Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Ron Paul vs. Giuliani on the Root Causes of Terrorism

Giuliani finds Rep. Ron Paul's statement that 9-11 was "blowback" for American interventionism "absurd". Giuliani obviously agrees with Bush's statement that al-Qaeda hate the US for their freedoms.



Here's what Michael Scheuer, the former station chief of the CIA's Osama Bin Laden task force, has to say:

Osama Doesn't Hate Our Freedom: The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that "Muslims hate and attack us for what we are and think, rather than what we do." Muslims are bothered by our modernity, democracy, and sexuality, but they are rarely spurred to action unless American forces encroach on their lands. It's American foreign policy that enrages Osama and al-Qaida, not American culture and society.

How is the United States threatening Muslim lands? The post-9/11 crackdowns on Muslim charities have effectively ended tithing, which is one of the five pillars of Islam; our casual denunciations of "jihad" sneer at a central tenet of the Muslim faith. America supports corrupt anti-Muslim governments in Uzbekistan and China, "apostate" governments in the Middle East, and the new Christian state of East Timor. And, above all, it continues to house occupying forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hat tip to Crooks and Liars.

6 comments:

Radiofriendly said...

I support Ron Paul - He's is simply the only choice for a conservative/republican who is/was against the war in Iraq. And, believe it or not, there are some! Most intellectual conservatives were against this war before it started in 2003. Did you know that? Pat Buchanan, Tucker Carlson (a little silly, I know) Charley Reese said in 2002 “is a prescription for the decline and fall of the American empire. Overextension – urged on by a bunch of rabid intellectuals who wouldn’t know one end of a gun from another” Paul Craig Roberts, who was one of the highest-ranking Treasury Department officials under President Reagan and now a nationally-syndicated conservative columnist, wrote: “an invasion of Iraq is likely the most thoughtless action in modern history.” On and on and these quotes are from 2002! This war was Undeclared, un-provoked, liberal “nation building” I know it is hard, but we, as conservatives, have got to do some deep thinking about this issue and wake up!

Kel said...

Aaron,

Thank you for that. It is very refreshing to hear of conservatives who were opposed to the invasion.

And I agree that “an invasion of Iraq is likely the most thoughtless action in modern history.” It was a mindless action proposed by ideologues who did not even understand the country that they were invading.

Unknown said...

Ron Paul is the best thing that has happened to Giuliani's campaign. That had to be worth several percentage points in the polls.

Kel said...

What amazed me was not that so many Republicans applauded Giuliani, but that a scattering were about to applaud Ron Paul.

Unknown said...

The people in the audience aren't necessarily republicans.

Kel said...

Ah, I didn't realise that. My bad!