Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Rand Paul Issues Statement on Syria

Sen. Rand Paul, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , has issued the following statement on Syria:
We are told there is no military solution in Syria, yet we are embarking on a military solution. The President has failed to demonstrate a compelling American national interest in the Syrian civil war.

To be sure, there is a tragedy of a horrific nature in Syria, but I am unconvinced that a limited Syrian bombing campaign will achieve its intended goals. I frankly think that bombing Syria increases the likelihood of additional gas attacks, may increase attacks on Israel and turkey, may increase civilian deaths, may increase instability in the Middle East and may draw Russia and Iran further into this civil war.

By pre-announcing a limited attack, we pre-announce limited effect.

Our brave young soldiers should not be asked to risk their lives and limbs in a civil war with no certain ally. On the one hand, we have a tyrant who gassed his own people. On the other hand, we have radical Islamists and al-Qaida. When no compelling American interests exist, we should not intervene. No compelling interests exist in Syria.

I am glad to see he is against the attack, but I would have liked to have seen a  statement that made clear that the US can not be the world's policeman.

The most awkward part of the statement seems to be this "Our brave young soldiers should not be asked to risk their lives and limbs in a civil war with no certain ally." This implies that if others would have gone along with the attack, RP would have not only gone along with missile attacks but even been in favor of using US boots on the ground.

The strongest statements against the attack appear to be coming from Rep. Alan Grayson:

I don’t believe in humanitarian  bombing. I don’t believe in humanitarian missile strikes.
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We’re not the world’s judge, jury, and executioner.
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What is the source of this notion that every time we see something we don’t like, we should bomb it?
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One thing that is perfectly clear to me is that there is no desire on the part of the American people to be the world's policeman.
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Raytheon's stock is up 20% in the last 60 days. Nobody wants US intervention in Syria except the military-industrial complex.

5 comments:

  1. This is about piping oil directly to the Mediterranean, bypassing the Iranian straits of hormuz and the Egyptian controlled Suez canal.

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  2. Raytheon's stock is up 0% in the last 30 days. It was 76.08 on Aug 5 2013 and closed 76.08 today.

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    1. Year to date, Raytheon is up 32.1%. The only reason there is no gain in he last 30 days is because of a normal technical correction to a screaming stock climb.

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  3. In addition it is disturbing that he is buying the risible "Assad gassed his own people" meme lock stock and barrel. But I suppose it is a shibboleth in DC now, and nobody is allowed to question this narrative and remain a "serious person".

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    1. Even if he did gas his own people that doesn't justify US military action. I mean for fuck sake, if the Us government intervenes every single time some tin pot dictator acted in a terrible way the US government would be at war with almost EVERYONE! Not to mention itself.

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