12/21/09 Ron Paul: Iran Sanctions are Precursor to War

http://www.house.gov/paul
http://CampaignForLiberty.com

Last week the House overwhelmingly approved a measure to put a new round of sanctions on Iran. If this measure passes the Senate, the United States could no longer do business with anyone who sold refined petroleum products to Iran or helped them develop their ability to refine their own petroleum. The sad thing is that many of my colleagues voted for this measure because they felt it would deflect a military engagement with Iran. I would put the question to them, how would Congress react if another government threatened our critical trading partners in this way? Would we not view it as asking for war?

This policy is pure isolationism. It is designed to foment war by cutting off trade and diplomacy. Too many forget that the quagmire in Iraq began with an embargo. Sanctions are not diplomacy. They are a precursor to war and an embarrassment to a country that pays lip service to free trade. It is ironic that people who decry isolationism support actions like this.

If a foreign government attempted to isolate the US economically, cut off our supply of gasoline, or starve us to death, would it cause Americans to admire that foreign entity? Or would we instead unite under the flag for the survival of our country?

We would not tolerate foreign covert operations fomenting regime change in our government. Yet our CIA has been meddling in Iran for decades. Of course Iranians resent this. In fact, many in Iran still resent the CIAs involvement in overthrowing their democratically elected leader in 1953. The answer is not to cut off gasoline to the Iranian people. The answer is to stay out of their affairs and trade with them honestly. If our operatives were no longer in Iran, they would no longer be available as scapegoats for the regime to, rightly or wrongly, blame for every bad thing that happens. As bad as other regimes may be, it is up to their own people to deal with them so they can achieve true self-determination. When foreigners instigate regime change, the new government they institute is always perceived as serving the interest of the overthrowing country, not the people. Thus we take the blame for bad governance twice. Instead we should stay out of their affairs altogether.

With the exception of the military industrial complex, we all want a more peaceful world. Many are hysterical about the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. Here are the facts: Iran has never been found out of compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) they signed. However, being surrounded by nuclear powers one can understand why they might want to become nuclear capable if only to defend themselves and to be treated more respectfully. After all, we dont sanction nuclear capable countries. We take diplomatic negotiations a lot more seriously, and we frequently send money to them instead. The non-nuclear countries are the ones we bomb. If Iran was attempting to violate the non-proliferation treaty, they could hardly be blamed, since US foreign policy gives them every incentive to do so.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• congressman
• ron
• paul
• texas
• straight
• talk
• iran
• embargo
• threat
• war
• nuclear
• middle
• east
• foreign
• policy
• peace
• barack
• obama
• nobel
• prize
• afghanistan
• iraq
• israel
• bomb
• sanctions

[buyred]

Great Video. I never get sick of Dr. Paul.

[ForTehNguyen]

embargos always increase the chance of war

Free trade and free travel is the best diplomacy, no one wants to go to war with your business partner

[00Piroozi]

The current tyranny in Iran is the result of U.S. intervention in that country. Now we should leave those people alone to deal with the mess for themselves, it is none of the business of citizens of the United States!!

[buckinfitches]

This is the same thing we did to Japan during WW2. Japan responded with the pearl harbor attack. Thats exactly what we wanted to happen. It was the perfect excuse for us to enter WW2. Lets all hope that Iran is not stupid enough to attack.

[nsolcis]

@Drealist87 the gallup polls at the begining of this year had ron paul leading over all others, but the media attempted to play it off as if gallup polls meant nothing,

the people are waking up, but we need to keep our pressure up

[Drealist87]

lol damn i shut this shit down lol bitches ^ ^

[Drealist87]

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS THIS MAN NOT PRESIDENT!!! Him not being elected shows that the majority of americans cannot handle the truth. damn shame.

[Drealist87]

wow no response lol nice

i always hate how Mr. Pauls vids have lowish views. I am gonna go read 1/2 prince.

[Drealist87]

lol i would of gotten a pro israel comment by now

lol do not drink and youtube lol kinda dangerous har har

olde english 800 is not taht bad

lol i do not know why people bash it

its cheap and gets u fucked up

i like seeing how long i can hold my pee in after drinking a couple : p

[Drealist87]

and i do not buy it. religions are brainwashing the people though some fucks actually think Jesus will come back to earth

well listen here kiddies u need to make a portal into our imagination (land) before we can see jesus

ohh and jesus does not care about us but he will fight for St Peter. lol Klye you have to kill me.

[Drealist87]

I as a New yorker would not let some fucking Jew or anyone come demolish my home so they could build a house for themselves. You gonna have to kill me mother fucker. That is what the people of Gaza are thinking right now. They are fighting for their freedom. If you deny you are an enemy of America. Listen to Dr. Paul. He says we always say they attacked us but we do not even look into the reason why. Our freedom? Our democracy? lol sounds like some zionist bull shit

[Drealist87]

Simple think this. If america could fund the oppression of the people in Gaza think what they would do to you. Imagine if jews choose New york as their safe haven (only reason they picked the middle east is because of religous reasons i heard in a book they wanted to pick Africa first when they wrote up the Balfour deceleration)