Rand Paul: “the neo-conservative media machine has been hard at work lately drumming up support for the $87 billion appropriation to…”

“the neo-conservative media machine has been hard at work lately drumming up support for the $87 billion appropriation to extend the precarious occupation of Iraq. Opposition to this funding, according to the Secretary of Defense, encourages our enemies and hinders the war against terrorism. This is a distortion of the facts and is nothing more than destroying the messenger when one disapproves of the message. Those within the administration, prior to the war, who warned of the dangers and real costs were fired. Yet it now turns out that they were more right, that it would not be a cakewalk, that it would require a lot more troops, and costs would far exceed original expectations. The President recently reminded us that we went into Iraq to force Iraq's compliance with U.N. resolutions since the U.N. itself was not up to the task. It was not for national security reasons. Yet we all know that the U.N. never endorsed this occupation. The question we in the Congress ought to ask is this: What if our efforts to Westernize and democratize Iraq do not work? Who knows? Many believe that our pursuit of nation building in Iraq will actually make things worse in Iraq, in the entire Middle East, through the entire Muslim world, and even here in the United States. This is a risky venture and this new funding represents an escalation of our efforts to defend a policy that has little chance of working.”