Six years ago today, on Dec. 18th 2007, Dr. Paul was a guest on Morning Joe. Watch him tackle every major war going back to Woodrow Wilson’s terrible decision to drag the U.S. into World War I:
Joe Scarborough: You had an interesting comment about the Iraq War. Condoleeza Rice, obviously, last night went over to Iraq. She’s there right now. A lot of people are waking up to that news. And you commented that you’re not one of these people who are against the war because you think it was mishandled. You were saying you can’t manage a bad war. Is that right?
Ron Paul: That is exactly the point. Bad wars, when you start it yourselves, when you go in there without a declaration, you don’t know who the real target it. There’s no real enemy. It becomes a political war. Actually one of the reasons we went in there and gave the President this authority was to enforce UN resolutions.
No, you can’t manage that, and some of that candidates now who voted for the war are complaining that “Oh it’s just being mismanaged. I can manage this war much better.” No, you’re exactly right, it’s overall policy, it’s foreign policy. I want the foreign policy of the Founding Fathers, the foreign policy of George Bush in the year 2000. The humble foreign policy and no nation building. No policing of the world. That’s what I want. That’s what the American people want. And besides, we can’t afford this foreign policy anymore. We’re going broke, and we have to quit before it collapses on us.
Joe Scarborough: Let me ask you about other wars; whether you supported them or not. Again, just so people have a better understanding of your view of foreign policy. What about the first Gulf War? Did you support or oppose that?
Ron Paul: No I did not because there was no declaration, we weren’t attacked, our national security was not threatened. That was a regional war that should not have involved us.
Joe Scarborough: What about Bosnia & Kosovo?
Ron Paul: Absolutely opposed to it, and all the Republicans almost opposed to that. They even had a suit against Clinton, and that’s what George Bush ran against. They thought that was way too much.
Joe Scarborough: What about Vietnam & Korea? Do you think those wars should not have been fought?
Ron Paul: Absolutely not. Once again, the same arguments: undeclared wars, our national security was not threatened, we didn’t win the wars, a lot of men were killed, and it cost us a lot of money. We’re still in Korea. It makes no sense whatsoever.
Joe Scarborough: World War II?
Ron Paul: World War II would be hard to avoid. But you have to understand why World War II was fought, and it was because of World War I. That was a continuation of one war, and we should not have gotten into World War I. Wilson dragged us into that war. The war was almost over and there was a stalemate, and he wanted to participate in the Versailles Treaty, and that was the disaster.
The Versailles Treaty, for instance, designed this modern Iraq, and created the problems that we’re facing today because of that. But World War I really led to Hitler, and then World War II.
Joe Scarborough: So over the past century, the only war that you would say America should have been involved with would have been World War II?
Ron Paul: That was the only one that was justified because we were attacked viciously, and then Germany declared war against us. But if you look at the overall policy, it could have been prevented by us having a wiser foreign policy earlier on.
