Ron Paul on Algeria, Blowback, ‘King of the World’ Foreign Policy

Today, Ron Paul appeared on Cavuto’s Fox show to discuss foreign policy and recent tensions in Algeria. The real kicker comes at the end of the clip from a former CIA agent, Wayne Simmons:

[He said] we shouldn’t act like kings of the world. Well, if we acted like kings of the world much more often and showed how powerful we were, we wouldn’t have all the mayhem.

Cavuto’s final question to Ron Paul illustrates the kind of uphill battle rational people have against folks who have bought into a belief that they, themselves call “American exceptionalism.” Which is about as logical of an idea that this website, iroots.org, is justified and awesome in everything it contains because of “iroots.org exceptionalism.” Didn’t you read about that in our bylaws!?

I do wish Ron Paul would remember to point out to the Fox types that he isn’t–and never has been–a pacifist. That is what all of the neocons think. If you are unaccustomed to Ron Paul’s voting record and speeches, it is easy to forget that he voted for the initial Afghanistan invasion and strongly supported using a targeted strike force to take out terrorists like Bin Laden.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. Sadly, we find ourselves today dealing with a responsibility to provide national security under the most difficult of circumstances. To declare war against a group that is not a country makes the clear declaration of war more complex…Although we now must fight to preserve our national security, we should not forget that the founders of this great nation advised that for our own sake we should stay out of entangling alliances and the affairs of other nations.

We are placing tremendous trust in our President to pursue our enemies as our commander-in-chief but Congress must remain vigilant as to not allow our civil liberties here at home to be eroded. The temptation will be great to sacrifice our freedoms for what may seem to be more security. We must resist this temptation.   – Rep. Ron Paul 2001

Kudos to Ron Paul for getting in a plug for Michael Scheuer–a CIA man who knows a heck of a lot more about terrorism than this joker, Wayne Simmons!