Great depiction of the case of Iraq a few years ago and today Iran. Also, if you check out the debates from 2008, they are saying the same things about Iran as they are today with just about the same urgency (Ron Paul disagreed back then, but didn't have as much support as this time around, so they didn't really debate it because the people they gave time to in the debates all agreed).
Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
From an Army Captain's Point of View
My Endorsement of Dr. Paul - US Army Captain
Submitted by PKnuckle101 on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 00:04
A recovery out of this recession has been prevented by the impending regulations of Obamacare and the guarantee of future tax increases due to deficit spending. The teetering economy will only get worse under the crush of $15 TRILLION in National Debt. So, how many Republican presidential candidates plan to deal with this looming disaster? One. Ron Paul is the ONLY one with a plan to balance the budget in his first term and cut $1 Trillion in his first year. You can see the full plan at ronpaul2012.com.
Worried about his foreign policy? I understand. If I had not been deployed to Iraq in 2009, and seen what the foreign policy we now have actually looks like on the ground, I would worry about it too. However, after proudly serving 5 years in the US Army (with another 4 years to go) I am convinced that our interventionist foreign policy makes us less safe. Not just less safe overseas—less safe here in America. So take it from a West Point Graduate with a degree in Military Science: Ron Paul’s non-interventionist foreign policy is good for our National Defense.
But, if you can’t swallow that pill, try this one. Is our $15,000,000,000,000 that we owe our lenders a National Security threat? Greece and Italy recently had virtual coups because of their suffocating debt. That’s America in 10 years if we don’t address our monetary policy and deficit spending. And if you want to address our debt and you want a balanced budget (as 74% of Americans do, according to CNN)—you can’t also have trillions of dollars in foreign aid, military spending, and entitlement spending. Look at the numbers, it’s just not feasible. And once you accept that we must stop being policemen of the world, rest easy knowing that you are in the company of Presidents Washington and Eisenhower.
Dr. Paul has been criticized recently for passing few bills during his tenure in Congress. I see this as a compliment, not a critique. When we have a congress with 9% approval rating, a Congressman that is doing the opposite of his colleagues is probably listening to the will of the people—and the American people are saying “Less laws, not more. Less wars, not more.”
Ron Paul is electable (see recent polls that have him tied with Obama—same as Mitt Romney) and is the only candidate that can bring droves of independents and anti-war Democrats into the Republican fold to beat Obama. Republicans are right in saying we can’t afford another Obama term—now they must realize we can’t afford anything but a Paul Presidency.
- CPT Joshua McCarver is an Infantry Officer stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. He is a 2007 United States Military Academy Graduate with a degree in Military Art and Science. He served in Iraq from October 2009-July 2010 with the 3rd Infantry Division. His opinion is his own and it does not represent the views of the Department of Defense.
ADDITION: wrote this last night and didn't imagine it would be so quickly or so well received. BUT you're here because you already believe. Please send this to any friends or family that are on the fence and your local newspapers (no major national ones please). They can email joshua.mccarver@gmail.com to confirm identity of the author. Thanks.
Monday, January 9, 2012
So You Like Ron Paul...Except for His Foreign Policy?
Check out this video - maybe it will give you some insight into why he feels the way he does about the wars we are currently in.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Foreign Policy Tidbits
I want you to know that sincerely his foreign policy was the most troublesome for me at first. But truly the more I learn about Ron Paul's foreign policy vs. the US foreign policy, the more it makes sense and the more flawed, dangerous, immoral, and super sad the US's foreign policy is. I think foreign policy may be my most important issue now because it is so deeply connected with everything else, the economy, our civil liberties, preserving the American way of life and truly having a strong America. It aligns with the council of prophets, scripture, Christianity, and the founders' philosophy - at least the admonition of George Washington in his farewell address. Here are some facts that may help if you have not heard them before:
-Ron Paul gets over 3 times as many donations from active duty military than all the other Republican candidates combined and almost double what Obama gets. This tells you that the troops support him, so maybe we should support the troops in the way they are asking for with their paychecks.
-This article came out about Iran -
Check out the well-written story here:
http://milwaukeestory.com/index.php/2011/12/19/pentagon-says...
And the Department of Defense report from 2010 here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30277432/DoD-Unclassified-Report-o...
Key quotes:
"Iran's nuclear program and its willingness to keep open the possibility of developing nuclear weapons is a central part of its deterrent strategy."
"At present Iran's forces are sufficent to deter or defend against conventional threats from Iran's weaker neighbors such as post-war Iraq, the GCC, Azerbaijan or Afghanistan but lack the air power and logistical ability to power much beyond Iran's boarders or to confront regional powers such as Turkey or Israel."
So our own govt admits what Ron Paul has been saying: Iran does not have the capabilities to attack, but they keep in mind the possibility of a nuclear weapon because they feel threatened. Our current foriegn policy encourages them to want a nuke.
-We are currently giving 3x as much foreign aid to Israel's surrounding enemies as we are to Israel, so cutting all foreign aid would actually help Israel, who has 300 nukes of its own and is pretty capable of defending itself and makimg its own decisions. See following video: http://www.dailypaul.com/193159/ben-swann-reality-check-is-ron-paul-really-anti-israel
-Ron Paul voted in favor of authorizing the President to go after those responsible for the attacks on 9/11. He is not weak on defense, he realizes that there are times to fight. He wrote a bill to declare war against Iraq up or down (he voted against his own bill because he felt the Iraq war was unjustified) because he wanted it to be legal if we were gonna go in there. Guess what, the bill did not pass. He's in favor of going to war when Congress and the people declare it, but he is strongly opposed to illegal wars. He feels we need to get out of Afghanistan because the President went way beyond what he was Congressionally authorized to do. These unconstitutional wars will bankrupt us and destroy the dollar and that is probably the biggest threat to our way of life and future generations.
-al Qaeda and the Taliban are anti-American because we are occupying their lands. The only way to know this is to look at our history in the region and to ask the troops who are in the middle of it. Even if you don't believe this, the terrorists are still winning because of our Congress and administration destroying our Constitution to "protect" us from the terrorist threat i.e. the Patriot Act, the newly passed NDAA defense appropriations bill, the invasive policies of the TSA, the constant keeping us in fear and encouragement from Homeland Security "if you see something, say something" to keep us divided and suspicious of each other. We can't live like this anymore! Especially in these awful economic times when 50% of the population is at or below the poverty level! It's gonna start getting ugly if we don't put an end to the deceit and destruction of our Constitution and start focusing on our problems here at home. We need these brave soldiers at home defending their families, not perpetuating war and killing and violence unnecessarily.
-Ron Paul gets over 3 times as many donations from active duty military than all the other Republican candidates combined and almost double what Obama gets. This tells you that the troops support him, so maybe we should support the troops in the way they are asking for with their paychecks.
-This article came out about Iran -
Check out the well-written story here:
http://milwaukeestory.com/index.php/2011/12/19/pentagon-says...
And the Department of Defense report from 2010 here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30277432/DoD-Unclassified-Report-o...
Key quotes:
"Iran's nuclear program and its willingness to keep open the possibility of developing nuclear weapons is a central part of its deterrent strategy."
"At present Iran's forces are sufficent to deter or defend against conventional threats from Iran's weaker neighbors such as post-war Iraq, the GCC, Azerbaijan or Afghanistan but lack the air power and logistical ability to power much beyond Iran's boarders or to confront regional powers such as Turkey or Israel."
So our own govt admits what Ron Paul has been saying: Iran does not have the capabilities to attack, but they keep in mind the possibility of a nuclear weapon because they feel threatened. Our current foriegn policy encourages them to want a nuke.
-We are currently giving 3x as much foreign aid to Israel's surrounding enemies as we are to Israel, so cutting all foreign aid would actually help Israel, who has 300 nukes of its own and is pretty capable of defending itself and makimg its own decisions. See following video: http://www.dailypaul.com/193159/ben-swann-reality-check-is-ron-paul-really-anti-israel
-Ron Paul voted in favor of authorizing the President to go after those responsible for the attacks on 9/11. He is not weak on defense, he realizes that there are times to fight. He wrote a bill to declare war against Iraq up or down (he voted against his own bill because he felt the Iraq war was unjustified) because he wanted it to be legal if we were gonna go in there. Guess what, the bill did not pass. He's in favor of going to war when Congress and the people declare it, but he is strongly opposed to illegal wars. He feels we need to get out of Afghanistan because the President went way beyond what he was Congressionally authorized to do. These unconstitutional wars will bankrupt us and destroy the dollar and that is probably the biggest threat to our way of life and future generations.
-al Qaeda and the Taliban are anti-American because we are occupying their lands. The only way to know this is to look at our history in the region and to ask the troops who are in the middle of it. Even if you don't believe this, the terrorists are still winning because of our Congress and administration destroying our Constitution to "protect" us from the terrorist threat i.e. the Patriot Act, the newly passed NDAA defense appropriations bill, the invasive policies of the TSA, the constant keeping us in fear and encouragement from Homeland Security "if you see something, say something" to keep us divided and suspicious of each other. We can't live like this anymore! Especially in these awful economic times when 50% of the population is at or below the poverty level! It's gonna start getting ugly if we don't put an end to the deceit and destruction of our Constitution and start focusing on our problems here at home. We need these brave soldiers at home defending their families, not perpetuating war and killing and violence unnecessarily.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Three Questions We Need to Ask About War
I never even thought to question the three "established truths" that the Afghanistan and Iraq "Wars" are based upon. I use quotations around "established truths" because the mainstream media and powers at be feed us these lines so often that it becomes unpatriotic and politically incorrect to question them. I use quotations around "wars" because Congress never declared war on these two countries as the Constitution requires.
1. Do the terrorists attack us and hate us because we are free and prosperous?
2. Is it okay or effective for America to promote democracy around the world through the barrel of a gun?
3. Would it be shameful, unsupportive of our troops, anti-Republican, and anti-American to leave the Middle East immediately?
Probably my favorite Ron Paul video:
I showed this video to my dad some time ago, and he said he disagreed that the biggest moral issue in America is the acceptance of pre-emptive war. I probably agree with my dad on that one, but I think that Ron Paul was speaking of acts of government as a whole rather than acts of individual Americans. When I think of it this way, and really think about what war means, I think I agree with Dr. Paul. What is the most serious sin you can commit? Murder - taking someone's life. I strongly believe that war is called for in a few cases, and I get my belief from examples in the Book of Mormon, Alma in particular. He went to war to defend his family, his religion, his liberty. I think that is necessary. He did not start wars. When the enemy was not upon him, he fortified the land. There was not a happier time among his people (see Alma 50). Starting wars for no good reason leads to needless loss of life, including American soldiers and innocent civilians often referred to as "collateral damage." These are real people! Your family, friends, and neighbors being sent to war for no good reason! More to come on Ron Paul's foreign policy and how important it really is to end the wars.
There are many more good videos and essays explaining Ron Paul's foreign policy. Ron Paul voted to authorize President Bush to go after those who attacked us on 9/11. He wasn't against fighting and bringing to justice those who killed many of our fellow Americans on that awful day. However, he proposed using a small special ops force to hunt down those responsible. He was not for a full out war against Afghanistan (most of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia anyway) because he knew it would cost us many more lives, billions more dollars, and it would never end.
1. Do the terrorists attack us and hate us because we are free and prosperous?
2. Is it okay or effective for America to promote democracy around the world through the barrel of a gun?
3. Would it be shameful, unsupportive of our troops, anti-Republican, and anti-American to leave the Middle East immediately?
Probably my favorite Ron Paul video:
I showed this video to my dad some time ago, and he said he disagreed that the biggest moral issue in America is the acceptance of pre-emptive war. I probably agree with my dad on that one, but I think that Ron Paul was speaking of acts of government as a whole rather than acts of individual Americans. When I think of it this way, and really think about what war means, I think I agree with Dr. Paul. What is the most serious sin you can commit? Murder - taking someone's life. I strongly believe that war is called for in a few cases, and I get my belief from examples in the Book of Mormon, Alma in particular. He went to war to defend his family, his religion, his liberty. I think that is necessary. He did not start wars. When the enemy was not upon him, he fortified the land. There was not a happier time among his people (see Alma 50). Starting wars for no good reason leads to needless loss of life, including American soldiers and innocent civilians often referred to as "collateral damage." These are real people! Your family, friends, and neighbors being sent to war for no good reason! More to come on Ron Paul's foreign policy and how important it really is to end the wars.
There are many more good videos and essays explaining Ron Paul's foreign policy. Ron Paul voted to authorize President Bush to go after those who attacked us on 9/11. He wasn't against fighting and bringing to justice those who killed many of our fellow Americans on that awful day. However, he proposed using a small special ops force to hunt down those responsible. He was not for a full out war against Afghanistan (most of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia anyway) because he knew it would cost us many more lives, billions more dollars, and it would never end.
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