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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 31
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Consequences Of Foreign Policy — Part 2
16 March 2005
2005 Ron Paul 31:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
2005 Ron Paul 31:2
Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a few points regarding the unintended
consequences of our foreign policy, as
well as what might happen in Lebanon.
2005 Ron Paul 31:3
It has been said about our administration that we hope the Lebanese people
will be able to express their view at
the ballot box through free elections
without interference and outside intimidation.
That sounds like a pretty
good suggestion, with the conclusion
by the administration that when there
is outside interference the elections
are unreliable.
2005 Ron Paul 31:4
Once again, I ask the question, does that not raise the question of whether
or not the elections in Iraq are as reliable,
as is supposed?
2005 Ron Paul 31:5
Also, President Bush said that these elections must take place without external
forces, and all the troops must
be out. The UN resolution calls for the
troops out as well as the security
forces, but the resolution also calls for
disarming the people of Lebanon.
2005 Ron Paul 31:6
In other words, this resolution takes the position that we should go in Lebanon
and repeal the Lebanese Second
Amendment rights so that nobody has
any guns. I just see that as an interference
that is going to lead to trouble.
2005 Ron Paul 31:7
We see civil strife precipitating a civil war in Iraq, and I think what our
involvement here now is liable to lead
to that type of situation, rather than
peace and prosperity and elections.
2005 Ron Paul 31:8
It is said that this has all come out from the murder and killing of Hariri,
and most people now just assume that
the government of Syria had something
to do with that. Yet there is no
evidence for that. There is absolutely
zero benefit for the Syrian government
to have killed Hariri.
2005 Ron Paul 31:9
But there is a theory that some of the radical Muslims in Syria that object
to Assad, because he is too moderate,
because he endorsed the Persian
Gulf War and because he takes some of
our prisoners and he participates in the
interrogations of our prisoners, that he
is seen as too liberal, too friendly with
the West, and some suppose that that
could have been the reason that the
murder had occurred, believing that it
would bring down the government of
Assad.
2005 Ron Paul 31:10
Now, that could be an unintended consequence, that consequence that
could have a great deal of significance,
and that is that the radicals end up
taking over, some individuals more
radical than Assad, end up taking over
Syria, which is always the possibility.
But too often these unintended consequences
occur and then we do not
know how to respond to them.
2005 Ron Paul 31:11
In Iraq in January of this year there was some polling done, an expression
by the people on what they thought
about foreign occupation. Eighty-two
percent of the Sunnis, I guess understandably
so, said that all foreign
troops ought to leave, and 69 percent of
the Shiites said all foreign troops
ought to leave. I wonder why that is
not important to anybody?
2005 Ron Paul 31:12
Instead, we are talking about occupation for years, about building 14 bases
in Iraq. How long do we stay in these
countries and why is it so necessary for
us to be telling other people what to do
and when to do it and how to do it and
stirring up nothing but anti-American
sentiment, while at the same time,
even though our goals may be well-intentioned,
they are never achieved? We
just do not achieve them. And to think
that the election under the conditions
that we are condemning in Lebanon is
the salvation, is the evidence that we
are having tremendous achievement, I
think is something that we are just
pulling the wool over our eyes.
2005 Ron Paul 31:13
John Adams gave us some pretty good advice about what we should do
overseas. And I think that when we
have resolutions like this, and we do
have them continuously, and we have
done them for decades. It was a preliminary
to our invasion of Iraq starting
specifically in 1988; But Adams advised,
he made a suggestion and he
made a statement, he says: “America
goes not abroad seeking monsters to
destroy.”
2005 Ron Paul 31:14
That statement is so appropriate. It looks like we are just looking for problems;
and since the results are so poor
and we cannot afford it, once again, I
want to state my position that I am
suggesting not so much that I know or
we know exactly what is best for other
people. It is that precisely we do not
know and we do not have the authority,
the moral, the legal, the constitutional
authority to do what we do. And
besides, it is a threat to our national
security.
2005 Ron Paul 31:15
Jefferson’s suggestion was for peace, commerce, and honest friendship with
all nations and entangling alliances
with none. And we have way too many
entangling alliances, making these
huge commitments which will come to
an end not because anybody is going to
pay much attention to what I say, but
they will come to an end because this
country is on the verge of bankruptcy.
2005 Ron Paul 31:16
We cannot continue to raise our national debt by $650 billion a year and
pretend that we can police the world
and at the same time increase entitlements
here at home. So one day we will
have to face up to these realities, and
it will all come to an end.
2005 Ron Paul 31:17
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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