Ron Paul vs Romney on Gun Rights

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

kd5rjz

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
3,559
Reaction score
245
Location
Tulsa, OK

Nope, you are totally wrong. This would be the end of wasting money on other people's problems.

ie: ISRAEL, I wouldn't give two cents a year if I knew that's what it took to keep Israel safe. Let them deal with it, wtf do I care?
 

Dale00

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 28, 2006
Messages
7,462
Reaction score
3,868
Location
Oklahoma
Nope, you are totally wrong. This would be the end of wasting money on other people's problems.

ie: ISRAEL, I wouldn't give two cents a year if I knew that's what it took to keep Israel safe. Let them deal with it, wtf do I care?

Do you see any countries in the middle east which pose a threat to the safety and security of the United States?
 

Glocktogo

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
29,492
Reaction score
15,888
Location
Collinsville
Troop withdrawal is a form of isolationism. But use the term "troop withdrawal" if you believe it is more accurate.

Umm, not necessarily. We currently pay for the national security of many countries. Quite a few of those are perfectly capable of paying for their own defense. Now in some of those cases, it might be worth what we're paying to keep them there, depending on what we get out of the deal. But in many cases, it's simply a bloated bureaucracy that's become entrenched that keeps us there. In those cases, the countries in question should be given the choice of paying for our services at a rate that would allow us to perhaps turn a profit, but at least break even. Most of them would say hit the road, knowing that we'd come running back to save them should it become necessary.

Any treaties involved should be renegotiated, particularly if they're decades old.

Do you see any countries in the middle east which pose a threat to the safety and security of the United States?

Honestly? No. Take a close look at every one of them. Now remove any emotional attachments from your assessment of them. Do any of them have long haul troop transport capability of any significance? Do any of them even remotely have ICBM capability? Do any of them have a geographic location that affords strike capability against the United States, it's territories or protectorates? Have any of them since Saddam's Iraq expressed or acted upon territorial expansionism that would even disrupt the financial interests of the United States (which in and of itself would not be sufficient justification to garrison troops in the region)?

An honest assessment would say no to all of those questions. So why would any of those countries be deemed a threat to the safety and security of the United States?

We are 15 trillion dollars in debt. We could save trillions of dollars by realigning and reallocating our defense budget priorities. The next time you wring your hands over how dangerous a middle east country is to the safety and security of the United States, take a look at this and consider which one is more dangerous. :(

http://www.usdebtclock.org/
 

Dale00

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 28, 2006
Messages
7,462
Reaction score
3,868
Location
Oklahoma
Umm, not necessarily. We currently pay for the national security of many countries. Quite a few of those are perfectly capable of paying for their own defense. Now in some of those cases, it might be worth what we're paying to keep them there, depending on what we get out of the deal. But in many cases, it's simply a bloated bureaucracy that's become entrenched that keeps us there. In those cases, the countries in question should be given the choice of paying for our services at a rate that would allow us to perhaps turn a profit, but at least break even. Most of them would say hit the road, knowing that we'd come running back to save them should it become necessary.

Any treaties involved should be renegotiated, particularly if they're decades old.

You don't think we need an on-the-ground military presence in South Korea to dissuade the unstable North Koreans from attacking?

In general it is better to prevent wars than fight them. Prevention is best accomplished through strength and an important aspect of strength is having significant military resources in a region.

Your idea of forcing the host country to pay a reasonable rate for our military presence makes possible sense. But my understanding is that Ron Paul flatly wants to bring them all home.


Honestly? No. Take a close look at every one of them. Now remove any emotional attachments from your assessment of them. Do any of them have long haul troop transport capability of any significance? Do any of them even remotely have ICBM capability? Do any of them have a geographic location that affords strike capability against the United States, it's territories or protectorates? Have any of them since Saddam's Iraq expressed or acted upon territorial expansionism that would even disrupt the financial interests of the United States (which in and of itself would not be sufficient justification to garrison troops in the region)?


An honest assessment would say no to all of those questions. So why would any of those countries be deemed a threat to the safety and security of the United States?

We are 15 trillion dollars in debt. We could save trillions of dollars by realigning and reallocating our defense budget priorities. The next time you wring your hands over how dangerous a middle east country is to the safety and security of the United States, take a look at this and consider which one is more dangerous. :(

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

You don't think the Iranians will give nukes to terrorists? It would be fairly easy to slip them into land-sea cargo container ships to get them here. Ahmadinejad is unstable by most reports.

Another scenario - what about Iranian use of nukes to destroy major oil fields in the region? Or their closing the Straights of Hormuz to oil transport?

The question of who pays is very important given the poor state of our economy. Are you suggesting that Ron Paul is only posturing about bringing our forces home in order to scare our allies into paying a fair amount?
 

Spec ops Grunt

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
916
Reaction score
11
Location
Coweta
why Iran hates us.jpg

All those stars are US bases

Ever wonder why so many Middle Eastern countries dislike us?
 

Glocktogo

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
29,492
Reaction score
15,888
Location
Collinsville
You don't think we need an on-the-ground military presence in South Korea to dissuade the unstable North Koreans from attacking?

No. I think we need to sell the SK's the tools and techniques to do it themselves and let them pony up an additional 30K troops, then engage NK in diplomatic dialogue to ensure that the SK's don't have to use what we sold them.

In general it is better to prevent wars than fight them. Prevention is best accomplished through strength and an important aspect of strength is having significant military resources in a region.

Prevention is equal parts strength and diplomacy. I think we'd be better off spending our money on naval resources, long haul troop transport capability and quick reaction forces that can be anywhere in the world in 24 hours. Having been a part of a 24hr QRF in the past, I think I understand that capability quite well.

Your idea of forcing the host country to pay a reasonable rate for our military presence makes possible sense. But my understanding is that Ron Paul flatly wants to bring them all home.

Do you honestly think he'd get his way on all of that? My point is that NONE of the other candidates are even willing to entertain the thought. We will continue to have needless entrenched bureaucratic dogma on the topic with the rest of them.

You don't think the Iranians will give nukes to terrorists? It would be fairly easy to slip them into land-sea cargo container ships to get them here. Ahmadinejad is unstable by most reports.

I think they'd do that to Israel long before us. I think if Israel wants to take out the Iranian nuke facilities, we should let them. We don't own their country and we don't own Iran.

Another scenario - what about Iranian use of nukes to destroy major oil fields in the region? Or their closing the Straights of Hormuz to oil transport?

They can't close the straights, at least not for long. We've proven that in the past and I was there when we were doing it. Would they nuke oilfields close to home? I doubt it, but if they did, they'd be pissing off their paymasters at least as much as the US.

The question of who pays is very important given the poor state of our economy. Are you suggesting that Ron Paul is only posturing about bringing our forces home in order to scare our allies into paying a fair amount?

I don't think he's posturing, but if the net result is an overall draw down and possibly some remuneration from the remaining countries, it would definitely benefit our economy.
 

Dale00

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 28, 2006
Messages
7,462
Reaction score
3,868
Location
Oklahoma
I don't think he's posturing, but if the net result is an overall draw down and possibly some remuneration from the remaining countries, it would definitely benefit our economy.

You paint an intriguing picture. Military logistics and strategies are way beyond me. My opinions are based on what I assume to be correct facts put forth by reliable sources. Perhaps my sources are just pawns of the system and overseas bases exist only because of bureaucratic inertia and malfeasance and most of us are living in the Matrix. How to tell what is reality? I'd love to see Ron Paul debate these points in depth. My gut tells me that we are not spending these enormous amounts of resources without legitimate national defense reasons for doing so.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom