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Ron Paul Offers Giuliani Foreign Policy 'Reading Assignment'
CNS News ^ | 05.25.07 | Nathan Burchfiel

Posted on 05/26/2007 4:47:15 PM PDT by Coleus

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) Thursday repeated his challenge to debate foreign policy with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and offered Giuliani a "reading assignment" of books examining U.S. policy toward the Middle East. The Republican presidential hopefuls briefly sparred over foreign policy during the Republican debate in South Carolina on May 15. Giuliani criticized Paul for suggesting that U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to Osama bin Laden's motivation in orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years," Paul said during the debate. Giuliani interrupted Paul's comment to make a point of his own. "That's really an extraordinary statement," he said. "As someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq, I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11."

In a post-debate interview on Fox News, Giuliani compared Paul's comments to conspiracy theories about Sept. 11 and said it "makes no sense." But during a news conference in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Paul said he was "giving Mr. Giuliani a reading assignment." He recommended that Giuliani read four books that outline causes for al Qaeda's hatred of the United States, including the 9/11 Commission Report and Chalmers Johnson's 2000 book, "Blowback." The night of the debate, Paul expressed a desire to debate Giuliani directly on foreign policy. Thursday, he told Cybercast News Service that he still wants to debate the former mayor but admitted it was "not likely" to happen.

Paul said his reading list backs up his position on foreign policy. "The whole notion that our foreign policy has nothing to do with [terrorism] and that Giuliani has never heard of this is preposterous," he said. "Even the 9/11 investigation report supports my position that there is blowback, that there are consequences." In its analysis of the motivating factors behind the al Qaeda attacks, the 9/11 Commission, formally known as The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, noted that bin Laden "stresses grievances against the United States widely shared in the Muslim world."

"He (bin Laden) inveighed against the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam's holiest sites. He spoke of the suffering of the Iraqi people as a result of sanctions imposed after the Gulf War," the commission report stated. Paul also cited a 2003 Vanity Fair interview with Paul Wolfowitz in which the then-deputy defense secretary said that U.S. troop presence in Saudi Arabia had been a "huge recruiting device for al Qaeda." "In fact, if you look at bin Laden, one of his principle grievances was the presence of so-called crusader forces on the holy land," Wolfowitz told Vanity Fair.

Paul said that addressing the grievances expressed by terrorist leaders like bin Laden could reduce the motivation for terrorist actions against the United States and its citizens. "They need something really forceful to get somebody to commit suicide terrorism," Paul said, adding that bin Laden and other terrorists would be "disappointed if we leave" Iraq because it would remove a major recruiting device. "He distorted what I believe," Paul said of Giuliani, criticizing his opponent for what he viewed as a personal attack. "We just need to get away from the demagoguing and the challenging [of] patriotism.

"The issue is foreign policy. It's not patriotism," Paul said, calling it "ridiculous" and "preposterous" to characterize his statement as placing blame for the attacks on the victims. In a statement e-mailed to Cybercast News Service , Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella said "to further declare Rudy Giuliani needs to be educated on September 11th when millions of people around the world saw him dealing with these terrorist attacks firsthand is just absurd." "It is extraordinary and reckless to claim that the United States invited the attacks on September 11th," Comella stated. She did not respond to Paul's invitation to debate Giuliani on foreign policy issues.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: debates; paulbearers; paulistas; ronisright; ronpaul; ronpaulcult; stoprudynow
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Comment #41 Removed by Moderator

To: Coleus

Suggestion time: why not just stop posting to any Paul post..let them die due to inaction.


42 posted on 05/27/2007 4:50:34 AM PDT by engrpat
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To: JHBowden

Like the other howling baboons on this thread, you simply rely on what other people have told you to think.

Basic history lesson: FDR pushed the Japanese hard with embargoes and trade sanctions. There is substantial evidence to suggest that he did it to force them to do something overt, thereby giving us a reason to get involved with World War II. The evidence also shows that he vastly underestimated their reaction, thereby resulting in many deaths and loss of military armament. However, his goal was achieved.

I marvel at the empty minds who think everything that happens on the geopolitical stage occurs in a vacuum. I’d be willing to bet you’re one of those people who is proud that we took Saddam out, but who is utterly oblivious to the fact that we put him there in the first place.

Oh, and by the way, I’m not sure what you think “Paul’s stupid theory” is, but I’d be willing to bet that what you think he said is, in fact, not at all what he said. You likely either read what others have said about it, or you clutched at your emotional reaction to parts of what he said and failed to engage your brain to completely understand.


43 posted on 05/27/2007 5:32:08 AM PDT by NCSteve (Trying to take something off the Internet is like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.)
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To: Chi-townChief
I assign Paul to read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich for his foreign policy lesson.

Undoubtedly the single worst "history" of WW II.

It's a joke among real historians. A newspaper hack wrote it and gave it a pretentious title. Filled with populist cliches and obsessed with pointless details.
44 posted on 05/27/2007 6:03:34 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: George W. Bush

But Shirer nicely points out everywhere along the line the Nazis could have been stopped.


45 posted on 05/27/2007 7:57:14 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: Chi-townChief

To the person who keeps copying and pasting the Ron Paul list of policies, you may as well just post this:

He opposes regulating the Internet
He opposes regulating the Internet
He opposes regulating the Internet

And, along with Tom Tancredo, that makes him unique. It gives Ron Paul a lot of popularity on...the Internet of all places. :-)

Paul’s view on the Iraq War leaves me unimpressed. It is almost the Noam Chomsky view, although half the conservative state of Wyoming would agree with it.

Since the Iraq War and any hostilities with Iran are expected to be over by January 2009...I am not putting the issue on my top 5 list of priorities.


46 posted on 05/27/2007 8:55:02 AM PDT by FloridaVet
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To: The_Eaglet

Maher is about as far left was you can get.

Paul wants to legalize dope.

Paul is a Truther

That is why the far Left, like Maher love him.


47 posted on 05/27/2007 8:59:06 AM PDT by bnelson44 (http://www.appealforcourage.org)
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To: Coleus; The_Eaglet

Check out the Educating Rudy press conference. Good stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAt6Pf7jZjA


48 posted on 05/27/2007 9:06:18 AM PDT by Diago (What was Urban Moving Systems?)
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To: bnelson44

Giuliani will be making a mistake not to debate Paul on TV at least informally. By not doing so, it makes it look like he disagrees with Paul on everything.

The reason why this is more of a mistake for Giuliani than the other candidates, is because Giuliani had been the favorite of the small l libertarians in the Republican Party until the debate.

Ron Paul, by the way, does small l libertarians a tremendous disservice by making it seem like being anti-war is part of that “philosophy”. But Giulani makes a mistake by thinking that Ron Paul is popular with people who would not have voted for Giulani anyway.

Giuliani cannot win the general election without the kind of people who are now into Ron Paul.

If I were a Giuliani advisor, I would coopt some of Ron Paul’s best rhetoric about government staying out of people’s lives and go on TV to complement Paul on some issues, while reminding everyone that Al Qaeda had, and still has, the intention of taking over the world’s oil and ruling the world.


49 posted on 05/27/2007 9:13:29 AM PDT by FloridaVet
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To: prudy8
Thought I’d find the place full of people who love Liberty instead most of what I’ve read so far is a bunch of mud slinging.

You'll see this happening on a lot of Ron Paul threads.

That's because the FRINOs are more in love with neo-con globalism than actual liberty.

50 posted on 05/27/2007 10:00:55 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: jonrick46
I detect that those who advocate for Paul’s candidacy have a hidden agenda: The legalization of drugs.

Yeah, and we also want unlimited porn too.

51 posted on 05/27/2007 10:02:50 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: NCSteve; philman_36; JHBowden
Basic history lesson: FDR pushed the Japanese hard with embargoes and trade sanctions. There is substantial evidence to suggest that he did it to force them to do something overt, thereby giving us a reason to get involved with World War II. /i>

An interesting read is the McCollum Memo from Lieutenant Commander Arthur McCollum of the Office of Naval Intelligence...who submitted the memo in October 1940 to Navy Captains Walter Anderson and Dudley Knox ...who were both two of the highest-ranking military advisers to FDR. An excerpt from the memo:

It is not believed that in the present state of political opinion the United States government is capable of declaring war against Japan without more ado; and it is barely possible that vigorous action on our part might lead the Japanese to modify their attitude. Therefore, the following course of action is suggested:

A. Make an arrangement with Britain for the use of British bases in the Pacific, particularly Singapore.

B. Make an arrangement with Holland for the use of base facilities and acquisition of supplies in the Dutch East Indies.

C. Give all possible aid to the Chinese government of Chiang-Kai-Shek.

D. Send a division of long range heavy cruisers to the Orient, Philippines, or Singapore.

E. Send two divisions of submarines to the Orient.

F. Keep the main strength of the U.S. fleet now in the Pacific in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands.

G. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demands for undue economic concessions, particularly oil.

H. Completely embargo all U.S. trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.

10. If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better. At all events we must be fully prepared to accept the threat of war.

The memo was written in October 1940...and by December of '41, all 8 of the recommendations had been implemented. It could be argued that all of the actions proposed were designed to neutralize Japan...which the memo argued was vital to the British effort in Europe...but at the same time, the memo is also proof that high level advisers to FDR were hoping to goad the Japanese into an attack on the US so that they could marginalize the American public's resistance to getting involved in WWII.

52 posted on 05/27/2007 10:34:47 AM PDT by Irontank (Ron Paul for President)
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To: Diago; George W. Bush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAt6Pf7jZjA

Yes, it is. I am glad Paul could make up for some of the time for which he was defrauded in the debate. FOXNews and the SC GOP failed to deliver on that $25,000 entry fee.

53 posted on 05/27/2007 11:42:58 AM PDT by The_Eaglet
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To: FloridaVet

“Giuliani will be making a mistake not to debate Paul on TV at least informally. By not doing so, it makes it look like he disagrees with Paul on everything.”

So what?


54 posted on 05/27/2007 11:56:48 AM PDT by bnelson44 (http://www.appealforcourage.org)
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To: jonrick46

“And with the Libertarian fetish of less government, I know there would be dark days in America...”

It’s disturbing to see supposed conservatives on a supposedly conservative forum dismissing the concept of limited government as a “Libertarian fetish” that will lead to “dark days in America.”


55 posted on 05/27/2007 12:01:22 PM PDT by TrojanConservative
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To: prudy8
The use of alcohal in a society that has no guarantees about what to do about those who abuse it is a runaway train to the dark side. The Libertarian is like telling the train crew to kick up their feet and pop the champaign. While they are letting the train go off the cliff, they are telling the passengers, like their hero, Alfred E. Neuman, “What me worry?”

Is is a good thing you stopped smoking pot. If you wanted to work at my company, you would have failed the drug test. And, if you did work at my company, a random drug test would have guaranteed you the door. However, in a Libertarian world, you would probably be introducing the drug to your children and your pets. Then you would hand someone like your son the keys to the car a ask him to get a rack a beer and not to forget to pick up the meth(a pick-me-up for the fork lift job—or whatever—the next morning). In a Libertarian world there would be no guarantees that we would be safe from you, your family and your pets. We would live in fear that your drug use on and off the job would be a danger to those around you. And we would be justified in our fears because by the fact that you do the drugs it would show that you had no consideration for the lives you threaten around you.

The Libertarian cult is a made to order political system for the narcissist individual who considers only their self-indulgent lifestyle and has no regard about how it will affect those around them. Ron Paul is playing the millions of those affected by our materialistic lifestyle who have abandoned the God of our forefathers and worship the god of self.

If the Libertarian want a candidate for President, why not run Alfred E. Neuman? Did you forget that he has been running for President since 1956? He would be just your style. Here is his latest web site:

http://www.olsoutherner.us/alfred-for-prez.htm

56 posted on 05/27/2007 1:02:07 PM PDT by jonrick46
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To: bnelson44
Bill Maher's audience scream for Ron Paul. Case closed.
Alex Jones and the 'truthers' fave candidate -

- Case closed.

57 posted on 05/27/2007 1:09:05 PM PDT by _Jim (Highly recommended book on the Kennedy assassination - Posner: "Case Closed")
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To: TrojanConservative
I am not dismissing the concept of limited government. You are taking the concept way over to the dark side. At the same time you are using the concept to defeat conservatism by taking it to the extreme. What is the missing element? Simple guarantees that I will be protected from harm when human nature takes liberties to the extreme.
58 posted on 05/27/2007 1:10:19 PM PDT by jonrick46
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To: prudy8
I suppose most of you intend for this country to again become a ?Free Republic? in the North American Union. Be sure you are carrying your papers for now and later your microchip.
Welcome Alex Jones supporter!

Does fire not indeed melt steel?

59 posted on 05/27/2007 1:12:18 PM PDT by _Jim (Highly recommended book on the Kennedy assassination - Posner: "Case Closed")
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To: FloridaVet
Giuliani will be making a mistake not to debate Paul on TV
How many years has that nutjob Ron Paul been in congress now?

And what does he have to show for it?

A fully-paid pension and NO accomplishments ...

60 posted on 05/27/2007 1:14:19 PM PDT by _Jim (Highly recommended book on the Kennedy assassination - Posner: "Case Closed")
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