Two years ago today, the FoxNews Iowa Presidential Debate took place, and the subject of Iran was discussed. Dr. Paul had to defuse the nuclear warhawk Michele Bachmann.
Watch the clip below, or you can read the transcript after the video:
Bachmann: “Iran will take a nuclear weapon. They will use it to wipe our ally Israel off the face of the map, and they’ve stated that they will use it against the United States of America. Look no further than the Iranian Constitution which states unequivocally that their mission is to extend jihad across the world and eventually to setup a worldwide Caliphate. We would be fools and knaves to ignore their purpose and their plan.”
Paul: “Obviously I would like to see a lot less nuclear weapons. I don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I would like to reduce them, because there would be less chance of war. But to declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims, and say all Muslims are the same, this is some dangerous talk.
Yeah there are some radicals, but they don’t come here to kill us because we’re free and prosperous. Do they go to Switzerland and Sweden? I mean, that’s absurd! If you think that is the reason, we have no chance of winning this. They come here, and the CIA has explained it to us that they come here and they want to do us harm because we’re bombing them.
What in the world is this about the drone being in Iran? And we’re begging and pleading on how we’re going to start a war to get this drone back? Why were we flying a drone over Iran? Why do we have to bomb so many countries? Why do we have 900 bases in 130 countries? And we’re totally bankrupt! How are you going to rebuild a military when we have no money? How are we going to take care of the people?
So I think this wild goal to have another war, in the name of defense, is the dangerous thing. The danger is really us overreacting. We need a strong national defense, and we need to only go to war with a declaration of war, instead of carelessly flouting it and starting these wars so often.
Bachmann: “And the problem would be the greatest underreaction in world history if we have an avowed madman who uses that nuclear weapon to wipe nations off the face of the Earth. We have an IAEA report that just recently came out that said literally that Iran is within just months of being able to obtain that weapon. Nothing could be more dangerous than the comments we just heard.”
Paul: “There is no UN report that said that. It’s totally wrong. That is not true. They produced information that led you to believe that, but they have no evidence, there has been no enrichment of these bombs.”
Bachmann: “And if we agree with that, the United States people could be at risk of our national security.”
Paul: “If she thinks we live in a dangerous world, she ought to think back when I was drafted in 1962 with nuclear missiles in Cuba. And Kennedy calls Kruschev and talks to him, and we don’t have a nuclear exchange. And you’re trying to dramatize this, that we have to go and treat Iran like we’ve treated Iraq, kill a million Iraqis and eight thousand Americans have died since we’ve gone to war. You cannot solve these problems with war. You can solve the problems if we follow our Constitution and go to war only when we declare the war, go in and win them and get ‘em over with. Instead of this endless fighting, and this endless attitude that we have enemies all around the world.
Bachmann: “But as President, I stand on the side of peace for the American people.”
