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Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
He said that the US is partially to blame for 9/11 because of our foreign policy. I nearly fell out of my chair.
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If you read the full version of bin Laden's '96 Fatwa - which I believe was titled something like 'Declaration of War against the Americans for occupying the land of the two holy places' - it becomes painfully obvious that the entire basis for declaring war by bin Laden's network was because of the United States foreign policy. His case was built around that and only that.
The Fatwa was very widely circulated - in fact, it was something I had read long before 9/11. I was in high school at the time, and my sociology teacher (who had recently retired from the US Military) had something of a bin Laden obsession. He was convinced that the guy was no joke - and was something of a calculating political genius who was probably capable of low tech, high concept attacks, designed to bait or trap.
I remember on the old AOL horse board before 9/11 - I'd like to mix in a few Osama bin Laden references, jokes, and just drop his name into my posts - mostly because almost everyone there had no idea who the hell I was talking about. There are a few who post here now who remember those old gems of mine from way back in the day.
I don't blame Ron Paul at all for saying what almost made you fall out of your chair. Why, exactly, did we need our military stationed in other lands? Just because the governments there are friendly and the people are fanatical?
Our foreign policy has long been a joke - we ought to focus on our own peace and prosperity instead of trying to get involved in everyone elses business. Giving huge handouts and aid away to those governments who want to be our pals (even if said gov is evil or corrupt) - and rattling cages of all governments who don't want to be our pals.
I think Paul's point was that if we focused on just our own peace and prosperity - and not tried to be the policeman of the entire world, getting involved in everyones business - there would have been no 9/11, no Iraq war, and the Al Qadia network would have either been a non-entity or an entity who ultimately would have declared war against an Arab government. We are fighting everyone elses battles.