Thursday, September 5, 2013

Rand Paul Meeting Weekly With Former Bush and Reagan Advisors to Form "Realist" Foreign Policy

National Review reports:
Behind the scenes, Paul has held weekly meetings with former Reagan and George H. W. Bush advisers, asking them to help him articulate a “realist” foreign policy for a new generation. “I was surprised when he called and wanted to meet, but I met with him and we talked for a few hours about how different crises in the past have been handled by Congress and the president,” says a former Republican official who met with Paul earlier this summer. “It wasn’t what I expected. Clearly he wants to be more than Ron Paul’s son; my impression is that he’s staking out his own ground.”

Another official Paul has sought for counsel is Richard Burt, a former ambassador to Germany and State Department adviser for Reagan. “The senator’s instincts, in terms of defining the national interest, are exactly right,” he says. “He and I have spoken about how Syria doesn’t meet the threshold that Reagan would set for military action. What he’s doing isn’t knee-jerk isolationism but a return to Reagan’s sense of prudence.”
For the record, Reagan-Bush attacked:

Grenada

Panama

and

Iraq.

Then, of course, there was Iran-Contra.

With advisers like these, Rand will soon find a war he likes.

4 comments:

  1. You can add the slaughter house called Lebanon to the mix. helping out our capital state on that one.

    You can add Libya to the mix.
    Let's call it Libya 1, Ronnie and George's excellent bombing adventure.
    Not to be confused with Libya 2, the Nobel Laureate's excellent bombing adventure.

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  2. Also, Lebanon and Syrian forces in Lebanon.

    On 14 December, USS New Jersey fired 11 projectiles from her 16 inch (406 mm) guns at hostile positions inland of Beirut. These were the first 16 inch (406 mm) shells fired for effect anywhere in the world since New Jersey ended her time on the gunline in Vietnam in 1969. This shelling was in response to attacks on U.S. reconnaissance planes by Syrian/Druze antiaircraft batteries.

    On 8 February 1984, New Jersey fired almost 300 shells at Druze and Shi'ite positions in the hills overlooking Beirut. Some 30 of these massive projectiles rained down on a Syrian command post in the Bekaa Valley east of Beirut, killing the general commanding Syrian forces in Lebanon and several other senior officers. This was the heaviest shore bombardment since the Korean War.

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  3. This is where Rand Paul is definately problematic.

    As for Reagan's action in Lebanon, it was one of his worst mistakes, but also one of his best decisions, which was to get out.

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  4. realist foreign policy

    "I from Raytheon, and I am here to help you Rand, will you help us?"

    ReplyDelete