Fact checker: Ron Paul gets three Pinocchios for claim that U.S. blockading Iran

Examiner ^

[mnehring]

On Friday, a Washington Post fact checker gave GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul three "Pinocchios" for claiming the United States is blockading Iran during the NBC debate in Tampa on January 23.

During that debate, Paul said:

"We're blockading [Iran]. Can you imagine what we would do if somebody blockaded the Gulf of Mexico? That would be an act of war. So the act of war has already been committed and this is a retaliation. But besides, there's no interest whatsoever for Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz. I mean, they need it as much as we do. I mean, so you have to put that in a perspective. But this whole idea that we have to go to war because we've already committed an act by blockading the country, I agree with Newt (that “the American people have no interest in going to war anywhere.”)”

But has the United States really imposed a blockade on Iran?

The Washington Post adds:

Paul’s assertions are curious considering that the United States is not involved in a literal blockade of Iran, nor of any other part of the world right now....

[mnehring]

Sorry about the excerpt, apparently Examiner demands it.

[GeronL]

Paul: nuttier and nutter

[Venturer]

I believe Ron Paul knows the Constitution, he should stick to that, He appears to know nothing about Iran-—or any other foreign country for that matter.

[JerseyHighlander]

The explicit goals of the US State Dept, The Bank for International Settlements, The UK branch of the BIS, is to do everything up to but not including a blockade of Iran, to facilitate policies to force third parties to blockade Iran, and to force foreign Central Banks to blacklist Iran’s trade transactions.

Search for Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal year 2012. IT is a blockade of Iran’s banking system. Pure and simple, and brutally effective.

[DugwayDuke]

So what makes you think Ron Paul knows anything about the Constitution? Other than Ron Paul insisting that he does?

[JerseyHighlander]

Doznes if not hundreds of talking head pundits have chimed in on the issue in the last three weeks, including a dozen articles posted on FR..

Oliver North:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/23/red-lines/

Brett Wolf:
http://blogs.reuters.com/financial-regulatory-forum/2012/01/20/new-iran-sanctions-most-threaten-non-u-s-banks/

and 970+ more articles on the subject:
http://news.google.com/news/more?q=Section+1245++National+Defense+Authorization+Act+2012&hl=en&safe=off&client=opera&hs=893&rls=en&channel=suggest&prmdo=1&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1916&bih=955&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dJ_47HMUY5FI9qMOocl7OdOhCZ8AM&ei=CUwnT9pC5OrSAaGj3b8C&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQqgIwAA

[WhiskeyX]

Ron Paul’s rhetoric has been anti-American in its rampant ignorance and prejudice. Ron Paul does not want to understand the definitions and meanings of the words he is using, and he does not care to learn their definitions when doing so would interfere with his bashing of American foreign policy for his political purposes.

Iran is prohibited by international law from possessing a nuclear weapon or enriching uranium to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran’s violation of this international law is a breach of international peace and is an act of war. Such a breach of international peace and an act of war justifies the United Nations and the members of the United Nations use of force, economic and military, to compel Iran’s compliance with international law.

Ron Paul’s false statements and false claims about these subjects demonstrate why he is not competent to serve as a commander-in-chief or as an elected member of the U.S. Congress. This is unfortunate to the extent of which he has made respectable contributions in Congress towards bringing some small measure of accountability to the Federal Reserve and some branches of the U.S. Government.

[Fester Chugabrew]

“But besides, there’s no interest whatsoever for Iran to close the Straits of Hormuz. I mean, they need it as much as we do.”

Makes sense to me, but not so much to folks who strain at gnats and swallow camels; who see George Soros and the KKK around every korner.

[WhiskeyX]

Ron Paul is incompetent when it comes to understanding the Constitution. The Constitution gives the Congress the power to declare war. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say a formal declaration of war is the sole means by which Congress may exercise its power to declare war or authorize the use of military force. Upon gaining independence from the sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the United States became a sovereign state with all of the powers to authorize the use of military force any independent sovereign possessed. Under international law, no sovereign was required to make a formal declaration of war until and to the limited extent of which some sovereigns entered into certain international treaties in the 20th Century. Even then, these sovereign states retained their sovereign power to authorize the use of military force with or without a formal declaration of war under certain circumstances defined by the international treaties. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution denies the Congress its sovereign authority to use military force in compliance with the international treaties and the laws and customs of armed conflict.

[mnehring]

I guess it would make sense to a Paul fan who just goes by what Paul says as gospel and doesn’t think beyond that. Iran’s major shipping port where they export out oil is Chabahar which is South of the Straits of Hormuz. Their other major shipping port is Bandar-e Anzali which is on the Caspian sea.

Grab a map, Iran can control the entire region if they shut down the Straits but they don’t need the Straits for their own export as Iran’s coastline spans well outside the Persian Gulf into the Arabian Sea (to the South) and the Caspian Sea (to the North).

[aimhigh]

I believe Ron Paul knows the Constitution

I caught Paul in a constitutional blooper in the last debate. He was responding to the question about putting a manned based on the moon. Paul said the money could be better spent on health care. I thought the government wasn't constitutionally responsible for health care.

[Venturer]

I was trying to give him a pass on something—gawd knows he doesn’t know anything else.

[SaraJohnson]

Paul has it sourced! The Russian internet TV channel and Iranian press confirmed it! Seriously this is where Leftist and libertarian troofers often get their “facts.” The US is eeeeevil. Russia is good and peaceful. Iran is a little teddy bear that is just picked on by the Great Satan and the Joooooos. It is why Paul’s foreign policy is so twisted.

As a troofer told me once, “I just collect the information and everyone can decide if it’s true or not.” If it’s coming from Putin and Ahmadinejad, it is safe to discount it. But the toofers tell themselves that since “Bush lied” about Iraq WMD, everything the US government says is a lie and the enemies of the US, especially the Muslims, are telling the real truth.

[WhiskeyX]

Iran has about 26 seaports, and only 2 of those seaports are outside of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz on the Gulf of Oman: Bandar Jask and Khalij-e Chabahar. Those 2 seaports on the Gulf of Oman are small seaports for ships less than 500 feet in length, and they do not have an oil terminal. The seaports which have a total of about 7 oil terminals which accomodate large oil tankers are all located within the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Grab a map.

Mine has Alaska on it. Does yours? Iran can kiss my grits.