Ron Paul and Gary John Were Right All Along: Time for America to Withdraw from the Middle East

It has been 70 years since the last time that the United States went to war after a direct threat to our national security. Regardless of your thoughts on Pearl Harbor (here are mine), it was an attack on the United States and left no option other than military intervention on the part of the United States. Since World War II ended, the U.S. implemented a vague interventionist policy whereby our leaders utilize scare tactics and media spin to tie any and all acts within any foreign country to our national security. Using this broad blanket has allowed the United States to impose our will via sanctions, military attacks, or covert operations around the globe. Of course, as we continue to play these games of physical and psychological warfare around the globe, we are bound to occasionally aid those whom we are or were in conflict with at other times, as Fox 19 reporter Ben Swann illustrated in his recent interview with President Obama. As a result, no one trusts the American government because they have seen, fought against, and worked alongside the U.S. They know firsthand what we are about "privately."

So, it should come as no surprise that a recent amateur film mocking Islam has been used as a reason for unrest in several Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. The Taliban has called "on religious heads around the country to completely inform Muslim followers of the inhumane acts of Americans… And make them ready for a long-term fight." 

It is with these thoughts in mind that Governor Gary Johnson last night issued a call to action regarding the foreign policy of the United States. Johnson said, 

"Part of honoring that service is to ask the obvious question: What U.S. interest is being served by putting our people – and our money – in places where U.S. personnel can be killed by extremists over a video? We launched millions of dollars-worth of missiles to bring down Gaddafi, and this is what we get. We hail and encourage the outbreak of an Arab Spring in Egypt, send them billions of dollars we can’t afford, — and our embassy is breached and our flag desecrated...Protecting America with a strong national defense and a rational foreign policy is our leaders’ most basic responsibility. But let us not confuse national security with senseless intervention where our interests are clearly not being served."

What Johnson is advocating is the very message that Americans need to hear and pay attention to. It is also the very message that the American government does not want it's citizens to support. Why? Why is it wrong to want our troops here defending our people, on our soil, and training for war in the event it is necessary? Why is it so important that we have soldiers (covert and out in the open) in countries around the world pushing fear and inciting aggression against Americans?

Johnson is not saying we should have a weak military that is unable to look out for American interests and is able to fully respond to any direct threat to our national security. When he talks about cutting defense spending, he doesn't mean downsizing the military. He means that we should give the military enough of a budget to maintain readiness abroad, while being stationed at home. The waste in the government is rampant, as you all know. But in the defense budget it is downright absurd. When I was in the army we used to drive our tanks out to a remote location in Texas and sleep in them for a week at a time, doing almost nothing. Why? Because we needed to make sure that we spent and justified our budget. Otherwise, we could not ask for an increase the next year. Folks, that's crazy! 

I'm not promoting isolationism. I, and many others are promoting non-interventionism. There is a major difference. North Korea is an isolationist country. Canada is a non-interventionist country. If there is a direct threat, they are able to respond in kind. They rely on negotiation to handle politics. Take a moment to consider what it might be like if Americans didn't have to wake up every morning to another protest, more dead brothers and sisters, or more political rhetoric, and fear-mongering propaganda. How great would it be to see countries asking us to trade with them, and lowering the costs of the goods we want and need in order to make it happen. Imagine what the financial savings from cutting excess military spending could do for us here at home. Please, take a few minutes and consider something other than what you have been spoon-fed by your news media.