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http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/cr091002.htm
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                  Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq
                         by Representative Ron Paul
                       U.S. House of Representatives
                             10 September 2002



     Soon we hope to have hearings on the pending war with Iraq. I am
     concerned there are some questions that won't be asked -- and
     maybe will not even be allowed to be asked. 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 those who argue that even with
          inspections we cannot be sure that Hussein might be hiding
          weapons, 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 UN's International Atomic 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 links to terrorism?

       7. Is it not true that the CIA has 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 UN 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 US, 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 twelve
          years ago, which even then proved totally inept at defending
          the country?

      14. Is it not true that the constitutional power to declare war
          is exclusively that of the Congress? Should presidents,
          contrary to the Constitution, allow Congress to concur only
          when pressured by public opinion? Are presidents permitted to
          rely on the UN 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 US
          soldiers have suffered from Persian Gulf War syndrome from
          the first Gulf War, and that 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
          dollar 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 UN resolutions are given as
          reason to initiate an attack, yet is it not true that
          hundreds of UN Resolutions have been ignored by various
          countries without penalty?

      20. Did former President Bush not cite the UN 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 from 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 toward
          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 U.S. 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 preventive war is synonymous with an act
          of aggression, and has never been considered a moral or
          legitimate US 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 war 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?



     Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.





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