RPI Chairman Ron Paul was on NewsMax today to discuss the attack on a Paris-based satirical magazine that left 12 people dead. The attackers are said to be radical Islamists who objected to the magazine’s vulgar depictions of their faith and of Muhammad, Islam’s prophet.
Dr. Paul made it clear that libertarians reject all such initiation of force, which he described as “obscene,” but he also pointed out that these kinds of attacks do not happen in a vacuum. Said Dr. Paul:
France has been a target for many, many years, because they’ve been involved in foreign affairs in Libya, and they really prodded us along in — recently in Libya, but they’ve been involved in Algeria, so they’ve had attacks like this, you know, not infrequently. So, it does involve, you know, their foreign policy as well.
Dr. Paul made the point that Western countries, including France, have been engaged in aggressive and interventionist policies in the Middle East that have left hundreds of thousands of people dead, while often supporting dictators and arming radicals. These policies have consequences. He said:
It’s that overall policy which invites retaliation, and they see us as intruders. But it’s a little bit more complex, you know, when they hit us, either here at home, and hit civilians, and what’s happening in France. But I don’t think you can divorce these instances from the overall foreign policy.
Watch the interview:
