Paul Reading Ahmadinejad’s Press Releases

Mitt Romney made the following statement at the January 10th, 2008 SC republican primary debate:

I think Congressman Paul should not be reading so many of Ahmadinejad’s press releases

The President of the United State of America should, in fact, be reading all of our “enemy’s” press releases.  Believing them is an entirely different story.  I think the idea Romney was trying to make was that Ron Paul shouldn’t be believing Iran’s press releases.  I’ll assume this is what he meant, because Romney is not a fool, and only a fool would make that statement.

The problem is that you also cannot believe the Bush regime’s press releases as well.  As a people, we must take into question everything that comes from the Bush press releases with a grain of salt — as we should with Irianian PR, as well.  As everyone should know, there are three sides to every story:  my side, your side, and the truth.  I truly believe that the Bush propaganda machine is attempting to fuel a war with Iran.

I don’t believe that there is some elaborate conspiracy Bush is using to get us into another war.  I do think, however, that Bush is intentionally releasing this information in attempts to bolster pro-war election sentiment.  Iran says that these incidents happen all of the time.  I am inclined to believe that statement.  The geography of the Straight of Hormuz puts US warships within 15 miles of the Iranian coast.  It would be irresponsible of a sovereign nation if they did not inspect and identify all traffic near their waterways — especially considering the intense negative relations between our two countries.  If the US had such proximity to a trade route, also used by warships, we would be incredibly upset if our government was not protecting us.

 Back to the point about Romney’s comment.  If Romney believes everything that is given to him by the Bush administration, it is obvious, to me, that his foreign policy doctrine includes a “shoot first, ask questions later” clause.  Intelligence, as this very incident shows, can be incorrect.  The Pentagon is not even sure if the threatening transmissions came from the boats in question.  Before you beat the war drums, you need to know all the possible scenarios.’  Diplomacy is more important than revenge.

We’ve fallen for this before America.  If we do not learn from our previous mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them.  It is a hard call to make.  The protection of life is the key factor.  While I wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of sailors to affirm that Iran is making a hostile attack against our ships — in international waters no less — I’m hard pressed to believe Iran actually wants a war with the US.