Imagine an Occupied America
by Rep. Ron Paul (Republican member US House of Representatives)

Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a
large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands
of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in
military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of "keeping us
safe" or "promoting democracy" or "protecting their strategic interests."

Imagine that they operated outside of U.S. law, and that the Constitution
did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made
mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized
innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with
little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up
checkpoints on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire
neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign
troops and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their
presence.

Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that
they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and
sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to
do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents
for their defensive actions, and routinely killed or captured and tortured by
the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers' attitude was that
if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but instead,
for every American killed, 10 more would take up arms against them,
resulting in perpetual bloodshed. Imagine if most of the citizens of the
foreign land also wanted these troops to return home. Imagine if they
elected a leader who promised to bring them home and put an end to this
horror.

Imagine if that leader changed his mind once he took office.

The reality is that our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the
people that live there as armed Chinese troops would be if they were
stationed in Texas. We would not stand for it here, but we have had a
globe-straddling empire and a very intrusive foreign policy for decades that
incites a lot of hatred and resentment toward us.

According to our own CIA, our meddling in the Middle East was the prime
motivation for the horrific attacks on 9/11. But instead of reevaluating our
foreign policy, we have simply escalated it. We had a right to go after those
responsible for 9/11, to be sure, but why do so many Americans feel as if
we have a right to a military presence in some 160 countries when we
wouldn't stand for even one foreign base on our soil, for any reason? These
are not embassies, mind you, these are military installations. The new
administration is not materially changing anything about this. Shuffling
troops around and playing with semantics does not accomplish the goals of
the American people, who simply want our men and women to come home.
Fifty thousand troops left behind in Iraq is not conducive to peace any more
than 50,000 Russian soldiers would be in the United States.

Shutting down military bases and ceasing to deal with other nations with
threats and violence is not isolationism. It is the opposite. Opening
ourselves up to friendship, honest trade, and diplomacy is the foreign policy
of peace and prosperity. It is the only foreign policy that will not bankrupt us
in short order, as our current actions most definitely will. I share the
disappointment of the American people in the foreign policy rhetoric coming
from the administration. The sad thing is, our foreign policy will change
eventually, as Rome's did, when all budgetary and monetary tricks to fund it
are exhausted.