Contrary to assertions by some commentators, Ron Paul hit it out of the park last night on the Tonight show. Thank You, Mr. Leno! by creator
(libertarian)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
♣ In a recent column, the Indepublicrat expressed concern about how Ron Paul handled Jay Leno's "who's to blame?" question.
Leno:"Let me ask you something about this terrorist thing, and clear this up, because you hear things secondhand. You said that we were to blame?"
Ron Paul's answer was clearly a grand-slam home run. He blamed the terrorists. Summarizing twice, he clearly said: "The people who are to blame are the thugs." and "The thugs that killed our people, that came over here, they're a hundred percent to blame."
As a matter of clarification and expansion, Dr. Paul suggested an excellent analogy -- that of a murder investigation.
"Our policies have a lot to do with it... If you're looking for the murderer, you have to know motives. So we have to look for the motives of these people who go insane to try to kill us. And the motives are related to the fact that we occupy their countries."
Reasoning people understand that there are motives that may lead to the killing of another person. While in some extreme cases the motive may make a killing justified, most motives prove the act to be murder. For example, everyone knows that neither anger nor fear alone justify murder.
Ron Paul clearly identified several motives for 9-11, but in no way implied that those motives justified the attack.
He mentioned the presence of our troops in Arab and other foreign countries. He asked how we would feel in a reverse situation -- Chinese troops on American soil claiming to protect "oil?" -- but throughout, he made it very clear that it is not "the man in the street" who is to blame:
"So you and I, the American people, they're not responsible. But some of our bad policies in the Middle East now for 50, 60 years -- we used our CIA to install the Shah in Iran. If somebody did that to us, we'd be pretty annoyed. Or if the Chinese had military bases on our land or said that they came here to protect their oil, the American people would be pretty outraged. The Republicans and Democrats would be joined together. They would be really very annoyed."
His answer in no way "blames the victim". This is not "fear mongering," nor "appeasement". His answer simply acknowledges human nature. Such recognition simply reaffirms the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," as a superior foreign policy.
When investigating a crime, an investigator doesn't seek a motive to "get the criminal off" (unless you happen to think like Mike Huckabee.) The motive is part of the chain of evidence that ties the perpetrator to the crime. Identifying a motive is not intended to blame the victim, but rather to seek justice for the victim. Understanding the motive may at the same time help to minimize future risk.
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"What's interesting is when one investigates a murder, a question always asked is "Who had the most to gain from this disaster?"
When one applies that to 9/11, he notices something very interesting. Middle east countries are WORSE off after 9/11 than they were before.
So if "terrorists" didn't have anything to gain from 9/11, I wonder who did... "
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Follow the money! The new owner of the WTC buildings made out like a bandit. I believe the figure involved in the insurance settlement was $16 Billion, (thats with a Billion with a "B"). The bullet manufacturers can't keep up with our demand (over one BILLION bullets a month) so they are probably pretty happy. Blackwater, KBR, and a dozen other "security personel" companies (ie "MERCINARIES") constitute over 50% of the boots on the ground at a rate of 6 to 10 times the pay of a US soldier....so yeah Haliburton and all their little "mini-hals" are probably pretty happy about it too....and bu$h and Dick have been leaching our riches in ways we won't fully comprehend for another 20 years (if ever) all in the name of "securing our interests" abroad. Worse yet they will most likely die before we can begin to hold them accountable for it.
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Just ask yourself a couple of questions, "If 9/11 had never happened, would we have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq? Could the American Congress have ever been cajoled into signing the "Patriot Act" if we hadn't been hit?
Leno: "Let me ask you something about this terrorist thing, and clear this up, because you hear things secondhand. You said that we were to blame?"
