Posted on 03/31/2014 8:24:21 AM PDT by thetallguy24
At the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin this weekend highlighted a video of Rand Paul speaking in 2012 about sanctions on Iran. In it, Paul disparages the notion of use of force, and for some reason claims the United States was partly to blame for World War II!
“There are times when sanctions have made it worse. I mean, there are times .. leading up to World War II we cut off trade with Japan. That probably caused Japan to react angrily. We also had a blockade on Germany after World War I, which may have encouraged them … some of their anger.”
Rubin spoke with David David Adesnik of the American Enterprise Institute about Paul’s remarks:
After viewing the video, he tells Right Turn, “Blaming the U.S. for Pearl Harbor is a long-standing isolationist habit that reflects tremendous historical illiteracy. Sen. Paul is very poorly informed if he thinks U.S. sanctions ‘probably caused Japan to react angrily.’” He explains, “The U.S. cut off oil supplies to Japan in August 1941, long after Japan had launched its atrocity-laden war against China in 1937. The evidence is conclusive that Japan was determined to dominate all of East Asia. Believing that the U.S. would not stand by passively if it overran Thailand, Singapore, Malaya and the East Indies, Japan launched its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.”
With regard to the Senator’s comments about Germany, Adesnik declared them “so eccentric that it’s hard to be sure what he’s even talking about.” He goes on to point out the obvious, which is that we should be proud of our actions in Europe before and during the war, regardless of whether or not they antagonized the Nazis.
Senator Paul at the time of the video and in remarks since, referred to a nuclear Iran as “not a good idea”, which is true, in much the same way that sticking one’s hand in a wood chipper is a “not a good idea”.
Equally as troubling is his explanation of the rationale for sanctions being “doing something is better than doing nothing.” A colleague objects to Paul’s “straw man” and remarks “is this how we think about national security now?” Good question. Another good question is whether or not the first consideration in pursuing American interests and security is whether or not an enemy or “rogue” nation may become annoyed with us.
Rubin says that “these comments, his bizarre take on historical events and his current opposition to sanctions (in accord with President Obama) raise troubling issues regarding his true beliefs and the degree to which his father’s radical libertarian ideas have rubbed off on him.”
Indeed the issues are raised. And going into 2016, Obamaesque waffling on treading lightly or Ron Paul-like isolationism are not attributes anyone in this party should be looking for in a candidate. Answers to those issues, therefore, should be top priority for Senator Paul.
*Updated with partial transcription of relevant portion for those without audio. 10:43 AM.
Standing up to a bully probably will make him angry and he may strike you because of it. That doesn’t mean it’s right to just do nothing and let the bully have his way.
Yep, this post is a scam. I watched the video at the supplied link and its nothing like the title of this post suggests.
The fools here are re-debating WWII over this silliness.
I detected at least one Bushbot on this thread signing the praise of invading Iraq.
I like Cruz, if we could have him. But...we all need to be very wary when we see the GOP DC crowd start campaigns against more conservative and Constitutional potential candidates.
Beware, they are already at it and by the time they are done, we will all be split up and warring with each other over the perfect conservative to our liking. That is when their uber RINO will slip in and leave us with another big gov RINO war monger loser. Reagan did it right, these guys not so much.
He threatens the status quo and must be isolated, marginalized, and destroyed...
He wasn’t on your list to begin with...
So... No big loss.
Actually when FDR trashed the US economy to implement his communist program, it hurt the economies of other nations who could’ve resisted the Italians, Germans & Japanese.
BUSHBOT!?!
Do the letters F O mean anything to you?
We found 500 metric tons of yellow cake uranium...you know...the stuff that Joe Wilson said didn’t exist...
We found mass graves of Saddams atrocities with women and children in them...
We KNOW that Saddam supported terrorists...
So if it was up to you...Saddam would still be in power?
Just what kind of bot are you?
Are you going to start posting liberal anti war crap next?
LOLO
Yep, same here. He's lost me.
I like Rand’s domestic policies...but Paul Sr is a flaming lunatic....if Rand’s foreign policy is just More Obama fecklessness then screw that...
And I WILL remind EVERYONE here that Rand is good buds with that that god damned traitor Adam Kokesh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE9gVeykPAU
The DC GOP is worried about Paul right now because he is able to appeal to the younger crowd and to the sick of war people, like my 88 year old dad who is sick of the Neocon GOP and seeing troops coming back with no arms or legs only to get crapped on later. The GOPDC want Paul stopped. Well hell, they want Cruz stopped too.
I watched how the bitter Lugar crowd purposely worked against Murdock to see to it he lost to the democrat. Granted Murdock did himself no good on the abortion remark, but he only lost because of the GOPDC revenge for Lugar getting ousted. The campaign against Murdock was purposeful.
You can show these liberal trolls the satellite pictures of Salman Pak and ground photos of the stage props like the fuselage of a modern commercial jet and the real train cars at that site and still these bastards will insist that Sadam was not supporting or helping terrorists. You could stick their heads into a barrel of yellow cake trucked and flown out of Iraq and still these bastards would deny the truth. They are beyond hope or truth.
speaking of mass graves
Sometimes, he’s like the old man.. he says stuff just to hear his own voice.
“I don’t think America should be trading with nations like pre-WWII Japan.”
Hey, I don’t think we should be trading with countries like Saudi Arabia — in the here & now. But they have something that we want, so we look the other way on a who bunch of things that we would find objectionable.
To your point about America Trading with pre-WW2 Japan:
You do realize that the United States sent an emissary & a squadron of steam frigates under Commodore Matthew Perry to force-ably open trade with Japan? That was in the 1850’s when Japan was a closed, largely pre-industrial, feudal society.
This set in motion massive societal upheaval in Japan that set the stage for Japanese imperialism. (note I didn’t say CAUSED).
Saddam was “par for the course” in the Arab world.
And Rand doesn't seem to make the kind of mistakes he did when first elected (when he went on MSNBC Maddow and got creamed).
So they desperately make up silly stuff like this.
I like calling out Fraud posts.
Actually he was high on my list until he came out for comprehensive amnesty and then put all his eggs in McConnell's corrupt basket. Now he has shown that not only is he a typical corrupt politician , but he is completely ignorant of the history of the Pacific Theatre.
He would make a terrible president.
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