Dr. Ron Paul: It’s Time to Leave Afghanistan
Submitted by LatinsforPaul on Sun, 12/13/2009 - 22:09
It’s Time to Leave Afghanistan
by Rep. Ron Paul
Statement before the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee on December 10, 2009 | Also posted at Antiwar.com
Mr. Speaker thank you for holding these important hearings on US policy in Afghanistan. I would like to welcome the witnesses, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and General Stanley A. McChrystal, and thank them for appearing before this Committee.
I have serious concerns, however, about the president’s decision to add some 30,000 troops and an as yet undisclosed number of civilian personnel to escalate our Afghan operation. This “surge” will bring US troop levels to approximately those of the Soviets when they occupied Afghanistan with disastrous result back in the 1980s. I fear the US military occupation of Afghanistan may end up similarly unsuccessful.
In late 1986 Soviet armed forces commander, Marshal Sergei Akhromeev, told then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, "Military actions in Afghanistan will soon be seven years old. There is no single piece of land in this country which has not been occupied by a Soviet soldier. Nonetheless, the majority of the territory remains in the hands of rebels.” Soon Gorbachev began the Soviet withdrawal from its Afghan misadventure. Thousands were dead on both sides, yet the occupation failed to produce a stable national Afghan government.
Eight years into our own war in Afghanistan the Soviet commander’s words ring eerily familiar. Part of the problem stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. It is our presence as occupiers that feeds the insurgency. As would be the case if we were invaded and occupied, diverse groups have put aside their disagreements to unify against foreign occupation. Adding more US troops will only assist those who recruit fighters to attack our soldiers and who use the US occupation to convince villages to side with the Taliban.
Proponents of the president’s Afghanistan escalation cite the successful “surge” in Iraq as evidence that this second surge will have similar results. I fear they might be correct about the similar result, but I dispute the success propaganda about Iraq. In fact, the violence in Iraq only temporarily subsided with the completion of the ethnic cleansing of Shi’ites from Sunni neighborhoods and vice versa – and all neighborhoods of Christians. Those Sunni fighters who remained were easily turned against the foreign al-Qaeda presence when offered US money and weapons. We are increasingly seeing this “success” breaking down: sectarian violence is flaring up and this time the various groups are better armed with US-provided weapons. Similarly, the insurgents paid by the US to stop their attacks are increasingly restive now that the Iraqi government is no longer paying bribes on a regular basis. So I am skeptical about reports on the success of the Iraqi surge.
Likewise, we are told that we have to “win” in Afghanistan so that al-Qaeda cannot use Afghan territory to plan further attacks against the US. We need to remember that the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001 was, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, largely planned in the United States (and Germany) by terrorists who were in our country legally. According to the logic of those who endorse military action against Afghanistan because al-Qaeda was physically present, one could argue in favor of US airstrikes against several US states and Germany! It makes no sense. The Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to remain in Afghanistan because both had been engaged, with US assistance, in the insurgency against the Soviet occupation.
Nevertheless, the president’s National Security Advisor, Gen. James Jones, USMC (Ret.), said in a recent interview that less than 100 al-Qaeda remain in Afghanistan and that the chance they would reconstitute a significant presence there was slim. Are we to believe that 30,000 more troops are needed to defeat 100 al-Qaeda fighters? I fear that there will be increasing pressure for the US to invade Pakistan, to where many Taliban and al-Qaeda have escaped. Already CIA drone attacks on Pakistan have destabilized that country and have killed scores of innocents, producing strong anti-American feelings and calls for revenge. I do not see how that contributes to our national security.
The president’s top advisor for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said recently, “I would say this about defining success in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the simplest sense, the Supreme Court test for another issue, we’ll know it when we see it.” That does not inspire much confidence.
Supporters of this surge argue that we must train an Afghan national army to take over and strengthen the rule and authority of Kabul. But experts have noted that the ranks of the Afghan national army are increasingly being filled by the Tajik minority at the expense of the Pashtun plurality. US diplomat Matthew Hoh, who resigned as Senior Civilian Representative for the U.S. Government in Zabul Province, noted in his resignation letter that he “fail[s] to see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war.” Mr. Hoh went on to write that “[L]ike the Soviets, we continue to secure and bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by [the Afghan] people.”
I have always opposed nation-building as unconstitutional and ineffective. Afghanistan is no different. Without a real strategy in Afghanistan, without a vision of what victory will look like, we are left with the empty rhetoric of the last administration that “when the Afghan people stand up, the US will stand down.” I am afraid the only solution to the Afghanistan quagmire is a rapid and complete US withdrawal from that country and the region. We cannot afford to maintain this empire and our occupation of these foreign lands is not making us any safer. It is time to leave Afghanistan.
Big Bump
Bump on!
E Pluribus Unum
Don't get the idea that I
Don't get the idea that I agree with al-Qaeda, but the fact is, the reason we are being attacked by the terrorists is because we are occupying their nations and bombing them. It's as simple as that. They didn't just decide to launch terror attacks against us for no reason. In their minds, we are the invaders. The Afghans see us exactly as they saw the Soviets in the Eighties. So the longer we stay, the easier it is for the terrorists to recruit more cannon fodder.
We have no reason to be in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran or any other nation. We don't want them occupying our nation. We need to secure our own borders, not the borders of nations 8 or 10 thousand miles away!
I support our military ( I served in Iraq in 2004-2005 ) but all we are doing is making more enemies. Our politicians are using the terrorist threat to undermine the Bill or Rights, and the cost in blood and money continues to increase. I would like to point out that while the politicians get us into these undeclared wars, no politicians lose their lives in them. Shouldn't the politicians be in the front lines? Shouldn't they be the first to put their backsides on the line? You won't see that. Most of our politicians are spineless cowards. Not only that, they have contempt for our nation and contempt for us. All they care about is themselves - and what they can steal.
Withdrawal is NOT Surrender
With this clarity of which Senator Paul speaks, we would not have need of Foreign Affairs Committees.....but it's members take no heed. Their motives are not the motives of truly free persons. The good senator is correct, Iraq will return to the media forefront. Pakistan will naturally be enraged with our presence. Moreso than now, of course.
Retribution is not far away, what with the suicidal Czars we have among us. We have always had them. They are just out of the closet now. Are there enough of us, male and female, who would will to be uncomfortable, even die, saving OUR Liberty?
The good Lord bless you, Ron Paul.
Fare thee well......
Wildhorse
Fare thee well......
Wildhorse
Why does a successful surge matter?
When G W Bush said, "mission accomplished" in Iraq, he was in a sense correct. The Hussein regime had been defeated, the occupation had begun.
Once the decision to occupy has been made, a successful occupation is to be preferred to an unsucessful one.
If occupation is bad policy, a successful surge only worsens the situation. It delays the day of withdrawl. It's fool's gold!
Of course the situation in Iraq will in time change for the worse and talk of a successful surge will be seen as nonsense.
In Afghanistan D.C. has gotten itself in the middle of a 30+ years "civil war". The Uzbeks and the Tajiks are the soldiers of the central government in Kabul fighting the Pashtuns (Taliban and Non-Taliban).
D.C. has itself in a Vietnam situation (civil war) and has condemned America to repeat the history of that era.
D.C. has refused to learn from the past. Human beings will continue to die.
Dr.Paul
is da man.
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uilding as unconstitutional
uilding as unconstitutional and ineffective. Afghanistan is no different. Without a real strategy in Afghanistan, without a vision of what victory will look like, we are left with the empty rhetoric of the last administration that “when the Afghan people stand up, the US will stand down.” I am afraid the only solution to the Afghanistan quagmire is a rapid and complete US withdrawal from that country and the region. We cannot afford to maintain this empire and our occupation of
Wow - Check This Out!!!
Just read this on CNN about James Cameron's new "Avatar" movie:
"Perhaps most surprising was the politics. At one stage the deranged general leading the attack, with echoes of George Bush, declares: "Our survival relies on pre-emptive action. We will fight terror with terror."
Unbelievable! This is HUGE! Here's the link to the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/11/avatar.cameron....
God, give us Men!
God, give us Men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking.
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.
Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-81)
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Ron Paul is such a man as this. A true statesman of the highest honor, prinicples and integrity!
********************
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
A Foreign Policy of Freedom
If you have not read this book yet by Ron Paul you are missing out on the most inspiring and profound works of Ron Paul. All his floor speeches on foreign policy are in there for the last thirty years along with his intimate thoughts and feelings on the subject. I fear there will never be another statesman that is so principled and the embodiment of true integrity!
*****
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
My favorite too!
Dr. Paul is at his most eloquent giving these powerful, prepared speeches on the House floor.
Fritz~ The poem
I posted above could have been written for Ron Paul...I love that poem now because it perfectly describes the kind of man Dr Paul is!
*****
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
L-B
Yes, that poem is very appropriate. Is there more to it? Lies, indeed, beget more lies. And lest we forget, "Truth is treason in an empire of lies!"
Fritz~ yes..there is more to it
Ron Paul is THE 'more to it' ...
and so here we are in the year 2009...challenged to try live up to his example of integrity and principled courage. Recently I heard an interview by Scott Horton on antiwar.com and Charles Goyette...they both were saying Ron Paul is one of a kind and we may never see such a statesman of such high integrity as he, ever again. I hope that is not true but I have to agree....no one can measure up yet in my opinion!
I found that quote by the way, from an old book only found online from 1896~ The Banking Octopus and the Silver Question by F.M. Fogg ( pg 24)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Dy05AAAAMAAJ&dq=the+banking...
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd
Thank you for your kind reply!
An interesting little book you linked there. I will have to spend more time with it. Always enjoy your enthusiastic comments.
Spread this one far and wide...
This needs to be spread to all conservative and liberal blogs and forums. The masses are awakening...
Ron Paul 2012 for Peace
Ron Paul 2012 for Peace
Powerful logic.
I wander what Eikenberry and McChrystal truly tought about his remarks.
My Blog:
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Words of Wisdom
All I have to say is ...
OBAMA = WAR - RON PAUL = PEACE!
Ron Paul for President 2012!
http://enemyartistkristofer.blogspot.com
http://enemyartistkristofer.blogspot.com
Words of advice:
"I tend to believe that the citizens are 15-20 years ahead of Congress and thats why I think I have done so well" RP
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http://www.gunshowgirl.com
How
How does his speeches fall on deaf ears in congress? I just dont understand why this isnt stopped.
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http://www.gunshowgirl.com
There are very few people...
in congress who have the integrity that Ron does. Perhaps there are none.
Ron Paul 2012
www.josiahgarber.com/blog
Ron Paul 2012
www.josiahgarber.com/blog
bump
.
Excellent, as always
And I wish he had time to say this directly to Hillary Clinton last week, when she got all huffy in defense of that war and the Bush Doctrine.
We need to remember that the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, was, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, largely planned in the United States (and Germany) by terrorists who were in our country legally. According to the logic of those who endorse military action against Afghanistan because al-Qaeda was physically present, one could argue in favor of US airstrikes against several US states and Germany! It makes no sense.
What could she have said then?
he mentions ethnic cleansing
he mentions ethnic cleansing of shi'ites. a good strong topic.
bump
bump
And Irak...Pakistan...Somalia...Honduras...Colombia etc....etc.
Discover Costa Rica
Discover Costa Rica
You know,
using such geographic references that eventually end with "discover Costa Rica" is just plain funny.
bump
.