Rand Paul: “many reasons have been given for why we fight and our youth must die in Iraq. The reasons now given for why we must…”

“many reasons have been given for why we fight and our youth must die in Iraq. The reasons now given for why we must continue this war bear no resemblance to the reasons given to gain the support of the American people and the United States Congress prior to our invasion in March of 2003. Before the war, we were told we faced an imminent threat to our national security from Saddam Hussein. This rationale, now proven grossly mistaken, has been changed. Now we are told we must honor the fallen by completing the mission. To do otherwise would demean the sacrifice of those who have died or been wounded. Any lack of support for completing the mission is said by the promoters of the war to be unpatriotic, un-American, and detrimental to the troops. They insist the only way one can support the troops is to never waver on the policy of nation-building, no matter how ill-founded that policy may be. The obvious flaw in this argument is that the mission of which they so reverently speak has changed constantly from the very beginning. Though most people think this war started in March of 2003, the seeds were sown many years before. The actual military conflict involving U.S. troops against Iraq began in January of 1991. The prelude to this actually goes back over 100 years when the value of Middle East oil was recognized by the industrialized West.…”