Libertarians for Ron Paul

“John McCain announces timetable for withdrawal from Iraq!”

“Well, actually, he did no such thing, and probably will never do any such thing, but this morning, in an interesting speech (and crappy companion commercial) dreamcasting ahead to the year 2013, the presumptive Republican nominee cleverly set bait for the national media to undo his most enduring campaign blunder to date: Letting slip the bedrock truism that McCain sees no downside whatsoever to having U.S. troops stationed in Iraq in the year 2109.”

Matt Welch looks at McCain’s latest ploy on Iraq http://www.reason.com/news/show/126525.html

“The war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute.”

“The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush ’s projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.”

Source article http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080418/wl_mcclatchy/2913186_1

Ontheissues.org has a page detailing Sen. Hillary Clinton’s views on War & Peace drawn from public sources  http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Hillary_Clinton_War_+_Peace.htm

The eleventh item is chilling:

“ On March 21, 1999, Hillary expressed her views by phone to the President: “I urged him to bomb.” The Clintons argued the issue over the next few days. [The President expressed] what-ifs: What if bombing promoted more executions? What if it took apart the NATO alliance? Hillary responded, “You cannot let this go on at the end of a century that has seen the major holocaust of our time. What do we have NATO for if not to defend our way of life?” The next day the President declared that force was necessary.”

Source: Hillary’s Choice by Gail Sheehy, p.345 Dec 9, 1999

Antiwar libertarians have often invoked the insight of Randolph Bourne, who noted that “war is the health of the state.” Perhaps more to the point, war has all too often meant, along with death and destruction, the wholesale obliteration of individual rights.

Congressman Ron Paul has opposed the Iraq War and invoked the concepts of Just War Theory, particularly within the constraints of Christian Doctrine. Just War Theory is a broader philosophical category, including secular philosophers and classical liberals. George H. Smith presents an outstanding examination of Just War Theory in the May 2008 Liberty Magazine, online @ http://www.libertyunbound.com/archive/2008_05/smith-war.html

“The War on Terror is now more expensive than Vietnam or World War I–but the dishonest way Washington is paying for it may prove costliest of all.”

Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University examines the long-term cost of America’s military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan http://www.reason.com/news/show/125438.html

“The Bush administration and its supporters are still defending the war. They know that Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, that al-Qaida was never operating there until after the U.S. invasion, and that dreams of remaking the Middle East through American military might were overly optimistic and disturbingly utopian. Still, they soldier on, arguing to those of us who opposed the war all along that “everyone thought that Saddam had those weapons” at the time.”

“Actually, everyone  did not  think that. I was chatting a few months ago with former OC Weekly Publisher Will Swaim, and we laughed at how strange it was that the foreign-policy establishment couldn’t figure out what was obvious to a few lefty editors at an alternative weekly and some righty editorial writers on a suburban newspaper. The skeptics had one thing in common: We didn’t trust the government to give us the straight scoop. We understood that government officials tend to manipulate the facts to reach a preordained conclusion.”

Steve Greenhut looks at who was right about Iraq http://www.ocregister.com/articles/war-iraq-editorial-2008187-last-everyone 

“Last week marked five years since President Bush’s decision to engage in

preemptive war against Iraq (or more accurately, preventive war, since there was no imminent threat to thwart; rather its purpose was to prevent a potential threat that had not yet emerged from materializing – even though there was no concrete evidence that such a threat would, in fact, materialize). Speaking at the Pentagon, the president declared that the Iraq war was worth fighting: “Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision.” The implication is that the benefit warrants the cost.”

“But five years later, the president was unable to demonstrate that the Iraq War was worth fighting by the criteria he used to justify the decision to go to war.”

Full column by Charles Pena http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=12582

On the five-year anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Libertarian Party offers the following statement by Executive Director Shane Cory:

It is with a heavy heart that I woke up on March 19, 2008, in a country still at war in Iraq, now five years after it first began.  It is also with great disappointment that neither Republicans nor Democrats have provided a plan to end what is shaping up to be a “forever war.” On this five-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Libertarian Party renews our call to bring American troops home without undue delay. May the courage and sacrifice of the 3,990 soldiers who have died in Iraq while serving their country never be forgotten.

The Libertarian Party is America’s third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties.  You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.lp.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.
Source: http://www.lp.org/media/article_570.shtml

Justin Logan, associate director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute:

“Five years ago, few predicted that the Iraq war would turn out this way. (My Cato colleagues were notable exceptions.) The war’s supporters, like Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, issued endless false assurances to the American people before the war that ‘we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time.’ Senator Hillary Clinton could not be bothered to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq before voting to send U.S. troops into battle. The bipartisan foreign policy community in Washington that urged the American people to support this war has studiously avoided introspection over its consequences. Al Qaeda has been strengthened, Iran’s regional stature has grown, our allies have been alienated, and our adversaries have rejoiced.”

“Today, Senator McCain chortles about staying in Iraq for 100 years. The American people shrug their way to the next Britney Spears story. The sad fact is that until the American people demand more from their political leadership, there is no hope for a meaningful change in policy. In all likelihood the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war will come with U.S. troops patrolling Iraq. Perhaps that anniversary will precipitate a genuine change in policy.”

Source: http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=comments&id=869  

“It was supposed to be a quick war and a cheap one. Five years later, 160,000 U.S. troops are still in Iraq. And the costs keep piling up - $12 billion every month - putting a strain on an already faltering economy.”

“The United States has poured more than $500 billion into Iraq, mostly for military operations. But that figure is just a small piece of the much larger bill that taxpayers will pay in the future.”

“Because the money for the war is being borrowed, interest payments could add another $615 billion. A heavily depleted military will have to be rebuilt at a cost of $280 billion. Disability benefits and health care for Iraq war veterans, many of them severely injured, could add another half-trillion dollars over their lifetime.”

Full story http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/17/MNBVVL9GK.DTL