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Ron Paul: US Drone War Undermines American Values

… AND MAKE AMERICA LESS SAFE By Ron Paul  ||  Earlier this month, CIA-operated drones killed as many as 55 people in Yemen in several separate strikes. Although it was claimed that those killed were “militants,” according to press reports at least three civilians were killed and at least five…

… AND MAKE AMERICA LESS SAFE

By Ron Paul  ||  Earlier this month, CIA-operated drones killed as many as 55 people in Yemen in several separate strikes. Although it was claimed that those killed were “militants,” according to press reports at least three civilians were killed and at least five others wounded. That makes at least 92 U.S. drone attacks against Yemen during the Obama administration, which have killed nearly 1,000 people including many civilians.

The latest strikes seem to contradict President Barack Obama’s revised guidelines for targeted killings, which he announced last May. At the time he claimed that drones would only be used against those who posed a “continuing and imminent threat to the American people,” that there must be a “near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured,” and that safeguards to prevent civilian casualties were at “the highest standard we can set.”

None of these criteria seem to have been met. In fact, the threshold in Yemen is considerably lower than the president claims. In 2012 President Obama approved “signature strikes” in Yemen, a criteria for attack that is not based on actual or suspected wrongdoing, but rather on a vague set of behaviors that are said to be shared by militants.

This means that the individuals killed in the most recent drone attacks were not necessarily terrorists or even terrorist suspects. They were not proven to have committed any crime, nor were they proven to have been members of al-Qaeda or any terrorist organization. Yet they were nevertheless targeted for attack, and the sovereignty of Yemen was violated in the process.

Some may claim that we need to kill suspected terrorists overseas so that we can be safer at home. But do the drone attacks in places like Yemen really make us safer? Or are they actually counter-productive? One thing we do know is that one of the strongest recruiting tools for al-Qaeda is the U.S. being over there using drones against people or occupying Muslim countries.

How can we get rid of all the people who may seek to do us harm if our drone and occupation policies continually create even more al-Qaeda members? Are we not just creating an endless supply of tomorrow’s terrorists with our foolish policies today? What example does it set for the rest of the world if the U.S. acts as if it has the right to kill anyone, anywhere, based simply on that individual’s behavior?

We should keep all of this in mind when the U.S. administration lectures world leaders about how they should act in the 21st century.

Recently, the U.S. administration admonished Russian president Vladimir Putin for his supposed interference in the affairs of Ukraine, saying that violating the sovereignty of another country is not the 21st century way of conducting international relations. I agree that sovereignty must be respected. But what about the U.S. doing the same thing in places like Yemen? What about the hundreds and even thousands killed by U.S. drones not because they were found guilty of a crime, but because they were exhibiting “behaviors” that led a CIA drone operator safely hidden in New Mexico or somewhere to pull the trigger and end their lives?

What about a president who regularly meets in secret with his advisors to determine who is to be placed on a “kill list” and who refuses to even discuss the criteria for placement on that list? Is this considered acceptable 21st century behavior?

The Obama Administration needs to rein in the CIA and its drone attacks overseas. They make a mockery of American values and they may well make us less safe.

ron paul

Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.

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39 comments

CNSYD April 28, 2014 at 8:31 am

Paul just can’t get his mind around the word “former”.

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Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 8:43 am

Send Ron in armed to the teeth, how about all politicians, i’d feel alot safer then.

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Once again April 28, 2014 at 9:05 am

Amen!
They send our youthful treasure, our best and brightest to die for their wars!
They sit back in their ivory Towers living off the taxpayers money, safe and sound!

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Yelsewh April 28, 2014 at 1:18 pm

I’m not sure about the best and brightest part… maybe some of them were.

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Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 2:55 pm

Bravest sound OK?

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Yelsewh April 29, 2014 at 6:52 am

Yes, I think that’s reasonable.

CorruptionInColumbia April 28, 2014 at 6:04 pm

Agreed, except that unlike a lot of them, Ron Paul actually believes that starting wars for the sake of starting wars, or whatever financial benefit they may cause some people, is wrong. Ron is one of the few who speaks out against this indefensible practice which has become more and more common, as time goes on.

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Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 6:33 pm

Old Republican is the answer.

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idiotwind April 28, 2014 at 9:14 am

Paul was full of shit as a congressman and a candidate, he was never cool or a straight-talker or a hip libertarian. he is a cynical opportunist who created a market niche for a family business living off taxpayers

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CNSYD April 28, 2014 at 9:39 am

Please tell us how you really feel about him.

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The Colonel April 28, 2014 at 5:53 pm

Doofus is the word that comes to mind every time I hear “Ron Paul”

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TontoBubbaGoldstein April 29, 2014 at 7:36 am

SHH.

*sighs*

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euwe max April 30, 2014 at 8:01 am

there is no sanity clause.

Poor April 29, 2014 at 9:43 pm

Your comment does prove your name right: idiotwind. You really should get a life and stay away from listening to the presstitute media as they have a propensity to brainwash “idiots” like you.

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euwe max April 28, 2014 at 10:55 am

We can distract the world from this by backing Palin’s new waterboarding initiative.

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nitrat April 28, 2014 at 11:20 am

And, Ron Paul’s support for various seditious militia groups over the years doesn’t undermine American values…much less American national security?

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CorruptionInColumbia April 28, 2014 at 6:05 pm

Of course, freedom and liberty don’t deserve to be defended.

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USAFVetDan April 30, 2014 at 7:53 am

Let me get this straight. In a country that spys on every citizen’s phone calls, emails, texts, and financial transaction… and that claims it has the right to kill any citizen that the seated president determines, without due process, is a “terrorist”, you believe that citizens arming and organizing in response is “undermining our nation’s values and security”? Whose “values and security” are you referring to???

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Skunkworks April 28, 2014 at 12:31 pm

Go drones!

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SolitaryPillar April 28, 2014 at 1:43 pm

Funny how war mongers tend to be neocons. Can they now be the minions of the antichrist? Think about it, they are supposed to be a majority. Surely you are evil if you support machines going in and killing whoever may happen to be in a certain area? Right? It sounds like the apocalypse. Pretty much like something out of the “Terminator” movie. Congratulations you anti-christian s.o.b.’s. I’m sure you are also part of the crowd that shouted boo to Ron Paul quoting the golden rule. You all hate the bible, all things good, and you embrace evil. What is most despicable is how you are all such great deceivers claiming to believe something you do not really believe.

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Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 2:24 pm

Onward Christian Soldiers, is my favorite hymm, even if it’s a machine. Who’s side are you on?

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SolitaryPillar April 28, 2014 at 2:34 pm

Onward Christian Soldiers. Hymm wrote when Europe was out of men to fight in the crusade. They sent a bunch of kids around 12 or 13 years old to die for Jesus. In Alexandria, the army ran out of food. They were told that God wanted them to eat the Muslims, who by choosing a false faith were surely no higher than animals. Onward Christian Soldiers!!! Totally evil.

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The Colonel April 28, 2014 at 2:56 pm

Uh, yeah, not so much. Onward Christian Soldiers was written in 1865 as a processional for a religious ceremony. It was almost immediately adopted by the Salvation Army as their anthem. The first line ends with as to war, it is not a battle hymn but rather a riding cry to action by Christians.

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SolitaryPillar April 28, 2014 at 3:06 pm

I stand corrected. It was Fairest Lord Jesus. The title confused me. My apologies. The rest is correct.

Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 3:22 pm

Rest of what?

The Colonel April 28, 2014 at 4:03 pm

Sorry, wrong again. Schönster Herr Jesu, was probably sung by crusaders as they marched to Jerusalem but it was not written by or about crusaders.

Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 5:10 pm

Very good intell Col. That’s what was needed, along with people that could be so brutal as to offend God. Fear is the best weapon, not logic. Animals as Solitary Pillar distains. See, it works, UUHH-RRAAHH. Not men who are robots, men without fear!!!!!!

Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 3:00 pm

I was in the Marine Corps. I would eat ANYTHING to kill the enemy. Best for you to stay on the critic sidelines at home.

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SolitaryPillar April 30, 2014 at 2:51 pm

You would have made a great soldier for Hitler. Hell anybody for that matter. I admire your cold-blooded kill anyone you are told to attitude.

SolitaryPillar April 28, 2014 at 2:42 pm

To answer your question, I am not like a wolf in a pack. If I sided with some people for a good cause it is not like I then lose all judgment and would support anything they wanted to do just so I could belong. Such thinking is representative of weak minds – sheep.

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CNSYD April 28, 2014 at 2:26 pm

Remind me about events such as Joshua and Jericho. When the Germans bombed London, when the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor, when the British and US fire bombed Dresden, etc. who was on the side of the antichrist?

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SolitaryPillar April 28, 2014 at 2:31 pm

Are you talking for Jesus? You sound just like him.

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Crooner April 28, 2014 at 4:31 pm

Us liberals agree with Paul on this issue. It’s the source of a portion of Obama’s disapproval rating.

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Deo Vindice SC April 28, 2014 at 5:02 pm

Zoink?

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sasboy April 29, 2014 at 12:45 pm

Ron Paul is right. Drone wars equal state terrorism.

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euwe max April 30, 2014 at 2:03 am

…and it reduces the number of terrorists eligible for torture.

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sasboy April 30, 2014 at 12:28 pm

Actually, it creates a new generation of victims as well as potential terrorists.

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euwe max April 30, 2014 at 3:47 pm

oh, good! That makes more terrorists Palin can waterboard!

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tomstickler April 30, 2014 at 3:13 pm

I heard that the Oathkeepers abandoned Bunkerville because of a rumor that AG Holder was sending a “hot drone”.

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