The United States invaded Iraq under false pretenses
without a constitutionally-required declaration of war.
Our Founders understood that how we go to war is as
important as when we go to war, which is why they
vested the power to declare war in the Legislative
Branch. The resolution passed in Congress authorizing
the president to use force in Iraq said nothing about
the U.S. Constitution, but it mentioned the United
Nations a dozen times. The United States should
never go to war to enforce UN resolutions!
Our continued presence in Iraq is serving as a recruiting
tool for al-Qaeda. A recent National Intelligence
Estimate found that the U.S. presence in Iraq has had a
"rejuvenating" effect on the terrorist group.
Proponents of the surge say that we are achieving
victory. However, even if the level of our troops
being killed has declined, they are still being targeted
and the Iraqi government is no closer to stability,
meaning that the violence will continue.
While we keep our focus on Iraq indefinitely, bin Laden
remains free to plot his next attack, and can continue
to portray us as occupiers and recruit more volunteers
to his cause. Shortly after 9/11, I voted for the
authorization to go into Afghanistan because it told
the president to do what he already had the authority
to do: go after the ones who directly hit us. I was extremely
disappointed that the mission there changed to one of nation-building.
Military experts, including Generals Barry McCaffrey and
John Batiste, have sounded the warning that our military is
stretched so thin because of Iraq and our other commitments
that, as General Batiste put it recently, "our Army and Marine
Corps are at a breaking point with little to show for it."
A weakened and over-committed military is a recipe for
a national security disaster. Meanwhile, Washington
continues to talk about how many other countries
it could send troops to.
As if a national debt topping $9 trillion is not bad enough, each day
this war is fought, deficit spending increases. To avoid raising taxes
and the subsequent anger that would follow come election time,
the federal government will continue to borrow money from countries
like Saudi Arabia and China, making your children and
grandchildren's futures dependent on the actions of other
nations and selling out our national security
to the highest bidder.
Make no mistake, as Congress spends more and more, there will be
less and less to fund Social Security and Medicare, the programs
Washington has made us dependent on, without a massive tax increase.
Meanwhile, bin Laden proclaims that our falling dollar is a sign that
al-Qaeda's "bleed-until-bankruptcy plan" is working.
On my first day as commander-in-chief, I will direct the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and our commanders on the ground to devise
and execute a plan to immediately withdraw our troops in the
safest manner possible.
Those who caution that leaving Iraq would be a disaster are the
same ones who promised the conflict would be a "cake-walk."
It is impossible to tell how long we will have to stay and how
many lives we will have to lose if we wait for political factions
that have been at war for centuries to come together.
As long as we occupy Iraq, the violence against our troops
will continue, and the Iraqi government will become more
dependent on us. It is in the best interests of the Iraqi
people that we return their country to them immediately.
Indeed, violence has already gone down in the areas that
are not as heavily occupied.
It is now time to bring our troops home.
We must return our focus to finding bin Laden and making sure that
we can be prepared for any future threats against our national security.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul, by profession a medical doctor,
is still in the running for the Republican nomination
in the 2008 presidential election.
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