Tag Archives: Military Intervention

Foreign Policy, Liberty Report

Ron Paul: Should We Expect Blowback From U.S. Drone Strikes?

Video 1 Comment

U.S. officials have assured the American people that the 34 killed at a funeral in Afghanistan last week were all terrorists. At the same time, CIA Director John Brennan admitted that our foreign policy can spur terrorism. Should we expect more blowback from U.S. drone strikes?

“Our solution was that our officials that we control in Afghanistan along with our government decided that all 34 at the funeral were terrorists and therefore this was an acceptable practice,” three-time presidential candidate and former Texas Rep. Ron Paul said in the latest episode of his Liberty Report.

Paul cited comments from Air Force Lt. Gen. John Hesterman that the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) is very effective. Lieutenant Hesterman said U.S. pilots are killing more than 1,000 terrorists per month and that the airstrikes are so effective that they don’t kill civilians, and government troops don’t get killed.

“I don’t know what newspapers he reads or reports he reads, but I understand ISIS is not exactly a perfect situation over there,” Paul said. “. . . I don’t know about you, but I have trouble buying into this.”

Liberty Report co-host Daniel McAdams compared Lieutenant Hesterman’s comments about killing 1,000 terrorists each month to the U.S. measuring its success during the Vietnam War by how many Vietcong were killed. “Meanwhile, we were losing the war,” McAdams said.

In drone strikes like the one that hit the funeral in Afghanistan, McAdams claimed that U.S. officials simply redefine who is a terrorist and who isn’t based on the situation.

“You can almost imagine by the terms of our own NDAA that anyone attending a funeral of a Taliban person would be supporting, aiding and abetting,” McAdams said. “So even if it was a kid . . . but what the people there on the ground claim is that at least 20 people were civilians who were killed. And I don’t know, maybe people on the ground would have an incentive to lie, but they certainly would seem to know better.”

Paul questioned whether the killing is a success or inviting more blowback, citing comments from Brennan that terrorists are essentially anyone who resists our American occupation of other countries.

“That makes it pretty convenient then,” McAdams replied. “I remember the Obama administration redefining a terrorist was as any male of military fighting age. So that would relieve them of the actual burden of proving that they were all actual terrorists.”

During an interview on Face The Nation, Brennan said, “I think the president has tried to make sure that we’re able to push the envelop when we can protect this country. But we have to recognize that sometimes our engagement and direct involvement will stimulate and spur additional threats to our national security interest.”

Paul said the quote is very telling of the problems with U.S. foreign policy. “Our intervention hurts our national security because we invite retaliation and blowback,” he said.

Watch the full episode above and check out more episodes of the Ron Paul Liberty Report here at Truth In Media.

In case you missed Ben Swann’s Truth In Media episode on ISIS watch it below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6kdi1UXxhY

Election, International, Opinion, Politics, US

Rand Paul Calls Hillary Clinton A “War Hawk” During Discussion of Foreign Policy And Police Power

Video 9 Comments


Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was interviewed by NBC’s  “Meet the Press” last week while the program covered his humanitarian mission in Guatemala performing eye surgeries on citizens in need. Paul spoke about other issues as well, including police activity in Ferguson, MO and the 2016 presidential election. Paul expressed concern that former Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton may frustrate the American public by pushing the United States into more wars if elected.

Paul said that he felt many Americans are growing tired of military interventions as he illustrated a scenario of a Paul-vs-Clinton presidential election:

“I think the American public is coming more and more to where I am, and that those people like Hillary Clinton who- she fought her own war, ‘Hillary’s War’, you know people are gonna find that. And I think that’s what scares the Democrats the most- is that in a general election, were I to run, there’s going to be a lot of independents and even some Democrats who say ‘You know what, we are tired of war. We’re worried that Hillary Clinton will get us involved in another Middle Eastern war, because she’s so gung-ho.'”

The segment cut to Paul continuing “If you want to see a transformational election in our country, let the Democrats put forward a war hawk like Hillary Clinton, and you’ll see a transformation like you’ve never seen.”

Paul has been a voice of criticism regarding military intervention, particularly in Syria, while Clinton has been a proponent of taking more military action. The two potential candidates clearly have differing views of the United States concerning their role in foreign policy.

Before criticizing Clinton, Paul, while stating that he would provide no judgement of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, once again condemned the militarization of police in the United States:

“When I see things like that and I see, like, a war zone, and I see bazookas and tanks and all of this stuff in American city- it offends me because many of these people, some are rioting, and they need to be arrested,” he said. “If you’re committing a crime, arrest people. But if you’re standing up and you want to voice dissent, you know it is really what America is about is being able to dissent.”

Paul pointed out that “Homeland Security gave $8 million dollars to Fargo to fight terrorism in Fargo, North Dakota. And I say if the terrorists get to Fargo we might as well give up. I say that as a joke, but I mean it’s like what are you doing spending 8 million dollars in Fargo? What are we doing sending a tank- there’s an armored personnel carrier in Keene, New Hampshire.”

International, Politics

Report: Military action in Iraq would hurt, not help

Leave a comment

A new report from the Crisis Group on the ISIS crisis in Iraq claims any military intervention from outside of the country would not stop further actions, but runs the risk of “stoking the conflict.”

This report comes in the wake of President Obama vowing to send up to 300 military advisers to the country to help contain and end the conflict.  There has been no word yet as to whether or not the U.S. government will use airstrikes in Iraq as requested by the Iraqi government.

Iran has already sent about 500 Revolutionary Guards into Iraq to aid the local government according to CNN.

The report claims the attacks, and method ISIS has captured towns and strongholds, is not a military achievement or great military feat by any means, but rather the string of events has been likened to a person simply leaning on a “house of cards.”

The crisis has further polarized the divide between Sunni and Shiite denominations as well as ethnic Kurds across the country. ISIS is made of Sunni followers, according to Iraqi News, while the majority of government forces are made of Shiite forces.

These two groups have been divided across the globe for many years, and the discord can be traced back to the schism which occurred across Islam after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Military intervention within the country, according to the report, would only bolster further support for ISIS as the military forces would be seen as fighting for the current, Shiite dominant, Iraqi government.

The report from the Crisis Group claims in order to stop further bloodshed and prevent a civil war across the country, the Iraqi government needs to form a “genuine government of national unity,” where all three major political and ethnic forces within the country are included and given equal political sway.

The Crisis Group’s senior adviser on the Middle East and Africa, Peter Harling, said in relation to the crisis, “A U.S. military response alone will achieve very little… Counter-insurgency cannot be successful without an effective Iraqi army to ‘clear’, an accepted Iraqi police to ‘hold’, and a legitimate Iraqi political leadership to build.”

International

Mexico Unveils New Security Plan to Quell Violence in Tamaulipas

2 Comments

Reynosa, Mexico- After the recent surge in violence, the top Mexican security official, Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osori Chong, said that a new security push in the northern border state of Tamaulipas would be spearheaded by military officials.

Chong gave no specific information in regard to federal police and troop reinforcement numbers in what sounded like a bolstering of the current strategy. He said the Mexican government will continue to vet the local police for corruption, work to dismantle cartels, and block smuggling routes for drugs, weapons and people.

Since the start of April at least 76 people have been killed in drug violence in Tamaulipas due to infighting in the cartels and battles between security forces and gunmen.

The new security push will divide Tamaulipas into four sections with each having an army or navy officer charged with implementation of the federal security plan in hopes of bringing peace to the state, said Chong.

“We are going to re-establish the conditions that will allow Tamaulipas citizens to recover the tranquility they deserve,” Chong said in Reynosa, according to the Associated Press. What he didn’t say is how this push would differ from past failed attempts to turn public safety over to the military.

Chong said that much of the recent rash of violence could be attributed to the success of the government in taking out the leadership of the cartels. The dominant criminal organizations in Tamaulipas are the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Without specifically naming him, Chong suggested the military killing of Galindo Mellada Cruz, a founding member of Los Zetas, was one of those successes.

He also said that five major high tech checkpoints would be established on highways that connect the states major cities to stem the tide of smuggling. He went on to say that a prosecutor dedicated to leading criminal investigations will be assigned to each of the areas in the plan, and that government forces will be patrolling urban areas 24 hours a day.

Tamaulipas and Texas share a long border that runs from Brownsville to Laredo and cross-border commerce is the main source of economy in the border region.

The strong intervention in Tamaulipas is not unexpected after a similar effort was undertaken last year in Michoacan, although this intervention could be more difficult as there are two heavily armed cartels battling for control in the state.

 

Follow Jay on Facebook and on Twitter @SirMetropolis