During the first presidential debate a big deal was made by Lester Holt and Hillary Clinton about Donald Trump’s “off the cuff” comment made during an interview with Howard Stern in 2002 about the War in Iraq.
Please be reminded, Hillary Clinton not only voted for that war, but she was also a vocal proponent for it war in 2002. At the time of her vote, she had access to classified intelligence information. In 2002, Hillary sought a destabilizing policy of regime change in Iraq, but later also sought regime change in Libya and Syria, where dictatorships controlled the citizens. But the mess in the Middle East can be directly tied to the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act which was assented to by Bill Clinton. The policy itself established a goal to control Iraq by using armed resistance, proxy war, and a puppet government (i.e. regime change). That crazy conspiracy stuff led to the authorization of $97 million to arm and finance opposition groups in Iraq before 9/11 even happened:
“It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.”
The U.S. policy of regime change promulgated by both parties in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, has led to:
- The influx of weapons to arm regional forces opposed to the regimes in power.
- An emergence of al-Qaeda, ISIS and other extremist militant groups using these arms.
- A loss of millions of innocent lives.
- The creation of a refugee crisis plaguing Europe and spreading to our political arena in the US.
After her husband enacted the 1998 Iraq policy, Hillary then voted for the Iraq War in 2002 as a senator. But what was Hillary’s most recent role?
She helped destroy Syria in her effort to effect regime change.
In 2011, when Hillary was Secretary of State, the population of Syria was around 22 million. Since then, 12 million Syrians have been forced from their homes. During her time in power, Hillary documented her support for the overthrow of the al-Assad government (along with Muammar Gaddafi in Libya). Her support for regime change is demonstrated also by the U.S. State Department’s approval of arms exports to the Middle East.
These weapons have helped arm the resistance in those countries and create instability. The resistance has often-times become radicalized against the US. The Bush-Cheney war machine that the “Left” detests merely became the Clinton-Kerry-Obama war machine when Bush handed them the keys to the White House. This has resulted in wars spanning two decades, crossing several continents and spreading “radical Islamic terrorism” throughout the world. Through radical Islamic terrorism! There, I said it, Donald.
600,000 Syrians have died since 2011 and 12 million Syrians have no safe place to live thanks to the failed U.S. foreign policy of regime change. Imagine living in a war-torn country and feeling that the United States is the cause of the war. And we wonder why groups like ISIS are formed? They hate what our leaders are doing, but love the weapons our leaders give them.
Of course, no debate moderator will ever put Hillary to task on this issue. Likewise, the left simply does not oppose war when a Democrat is in the White House. The left is strangely concerned about what Trump, who was a private citizen in 2002, may have expressed in an interview with Howard Stern at a time when he had no access to intelligence information and no impact on foreign policy. That is simply a convenient distraction away from Hillary. Ding Dong don’t be stupid.
To further deflect attention away from her militant tendencies, Hillary issued a statement that one of her accomplishments was that she raised exports while serving as Secretary of State. The increase in exports can be weakly attributed in part to the armament exports that were approved under the current administration. Also, the increase in exports can be attributed to the emergence of China from their recession in 2008. Hillary could not possibly make a valid argument that any policy of hers directly stimulated commercial exports. Besides, while smiling and patting herself on the back, Hillary failed to point out that the trade deficit with China rose faster than the number of US exports to China. So, if she feels she deserves some credit for any increase in exports, then she must deserve equal credit for horrible trade deficit which grew faster, shifting jobs from the US to China. Ding Dong that is stupid.
Sadly, Americans care little about facts. They just want to see their party win to raise their team’s banner. Neither Trump nor Clinton will get us out of this quagmire because we continue to support only leaders that offer a narrative we want to hear and leaders that can stay in power under our own party’s flag, rather than leaders that will develop fiscally sound and ethical foreign policy objectives. Our 20 trillion dollar debt says I am right. We the people have to pay that debt back. Without regime change in the United States, the policy of regime change in the Middle East will continue, just as will our enslavement to the federal debt.
Vote Libertarian. Vote for real regime change.
* Brad Johnson has been involved with international trade compliance regulations for 30 years. He has promoted local initiatives that advocate individual voluntarism and personal liberty as an alternative to unconstitutional federal government regulatory burdens.
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