The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a
previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL) is recognized
for 5 minutes.
2010 Ron Paul 17:1
Mr. PAUL.
Today, the motion to instruct
on the comprehensive Iranian
sanction bill was passed overwhelmingly,
400ñ11. Eleven individuals said
that this was not a good idea. I was one
of those 11, and I would like to explain
why I think the sanction bill against
the Iranians is very, very dangerous
and not well thought out.
2010 Ron Paul 17:2
Sanctions are very serious. Sanctions
are literally an act of war. When you
prevent certain goods and services
going into a country, itís like a blockade.
There is no advantage to us to do
this. The sanction bill literally says
that any country that trades or sends
oil into Iran, we will no longer trade
with them. So if Russia sends in oil or
gasoline or refined products or China
does, we are theoretically, under this
bill, not to trade with them. Can you
think of anything more chaotic than
having a trade war with China at this
particular time?
2010 Ron Paul 17:3
So often well-intentioned foreign policy
procedures backfire. They have unintended
consequences and there is too
often blowback. Today, unbelievably,
we are engaged in so many places in
the world and we canít afford it. Our
foreign policy costs us a trillion dollars
a year to operate. Weíre in 135 countries.
We have over 700 bases throughout
the world. We are engaged in military
confrontation in Iraq, Afghanistan,
in Pakistan. Weíre bombing in
Yemen, as well as having surrogates
fighting in Somalia.
2010 Ron Paul 17:4
Weíre flat-out broke. The policy is
driving our enemies into the hands of
the Chinese, and here we are looking
for another war. It makes no sense
whatsoever.
2010 Ron Paul 17:5
The conversation today was nothing
more than war propaganda on why we
have to get ready to bomb the Iranians.
There is no proof, according to our
CIA, that theyíre actually working on
a nuclear weapon. Iím sure they would
like to. Why not. Everybody around
them has it so it would be logical that
if theyíre surrounded and threatened
and intimidated with all of the people
around them, why wouldnít they want
one? Well, of course they do. But others
have it.
2010 Ron Paul 17:6
They have never been found in violation
of the nonproliferation treaty.
Never. And yet Pakistan, India, and
Israel, they donít even belong, and
theyíre our friends and we give them
money. Pakistan, they have gotten
support from us. They have nuclear
weapons and they have been known to
send nuclear technology to North
Korea.
2010 Ron Paul 17:8
The language today was used that,
well, we have to go in because of the
weapons of mass destruction, theyíre
going to have missiles and theyíre
going to attack us. Itís identical to the
propaganda promoting in 2002 and 2001
before we attacked Iraq. So this same
process is occurring trying to generate
all of this excitement about the need to
use hostilities.
2010 Ron Paul 17:9
Now, a lot of individuals vote for
sanctions that are basically anti-war
and they donít like the military option,
and they think this is an alternative.
I think that is deeply flawed
thinking, because sanctions lead to
hostilities. And if you commit to the
sanctions, youíre really committing to
the next step. The sanctions of the
1990s and the year 2000, the sanctions
on Iraq, eventually led to the hostilities
and the war and the invasion.
2010 Ron Paul 17:10
So what did that invasion of Iraq do?
Did we find any al Qaeda there? No. We
found out that Saddam Hussein
wouldnít allow the al Qaeda there. No
weapons of mass destruction. Weíve
turned the country upside down. Hundreds
of thousands of people injured
and killed. We have suffered devastating
problems from this. And what
has happened? We turned the Government
of Iraq over to the Shiites, who
are allies of the Iranians. So that
whole policy has actually backfired.
2010 Ron Paul 17:11
So now what weíre doing to the Iranians
is driving them into the pockets
of the Chinese. The Chinese are pretty
good capitalists these days. They work
hard, they produce, they sell us certain
goods and services. We pay them, they
save their money, and theyíre starting
to invest. So theyíre investing around
the world in natural resources. And
what are we doing? All weíre doing is
trying to take over the world with natural
resources so we have control of
oil.
2010 Ron Paul 17:12
This is a mercantilistic idea, itís ancient,
and it takes you back to almost
colonial times.
2010 Ron Paul 17:13
So this, I think, shows that our policies
are deeply flawed. I sure would
have wished this vote would have come
out differently. And I warn, this was a
very dangerous vote.
