Ron on the Middle East
| "I was in Congress in the early 1980s when the US Marines were sent in to Lebanon, and I came to the Floor before they went, when they went, and before they were killed, arguing my case against getting involved in that conflict.
Ronald Reagan, when he sent the troops in, said he would never turn tail and run. Then, after the Marines were killed, he had a reassessment of the policy. When he wrote his autobiography a few years later after leaving the Presidency, he wrote this. Perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' safety that it should have. It is very easy to criticize the Government of Lebanon for not doing more about Hezbollah. I object to terrorism committed by Hezbollah because I am a strong opponent to all violence on all sides. But I also object to the unreasonable accusations that the Government of Lebanon has not done enough, when we realize that Israel occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years and was not able to neutralize Hezbollah. Mr. Speaker, There is nothing wrong with considering the fact that we don't have to be involved in every single fight. That was the conclusion that Ronald Reagan came to, and he was not an enemy of Israel. He was a friend of Israel. But he concluded that that is a mess over there. Let me just repeat those words that he used. He said, he came to the conclusion, "The irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there.'' I believe these words are probably more valid now even than when they were written." |
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Nice words, but I think that Rep. Paul is pulling a bait-and-switch in using Reagan's words. Reagan was speaking about US action in the Middle East, not US resolutions supporting the actions of others in the Middle East. Paul states that he thinks that the Congress has no place making resolutions on this matter in either's favor - perhaps that's right, perhaps it isn't. But in either event, the Reagan quotation has nothing at all to do with making resolutions.
Posted by jkhat at July 22, 2006 04:28 PM
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| # July 22nd, 2006 5:12 PM kris |
| Not to mention that Reagan was speaking in a world where Middle Eastern terrorists hadn't left their part of the world and attacked and killed Americans on American soil. |