Ron Paul: We killed a million Iraqis and that pleased bin Laden

The conservatives attending this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference are generally hawkish when it comes to foreign policy, but they applauded Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on Friday when he told them the US has no choice but to get out of Iraq.

“Part of the reasons why we lost this last election was the foreign policy issue,” Paul insisted. “Generally speaking, the presidential candidate who argues the case for less war-mongering will win the election.”

Paul noted that George Bush ran in 2000 on a pledge to end Bill Clinton’s nation-building, but then he “joined the idea that the American taxpayers — you — have an obligation to take care of everybody and police the world.”

“This is literally what bankrupts the country,” Paul complained. “It costs us a trillion dollars a year to take care of our foreign policy, and that cannot last.”

“The person most pleased with our foreign policy is Osama bin Laden,” Paul went on. “He said, ‘I’m going to get you to come over here and we’ll fight you on our sand, and we will do what we did to the Soviets.’ … He said he will do the same thing, he will eventually bankrupt this country.”

“So yeah,” Paul acknowledged. “We want to get rid of a bad guy in Iraq — we did. But … another one million Iraqis got killed. Believe me, they weren’t all terrorists. … But nevertheless, it pleased Osama bin Laden.”

Paul concluded by criticizing President Obama for proposing to send another 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. “Don’t we know anything about history?” he asked. “It is bankrupting our country. It will end … because we can’t afford it. … That’s what the financial crisis is telling us. … and the sooner we realize that the better.”
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast Feb. 27 2009.