May 15th GOP Presidential Debate
In a May 15, 2007 GOP debate in South Carolina, Ron Paul took a close second (25%) to Mitt Romney, who received the most votes (29%) in a Fox News sponsored text messaging poll.[31] On other sites, such as ABC News and MSNBC, Paul was the night’s winner, according to respondents.
Congressman Paul commented how America’s history of interventionism in the Middle East has led to an unpopular view of the U.S. in Middle Eastern countries. Agreeing with what has previously been asserted by the 9/11 Commission Report and the CIA’s specialists on al Qaeda, Paul stated that the CIA removal of an elected Iranian leader (the 1953 removal of the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq in Operation Ajax) and the bombing of Iraq in the 1990’s, culminating in the ongoing Iraq war, has led to increasing anti-American sentiment in the Middle East.
He went on, stating that these events have also led to terrorists developing such a hatred for America, that they’re willing to die in suicide attacks. He said, “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.”
An outraged Rudy Giuliani, interpreted Paul as implying that America had invited the attacks through its actions and interrupted the proceedings to demand a retraction. Ron Paul defended his statement and further explained, “I believe the CIA is correct when it warns us about blowback. We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and their taking the hostages was the reaction. This dynamic persists and we ignore it at our risk. They’re not attacking us because we’re rich and free, they’re attacking us because we’re over there.”
Even early supporter of the Iraq War Andrew Sullivan was led by Rep. Paul’s remarks to conclude that;
“The question serious supporters of a real war on terror must now ask is: will continuing the fight in Iraq help reverse this trend or cement it for decades to come? Is the war making us less secure and the world much less safe? Would withdrawal or continued engagement makes things better? At the very least, it seems to me, this question should be on the table in the Iraq debate. And yet the Republicans - with the exception of Ron Paul - don’t even want to talk about it. Until they do, they are not a party serious about national security.”
Some reports have stated that Ron Paul is factually correct with his assertion; as cited in the 9/11 Commission Report, Osama bin Laden’s 1996 fatwa called “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,” published in Britain, reveals his anger with American policies as his reason for declaring a fatwa. In his fatwa, bin Laden cites the reasons for attacking America as, in order:
American involvement in the Middle East
Palestine, and
Sanctions on Iraq
The CIA’s former bin Laden and al Qaeda specialist, Michael Scheuer, told 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.”
CIA analyst, political scientist, and author Chalmers Johnson spoke of blowback in regards to the September 11 attacks in October 2001 and has written books on the subject.
In a press release following the debate, campaign chairman Kent Snyder said in response to Giuliani, “It is clear from his interruption that former Mayor Giuliani has not read the 9-11 Commission Report and has no clue on how to keep America safe.”