
Did Saddam need to be taken out - yes
BUT- we have - both through the left and their media - turned this from what should have been a relatively short mission (think Panama on a much larger scale), and turned it into a policing action to try to prevent what I believe is an inevitable civil war. Even if we can calm things down, I believe it is only a matter of time after we do leave (if we ever do) before a dictator is back in power - that is apparently the only thing the bulk of the population understands.
But it goes even deeper - if we believe Saddam was responsible for 9-11. Although I believe that Saddam has given aid to terrorists all over the world, and I know he rejoiced at the attacks on America, I don’t know that there is any real evidence that he directly supported the attacks. Further, I believe that other nations are far more responsible for 9-11 and the current state of terrorism - Iran being a prime player.
I believe we have purchased defeat by approaching this war in a totally wrong manner. I also believe that there was a certain component of family pride that played into Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I was as happy as a Christian can be to see Saddam swing from the gallows. He was an evil and unrepentant worker for Satan who was hastened on his trip to Hell. But as we have apparently lost the will to WIN this war that we are in (regardless of which side of the isle you are on), I would just as soon see it wrapped up and our people brought home.
Our military IS spread thin. Thanks to the last few Presidents, our active military has been trimmed, cropped and cut - yet we expect more out of them (and rely more heavily on reserves and NG to take up the slack). I am truly concerned if we have a REAL emergency. I keep hearing talk of a coming civil war right here in the US - but it will be along racial lines. IF such a horrible thing were to come about - are we going to just drop everything around the world and try to get our troops home?
But lets just assume for a moment that Saddam had an active and “productive” WMD program. We haven’t uncovered them - and according to some - they were ushered to Syria just days before the invasion. So if they were to be used against us or our allies - that hasn’t been prevented.
Now - if you were to go back and search my posts - particularly from back when the current operations began - I was all for the invasion, taking Saddam and his “boys” out, and kicking tail. Foot - I think I even endorsed the use of Nukes if deemed necessary. But I also believed the intel that was released to the public. Of course, since that time, our administration has done little to remind us of why we are at war - and the initial reasons have faded away...
I don’t want to “cut-and-run” - I cannot stand the thought of our 3000+ dead having died in vain. On the other hand, I am not so sure that our current path is going to honor their sacrifice any more. I am growing increasingly pessimistic.
And by the way - danger is a relative term - and depends on who you ask!
So funny you wouldn’t think someone who calls them self a patriotic american would want to send your child to be murdered unless it was in defense of America.
These people tick me off. My son and nephew were sent to die and this person is happy about that and is angry because we would like to keep our kids home
You make the same argument people did when we fought the Nazis. They didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor, they wern’t an immedient direct threat to the U.S. so why fight them.
You fight them before they are a larger threat and killing millions of innocent people is wrong.
You are in podunk. I live in a city with the largest amount of military based in the world, San Diego.
I have many relatives who have fought in Iraq and will again. They know why we are there.
My relatives who fought in WWI, II, Korea, Viewnam I guess were wrong in your eyes.
I grew up around tens of dozens of neighbors who had numbers on their arms and were fresh out of the Nazi camps.
I have spoke to some of the over 30,000 Chaledan (Christian) Iraqis who live in San Diego who escaped from Sadam and have horror stories to tell as do Kurds I have spoke to.
Get out of podunk and find out what is going on in the world.
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