Ron Paul's speech given to the House Floor on February 13, 2009.
Madam Speaker, I have a few questions for my colleagues.
What if our foreign policy of the past Century is deeply flawed and has not served our national security interests?
What if we wake up one day and realize the terrorist threat is a predictable consequence of our meddling in the affairs of others and has nothing to do with us being free and prosperous?
What if propping up oppressive regimes in the Middle East endangers both the United States and Israel?
What if occupying [foreign] countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan, and bombing Pakistan, is directly related to the hatred directed toward us?
What if someday it dawns on us that losing over 5,000 American military personnel in the Middle East since 9/11 is not a fair trade off for the loss of nearly 3,000 Americans citizens no matter how many Iraqi, Pakistani, and Afghan people are killed or displaced?
What if we finally decided that torture, even if it's called "enhanced interrogation technique" is self-destructive and produces no useful information, and that contracting it out to a 3rd world nation is just as evil?
What if it is finally realized that war and military spending is always destructive to the economy?
What if all wartime spending is paid for through the deceitful and evil process of inflating and borrowing?
What if we finally see that wartime conditions always undermine personal Liberty?
What if conservatives who preach small government wake up and realize that our interventionist foreign policy provides the greatest incentive to expand the government?
What if conservatives understood once again that they're only logical position is to reject military intervention and managing an Empire throughout the world?
What if the American people woke up and understood that the official reason for going to war are almost always based on lies and promoted by War propaganda in order to serve special interests?
What if we as a nation came to realize that the quest for empire eventually destroys all great nations?
What if Obama has no intention of leaving Iraq?
What if a military draft is being planned for the wars that will spread if our foreign policy is not changed?
What if the American people learn the truth that our foreign policy has nothing to do with National Security, that it never changes from one Administration to the next?
What if war and preparation for war is a racket, serving the special interests?
What if President Obama is completely wrong about Afghanistan and turns out it's worse than Iraq and Vietnam put together?
What if Christianity actually teaches peace and not preventive wars of aggression?
What if diplomacy is found to be superior to bombs and bribes in protecting America?
What happens if my concerns are completely unfounded? Nothing.
But what happens if my concerns are justified and ignored? Nothing good.
And I yield back the balance of my time
