Friday, December 16, 2011

Paul and Bachmann Cross Swords

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential candidates Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are trading barbs over Iran, with the Texas congressman saying the U.S. has no legitimate claim to block Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and Bachmann calling his position wildly dangerous.

Paul brought up several valid points in the firefight, such as the fact that we faced 30,000 Soviet missiles pointed at us during the cold war and we survived that fine, and that one potential Iranian bomb is just not a threat to us - or Israel.

Consider:

Iran successfully builds one nuclear bomb. Will they - as Bachmann claims - attack Israel and the United States with it? That is just plain unthinking idiocy. Israel has over 300 nuclear devices to retaliate with and we have over 20,000. The idea that Iran will charge off into the sunset with one lousy UNTESTED bomb is foolish and unrealistic.

As Paul said... The area is already surrounded by nations with nuclear weapons: Russia, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea. The idea that Iran will destroy Israel or shift the balance of power with one or two bombs is ludicrous. What they will accomplish with a bomb or two is keep America from attacking them. To many smaller nations, having nuclear capabilities is the only guarantee they can have that will keep the incredibly powerful American war machine at bay.

When North Korea got their weapon, we started leaving them alone, but look what happened to Lybia. We talked them out of a potential weapon... and then destroyed them.

The bottom line is that America is the one invading and/or occupying nation after nation, killing unarmed citizens by the tens of thousands, destroying their towns and infrastructure, sending in predator drones to bomb wedding parties and people we think may be unfriendly. And not just one strike like 911 was, we do this constantly, strike after strike, day after day. We have been doing this 24/7 for years and years.

It's no wonder they hate us so much that they will fly planes into our buildings. It's the only way they have to strike back against an enemy as powerful as the United States.

It is not Ron Paul's world view that is "wildly dangerous". The "wildly dangerous" people on that debate stage were those who hold the view that Iran is the real villain in all this and that another war will solve everything.

Like it or not, the world views America as the playground bully. And one fine day, they will have had enough.

And then - it will be our turn to pay the piper.

1 comment:

TheWayfarer said...

I grew up in Texas and New Mexico, where individuals value their privacy, solvency and independence.
It was more than once I heard people say things like "keep your nose in your own business if you don't want it broke."
This reasoning makes no sense to do-gooding altruists: Bougoise leftist out to "he'p aw de poe folk", child-molesting sodomites defending nature *pauses to laugh ass off* and black racists in powerful positions seeking to end "voter disenfranchisement" by rounding up and locking away honkee as "terrorism suspects", but The Whore ...I mean "war" goes on...Yeah, that's it.
Happy Roman Holiday!!!