Editor's note: The government and its apologists are out of control.
And as Dr. Ron Paul explains in today's edition of our weekend Masters Series – which originally appeared last month on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity's website – U.S. leaders used blatantly false information as a justification to go to war more than a decade ago...
After a 12-Year Mistake in Iraq, We Must Just March Home
By Dr. Ron Paul
Twelve years ago last week, the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq, an act the late General William Odom predicted would turn out to be "the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history."
Before the attack, I was accused of exaggerating the potential costs of the war when I warned that it could end up costing as much as $100 billion. One trillion dollars later, with not one but two "mission accomplished" moments, we are still not done intervening in Iraq.
President Obama last year ordered the U.S. military back into Iraq for the third time. It seems the Iraq "surge" and the Sunni "Awakening," for which General David Petraeus had been given much credit, were not as successful as was claimed at the time. From the sectarian violence unleashed by the U.S. invasion of Iraq emerged al-Qaeda and then its more radical spinoff, ISIS. So Obama sent the U.S. military back.
We recently gained even more evidence that the initial war was sold on lies and fabrications. The CIA finally declassified much of its 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, which was the chief document used by the Bush Administration to justify the U.S. attack. According to the Estimate, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that:
|
But even as the U.S. intelligence community had reached this conclusion, President Bush told the American people that Iraq "possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons" and "the evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."
Likewise, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "bulletproof" evidence that Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaeda was contradicted by the National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that there was no operational tie between Hussein's government and al-Qaeda.
Even National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's famous statement that the aluminum tubes that Iraq was purchasing "are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs," and "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," was based on evidence she must have known at the time was false. According to the NIE, the Department of Energy had already concluded that the tubes were "consistent with applications to rocket motors" and "this is the more likely end use."
It is hard to believe that in a society supposedly governed by the rule of law, U.S. leaders can escape any penalty for using blatantly false information – that they had to know at the time was false – to launch a pre-emptive attack on a country that posed no threat to the United States. The fact that they got away with it simply makes it all the easier for Washington's interventionists to try the same tricks again. They already did with Libya and Syria. It is likely they are also doing the same with claims of a Russian "invasion" of Ukraine.
Last week, President Obama correctly blamed the current chaos in Iraq on the Bush Administration's decision to invade. He said, "[ISIS] is a direct outgrowth of al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion... which is an example of unintended consequences... which is why we should generally aim before we shoot."
However, if the U.S. intervention in Iraq created the "unintended consequences" of ISIS and al-Qaeda, how is it that more U.S. intervention can solve the problem?
A war based on lies cannot be fixed by launching another war. We must just march home. And stay home.
Regards,
Ron Paul
Editor's note: Just as the government refuses to admit its mistakes with Iraq, it also continues to make irresponsible decisions with the U.S. economy.
Porter and Dr. Paul agree that this enormous mismanagement will lead the U.S. into an unavoidable currency crisis. And in his newest book, America 2020 – The Survival Blueprint, Porter offers a guide to survive – and even profit from – the challenges we're sure to face.
America 2020 is loaded with direct, specific, actionable advice... like how to get real, hold-in-your-hand silver for less than $3 (page 57)... the world's three safest currencies, which you can buy without ever leaving home (page 109)... and the best way to generate reliable income in America over the next decade (page 255).
To claim your copy of America 2020 – and to watch a video of a conversation Porter recently had with Dr. Paul in Washington, D.C. – click here.