28 March 2006
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a
previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL) is recognized
for 5 minutes.
2006 Ron Paul 19:1
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, the top neoconservative of the 20th century
was Woodrow Wilson. His supposed
idealism, symbolized in the slogan,
Make the world safe for democracy,
resulted in untold death and destruction
across the world for many decades.
2006 Ron Paul 19:2
His deceit and manipulation of the prewar intelligence from Europe
dragged America into an unnecessary
conflict that cost the world and us
dearly. Without the disastrous
Versailles Treaty, World War II could
have been averted and the rise to power
of Communists around the world might
have been halted.
2006 Ron Paul 19:3
We seem to never learn from our mistakes. Todays neocons are as idealistically
misled and aggressive in remaking
the Middle East as the Wilsonian
do-gooders. Even given the horrendous
costs of the Iraq War and the unintended
consequences that plague us
today, the neocons are eager to expand
their regime-change policy to Iran by
force.
2006 Ron Paul 19:4
The obvious shortcomings of our regime change and occupation of Afghanistan
are now readily apparent. The
Taliban was ousted from power, but
they have regrouped and threaten the
delicate stability that now exists in
that country. Opium drug production is
once again a major operation with drug
lords controlling a huge area of the
country outside of Kabul. And now the
real nature of the government we created
has been revealed in the case of
Abdul Rahman, the Muslim who faced
a possible death sentence from the
Karzai administration for converting
to Christianity. Even now that Mr.
Rahman is free due to Western pressure
his life remains in danger.
2006 Ron Paul 19:5
Our bombs and guns have not changed the fact that the new puppet
Afghan Government still follows
Sharia law. The same loyalty to Sharia
exists in Iraq where we are trying hard
to stabilize things, and all this is done
in the name of spreading democracy.
2006 Ron Paul 19:6
The sad fact is that even under the despicable rule of Saddam Hussein,
Christians were safer in Iraq than they
are today. Saddam Husseins foreign
minister was a practicing Christian.
Today, thousands of Christians have
fled Iraq following our occupation to
countries like Jordan and Syria. Those
Christians who have remained in Iraq
fear for their lives every day. That
should tell us something about the
shortcomings of a policy that presumes
to make the world safe for democracy.
2006 Ron Paul 19:7
The Muslim world is not fooled by our talk of spreading democracy and
values. The evidence is too overwhelming
that we do not hesitate to
support dictators and install puppet
governments when it serves our interests.
When democratic elections result
in the elevation of a leader or a party
not to our liking, we do not hesitate
for a minute to undermine that government.
2006 Ron Paul 19:8
This hypocrisy is rarely recognized by the American people. It is much
more comfortable to believe in slogans,
to believe that we are defending our
goodness and spreading true liberty.
We accept this and believe strongly in
the cause, strongly enough to sacrifice
many of our sons and daughters and
stupendous amounts of money to
spread our ideals through force.
2006 Ron Paul 19:9
Pointing out the lack of success is taboo. It seems of little concern to
many Members of Congress that we
lack both the moral right and constitutional
authority to impose our will on
other nations.
2006 Ron Paul 19:10
The toughest task is analyzing what we do from their perspective. We
should try harder to place ourselves in
the shoes of those who live in the Arab
countries where our efforts currently
are concentrated. We are outraged by a
Muslim country that would even consider
the death penalty for a Christian
convert, but many Muslims see all that
we do as a reflection of Western Christianity
which, to them, includes Europe
and America. They see everything
in terms of religion.
2006 Ron Paul 19:11
When our bombs and sanctions kill hundreds of thousands of their citizens,
they see it as an attack on their religion
by Christians. To them our actions
represent a crusade to change
their culture and their political systems.
They do not see us as having
noble intentions. Cynicism and realism
tell them that we are involved in the
Middle East to secure the oil that we
need.
2006 Ron Paul 19:12
Our occupation and influence in the holy lands of the Middle East will always
be suspect. This includes all the
countries of the Arabian Peninsula,
Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Naively believing
otherwise will guarantee continuing
hostility in Iraq.
2006 Ron Paul 19:13
Our meddling will remain an incitement for radicals to strike us here at
home in future terrorist attacks. All
the intelligence gathering in the world
will serve little purpose if we do not
come to understand exactly why they
hate us despite the good intentions
that many Americans hold dear.