Ron Paul slams Obama's policy on Iraq
Former
congressman Ron Paul is attributing the current crisis in Iraq to failed
American foreign policy and warns the worse has yet to come.
In
a video statement posted to the Ron Paul Channel website
on Thursday, the former representative for Texas and three-time presidential
hopeful blamed decades of policy decisions made by both the right and
the left for situation in Iraq, where Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants
have seized no fewer than two major cities in the country’s northern region this
week.
“But
the real irony here is that Iraq had no Al-Qaeda in it when we went into
Iraq, because right after 9/11 a story was concocted and based on lies
and misinformation that Al-Qaeda was in Iraq, that there was weapons of mass
destruction — all those things that motivated the people and the propaganda to
get the support, and Congress went along with it and started spending all that
money,” Paul said.
More
than a decade later, the ex-lawmaker added, the repercussions are still being
seen. Military aid and other supplies have been provided to the Iraqi people
since the US first became involved, he said, and now weapons and even
helicopters have fallen into the hands of rebel fighters — the same forces that
the US is considering attacking, President Barack Obama acknowledged this
week.
“Not
only did they pick up a lot of weapons and guns and equipment, but they end up
getting Black Hawk helicopters. And this is money that the taxpayers paid and we
gave it to the Iraqis. They were supposed to be trained in taking care of and
protecting their country, and here the Al-Qaeda is taking over the
country,” Paul said in the
11-minute video uploaded to his site this week.
Elsewhere
in the clip — aptly titled American Foreign Policy in Iraq is ‘Ridiculous’ —
Paul condemned what has become standard practice for the US as being “stupid”
and “dumb.”
“There
is an alternative to this,” he said. “We
don’t have to continue to do the dumb things that have been done for so long.
It’s time that we just rised up [sic], used good policy and came to our sense.
So in that sense, there is always a chance that things will get much better. But
I think the American people ought to realize how bad things are. How much worse
they are, tragically, before we even went into Iraq.”
Paul’s
latest remarks come just days after he spoke out against American foreign policy
in an op-ed published
on his website in response to a recent speech delivered by Obama at West Point
military academy.
“President
Obama spoke at length about the US role in promoting democracy around the world,
but why does it seem that the US government only recognizes elections as free
and fair when the US-favored candidate wins?” he asked.
“There
is much to disappoint in Obama’s big foreign policy speech. It represents a
continuation of the policy of ‘do what we say and we will subsidize you, disobey
us and we will bomb you.’”
On
Thursday this week, Pres. Obama told reporters that he had not rule out any
options with regards to the escalating crisis in Iraq, and Baghdad has requested
that the White House authorize military assistance by way of airstrikes. Later
in the day, outgoing press secretary Jay Carney said the administration was not
considering a boots-on-the-ground option.
“The
odds of troops going in there are still pretty slim, although I don’t consider
that an impossibility,” Paul
added during his own address.
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