[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4153]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR CHRISTIANITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, the top neoconservative of the 20th century 
was Woodrow Wilson. His supposed idealism, symbolized in the slogan, 
``Make the world safe for democracy,'' resulted in untold death and 
destruction across the world for many decades.
  His deceit and manipulation of the prewar intelligence from Europe 
dragged America into an unnecessary conflict that cost the world and us 
dearly. Without the disastrous Versailles Treaty, World War II could 
have been averted and the rise to power of Communists around the world 
might have been halted.
  We seem to never learn from our mistakes. Today's neocons are as 
idealistically misled and aggressive in remaking the Middle East as the 
Wilsonian do-gooders. Even given the horrendous costs of the Iraq War 
and the unintended consequences that plague us today, the neocons are 
eager to expand their regime-change policy to Iran by force.
  The obvious shortcomings of our regime change and occupation of 
Afghanistan are now readily apparent. The Taliban was ousted from 
power, but they have regrouped and threaten the delicate stability that 
now exists in that country. Opium drug production is once again a major 
operation with drug lords controlling a huge area of the country 
outside of Kabul. And now the real nature of the government we created 
has been revealed in the case of Abdul Rahman, the Muslim who faced a 
possible death sentence from the Karzai administration for converting 
to Christianity. Even now that Mr. Rahman is free due to Western 
pressure his life remains in danger.
  Our bombs and guns have not changed the fact that the new puppet 
Afghan Government still follows Sharia law. The same loyalty to Sharia 
exists in Iraq where we are trying hard to stabilize things, and all 
this is done in the name of spreading democracy.
  The sad fact is that even under the despicable rule of Saddam 
Hussein, Christians were safer in Iraq than they are today. Saddam 
Hussein's foreign minister was a practicing Christian. Today, thousands 
of Christians have fled Iraq following our occupation to countries like 
Jordan and Syria. Those Christians who have remained in Iraq fear for 
their lives every day. That should tell us something about the 
shortcomings of a policy that presumes to make the world safe for 
democracy.
  The Muslim world is not fooled by our talk of spreading democracy and 
values. The evidence is too overwhelming that we do not hesitate to 
support dictators and install puppet governments when it serves our 
interests. When democratic elections result in the elevation of a 
leader or a party not to our liking, we do not hesitate for a minute to 
undermine that government.
  This hypocrisy is rarely recognized by the American people. It is 
much more comfortable to believe in slogans, to believe that we are 
defending our goodness and spreading true liberty. We accept this and 
believe strongly in the cause, strongly enough to sacrifice many of our 
sons and daughters and stupendous amounts of money to spread our ideals 
through force.
  Pointing out the lack of success is taboo. It seems of little concern 
to many Members of Congress that we lack both the moral right and 
constitutional authority to impose our will on other nations.
  The toughest task is analyzing what we do from their perspective. We 
should try harder to place ourselves in the shoes of those who live in 
the Arab countries where our efforts currently are concentrated. We are 
outraged by a Muslim country that would even consider the death penalty 
for a Christian convert, but many Muslims see all that we do as a 
reflection of Western Christianity which, to them, includes Europe and 
America. They see everything in terms of religion.
  When our bombs and sanctions kill hundreds of thousands of their 
citizens, they see it as an attack on their religion by Christians. To 
them our actions represent a crusade to change their culture and their 
political systems. They do not see us as having noble intentions. 
Cynicism and realism tell them that we are involved in the Middle East 
to secure the oil that we need.
  Our occupation and influence in the holy lands of the Middle East 
will always be suspect. This includes all the countries of the Arabian 
Peninsula, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Naively believing otherwise will 
guarantee continuing hostility in Iraq.
  Our meddling will remain an incitement for radicals to strike us here 
at home in future terrorist attacks. All the intelligence gathering in 
the world will serve little purpose if we do not come to understand 
exactly why they hate us despite the good intentions that many 
Americans hold dear.

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