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Last week marked an important milestone in the war
on terrorism for our country. Osama bin Laden applauded the 9/11 attacks.
Such deliberate killing of innocent lives deserved retaliation. It is good
that bin Laden is dead and justice is served. The way in which he was finally
captured and killed shows that targeted retribution is far superior to wars
of aggression and nation-building. In 2001 I supported giving the president
the authority to pursue those responsible for the vicious 9/11 attacks.
However, misusing that authority to pursue nation-building and remaking the
Middle East was cynical and dangerous, as the past ten years have proven.
It is tragic that it took ten years, trillions of
dollars, tens of thousands of American casualties and many thousands of
innocent lives to achieve our mission of killing one evil person. A narrow,
targeted mission under these circumstances was far superior to initiating
wars against countries not involved in the 9/11 attacks, and that is all we
should have done. This was the reason I emphasized at the time the principle
of Marque and Reprisal, permitted to us by the US Constitution for difficult
missions such as we faced. I am convinced that this approach would have
achieved our goal much sooner and much cheaper.
The elimination of Osama bin Laden should now prompt
us to declare victory and bring our troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq. Al
Qaeda was never in Iraq and we were supposedly in Afghanistan to get Osama
bin Laden. With bin Laden gone, there is no reason for our presence in the
region – unless indeed it was all about oil, nation-building, and
remaking the Middle East and Central Asia.
Hopefully bin Laden does not get the last laugh. He
claimed the 9/11 attacks were designed to get the US to spread its military
dangerously and excessively throughout the Middle East, bankrupting us
through excessive military spending as he did the Soviets, and to cause
political dissention within the United States. Some 70 percent of Americans
now believe we should leave Afghanistan yet both parties seem determined to
stay. The best thing we could do right now is prove bin Laden a false prophet
by coming home and ending this madness on a high note.
Tragically, one result may be the acceptance of
torture as a legitimate tool for pursuing our foreign policy. A free society,
calling itself a republic, grounded in the rule of law, should never succumb
to such evil.
At the very least we should all be able to agree
that foreign aid to Pakistan needs to end immediately. The idea that bin
Laden was safely protected for ten years in Pakistan, either willfully or
through incompetence, should make us question the wisdom of robbing American
citizens to support any government around the world with foreign aid. All
foreign aid and intervention needs to end.
Our failed foreign policy is reflected in our
bizarre relationship with Pakistan. We bomb them with drones, causing
hundreds of civilian casualties, we give them billions of dollars in foreign
aid for the privilege to do so, all while they protect America’s enemy
number one for a decade.
It is time to consider a sensible
non-interventionist foreign policy as advised by our Founders and authorized
by our Constitution. We would all be better off for it.
Ron Paul
www.house.gov/paul
Copyright Dr. Ron
Paul
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