Ron Paul vs. Giuliani

Ron Paul is correct in his observations of American foreign policy.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were motivated in large part by American foreign policy in the Middle East and America's unwavering support for Israel.

American politicians are woefully ignorant of the history, divisions, fractures, schisms, and other problems of the Middle East. These problems extend far back into history and will not be understood, much less solved by uninformed, short-term thinking politicians.

The current generation of Americans have inherited many wonderful liberties and freedoms. However, the problem is that Americans are so radically divorced from any substantive knowledge of the history of America's founding that Americans have no idea how these liberties and freedoms were won, much less the context of their genesis.

My presupposition is that liberty and freedom in America have worked because of Christianity. It is Christianity that has given the West stability, the rule of law, political liberty, and economic freedom.

As I said above, Americans have inherited these wonderful gifts. And America quite naturally wants the rest of the world to enjoy them. However, several generations of government (public) schooling have birthed a generation of confident incompetents...a generation so dumbed down that Americans for the most part they have no idea how these gifts were won.

My observation is that many American politicians think that the rest of the world needs to have these liberties and freedoms and that they will be naturally embraced by the peoples of the world.

In reality, I presuppose that people generally like slavery. People like being told what to do, how to think, etc. Slavery is the natural state of sinful mankind.

So American foreign policy becomes bungled, foolish, incompetent, unwise, and dangerous when it proposes to force political freedom on a people.

When six or seven generations of Iraqis have been Christianized and the reformed faith runs deep in the heart of Iraqis, then I think political liberty and economic freedom will quite naturally flow forth.

America should fully embrace diplomatic relations, trade, exchange, and friendship, shining forth like a city on a hill; but the entangling alliances and wars that America so easily entangles herself should be rejected.

The Silliness of the Iraq Study Group

In going through the Iraq Study Group Report, recommendation number 19 is pretty silly...something that a high school student might come up with for a current events report.

To have learned men suggest that the President and National Security team stay in close and frequent contact with the Iraqi leadership is amazingly simplistic.

Of course that is being done currently.

To make this a serious and grave recommendation is just silly.

More Prisons....

During Robert Gates' testimony for Defense Secretary this week, Senator Sessions of Alabama asked about the need for more prisons in Iraq.

Now isn't that just typical of the federal government to broach the subject of a prison building scheme?

They truly want to turn Iraq into another America...a land of prisons.

The White House Can’t Put Out the Mideast Fires It Ignited

"Remember when narrow-minded Republican know-nothings launched a hate campaign against French President Jacques Chirac and everything French because Paris would not go along with George Bush’s jolly little war in Iraq?

Well, it turns out that Chirac’s warnings in 2003 that a US invasion of Iraq would set the Mideast on fire, encourage terrorism, and produce a disaster have been tragically born out by events.

Iraq is falling ever deeper into chaos and sectarian conflict. Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calls it “worse than a civil war.” Lebanon is teetering on the brink of civil war. The agonies of Palestine – now the world’s largest outdoor prison – continue without relent. Iran’s power and influence are surging, scaring the daylights out of Washington’s Sunni clients in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf.

For the latter, thank George Bush. He overthrew two of Iran’s bitterest enemies, Taliban and Saddam Hussein, then stuck US ground forces in the $250 million per day Iraq quagmire that is now estimated to cost at least $1 trillion before the United States admits defeat and pulls out."

Click here for the rest of the article.

The War in Iraq

Here is my prediction on the outcome of the war in Iraq.

The United States Government will spend itself further into debt in its efforts to stabilize Iraq.

In time, Congress and the American people will realize the futility of fighting this war and pull out.

Within five years or less after American troops leave, a dictator as bad or worse than Sadam Hussein will rise to power. US efforts will have been in vain.

An Excellent Observation

"The fiscal conservatives are enraged at six years of the President’s financial recklessness. The nationalists are incensed, betrayed by the President’s lack of concern over border security. The Religious Right has begun to wonder what Jesus would do, and find that His righteous anger is directed not at Muslims or terrorists, but at a faithless flock that built idols of war and created their own Caesar." -Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D. For the full article go to: Cutouts
and Paper Tigers, and What To Do With Them