[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3856-3857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                WHAT IF?

  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, I have a few questions for my colleagues.
  What if our foreign policy of the past century is deeply flawed and 
has not served our national security interests?
  What if we wake up one day and realize that the terrorist threat is a 
predictable consequence of our meddling in the affairs of others and 
has nothing to do with us being free and prosperous?
  What if propping up repressive regimes in the Middle East endangers 
both the United States and Israel?
  What if occupying countries like Iraq and Afghanistan--and bombing 
Pakistan--is directly related to the hatred directed towards us?
  What if some day it dawns on us that losing over 5,000 American 
military personnel in the Middle East since 9/11 is not a fair trade-
off for the loss of nearly 3,000 American citizens--no matter how many 
Iraqi, Pakistani, and Afghan people are killed or displaced?
  What if we finally decide that torture--even if called ``enhanced 
interrogation techniques''--is self-destructive and produces no useful 
information and that contracting it out to a third world nation is just 
as evil?
  What if it is finally realized that war and military spending is 
always destructive to the economy?
  What if all wartime spending is paid for through the deceitful and 
evil process of inflating and borrowing?
  What if we finally see that wartime conditions always undermine 
personal liberty?
  What if conservatives, who preach small government, wake up and 
realize that our interventionist foreign policy provides the greatest 
incentive to expand the government?
  What if conservatives understood once again that their only logical 
position is to reject military intervention and managing an empire 
throughout the world?
  What if the American people woke up and understood the official 
reasons for going to war are almost always based on lies and promoted 
by war propaganda in order to serve special interests?
  What if we, as a Nation, came to realize that the quest for empire 
eventually destroys all great nations?
  What if Obama has no intention of leaving Iraq?
  What if a military draft is being planned for the wars that will 
spread if our foreign policy is not changed?
  What if the American people learn the truth: that our foreign policy 
has nothing to do with national security and it never changes from one 
administration to the next?
  What if war and preparation for war is a racket serving the special 
interests?
  What if President Obama is completely wrong about Afghanistan and it 
turns out worse than Iraq and Vietnam put together?
  What if Christianity actually teaches peace and not preventive wars 
of aggression?
  What if diplomacy is found to be superior to bombs and bribes in 
protecting America?
  What happens if my concerns are completely unfounded? Nothing.
  But what happens if my concerns are justified and ignored? Nothing 
good.

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