The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a
previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL) is recognized
for 5 minutes.
2009 Ron Paul 15:1
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, I have a
few questions for my colleagues.
2009 Ron Paul 15:2
What if our foreign policy of the past
century is deeply flawed and has not
served our national security interests?
2009 Ron Paul 15:3
What if we wake up one day and realize
that the terrorist threat is a predictable
consequence of our meddling
in the affairs of others and has nothing
to do with us being free and prosperous?
2009 Ron Paul 15:4
What if propping up repressive regimes
in the Middle East endangers
both the United States and Israel?
2009 Ron Paul 15:5
What if occupying countries like Iraq
and Afghanistan – and bombing Pakistan
– is directly related to the hatred
directed towards us?
2009 Ron Paul 15:6
What if some day it dawns on us that
losing over 5,000 American military
personnel in the Middle East since 9/11
is not a fair trade-off for the loss of
nearly 3,000 American citizens – no
matter how many Iraqi, Pakistani, and
Afghan people are killed or displaced?
2009 Ron Paul 15:7
What if we finally decide that torture
– even if called enhanced interrogation
techniques – is self-destructive
and produces no useful information and
that contracting it out to a third world
nation is just as evil?
2009 Ron Paul 15:8
What if it is finally realized that war
and military spending is always destructive
to the economy?
2009 Ron Paul 15:9
What if all wartime spending is paid
for through the deceitful and evil process
of inflating and borrowing?
2009 Ron Paul 15:10
What if we finally see that wartime
conditions always undermine personal
liberty?
2009 Ron Paul 15:11
What if conservatives, who preach
small government, wake up and realize
that our interventionist foreign policy
provides the greatest incentive to expand
the government?
2009 Ron Paul 15:12
What if conservatives understood
once again that their only logical position
is to reject military intervention
and managing an empire throughout
the world?
2009 Ron Paul 15:13
What if the American people woke up
and understood the official reasons for
going to war are almost always based
on lies and promoted by war propaganda
in order to serve special interests?
2009 Ron Paul 15:14
What if we, as a Nation, came to realize
that the quest for empire eventually
destroys all great nations?
2009 Ron Paul 15:16
What if a military draft is being
planned for the wars that will spread if
our foreign policy is not changed?
2009 Ron Paul 15:17
What if the American people learn
the truth: that our foreign policy has
nothing to do with national security
and it never changes from one administration
to the next?
2009 Ron Paul 15:18
What if war and preparation for war
is a racket serving the special interests?
2009 Ron Paul 15:19
What if President Obama is completely
wrong about Afghanistan and it
turns out worse than Iraq and Vietnam
put together?
2009 Ron Paul 15:20
What if Christianity actually teaches
peace and not preventive wars of aggression?
2009 Ron Paul 15:21
What if diplomacy is found to be superior
to bombs and bribes in protecting
America?
2009 Ron Paul 15:22
What happens if my concerns are
completely unfounded? Nothing.
2009 Ron Paul 15:23
But what happens if my concerns are
justified and ignored? Nothing good.