Ron Paul has Inaccurate, Faulty Historical Information on Campaign Web Site
Ron Paul has already made news with newsletters previously published in his name of an allegedly racist or anti-Semitic nature, casting doubt, by many, into his self-described uniqueness as a clean record politician. But a brief analysis of facts posted on Ron Paul's very website shows an alarming amount of historical errors passed off as simple fact, something that his supporters quickly dismiss, as was the case with Ron Paul Revolution Radio, a popular internet radio station to support the candidate's campaign.
Paul has consistently made a point of using history to support his platforms and what his supporters consider "strict Constitutionalism." Therefore, when such a candidate makes historical claims, it is a surprising turn of events to find that, especially in a topical issue such as modern day terrorism, key facts are so erroneous that they fall out of the realm of political disagreement or opinion, and enter scholastic irresponsibility.
For example, on his campaign web site, Ron Paul states that he has been convinced by researcher Robert Pape that there is no religious link to suicide bombing. He states:
"The largest Islamic fundamentalist countries have not been responsible for any suicide terrorist attack. None have come from Iran or the Sudan. Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraq never had a suicide terrorist attack in all of its history."
While the definition of terrorism leaves room for linguistic wrangling around the issue, the claim that there has never been a suicide terrorist attack in the Sudan is false. In 2002, six children were killed in a suicide bombing in Sudan. Although the term "terrorist attack" can normally be debated out of suicide attacks directed at military forces, because he goes on to explain that suicide attacks in Iraq can be constituted as "terrorist attacks", it stands to reason that the origin of suicide bombing, in Muhammed Hossein Famideh, fell under this definition when, at 13 years old, he pulled the pin from a grenade and leaped underneath an Iraqi tank, killing himself and halting an armored advance.
Grand Ayatollah Khomeini commemorated this event - and Famideh is now a national hero, even having his own postage stamp in honor of his sacrifice. It is on this principle that Iran, which Ron Paul claims is responsible for 0% of suicide terror, has started a schools and seminars on suicide bombing, even going so far as to send out international applications for their schools.
The internet world became abuzz as word quickly filtered of Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison, a school specifically aimed at training people for "martyrdom operations", or suicide bombings. It should also be noted that the General Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is quoted as explaining that among the strategies for Iranian nuclear weapons is simply handing them off to "martyrdom seekers".
But further, Ron Paul states that suicide bombing is simply an aggressive secular strategy in the hopes of changing democratic nations' stance on occupation.
Unfortunately, this, too, fails to stand up when a suicide bomber was used in the Benazir Bhutto assassination, and other homegrown terrorists continue to follow up with similar attacks across the nation of Pakistan. The same occurred in Kenya, Sudan, and Argentina - none of which are nations "occupied" where democracies need be affected. Especially in the far latter case, which is not even a Muslim country.
It is yet unclear to see how these errors in historical fact or assessment of foreign policy will affect the Republican presidential candidate's poll numbers - though the apparent backlash caused by the newsletters may yet dwarf these revisionist statements.
Sources:
-Ron Paul Campaign 2008 Website
-Iranian President Claims Nation Will Be 9th Nuclear Nation
-Free Republic
-GNN
Published by Chadd De Las Casas
I was born in Valencia, California in 1987. It's ironic that I turned out to be a writer, since my first exposure to it was an essay about why I hate writing. I am also the owner of the Content Producers Wiki. View profile
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19 Comments
Post a CommentIf that's the case Monique, that's the second time major information fundamental to his policy has appeared under his name in recent days. It's seriously worth considering if we want someone who we can never trust information stemming from them in the White House. How many times do I have to hear about Ron Paul's racism or misinformation being the result of him trusting someone else to write his homework for him? I mean, if you're going to cheat, at least get someone to cheat with the right answers.
Monique, the things in question can be found in an essay written by Ron Paul himself titled "Suicide Terrorism." http://www.ronpaul2008.com/articles/115/suicide-terrorism/
I think there's a little bit of hostility in your comment section Chadd. As far as Ron Paul's web page inaccuracies, I'm apt to wonder who put the quotes there. Has Ron Paul even looked at the site? He might need to if it's got his name on it, kind of needs to keep on top of that so he doesn't have a repeat of the newsletter thing. Ha. Of course, with running for president, he might not be taking the time to verify wording. If the site had said one suicide bombing in Sudan would you be less hostile towards Ron Paul? Is that the only case of historical misrepresentation that you found? I'd be interested in knowing what other errors you found.
I'm referring to the one I linked before, in YOUR article Deez - though all you have to do is one google search for "suicide bomb, Sudan".
I just asked a question! Is that the one? Because it's the only one I could find! Sorry for being soulless and asking a question. GeeWiz!
BTW for liberals who think I'm talking in a religious sense, I'm talking entirely metaphorically. Deez has absolutely no regard for innocents murdered as long as there's some way you can link it back to the U.S. I guess this is the same kind of moral equivalence nonsense that leads us back to the notion that we had 9/11 coming to us. But then, all this aside, this doesn't change the fact that you just proved Ron Paul wrong: a suicide bomb did, indeed, occur, in Sudan.
Wait, I think we've found the source of your problem Deez: You have absolutely no verifiable soul. "Pssht, that doesn't count, because those children were in some way connected to the United States in that country." ha Seriously, way to reveal what type of people support Ron Paul Deez, I didn't think I could so clearly explain it in any article of mine.
Is this the one to which you are referring?
I'm just asking a question here: "In 2002, six children were killed in a suicide bombing in Sudan." Where did you get this? I can't find anything about any bombing! Would you give me a link because I can't seem to find anything on the subject. Other than the Israeli, American and Christian backed war that has been going on since the 50's. You see America, Israel, and other Christian factions have been at war with the legitimate Muslim Government in the region for a long time. This attack was against a Israeli owned target in this region. So this attack was motivated by America and Israel's interests in the region. If you look at Robert Pape's assessment he said no suicide attacks have taken place without the motivation to drive American and Israeli forces out of Muslim areas. To drive our interests out of their land.
That's great, and did you know that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush? That's an equally irrelevant old saying. That being said, let's get back to the topic at hand, i.e., I've shown beyond a shadow of a doubt using only easily accessible world historical facts, that Ron Paul stated mistruths on his website. Now, this is something that isn't up for debate - when you make statements like "There are no suicide bombings from Sudan" and there is a suicide bombing in Sudan, you're wrong, period, end of story. Now if there's something else you want to inject, maybe something that mitigates his failure in this regard, I'm all ears.