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Ron Paul.. Blame America? No, Blame Neocons!
Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk 9/21/15: Blame America? No, Blame Neocons! – YouTube
Blame America? No, Blame Neocons!
by Ron Paul
Is the current
refugee crisis gripping the European Union “all America’s fault”? That
is how my critique of US foreign policy was characterized in a recent
interview on the Fox Business Channel. I do not blame the host for
making this claim, but I think it is important to clarify the point.
It
has become common to discount any criticism of US foreign policy as
“blaming America first.” It is a convenient way of avoiding a real
discussion. If aggressive US policy in the Middle East – for example in
Iraq – results in the creation of terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda
in Iraq, is pointing out the unintended consequences of bad policy
blaming America? Is it “blaming America” to point out that blowback –
like we saw on 9/11 – can be the result of unwise US foreign policy
actions like stationing US troops in Saudi Arabia?
In the Fox
interview I pointed out that the current refugee crisis is largely
caused by bad US foreign policy actions. The US government decides on
regime change for a particular country – in this case, Syria –
destabilizes the government, causes social chaos, and destroys the
economy, and we are supposed to be surprised that so many people are
desperate to leave? Is pointing this out blaming America, or is it
blaming that part of the US government that makes such foolish policies?
Accusing
those who criticize US foreign policy of “blaming America” is pretty
selective, however. Such accusations are never leveled at those who
criticize a US pullback. For example, most neocons argue that the
current crisis in Iraq is all Obama’s fault for pulling US troops out of
the country. Are they “blaming America first” for the mess? No one ever
says that. Just like they never explain why the troops were removed
from Iraq: the US demanded complete immunity for troops and contractors
and the Iraqi government refused.
Iraq was not a stable country
when the US withdrew its troops anyway. As soon as the US stopped paying
the Sunnis not to attack the Iraqi government, they started attacking
the Iraqi government. Why? Because the US attack on Iraq led to a
government that was closely allied to Iran and the Sunnis could not live
with that! It was not the US withdrawal from Iraq that created the
current instability but the invasion. The same is true with US regime
change policy toward Syria. How many Syrians were streaming out of Syria
before US support for Islamist rebels there made the country unlivable?
Is pointing out this consequence of bad US policy also blaming America
first?
Last year I was asked by another Fox program whether I was
not “blaming America” when I criticized the increasingly
confrontational US stand toward Russia. Here’s how I put it then: I
don’t blame America. I am America, you are America. I don’t blame you. I
blame bad policy. I blame the interventionists. I blame the
neoconservatives who preach this stuff, who believe in it like a
religion — that they have to promote American goodness even if you have
to bomb and kill people.
In short, I don’t blame America; I blame neocons.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2015/09/ron-paul-blame-america-no-blame-neocons.html
