HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
January 11, 2007
Escalation is Hardly the Answer
Mr. Speaker, A military victory in Iraq is unattainable, just as it was in the Vietnam war.
At
the close of the Vietnam war in 1975, a telling conversation took place between
an NVA Colonel named Tu and an American Colonel named Harry Summers.
Colonel Summers reportedly said, “You never beat us on the
battlefield.” Tu replied, “That
may be so, but it is also irrelevant.” It is likewise irrelevant to seek military victory in Iraq.
As
conditions deteriorate in Iraq, the American people are told more blood must be
spilled to achieve just such a military victory. 20,000 additional troops and
another $100 billion are needed for a “surge.” Yet the people remain
rightfully skeptical.
Though
we’ve been in Iraq nearly four years, the meager goal today simply is to
secure Baghdad. This hardly shows
that the mission is even partly accomplished.
Astonishingly,
American taxpayers now will be forced to finance a multi-billion dollar jobs
program in Iraq. Suddenly the war
is about jobs! We export our
manufacturing jobs to Asia, and now we plan to export our welfare jobs to Iraq--
all at the expense of the poor and middle class here at home.
Plans
are being made to become more ruthless in achieving stability in Iraq.
It appears Muqtada al Sadr will be on the receiving end of our military
efforts, despite his overwhelming support among large segments of the Iraqi
people.
It’s
interesting to note that one excuse given for our failure is leveled at the
Iraqis themselves. They have not
done enough, we’re told, and are difficult to train.
Yet
no one complains that Mahdi or Kurdish militias or the Badr Brigade (the real
Iraq government, not our appointed government) are not well trained.
Our problems obviously have nothing to do with training Iraqis to fight,
but instead with loyalties and motivations.
We
claim to be spreading democracy in Iraq, but al Sadr has far more democratic
support with the majority Shiites than our troops enjoy.
The problem is not a lack of democratic consensus; it is the antipathy
toward our presence among most Iraqis.
In
real estate the three important considerations are location, location, location.
In Iraq the three conditions are occupation, occupation, occupation.
Nothing can improve in Iraq until we understand that our occupation is
the primary source of the chaos and killing.
We are a foreign occupying force, strongly resented by the majority of
Iraq’s citizens.
Our
inability to adapt to the tactics of 4th generation warfare compounds
our military failure. Unless we
understand this, even doubling our troop strength will not solve the problems
created by our occupation.
The
talk of a troop surge and jobs program in Iraq only distracts Americans from the
very real possibility of an attack on Iran. Our growing naval presence in the region and our harsh
rhetoric toward Iran are unsettling. Securing
the Horn of Africa and sending Ethiopian troops into Somalia do not bode well
for world peace. Yet these
developments are almost totally ignored by Congress.
Rumors
are flying about when, not if, Iran will be bombed by either Israel or the
U.S.-- possibly with nuclear weapons. Our
CIA says Iran is ten years away from producing a nuclear bomb and has no
delivery system, but this does not impede our plans to keep “everything on the
table” when dealing with Iran.
We
should remember that Iran, like Iraq, is a third-world nation without a
significant military. Nothing in
history hints that she is likely to invade a neighboring country, let alone do
anything to America or Israel. I am
concerned, however, that a contrived Gulf of Tonkin- type incident may occur to
gain popular support for an attack on Iran.
Even
if such an attack is carried out by Israel over U.S. objections, we will be
politically and morally culpable since we provided the weapons and dollars to
make it possible.
Mr. Speaker, let’s hope I’m wrong about this one.