Free Republic
Browse · Search
RLC Liberty Caucus
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Fight them over there vs. over here' a false choice
The Washington Times ^ | 2009-07-01 | U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, 14th District

Posted on 07/03/2009 9:11:35 AM PDT by rabscuttle385

There is no area in which Republicans have further strayed from our traditions than in foreign affairs.

Generations of conservatives followed the great advice of our Founding Fathers and pursued a restrained foreign policy that rebuffed entangling alliances and advised America, in the words of John Quincy Adams, not to "go abroad looking for dragons to slay."

Sen. Robert Taft, the stalwart of the Old Right, urged America to stay out of NATO. Dwight Eisenhower was elected on a platform promising to get us out of the conflict in Korea. Richard Nixon promised to end the war in Vietnam.

Republicans were highly critical of Bill Clinton for his adventurism in Somalia and Kosovo. As recently as 2000, George W. Bush campaigned on a "humbler" foreign policy and decried nation-building.

But our foreign policy today looks starkly different.

Neoconservatives who have come to power in both the Democratic and Republican parties argue that the U.S. must ether confront every evil in every corner of the globe or risk danger at home. We need to "fight them over there" they say, so we don't have to "fight them over here." This argument presents a false choice. We do not have to pick between interventionism and vulnerability. The complexity of our world is exactly why the lessons of our past should ring true and demand a return to a traditional, pro-American foreign policy: one of nonintervention.

Moving forward, I suggest that we as Americans adhere to these five principles:

1. We do not abdicate American sovereignty to global institutions...

2. We provide a strong national defense, but we do not police the world...

3. We obey the Constitution and follow the rule of law...

4. We do not engage in nation-building...

5. We stay out of the internal affairs of other nations...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Issues
KEYWORDS: fauxconservatives; foreignpolicy; lunatic; noninterventionism; nutjob; psycho; realconservatives; ronpaul; youknowhesnuts
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121 next last
To: Gondring

Your logic is flawed, I never said that 911 was an attack allowed to happen by the Bush Administration as would the weakest truther.

What I said was every time we fought them here we lost badly.

Learn the difference,


101 posted on 07/04/2009 12:29:11 PM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: usmcobra
What I said was every time we fought them here we lost badly.

And you used 9/11 as support, as if we had "fought them here"... which must mean that you believe Desert Shield/Desert Storm were "fought here"...

...making you a "truther" about the early 90s deployment/action being coooked up in Hollywood or something. As for me, I believe that it took place in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and other assisting nations.

102 posted on 07/04/2009 12:37:38 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: randomhero97
What a brilliant military mind you do possess. The fact that the Saudi king has been our greatest ally against Communism for the past 60 years, is a small detail that shouldn't have any influence on your well thought-out strategy. And since every real student of the war on terror knows bin Laden hates the Royal family and Saudi Arabia as much as he hates America, you're likely to head off to battle alone, with your paper sword and lollipops.

If you read anything about bin Laden you'd know he deliberately used Saudis on 9/11 to provoke hatred between his two greatest enemies. And you ate it up with a spoon. Sucker.

103 posted on 07/04/2009 12:43:19 PM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: Gondring

Boy, you sure have your head up your rectum.

Over here is on our shores not in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.

As a matter of fact I don’t ever think you know what the hell you are talking about.

Name for me one battle that took place inside the borders of the United States during Desert Storm or Shield?

Come on genius name one...


104 posted on 07/04/2009 12:46:25 PM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: Deb
Who is the number one financier of terrorism worldwide? What is most militant form of Islam? Who finances the building of mosques nation wide in the US? What Middle Eastern country is the most intolerent to other religions?

The Saudis are going to do what's best for the Saudis. You are abolutely insane if you think they are our ally just to be our ally.

Does your "real student" of the war on terror studies include Google and various other search engines? Please just stop talking about stuff you have absolutely no idea about.
105 posted on 07/04/2009 2:14:08 PM PDT by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: Deb
he hates America,

He hates us because of our freedoms, right? What a f**king joke.

He "hates" us because we won't let them rot in the desert with their thirteenth century bs. That would be easier if we could have our own domestic oil supply. It's a national security priority IMO.
106 posted on 07/04/2009 2:22:13 PM PDT by randomhero97 ("First you want to kill me, now you want to kiss me. Blow!" - Ash)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Jazzy
That is the one fact that makes his ideas in this area untenable.

He is right, by the strategic standards present in the age of sail...

107 posted on 07/04/2009 2:51:11 PM PDT by ejonesie22 (Mitt Romney is a more subtle version of Arlen Specter with better hair...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Deb
They do bring out an interesting sort.

I agree with them in many ways, but reality has it's own demands...

For instance when we get a fence built all the way around the nation (I guess screw Alaska and Hawaii) that stops any one getting in (and still lets me go deep sea fishing) as well as stop incoming missiles 100% then I am all for Paul's ideas.

As long as everyone in the USA can spend enough to make up for our lost international sales as to keep manufacturing going (shocking, but we do sell things overseas)...

108 posted on 07/04/2009 3:07:10 PM PDT by ejonesie22 (Mitt Romney is a more subtle version of Arlen Specter with better hair...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: Deb
Exactly. Little do folks realize how much help the Saudis have been in all of this, as well as before.

The have risked the stability of their country to help us.

109 posted on 07/04/2009 3:10:42 PM PDT by ejonesie22 (Mitt Romney is a more subtle version of Arlen Specter with better hair...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]

To: usmcobra

You are the one claiming we fought them here, not I.

I say we didn’t do the “fight them over here” option.


110 posted on 07/04/2009 3:27:33 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: Gondring

Please point out where I said we fought them over here prior to 911 or apologise for being a cretin.

Your choice.....


111 posted on 07/04/2009 5:17:17 PM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: usmcobra

False dichotomy.


112 posted on 07/04/2009 6:06:08 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: Gondring; usmcobra
"We tried fighting them over here, it ended badly on September 11, 2001." So you're one of those "truthers" who believes that Desert Shield/Desert Storm were created on a Hollywood soundstage?

I didn't get that from usmcobra's remark. In fact, as a standalone (without going back to reread his entire post) I'm inclined to agree with him. We (collectively; the government) treated terrorism on our territory (including embassies and vessels) as a law enforcement problem, to be dealt with on our soil and in our courts. Bad idea, as 9/11 showed us-- yes, that policy ended badly.

On the other hand, DS/DS was against a nation's army, not a band of terrorists, fought on their territory (and the territory they had invaded and annexed).

113 posted on 07/04/2009 6:55:19 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (Keep your powder dry, and your iron hidden.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: ExGeeEye; usmcobra

It might be a nice feeling to separate the two into different classifications, but that doesn’t mean everyone in the world is going to.

Now, usmcobra can pretend the Wahhabists don’t exist, but that’s sticking his head in the sand—which is another part of what led to 9/11. The fact is, DS/DS was fought “pver there” and was what led OBL to make 9/11 the day it became...so we cannot claim that we were fighting just here.


114 posted on 07/04/2009 7:12:34 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: Gondring

Where the hell do you get these insane allegations from?

First you claim that I am a truther, now you are claiming that I am pretending that Wahhabist don’t exist and say as well that I am claiming that we were just fighting here.

Apologise now or my next post will be to have your disgusting and still unproven accusations removed from this sight.


115 posted on 07/04/2009 7:42:03 PM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]

To: Gondring; usmcobra

They.

Are.

Separate.

And.

Distinct.

The inability of others to see reality does not indicate an error in reality.


116 posted on 07/05/2009 5:05:37 AM PDT by ExGeeEye (Keep your powder dry, and your iron hidden.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]

To: ExGeeEye; Gondring

Frankly I think this person is trying to discredit what I say by labelling me a truther, despite the fact truthers are in league and in sync with Code Pink, International Answer, and other left wing groups I have personally demonstrated against.


117 posted on 07/05/2009 8:51:01 AM PDT by usmcobra (Your chances of dying in bed are reduced by getting out of it, but most people still die in bed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: ejonesie22

Did you see Drudge today? The Saudis have said they will ignore Israeli planes that fly thru their air space to attack Iran. Incredible.


118 posted on 07/05/2009 1:01:43 PM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: Deb
Not surprising, indeed imminently logical.

The Saudis walk a tight rope between the modern world and the barbarity of fundamental Islam

Iran with nukes pushes down a wee bit TOO much on the balancing pole...

Of course they will have internal backlash, but that is what oil money is for...

119 posted on 07/05/2009 1:04:49 PM PDT by ejonesie22 (Mitt Romney is a more subtle version of Arlen Specter with better hair...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: rabscuttle385

I would prefer to fight them over here rather than put up with what happens at the airport and everything associated with the Patriot Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, anything engaged in by the Dept. of Homeland Security, etc., etc.


120 posted on 07/06/2009 7:37:34 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
RLC Liberty Caucus
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson