CRAIGforCONGRESS
Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, September 8, 2007, 10:30am

A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the September 8, 2007 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the Broadcast -- More on Iraq

THE PRESIDENT:   Good morning. Earlier this week, I traveled to Iraq's Anbar Province to visit our troops and see with my own eyes the remarkable changes they are making possible. If you want to see some photos from this trip, go to whitehouse.gov where you can view a slideshow of my visit.
       Success in Anbar is critical to the democratic future of Iraq and to the war on terror.
       Last year at this time, Anbar was all over the news. Newspapers at the time cited a leaked intelligence report that was pessimistic about our prospects there. One columnist summed it up this way: "The war is over in Anbar province, and the United States lost." But local citizens soon saw what life under al Qaeda meant for them. The terrorists brutalized the people of Anbar and killed those who opposed their dark ideology. So the tribal sheiks of Anbar came together to fight al Qaeda. They asked for support from the Coalition and the Iraqi government, and we responded.
       Together we have driven al Qaeda out of strongholds in Anbar. The level of violence is down. Local governments are meeting again. Young Sunnis are joining the police and army. And normal life is returning.

A Christian/Libertarian Response:

  1. Would you have chosen to invade and occupy Iraq in 2000?
    • Overthrow Saddam Hussein and his secular government and create an Islamic Theocracy in Iraq
      • Article 2: First: Islam is the official religion of the State and it is a fundamental source of legislation: A. No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.
      • Article 2: Second: This Constitution guarantees the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people
      • Article 3: Iraq is a country of many nationalities, religions and sects, and is a part of the Islamic world, is a founding and active member of the Arab League, and is committed to its covenant.
      • Article 89: The Federal Supreme Court shall be made up of number of judges, and experts in Islamic jurisprudence and law
    • Kill or maim 40,000 Americans; kill or main ten times as many Iraqi civilians.
    • Double gas prices.
    • Total cost $3-6,000 for every man, woman and child in America
    • Would you have said "Yes, let's do it! My family will contribute $12,000."
  2. What is "normal life?"
    • Life under Saddam Hussein used to be "normal."
    • There were more doctors and electricity in Iraq under Saddam than there is under U.S. occupation.
    • The American View: A "normal" life is one in which residents are observing "the laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
    • Why did so many people in Iraq support a brutal dictator like Saddam Hussein? Why did so many do his bidding? Why were they not embarrassed to be a part of his regime?
      • Ludwig von Mises: "In the long run no government can maintain itself in power if it does not have public opinion behind it, i.e., if those governed are not convinced that the government is good."
      • Iraq was highly-developed compared to other mid-east nations. Christians had more freedom under Saddam than they do now. The Iraqi people supported Saddam, either directly or through their silence. The religion of America's Founding Fathers did not pervade the country; there was no worldview of "Liberty Under God."
      • Why did the Iraqi people support Saddam? America's Founding Fathers' Answer: "Religion and morality were absent in Iraq." Of course Iraq had lots of "religious" people, but theirs was a "false religion" (to use the words of James Madison, "Father of the Constitution").
  3. Is America "normal?"
    • America's Founding Fathers' Answer: NO! America is an atheistic dictatorship.
    • Taxes ten times greater than 1776
    • No longer a nation "under God."
      • When the U.S. Supreme Court removed the Bible from public schools, one concurring Justice admitted that this was contrary to the practice of America's Founding Fathers:

        Religion was once deemed to be a function of the public school system. The Northwest Ordinance, which antedated the First Amendment, provided in Article III that "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

    It was the Christian religion, of course, that was taught in public schools at that time.

  4. What is "critical to the democratic future" of any country? How can Iraq be brought out from under a "dark ideology?"
    What is the "light" that can bring people out of "darkness?"
  5. What should America's Foreign Policy Look Like?
    • The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."
      — Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington's emphasis]
    • I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.
      — Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)

    We should send Christian missionaries to Iraq, not soldiers.

Kevin Craig's Platform: 
Recent Blog Posts:
Kevin Craig's Platform:

Additional Resources:

Troops Confront Waste In Iraq Reconstruction - washingtonpost.com
Why do "conservatives" in Washington place so much faith in the efficiency of government troops rather than the Free Market?

The Democrat Party Radio Address:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on President Bush's failed War in Iraq.

  • "As his own counter-terrorism chief said, attacking Iraq after 9/11 was like attacking Mexico after Pearl Harbor."
  • "Democrats have voted time and time again this year to change the mission in Iraq."
  • "President Bush’s failed policies have been bin Laden’s best recruiting tool."
  • "When President Bush had a Republican Congress, they ignored the bipartisan and unanimous recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The Democratic Congress passed these recommendations within months of our taking charge and they’re now law."
  • "So, Mr. President, on this sixth anniversary of 9/11, we ask you to honor the lives we lost on that tragic day by keeping your promise to bring bin Laden to justice and destroy his terror network once and for all."

Libertarian Response to Democrats:

  • Democrats have voted to continue funding the war, even after they took control of Congress. "Changing the mission" is not ending the war.
  • The federal government let bin Laden go. See the movie 9-11: Press for Truth for details. The Bush Family and the bin Laden family are long-time friends and business partners. The bin Ladens are clients of Henry Kissinger's consulting firm.
  • 9-11 was "an inside job." The 9-11 Commission was a cover-up. Harry Reid and the Democrat leadership will never admit this.

Click here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall