For Immediate Release Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Dear Sen. Paul,
Sen. Rand Paul
We agree with you that Congress should obey the Constitution. We should never engage in foreign wars without a congressional declaration of war, a restraint on military action put in place by our Founding Fathers to ensure lawmakers never send our troops to war without deliberation.
But a constitutional war in the Middle East is just as bloody, destructive, and likely to incite terrorism as an unconstitutional war.
Our half-century of interventions in the Middle East have been a colossal failure. We have provided arms, military training, and subsidies to virtually every country in the region, inciting continual war and unrest. This has created a breeding ground for international terrorists that pose a real danger to our country and the world — one that would not have existed had we kept our noses out of the affairs of other countries.
U.S. military interventions have put our troops in harm’s way, separated them needlessly from their families, and led to tens of thousands of American deaths and casualties — plus many more losses for innocent citizens of foreign countries.
We agree with your father, Ron Paul, who for decades was a lonely yet brave voice in Congress for peace. He was right when he called for getting the U.S. military out of the Middle East.
Everyone knows that you’re posturing to get the Republican nomination for president in 2016. But for this long-shot hope of winning the nomination, you have endorsed a roster of hawkish Big Government Republicans — from Mitt Romney to Mitch McConnell. And now you’re calling for sending our troops back to Iraq, which will be a death sentence for many of them.
Just how much can your long-shot presidential bid be worth? Is it worth the lives of these young men and women? The Libertarian Party says, “Absolutely not!”
While we agree with your view that no funds should be allocated to an illegal war, a policy of non-intervention remains the only just and reasonable approach to dealing with the Middle East — a land halfway around the world where the United States does not belong.
Your bid for a declaration of war against ISIS is unjustifiable and dangerous. Please withdraw it immediately.
Respectfully yours,
Nicholas J. Sarwark
Chair, Libertarian National Committee
