President Trump has been notoriously inconsistent in his foreign
policy. He campaigned on and won the presidency with promises to repair
relations with Russia, pull out of no-win wars like Afghanistan, and end the
failed US policy of nation-building overseas. Once in office he pursued policies exactly the opposite of
what he campaigned on. Unfortunately Iran is one of the few areas where the
president has been very consistent. And consistently wrong.
In the president’s speech
last week he expressed his view that Iran was not “living up to the spirit” of
the 2015 nuclear agreement and that he would turn to Congress to apply new
sanctions to Iran and to, he hopes, take the US out of the deal entirely.
Nearly every assertion in the president’s speech was embarrassingly
incorrect. Iran is not allied with al-Qaeda, as the president stated. The
money President Obama sent to Iran was their own money. Much of it was a
down-payment made to the US for fighter planes that were never delivered when
Iran changed from being friend to foe in 1979. The president also falsely
claims that Iran targets the United States with terrorism. He claims that Iran
has “fueled sectarian violence in Iraq,” when it was Iranian militias who
prevented Baghdad from being overtaken by ISIS in 2014. There are too many other false statements in the
president’s speech to mention.
How could he be so wrong on so many basic
facts about Iran? Here’s a clue: the media reports that his number one advisor
on Iran is his Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley. Ambassador Haley is a
“diplomat” who believes war is the best, first option rather than the last,
worst option. She has no prior foreign policy experience, but her closest mentor
is John Bolton – the neocon who lied us into the Iraq war. How do these people
live with themselves when they look around at the death and destruction their
policies have caused? Swords into Plowshares
Unfortunately the American
people are being neoconned into another war. Just as with the disastrous 2003
US attack on Iraq, the media builds up the fear and does the bidding of the
warmongers without checking facts or applying the necessary skepticism to
neocon claims.
Like most Americans, I do not endorse Iran’s style of government. I
prefer religion and the state to be separate and even though our liberties have
been under attack by our government, I prefer our much freer system in the US. But I wonder how many Americans know
that Iran has not attacked or “regime-changed” another country in its modern
history. Iran’s actions in Syria are at the invitation of the legitimate Syrian
government. And why won’t President Trump tell us the truth about Iranian
troops in Syria – that they are fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda, both of which are
Sunni extremist groups that are Iran’s (and our) mortal enemies?
How many Americans know that Iran is one of the few countries in the
region that actually holds elections that are contested by candidates with very
different philosophies? Do any Americans wonder why the Saudis are considered
one of our greatest allies in the Middle East even though they hold no
elections and have one of the world’s worst human rights records?
Let’s be clear here: President Trump did not just announce that he was
“de-certifying” Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal. He announced that Iran
was from now on going to be in the bullseye of the US military. Will Americans
allow themselves to be lied into another Middle East war?
Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of Congress and Distinguished
Counselor to the Mises Institute.
Copyright © 2017 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in
whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are
given.
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