Paul Right, Romney Wrong on Iraq and 9/11

John Birch Society ^ | 8-8-07 | Gary Benoit

[CJ Wolf]

Ron Paul was right during the Des Moines Republican debate when he said that our going into Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. And Mitt Romney was wrong when he interrupted him.

At the Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on August 5, Congressman Ron Paul made clear that our going to war against Iraq had nothing to do with going after al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that attacked us on 9/11.

"The neoconservatives promoted this war many, many years before it was started," Paul said during the debate. "It had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. There was no al-Qaeda in Iraq." As Ron Paul elaborated on how wrong the neocons have been, Governor Romney, apparently attempting to telegraph his disgust with the congressman’s remarks, snidely said to the audience, "Has he forgotten about 9/11?" as he gestured with his hands. A couple seconds later, Romney again rudely interrupted — "Have you forgotten about..." — as Paul continued using the time allotted to him.

Later in the debate, Paul revisited the subject of al-Qaeda. "I supported going after the al-Qaeda into Afghanistan," he said, "but, lo and behold, the neocons took over. They forgot about Osama bin Laden. And what they did, they went into nation- building, not only in Afghanistan, they went unjustifiably over into Iraq. And that’s why we’re in this mess today."

Put simply, Ron Paul does not believe we went into Iraq because of 9/11. But Mitt Romney obviously believes we did. So who’s right?

It is true that President Bush and other neocons in his administration have repeatedly juxtaposed references to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to those of 9/11 in their public statements. In so doing, they have created the impression among many Americans — apparently including Romney — that Saddam Hussein had attacked us on 9/11. But the administration did not explicitly say this and did not even present evidence supporting this allegation. As President Bush himself said on September 17, 2003: "We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th [attacks]."

The administration did portray an al-Qaeda/Iraq connection as a concrete fact. Yet in a January 8, 2004 press conference, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged: "There is not — you know, I have not seen smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection, but I think the possibility of such connections did exist and it was prudent to consider them at the time that we did." In truth, the evidence simply was not there.

By interrupting Congressman Paul with his "Has he forgotten about 9/11?" protestation, Governor Romney not only made himself appear less than presidential, he also confirmed that, where Iraq is concerned, he does not know what he’s talking about.

[ejonesie22]

Umm Shrimpfest...

Now I have to go to Red Paulster...

I mean Lobster, Red Lobster...

[uncbob]

If Saddam was still in power, there would be a whole lot of big-ticket, state-sponsored, ready-for-export terrorist plotting, planning and conspiring going on in Iraq today.

And just what does Paul think Saddam would have been doing while Iran and Kadafy were working on their nukes, playing Nintendo games

[redgirlinabluestate]

Romney is right. Going to Iraq had everything to do with preventing the NEXT 9/11.

Appeasement and/or doing nothing kills. See 9/11/01.

[WhiteGuy]

Actually, that is a complete myth.

What is a myth?

That they forgot about binladen?

Or that they went into "nation building"

While I'm sure saying that the CIC forgot about binladen was a figure of speech, (I'll bet someone brings his name up in meetings once or twice a week), capturing or killing the person responsible for 9-11 has really not been much of a priority.

The operation in iraq is clearly classical nation building, which was denounced roundly when the former CIC was doing it....

So the number of troops went up.....so what, 5 years later nothing.

A complete myth? Not a chance.

[GunRunner]

Do that many Freepers want to legalize drugs?

Marijuana should absolutely be legal.

We'll see about the others. I would not want to see coke and heroin legal, but I think the case can be made that the drug war is inherently just as destructive as having these things legal. And I think it is without question that we are a less free society because of the drug war.

[bikerMD]

Is the endorsement of the John Birch Society supposed to make me feel BETTER about Ron Paul?

"RON PAUL ROCKS DUDE!"

No. But this guy's endorsement will go a long way toward getting Ron Paul the respect and recognition that he deserves.

[CJ Wolf]

“Appeasement and/or doing nothing kills. See 9/11/01.”

I assume you are talking about Clintons policies?

[Allegra]

So, from your view over there, all is hunky dory right? No Al Quaeda anywhere.. It must be true, Paul says so..

There's a lot less al Qaeda here now because we aren't cutting and running.

It's been amazing here lately. Anybody who advocates cut and run at this point is either terribly misinformed or has a nasty agenda.

Oh....and al Qaeda was in Iraq before we were. The training camp areas still stand as proof. They are just not being utilized as training camps anymore. ;-)

[ejonesie22]

Ah, the great Paulholio...

[Allegra]

How’s life in Al Finbar?

LOL. Poor Finbar....having his name sound like that place. (Which is remarkably calmer and more settled down these days, by the way.)

[mnehring]

Complete myth on both. First, that we 'forgot about binLadin', already cited from the commander on the field about that. Second, that we are 'nation building'.. nope, we are nation re-building and controlling the battlefield. It is not 'classical nation building' in that we are creating and controlling the ongoing battlefield in a larger war. After we liberated the Philippines from the Japanese, Eisenhower then used that as a base of operations to continue the battle. The battle for the Philippines wasn't the war, it was a smaller battle in the war. Rebuilding the Philippines after we took the land back was not nation building, it was rebuilding the infrastructure to use as a strategic asset.

[showme_the_Glory]

“I ain’t even got a garage. you can call home and ask muh wife”

[4CJ]

As President Bush himself said on September 17, 2003: "We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th [attacks]." ... Yet in a January 8, 2004 press conference, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged: "There is not ... concrete evidence about the connection".

(For the record, I'm a former John Birch Society member.)

And I should believe you ;o)

[mnehring]

It is so sad that people would believe Paul over a first hand witness to the reality of the situation like you. It’s like a previous poster dismissing Tommy Frank’s own assessment of the situation.

[dighton]

Paul/Ripper ’08!

“Because we do deny neocons our life essence.”

[WhiteGuy]

Believe what ever you wish.

[mnehring]

You have fallen into the same trap that we hear from many anti-war leftists..
your comments are referring to the specific 9/11 attack, I didn’t say anything about the 9/11 attack, I said connection to Al Quaeda. There wasn’t evidence that Iraq was behind 9/11, there was evidence that he had a connection to Al Quaeda.

[mnehring]

You have fallen into the same trap that we hear from many anti-war leftists..
your comments are referring to the specific 9/11 attack, I didn’t say anything about the 9/11 attack, I said connection to Al Quaeda. There wasn’t evidence that Iraq was behind 9/11, there was evidence that he had a connection to Al Quaeda.

[jveritas]

The Iraqi documents prove that Saddam had relations to Al Qaeda and that he trained the foreign Arab terrorists who constituted later on the main body of Al Qaeda in Iraq and that they have been causing untold death and destruction since 2003. Zarqawi was in Iraq since 2002 and there is one document that proves it. Zarqawi established “Ansar Al Islam” in Northern Iraq in 2002. Also a recent video released by Al Qaeda in April of 2007 called “The Returns to the Mountains” shows them training in the Mountains of Kurdistan sometime from 2002 to early 2003. Al Qaeda could not possibly enter Iraq without the full knowledge and approval of Saddam even if they originally established in the Northern region of Iraq. Freepers “April15bendovr” and “futureF22Pilot” had made a new YouTube video about Salman Pak and how Al Qaeda and other terrorist were trained there by Saddam regime. Freeper "Ikez78" had many articles showing Saddam strong relation to terrorism including Al Qaeda.

Below are the Iraqi documents that show Saddam regime relation with Al Qaeda and Foreign Arabs terrorists who became Al Qaeda later on.

Saddam Regime Document: Iraqi Intelligence met with Bin Laden in 1995 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600579/posts

Captured Al Qaeda Document Shows Bin Laden Deputy Aymen Al Zawahiri Visited Iraq http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1825605/posts

Document: Zarqawi in Iraq Long Before the War Started http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1598259/posts

Document: Saddam Regime Training and Using Foreign Arab Terrorists As Suicide Bombers. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600367/posts

2003 Document: Saddam Ordered To Treat The Arab Feedayeen Terrorists The Same As Iraqi Soldiers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1618519/posts

Document: Iraqi Intelligence To Train Arab Feedayeen Terrorists In the Year 2000 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617431/posts

2003 Document: Hundreds of Palestinian Terrorists to Join Saddam And Fight US Troops to Join Saddam And Fight US Troops http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1726660/posts

Document: Afghani Taliban Consul Spoke of a Relationship Between Iraq and Bin Laden http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1597459/posts

March 2002 Document: Saddam Ordered 25,000 Dollars for Each Suicide Terrorist Against Israel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602317/posts

2003 Document: Iraqi Intelligence Asks Hamas To Conduct Terrorist Attacks Against The US. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607915/posts

[massgopguy]

Ron Paul is aligned with the Liberty Cause and invariably the conversation flows towards the “Israel” question.