Ron Paul on the Libyan Crime

From a campaign press release:

“The current situation in Libya may be a short term victory for Empire, but it is a loss for our American Republic. And, I fear it may be devastating to the Libyan people....

“We have spent over $1 billion on a war that this administration has fought not with the consent of Congress but under a NATO flag and authorization from the United Nations.

“It is a serious thing for a President to engage us in a war. He is bound by our Constitution to seek authority from the People, through our Congress, prior to engaging in any military action.... The situation in Libya is a civil war contained within that country’s sovereign borders....

“And so, our government continues to spend trillions of dollars on foreign wars while we face unsustainable debt, a looming dollar crisis, and our Constitution seems to lose any meaning....

“Meanwhile, we must beware of any ‘Mission Accomplished’ euphoria. The conflict in Libya is far from over, and there could very well be war in Libya for a long time to come.

“While I hope and pray that the hostilities draw to a close and the people there find peace, I fear this is only wishful thinking.... With all these problems and the predictable chaos that will likely ensue, we must ask why this administration was so eager to embark on this Libyan operation in the name of ‘humanitarianism.’ Governments in Bahrain and Yemen have this year used military force to put down democratic protestors. The Saudi regime...has also been repressive, yet we have not intervened there.

These countries continue to sell us oil, while Libya had begun to turn their exports toward Russia, China, India, and Brazil. Could this war largely be about protecting our oil interests at the expense of our Constitution?...We will destroy ourselves if we do not...focus on trade and commerce with the world instead of Empire.”