Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul says the United States should not listen to the same voices that “lied us into the Iraq war” and are now calling for “us to re-invade Iraq to deal with the disaster caused by their invasion.”
“They cannot admit they were wrong about the invasion being a ’cakewalk’ that would pay for itself, so they want to blame last week’s events on the 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq,” Mr. Paul wrote. “But the trouble started with the 2003 invasion itself, not the 2011 troop withdrawal. Anyone who understands cause and effect should understand this.”
Despite the Obama administration’s vow not to put any troops on the ground, Mr. Paul, a libertarian icon, said members of the special forces or the CIA will be sent. He also warned against shipping arms to Iraq and said the Iraq military’s performance to date suggests that a lot of the money invested in it was “wasted or stolen.”
“Because of the government’s foolish policy of foreign interventionism, the U.S. is faced with two equally stupid choices: Either pour in resources to prop up an Iraqi government that is a close ally with Iran, or throw our support in with al Qaeda in Iraq (as we have done in Syria),” Mr. Paul said. “I say we must follow a third choice: Ally with the American people and spend not one more dollar or one more life attempting to re-make the Middle East. Haven’t we have already done enough damage?”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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