Ron Paul: Golden Rule Could End Terrorist Attacks

If the United States stopped occupying other nations, terrorist attacks would cease, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Wednesday at the National Press Club.

Paul, a Republican who represents the Texas 14th Congressional District, said America’s decision years ago to build military bases in the Middle East incited terrorist attacks which drew the nation to begin occupying the region, causing further attacks. Citing Lebanon in the early 1980’s as an example, the congressman said when American military personnel withdrew the attacks “just stopped.”

“I don’t know why we can’t think about a foreign policy of good will…treat people like you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule could apply," he said.

Challenging the legality of the drone-killing of Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen last week, Paul said the Obama administration has not followed the Constitution, ignored the Fifth Amendment and assassinated an American citizens without due process.

“Why don’t they tell us what the rules are?” he asked. Just because someone is said to be a threat to the security of the United States, they are placed on a target list. “What if the media becomes a threat?” he asked, suggesting that journalists could also be killed if such policies continue to expand.

Paul reported that his campaign coffers grew by $8 million during the third quarter, putting him in third place behind candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

Noting the number of campaign donors to his race for the Republican presidential nomination now exceed 100,000, he claimed more than twice as many active military contributors than all other candidates.

This should be a message to President Obama, the current Commander-in-Chief, he said. “It tells me that young people, military people are sick and tired of war. They want to come home.”

Known especially for his fiscal conservative views, Paul he will soon unveil a budget-reduction proposal that would cut $1 trillion in government spending and eliminate what he called non-essential federal agencies such as the Departments of Energy, Education and Commerce.

The current protests against Wall Street, he said, are legitimate civil disobedience efforts, brought about by people who are increasingly concerned about the nation’s fiscal direction. Pledging to push for congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve, he charged its interventionist approach to fixing the economy isn’t working and the nation is going bankrupt.

While not directly accusing the news media of deliberately ignoring his campaign, he cited that lack of coverage of his California straw poll victory in September as a failure to fairly inform the public.