http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?pid=195576
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05/16/2007 @ 12:29am
Rudy Giuliani Vs. Ron Paul, and Reality
by John Nichols
Rudy Giuliani made clear in Tuesday night's Republican presidential
debate that he is not ready to let the facts get in the way of his
approach to foreign policy.
The most heated moment in the debate, which aired live on the
conservative Fox News network, came when the former New York mayor
and current GOP front-runner angrily refused to entertain a serious
discussion about the role that actions taken by the United States
prior to the September 11, 2OO1, terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon may have played in inspiring or encouraging
those attacks.
Giuliani led the crowd of contenders on attacking Texas Congressman
Ron Paul after the anti-war Republican restated facts that are
outlined in the report of the The National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States.
Asked about his opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq,
Paul repeated his oft-expressed concern that instead of making the
U.S. safer, U.S. interventions in the Middle East over the years have
stirred up anti-American sentiment. As he did in the previous
Republican debate, the Texan suggested that former President Ronald
Reagan's decisions to withdraw U.S. troops from the region in the
198Os were wiser than the moves by successive Republican and
Democratic presidents to increase U.S. military involvement there.
Speaking of extremists who target the U.S, Paul said, "They attack us
because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years.
We've been in the Middle East [for years]. I think (Ronald) Reagan
was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern
politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger
than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we
say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of
Mexico? We would be objecting."
Paul argued that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "delighted that
we're over there" in Iraq, pointing out that, "They have already...
killed 3,400 of our men and I don't think it was necessary."
Giuliani, going for an applause line with a conservative South
Carolina audience that was not exactly sympathetic with his support
for abortion rights and other socially liberal positions, leapt on
Paul's remarks. Interrupting the flow of the debate, Giuliani
declared, "That's really an extraordinary statement. That's really an
extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of
Sept. 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq.
I don't think I have ever heard that before and I have heard some
pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11. I would ask the congressman
withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that."
The mayor, who is making his response to the 9-11 attacks on New York
a central feature of his presidential campaign, was joined in the
assault on Paul by many of the other candidates.
But congressman did not back down, and for good reason. Unlike
Giuliani, the Texan has actually read the record.
The 9-11 Commission report detailed how bin Laden had, in 1996,
issued "his self-styled fatwa calling on Muslims to drive American
soldiers out of Saudi Arabia" and identified that declaration and
another in 1998 as part of "a long series" of statements objecting to
U.S. military interventions in his native Saudi Arabia in particular
and the Middle East in general. Statements from bin Laden and those
associated with him prior to 9-11 consistently expressed anger with
the U.S. military presence on the Arabian Peninsula, U.S. aggression
against the Iraqi people and U.S. support of Israel.
The 9-11 Commission based its assessments on testimony from experts
on terrorism and the Middle East. Asked about the motivations of the
terrorists, FBI Special Agent James Fitzgerald told the commission:
"I believe they feel a sense of outrage against the United States.
They identify with the Palestinian problem, they identify with people
who oppose repressive regimes, and I believe they tend to focus their
anger on the United States."
Fitzgerald's was not a lonely voice in the intelligence community.
Michael Scheuer, the former Central Intelligence Agency specialist on
bin Laden and al-Qaeda, has objected to simplistic suggestions by
President Bush and others that terrorists are motivated by an ill-
defined irrational hatred of the United States. "The politicians
really are at great fault for not squaring with the American people,"
Scheuer said in a CNN interview. "We're being attacked for what we do
in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how
we live. And there's a huge burden of guilt to be laid at Mr. Bush,
Mr. Clinton, both parties for simply lying to the American people."
It is true that reasonable people might disagree about the legitimacy
of Muslim and Arab objections to U.S. military policies. And,
certainly, the vast majority of Americans would object to any attempt
to justify the attacks on this country, its citizen and its soldiers.
But that was not what Paul was doing. He was trying to make a case,
based on what we know from past experience, for bringing U.S. troops
home from Iraq.
Giuliani's reaction to Paul's comments, especially the suggestion
that they should be withdrawn, marked him as the candidate peddling
"absurd explanations."
Viewers of the debate appear to have agreed. An unscientific survey
by Fox News asked its viewers to send text messages identifying the
winner. Tens of thousands were received and Paul ranked along with
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as having made the best showing.
No wonder then that, when asked about his dust-up with Giuliani,
Paul said he'd be "delighted" to debate the front-runner on
foreign policy.
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