The following is and mirrored from its source at:
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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