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Endlich ein Zeichen das nicht alle US Politiker hinter Bush stehen......
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Questions on Iraq from a GOP Congressman!
Ron Paul is a conservative Republican Congressman from Texas, an M.D.,
who is pro-life and Christian. He read the following 35 questions to the
House of Representatives, September 10,2002. (He only had an allotted 15
minutes, so no replies were forthcoming, and he doesn't expect any.)
"Soon we hope to have hearings on the pending war with Iraq. Here are
some questions I would like answered by those who are urging us to start
this war:
1. Is it not true that the reason we did not bomb the Soviet Union at
the height of the Cold War was because we knew they could retaliate?
2. Is it not also true that we are willing to bomb Iraq now because we
know it cannot retaliate - which just confirms that there is no real
threat?
3. Is it not true that there are those who argue that even with
inspectors we cannot be sure that Hussein might be hiding weapons, and
at the same time imply that we can be more sure that weapons exist in
the absence of inspections?
4. Is it not true that the U.N.'s International Energy Agency was able
to complete its yearly verification mission to Iraq just this year with
Iraqi cooperation?
5. Is it not true that the intelligence community has been unable to
develop a case tying Iraq to global terrorism at all, much less the
attacks on the United States last year? Does anyone remember that 15 of
the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia and that none came from Iraq?
6. Was former CIA counter-terrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro wrong when
he recently said there is no confirmed evidence of Iraq's link to
terrorism?
7. Is it not true that the CIA had concluded there is no evidence that a
Prague meeting between 9/11 hijacker Atta and Iraqi intelligence took
place?
8. Is it not true that northern Iraq, where the administration claimed
Al Qaeda were hiding out, is in the control of our "allies", the Kurds?
9. Is it not true that the vast majority of Al Qaeda leaders who escaped
appear to have safely made their way to Pakistan, another of our
so-called allies?
10. Has anyone noticed that Afghanistan is rapidly sinking into total
chaos, with bombings and assassinations becoming daily occurrences, and
that according to a recent U.N. report the Al Qaeda "is, by all
accounts, alive and well and poised to strike again, how, when, and
where it chooses?"
11. Why are we taking precious military and intelligence resources away
from tracking down those who did attack the United States ? and who may
again attack the United States ? and using them to invade countries that
have not attacked the United States?
12. Would an attack on Iraq not just confirm the Arab world's worst
suspicions about the United States? And isn't this what bin Laden
wanted?
13. How can Hussein be compared to Hitler when he has no navy or air
force, and now has an army one-fifth the size of 12 years ago, which
even then proved totally inept at defending the country?
14. Is it not true that constitutional power to declare war is
exclusively that of the Congress? Should presidents, contrary to the
Constitution, allow Congress to concur only when pressurized by public
opinion? Are presidents permitted to rely on the United Nations for
permission to go to war?
15. Are you aware of a Pentagon report studying charges that thousands
of Kurds in one village were gassed by the Iraqis, which found no
conclusive evidence that Iraq was responsible, that Iran occupied the
very city involved, and that evidence indicated the type of gas used was
more likely controlled by Iran not Iraq?
16. Is it not true that anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 U.S.
soldiers have suffered from Persian Gulf War syndrome from the first
Gulf War, and thousands may have died?
17. Are we prepared for possibly thousands of American casualties in a
war against a country that does not have the capacity to attack the
United States?
18. Are we willing to bear the economic burden of a 100 billion war
against Iraq, with oil prices expected to skyrocket and further rattle
an already shaky American economy? How about an estimated 30 years
occupation of Iraq that some have deemed necessary to "build democracy"
there?
19. Iraq's alleged violations of U.N. resolutions are given as reason to
initiate an attack, yet is it not true that hundreds of U.N. resolutions
have been ignored by various countries without penalty?
20. Did former President Bush not cite the U.N. resolution of 1990 as
the reason he could not march into Baghdad, while supporters of a new
attack assert that it is the very reason we can march into Baghdad?
21. Is it not true, that contrary to current claims, the no-fly zones
were set up by Britain and the United States without specific approval
of the United Nations?
22. If we claim membership in the international community and conform to
its rules only when it pleases us, does this not serve to undermine our
position, directing animosity towards us by both friend and foe?
23. How can our declared goal of bringing democracy to Iraq be
believable when we prop up dictators throughout the Middle East and
support military tyrants like Musharaf in Pakistan, who overthrew a
democratically elected president?
24. Are you familiar with the 1994 Senate Hearings that revealed the
United States knowingly supplied chemical and biological materials to
Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war and as late as 1992 ? including after the
alleged Iraqi gas attack on a Kurdish village?
25. Did we not assist Saddam Hussein's rise to power by supporting and
encouraging his invasion of Iran? Is it honest to criticize Saddam now
for his invasion of Iran, which at the time we actively supported?
26. Is it not true that preventative war is synonymous with an act of
aggression, and has never been considered a moral or legitimate U.S.
policy?
27. Why do the oil company executives strongly support this war if oil
is not the real reason we plan to take over Iraq?
28. Why is it that those who never wore a uniform and are confident that
they won't have to personally fight this war are more anxious for this
war than our generals?
29. What is the moral argument for attacking a nation that has not
initiated aggression against us, and could not if it wanted?
30. Where does the Constitution grant us permission to wage war for any
reason other than self-defense?
31. Is it not true that a war against Iraq rejects the sentiments of the
time-honored Treaty of Westphalia, nearly 400 years ago, that countries
should never go into another for the purpose of regime change?
32. Is it not true that the more civilized a society is, the less likely
disagreements will be settled by war?
33. Is it not true that since World War II, Congress has not declared
was and ? not coincidentally ? we have not since then had a clear-cut
victory?
34. Is it not true that Pakistan, especially through its intelligence
services, was an active supporter and key organizer of the Taliban?
35. Why don't those who want war bring a formal declaration of war
resolution to the floor of Congress?