Ron Paul Quotes.com 2001 Ron Paul Chapter 80 Foreign Interventionism September 25, 2001 Home Page   Contents   Cached from Ron Paul’s Congressional website. Congressional Record   Cached

2001 Ron Paul 80:1 Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, the last 2 weeks have been tough for all Americans. The best we can say is that the events have rallied the American spirit of shared love and generosity. Partisanship was put on hold as it well should have been. We now, as a free people, must deal with this tragedy in the best way possible. Punishment and prevention is mandatory. 2001 Ron Paul 80:2 We must not, however, sacrifice our liberties at the hand of an irrational urgency. Calm deliberation in our effort to restore normalcy is crucial. Cries for dropping nuclear bombs on an enemy not yet identified cannot possibly help in achieving this goal. 2001 Ron Paul 80:3 Mr. Speaker, I returned to Congress 5 years ago out of deep concern about our foreign policy of international interventionism and a monetary and fiscal policy, I believe, would lead to a financial and dollar crisis. 2001 Ron Paul 80:4 Over the past 5 years, I have frequently expressed my views on these issues and why I believe our policies should be changed. This deep concern prompted me to seek and receive seats on the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on International Relations. 2001 Ron Paul 80:5 I sought to thwart some of the dangers I saw coming, but as the horrific attacks shows, these efforts were to no avail. As concerned as I was, the enormity of the two-pronged crisis that we now face came with a ferocity no one ever wanted to imagine. Now we must deal with what we have and do our best to restore our country to a more normal status. 2001 Ron Paul 80:6 I do not believe this can happen if we ignore the truth. We cannot close our eyes to the recent history that has brought us to this international crisis. We should guard against emotionally driven demands to kill many bystanders in an effort to liquidate our enemy. These efforts could well fail to punish the perpetrators while only expanding the war and making things worse by killing innocent noncombatants and further radicalizing Muslim people. 2001 Ron Paul 80:7 It is obviously no easy task to destroy an almost invisible ubiquitous enemy spread throughout the world without expanding the war or infringing on our liberties here at home. Above all else that is our mandate and our key constitutional responsibility, protecting liberty and providing for national security. 2001 Ron Paul 80:8 My strong belief is that in the past efforts in the U.S. Congress to do much more than this has diverted our attention and, hence, led to our neglect of these responsibilities. Following the September 11 disasters, a militant Islamic group in Pakistan held up a sign for all the world to see. It said: “Americans, think! Why you are hated all over the world.” We abhor the messenger, but we should not ignore the message. 2001 Ron Paul 80:9 Here at home we are told that the only reason for the suicidal mass killing we experienced on September 11 is that we are hated because we are free and prosperous. If these two conflicting views are not reconciled we cannot wisely fight nor win the war in which we now find ourselves. We must understand why the hatred is directed toward Americans and not any other Western country. 2001 Ron Paul 80:10 In studying history, I, as many others, have come to the conclusion that war is most often fought for economic reasons, but economic wars are driven by moral and emotional overtones. Our own revolution was fought to escape from the excessive taxation but was inspired and driven by our desire to protect our God-given right to liberty. 2001 Ron Paul 80:11 The War Between the States, fought primarily over tariffs, was nonetheless inspired by the abhorrence of slavery. It is this moral inspiration that drives people to suicidally fight to the death as so many Americans did between 1861 and 1865. 2001 Ron Paul 80:12 Both economic and moral causes of war must be understood. Ignoring the importance of each is dangerous. We should not casually ignore the root causes of our current fight nor pursue this fight by merely accepting the explanation that they terrorize us out of jealousy. 2001 Ron Paul 80:13 It has already been written that Islamic militants are fighting a holy war, a jihad. This drives them to commit acts that to us are beyond comprehension. It seems that they have no concern for economic issues since they have no regard even for their own lives, but an economic issue does exist in this war. It is oil. 2001 Ron Paul 80:14 When the conflict broke out between Iraq and Iran in the early 1980s, we helped to finance and arm Iraq and Saddam Hussein. At that time, Anwar Sadat of Egypt profoundly stated, “This is the beginning of the war for oil.” Our crisis today is part of this long-lasting war over oil. 2001 Ron Paul 80:15 Osama bin Laden, a wealthy man, left Saudi Arabia in 1979 to join American-sponsored so-called freedom fighters in Afghanistan. He received financial assistance, weapons and training from our CIA, just as his allies in Kosovo continue to receive the same from us today. 2001 Ron Paul 80:16 Unbelievably, to this day our foreign aid continues to flow into Afghanistan, even as we prepare to go to war against her. My suggestion is, not only should we stop this aid immediately, but we should never have started it in the first place. 2001 Ron Paul 80:17 It is during this time, bin Laden learned to practice terror tragically with money from the U.S. taxpayer, but it was not until 1991 during what we referred to as the Persian Gulf War that he turned fully against the United States. It was this war, said to protect our oil, that brought out the worst in him. Of course, it is not our oil. The oil, in fact, belongs to the Arabs and other Muslim Nations on the Persian gulf. 2001 Ron Paul 80:18 Our military presence in Saudi Arabia is what most Muslims believe to be a sacred violation of holy land. The continuous bombing and embargo of Iraq has intensified the hatred and contributed to more than a million deaths in Iraq. It is clear that protecting certain oil interests and our presence in the Persian Gulf helps drive this holy war. 2001 Ron Paul 80:19 Muslims see this as an invasion and domination by a foreign enemy which inspires radicalism. This is not new. This war, from their viewpoint, has been going on since the Crusades 1,000 years ago. We ignore this history at our own peril. 2001 Ron Paul 80:20 The radicals react as some Americans might react if China dominated the Gulf of Mexico and had air bases in Texas and Florida. Dominating the Persian Gulf is not a benign activity. It has consequences. The attack on the U.S.S. Cole was a warning we ignored. Furthermore, our support for secular governments in the moderate Arab country is interpreted by the radicals as more American control over their region that they want. 2001 Ron Paul 80:21 There is no doubt that our policies that are seen by the radicals as favoring one faction over another in the long-lasting Middle East conflict adds to the distrust and hatred of America. 2001 Ron Paul 80:22 The hatred has been suppressed because we are a powerful economic and military force and wield a lot of influence. But this suppressed hatred is now becoming more visible. And we, as Americans, for the most part, are not even aware of how this could be. Americans have no animosity toward a people they hardly even know. Instead, our policies have been driven by the commercial interests of a few, and now the innocent suffer. 2001 Ron Paul 80:23 I am hopeful that shedding a light on the truth will be helpful in resolving this conflict in the very dangerous period that lies ahead. Without some understanding of the recent and past history of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, we cannot expect to punish the evildoers without expanding the nightmare of hatred that is now sweeping the world. Punishing the evildoers is crucial. Restoring safety and security to our country is critical. Providing for a strong defense is essential. But extricating ourselves from a holy war that we do not understand is also necessary if we expect to achieve the above-mentioned goals. 2001 Ron Paul 80:24 Let us all hope and pray for guidance in our effort to restore the peace and tranquility we all desire. We did a poor job in providing the security that all Americans should expect, and this is our foremost responsibility. Some Members have been quick to point out the shortcomings of the FBI, the CIA, and the FAA, and to claim more money will rectify the situation. I am not so sure. Bureaucracies, by nature, are inefficient. The FBI and CIA records come up short. The FBI loses computers and guns and is careless with records. The CIA rarely provides timely intelligence. The FAAís idea of security against hijackers is asking all passengers who packed their bags. 2001 Ron Paul 80:25 The clamor now is to give more authority and money to these agencies. But remember, important industries like our chemical plants and refineries do not depend on government agencies for security. They build fences and hire guards with guns. The airlines have not been allowed to do the same thing. There was a time when airline pilots were allowed and did carry guns, and yet this has been prohibited by government regulations. If this responsibility had been left with the airlines to provide safety, they may well have had armed guards and pilots on the planes, just as our industrial sites have. 2001 Ron Paul 80:26 Privatizing the FAA, as other countries have, would also give airlines more leeway in providing security. My bill, H.R. 2896, should be passed immediately to clarify that the Federal Government will never place a prohibition on pilots being armed. We do not need more laws restricting our civil liberties, we need more freedom to defend ourselves. 2001 Ron Paul 80:27 We face an enormous task to restore the sense of security we have taken for granted for so long, but it can be done. Destroying the evildoers while extricating ourselves from this unholiest of wars is no small challenge. The job is somewhat like getting out of a pit filled with venomous snakes. The sooner we shoot the snakes that immediately threaten us, the sooner we can get safely away. If we are not careful, though, we will breed more snakes; and they will come out of every nook and cranny from around the world and little will be resolved. 2001 Ron Paul 80:28 It is no easy task, but before we fight, we had better be precise about whom we are fighting and how many there are and where they are hiding; or we will never know when the war is over and our goals are achieved. Without this knowledge, the war can go on for a long, long time. And the war for oil has already been going on for more than 20 years. To this point, our President and his administration has displayed the necessary deliberation. This is a positive change from unauthorized and ineffective retaliatory bombings in past years that only worsened various conflicts. If we cannot or will not define the enemy, the cost to fight such a war will be endless. 2001 Ron Paul 80:29 How many American troops are we prepared to lose? How much money are we prepared to spend? How many innocent civilians in our Nation and others are we willing to see killed? How many American civilians will be jeopardized? How much of our civil liberties are we prepared to give up? How much prosperity will we sacrifice? 2001 Ron Paul 80:30 The founders and authors of our Constitution provided an answer for the difficult task that we now face. When a precise declaration of war was impossible due to the vagueness of our enemy, the Congress was expected to take it upon themselves to direct the reprisal against an enemy not recognized as a government. In the early days, the concern was piracy on the high seas. Piracy was one of only three Federal crimes named in the original Constitution. Today, we have a new type of deadly piracy in the high sky over our country. 2001 Ron Paul 80:31 The solution the founders came up with under these circumstances was for Congress to grant letters of marque and reprisal. This puts the responsibility in the hands of Congress to direct the President to perform the task, with permission to use and reward private sources to carry out the task, such as the elimination of Osama bin Laden and his key supporters. This narrows targeting the enemy. 2001 Ron Paul 80:32 This effort would not preclude the Presidentís other efforts to resolve the crisis but, if successful, would preclude a foolish invasion of a remote country with a forbidding terrain like Afghanistan, a country that no foreign power has ever successfully conquered throughout all of history. Lives could be saved, billions of dollars could be saved, and escalation due to needless and senseless killing could be prevented. 2001 Ron Paul 80:33 Mr. Speaker, we must seriously consider this option. This answer is a world apart from the potential disaster of launching nuclear weapons or endless bombing of an unseen enemy. Marque and reprisal demands the enemy be seen and precisely targeted with minimal danger to others. It should be considered, and for various reasons, is far superior to any effort that could be carried out by the CIA. 2001 Ron Paul 80:34 We must not sacrifice the civil liberties that generations of Americans have enjoyed and fought for over the past 225 years. Unwise decisions in response to the terror inflicted on us may well fail to destroy our enemy, while undermining our liberties here at home. That will not be a victory worth celebrating. 2001 Ron Paul 80:35 The wise use of marque and reprisal could negate the need to undermine the privacy and rights of our citizens. As we work through this civil task, let us resist the temptation to invoke the most authoritarian of all notions that not too many years ago tore this Nation apart, the military draft. 2001 Ron Paul 80:36 The country is now unified against the enemy. The military draft does nothing to contribute to unity, nor as the Pentagon again has confirmed, does it promote an efficient military. 2001 Ron Paul 80:37 Precise identification of all travelers on our air flights is a desired goal. A national ID issued by the Federal Government would prove to be disastrous to our civil liberties and should not be considered. This type of surveillance power should never be given to an intrusive, overbearing government no matter how well intentioned the motives. 2001 Ron Paul 80:38 The same result can be better achieved by the marketplace. Passenger IDs voluntarily issued by the airlines could be counterfeit-proof, and loss or theft of an ID could be immediately reported to the proper authorities. An ID, fingerprints, birth certificates, or any other information can be required without any violations of anyoneís personal liberty. 2001 Ron Paul 80:39 This delicate information would not be placed in the hands of the Government agents, but could be made available to law enforcement officers, like any other information obtained with probable cause in a search warrant. 2001 Ron Paul 80:40 The heat of the moment has prompted calls by some of our officials for great sacrifice of our liberties and privacy. This poses great danger to our way of life and will provide little help in dealing with our enemies. 2001 Ron Paul 80:41 Efforts of this sort will only punish the innocent and have no effect on a would-be terrorist. We should be careful not to do something just to do something, even something harmful. 2001 Ron Paul 80:42 Mr. Speaker, I fear that some big mistakes could be made in pursuit of our enemies if we do not proceed with great caution, wisdom, and deliberation. Action is necessary. Inaction is unacceptable. 2001 Ron Paul 80:43 No doubt others recognize the difficulties in targeting such an elusive enemy. This is why the principle behind the marque and reprisal must be given serious consideration. In retaliation, an unintended consequence of a policy of wanton destruction without benefit to our cause could result in the overthrow of moderate Arab nations by the radicals that support bin Laden. This will not serve our interests and will surely exacerbate the threat to all Americans. 2001 Ron Paul 80:44 As we search for a solution to the mess we are in, it behooves us to look at how John F. Kennedy handled the Cuban crisis in 1962. Personally, that crisis led to a 5-year tour in the U.S. Air Force for me. As horrible and dangerous as the present crisis is, those of us that held our breath during some very tense moments that October realized we were on the brink of a worldwide nuclear holocaust. 2001 Ron Paul 80:45 That crisis represented the greatest potential danger to the world in all of human history. President Kennedy held firm and stood up to the Soviets as he should have and the confrontation was resolved. What was not known at the time was the reassessment of our foreign policy that placed nuclear missiles in the Soviet’s back yard in Turkey. These missiles were quietly removed a few months later, and the world became a safer place in which to live. Eventually we won the Cold War without starting World War III. 2001 Ron Paul 80:46 Our enemy today, as formidable as he is, cannot compare to the armed might of the Soviet Union in the fall of 1962. Wisdom and caution on Kennedy’s part in dealing with the crisis was indeed a profile in courage. But his courage was not only in his standing up to the Soviets, but his willingness to reexamine our nuclear missile presence in Turkey which, if it had been known at the time, would have been condemned as an act of cowardice. 2001 Ron Paul 80:47 President Bush now has the challenge to do something equally courageous and wise. This is necessary if we expect to avert a catastrophic World War III. When the President asks for patience as he and his advisors deliberate seek a course of action, all Americans should surely heed this request. 2001 Ron Paul 80:48 Mr. Speaker, I support President Bush and voted for the authority and the money to carry out his responsibilities to defend this country. But the degree of death and destruction and chances of escalation must be carefully taken into consideration. 2001 Ron Paul 80:49 It is, though, only with sadness that I reflect on the support, the dollars, the troops, the weapons and training provided by U.S. taxpayers that are now being used against us. Logic should tell us that intervening in all the wars of the world has been detrimental to our own self-interest and should be reconsidered. 2001 Ron Paul 80:50 The efforts of a small minority in Congress to avoid this confrontation by voting for the foreign policy of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and all the 19th century Presidents went unheeded. 2001 Ron Paul 80:51 The unwise policy of supporting so many militants who later became our armed enemies makes little sense, whether it is bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. A policy designed to protect America is wise and frugal, and hopefully it will once again be considered. 2001 Ron Paul 80:52 George Washington, as we all know, advised strongly, as he departed his Presidency, that we should avoid all entangling alliances with foreign nations. 2001 Ron Paul 80:53 The call for a noninterventionist policy over the past year has fallen on deaf ears. My suggestions made here today will probably meet the same fate. Yet, if truth is spoken, ignoring it will not negate it. In that case, something will be lost. But if something is said to be true and it is not and it is ignored, nothing is lost. My goal is to contribute to the truth and to the security of this Nation. 2001 Ron Paul 80:54 What I have said today is different from what is said and accepted in Washington as conventional wisdom, but it is not in conflict with our history and our Constitution. It is a policy that has, whenever tried, generated more peace and prosperity than any other policy for dealing with foreign affairs. The authors of the Constitution clearly understood this. Since the light of truth shines brightest in the darkness of evil and ignorance, we should all strive to shine that light.  Notes: 2001 Ron Paul 80:1 Mr. Speaker, the last 2 weeks have been tough for all Americans. Here, the copy on Ron Paul’s Congressional website says, Mr. Speaker: Last week was a bad week for all Americans. 2001 Ron Paul 80:11 The War Between the States Here, the copy on Ron Paul’s Congressional website uses a lower case b: The War between the States. This name refers to the war in which each party was a “states”: the war between the Confederate States and the United States. 2001 Ron Paul 80:12 they terrorize us out of jealousy Here, Ron Paul’s Congressional website says, they terrorize us out of jealously, which makes no sense. 2001 Ron Paul 80:17 other Muslim Nations on the Persian gulf probably should have different capitalization: other Muslim nations on the Persian Gulf. 2001 Ron Paul 80:20 more American control over their region that they want probably should be more American control over their region than they want 2001 Ron Paul 80:44 worldwide or world-wide? The word is hyphenated at the end of a line of text in the Congressional Record. 2001 Ron Paul 80:47 as he and his advisors deliberate seek a course of action probably should be as he and his advisors deliberate to seek a course of action or as he and his advisors deliberate, seeking a course of action. This chapter appeared in Ron Paul’s Congressional website at http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2001/cr092501.htm

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