Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional Website.
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5
minutes to the gentleman from Texas,
RON PAUL.
2009 Ron Paul 104:1
Mr. PAUL. The chairman states that
the main purpose of this bill is to prevent
the Iranians from getting a nuclear
weapon. That isn’t even as powerful
a statement as was made that enticed
us into the Iraq war. There was
the claim that they already had them.
But now, this is a pretense, and yet
here we are taking these drastic steps.
My main reason for opposing this bill
is that I think it’s detrimental to our
national security. There’s no other reason.
It doesn’t serve our interests. So I
am absolutely opposed to it.
2009 Ron Paul 104:2
In the late 1930s and the early 1940s
the American people did not want to go
into war, but there were some that
were maneuvering us into war, and
they used the argument that you needed
an event. So, in June of 1941, sanctions
were put against Japan, incidentally
and ironically, to prohibit oil
products from going into Japan. Within
6 months there was the bombing of
Pearl Harbor. And there is now talk,
there’s been talk in the media, and
we’ve heard about it, we need to bomb
Iran. And that’s what the people hear.
2009 Ron Paul 104:3
The sanctions are a use of force. This
is just not modest. This is very serious.
And the way this is written, it literally
could end up with a blockade. It could
be trying to punish our friends and cut
off trade, and this cannot help us in
any way. We would like to help the dissidents.
We’d like to encourage them to
overthrow their government. But hardly
should we have our CIA, with U.S.
funded programs, going in there with a
policy of regime change. They know
these kind of things happen. We’ve
been involved in this business in Iran
since 1953. And it doesn’t serve us well.
It backfires on us, comes back to haunt
us.
2009 Ron Paul 104:4
One of the goals explicitly expressed
by al Qaeda and their leaders has been
they would like to draw us into the
Middle East because it would cost us a
lot of money and it could hurt us financially.
And the second reason they
want us over there is to get us bogged
down in an endless war. And for the
last decade, that is what we’ve been
doing. We are bogged down to the point
where it’s very discouraging to the
American people, very frustrating, no
signs of victory, no signs of peace. But
we’re bogged down. These were the precise
goals of the al Qaeda leadership.
2009 Ron Paul 104:5
And also, one of the purposes of enticing
us over there and being involved
is to give a greater incentive to recruit
those individuals who become violent
against us. And this has been unbelievably
successful. So we’ve been involved
in Iraq. We’ve been involved in Afghanistan.
We’re bombing Pakistan and almost,
this is like another bonus for
those who want us to be attacked, is
that we’re over there and just fomenting
this anger and hatred toward us.
2009 Ron Paul 104:6
That is why I believe this is not in
our best interest. It actually hurts us.
Once we say that we’re going to do
something like using force and prevent
vital products from going in, it means
that we’ve given up on diplomacy. Diplomacy’s
out the window. And they’re
not capable of attacking us. You know,
this idea that they are on the verge of
a bomb, you know, our CIA said they
haven’t been working on it since 2003.
And the other thing is, if you want to
give them incentive to have a bomb,
just keep pestering like this, just intimidate
them. Provoke it. This is provocative.
They might have a greater
incentive than ever.
2009 Ron Paul 104:7
They can’t even make enough gasoline
for themselves. I mean, they are
not a threat. They don’t have an army
worth anything. They don’t have a
navy. They don’t have an air force.
They don’t have intercontinental ballistic
missiles. So it is not a threat to
our national security. I see the threat
to our national security with this type
of policy which could come and backfire
and hurt us.
2009 Ron Paul 104:8
I want to read number 5 in the bill,
that particular item, because it makes
my case, rather than making the case
for those who want these sanctions. I
think this literally makes my case.
Number 5 says, on October 7, 2008, then-
Senator Obama stated Iran right now
imports gasoline, even though it’s an
oil producer, because its oil infrastructure
has broken down. If we can prevent
them from importing the gasoline
that they need and the refined petroleum
products, that starts changing
their cost-benefit analysis, that starts
putting the squeeze on them.
The squeeze on whom? On the people.
2009 Ron Paul 104:9
This will unify the dissent. This will
unify the Iranian people against us. If
we want to encourage true dissent and
overthrow that government, which is
more spontaneous and honest, I would
say this is doing exactly the opposite.
