Here a critical interviewer from Live Leak puts him on the spot about it.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard or seen Warbloggers accuse Ron Paul of being a 9/11 kook or the number of times I’ve seen 9/11 kooks say that Ron Paul is a 9/11 kook like them, but just can’t admit it because of his position.
That’s bull. Right off the bat they are calling him dishonest. Just my personal opinion having met the man 3 or 4 times, but I don’t believe he is. I think that if Paul did agreed with them he would say so.
Secondly, I assume that Paul has looked into it, discounted their theories, and settled on: Osama, KSM, Atta, bin Al-Sheib and the 19 hijackers did it. I assume this because I know him to be a thorough researcher and scholar on all things national government and controversial going back for decades. I have seen him willing to address extremely controversial things in the past (that’s how I found him on C-SPAN in 1997), and I have heard him say, about a million times, that the reason that he voted to authorize the President to spend your money and use lethal force against al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001 was because he was satisfied that bin Laden was responsible back then. He also has repeatedly explained at length why they did it, as he does in the two interviews linked in this post and famously in response to Rudy Giuliani in the second debate.
The only regret he’s expressed about that vote, even when I phrased the question around constitutional questions ("authorization" vs. Marque and Reprisal) when I first interviewed him in 2004, was that bin Laden got away and now we’re in Iraq instead.
I once had a 9/11 kook drop by the comment section here at Stress to blast Ron Paul for being a gatekeeper for the evil 9/11 "inside job" conspiracy, and now I see that other 9/11 kooks are joining in the denunciations. Good for you idiots. You’re right. Ron Paul is not one of you. And thanks very much for the link to this audio clip of Ron Paul being interviewed by a man at LiveLeak who sounds like he is influenced by the Warbloggers, but is very fair in letting the good doctor respond.
LiveLeak: "You do not support that theory?"
Ron Paul: "Absolutely not."
The matter is settled once and for all.
The 09/11 Q was asked and answered…directly…. and the Answer was absolutely not……
Just my personal opinion having met the man 3 or 4 times, but I don’t believe he is [not saying "inside job" because it would get him marginalized]. I think that if Paul did agreed with them he would say so.
…….. but he also characterized Bush’s Iraq incursion as “misguided” and “full of misjudgments” etc…..he seems to go out of his way to avoid saying that Bush DELIBERATELY LIED……
I don’t believe RP believes this for a minute…. I think he knows damn well Bush OUTRIGHT LIED….but simply won’t use the word LIED in addressing the subject and says GWB is sincere but misguided etc…..
You are 100% correct regarding RP’s stated view on 09/11 – shit, can it get any clearer?????
But do you really think he’s being truthful when he won’t say that BUSH knowingly LIED us into war w/ Iraq. Heck. Powell and Rice pre 09/11 said Iraq was not a threat….. Does RP really think Bush just got bad advice? RP is smarter than that.
I don’t blame him. You not going to ingrate yourself in a Republican primary doing a full frontal assaul on your own president.
It’s a matter of proof. How could one prove that Bush knew what he said was bullshit? It’s obvious to me and I guess I could make a pretty convincing case, but proving what was in the man’s head is a pretty tall order for someone running for president.
Or anyone else for that matter.
Disagree…………
Pre 09/11….Saddam is in his box….. Saddam the snake has been defanged….. The sanctions are working..he’s not a threat to world stability …not a threat to his neighbors…..
09/11
Post 09/11 ….. Nerve gas…SCARY SHIT… Bio weapons….. chem weapons …..SCARY SHIT……mushroom cloud…..
If he’s telling the truth POST 09/11 then he was LYING pre 09/11 and visa – versa….
By the way…juries SPECULATE as to what is going on in someones elses mind ALL THE TIME!
That is the Difference between Murder 1, Murder 2, Negligent homicide, and Manslaughter……………
Doesn’t convicting someone of PREMEDITATED murder mean that you have REASONABLE belief into what is occurring in someone else’s mind?
Don’t get me wrong man, I’d convict him, but I’d also convict him of a crime he didn’t commit or that I think shouldn’t be a crime just to see the bastard rot in a cage for a while.
Ol what’s her name… Elizabeth De LaVega made a pretty good case. But of course those are quotes of Rice and Powell, not Bush.
There’s a fuckin 9-11 every DAY in Iraq. From a war that began from lies and scandals.
Scott, you don’t really think that this will stop the GOP kool-aid drinkers from calling Ron Paul a 9/11 kook, do you? They have never responded well to evidence contrary to their positions.
Probably not, but I’d be happy if some of the 9/11 kooks would stop calling him one – not that they’re any better with facts than the Warbloggers.
I think RP should make a closet deal w/ the 09/11 Truthers….Very simple…..a full, fair, investigation top to bottom of ALL aspects of 09/11. You don’t have to be an Inside Jobber type to think Kean – Hamilton was BS….Heck Kean – Hamilton even said it was BS….and Republican establishment figure Kean practically said Bush & Co. were obstructing the investigation….
I agree with the Truthers that we need a NEW INVESTIGATION….I think most of these guys should and WOULD be content with that…without Dr. Paul making any speculation or drawing any conclusion as to where it might lead….It goes where it goes…end of story….I think Scott Horton AND Alex Jones can both live with that [How bout Bruce Fein, Dennis Kucinich, and Greg Palast w/ Subpoena power on the RP Blue Ribbon 09/11 investigative committee?]……
That’s bullshit. It’s Congress’ responsibility and besides, any dumbass can read the Looming Tower.
I think we both know RICE and POWELL would not have made such clear and definitive statements without approval from up above. They were not expressing personal opinions……they we speaking on behalf of the administration…… Ron Paul has run a very shrude, fiscally prudent, and conservative (read: risk adverse) campaign…..
What do you think would happen if he flat out said: This nation is run by venal malicous pyschopaths who crave power as an end in itself. They have violated and defiled the Constitution before a dumbed down, myopic, and self absorbed public as a means toward expanding their power….Yet have the audicity to use our symbols such as the flag and the Constitution as cheap theatrical props to exploit base unthinking Nationalism…..
Maybe its me…but as long as the points are valid and true, I LOVE of little in yer face, mano a mano, throw down….Y’know…fist banging on the lecturn….faces turning red….little bits of spittle coming out when you make gutteral utterance…. a slightly distracted 1000 yard stare…
Congress has completely abdicated its responsibility….They rubberstamped all kinds of flagrantly unconstutional legislation (which they didn’t even read)….If you banking on Congress to “step up” you got a long fucking wait. Last I saw they approval rating for Congress was even lower than GWB….and about even w/ Cheney. I’ll google Looming Tower….never heard of it… The only 09/11 book I picked up and perused (truth: didn’t read cover to cover) was WG Tarpley’s Synthetic Terror….He seems extremely conspiracy oriented….except for his hero FDR….but the guy does footnote his shit….
Do the 09/11 guys help RP? Yes. Do the 09/11 guys hurt RP? Yes. What’s the net? Damned if I know…..
>Y’know…fist banging on the lecturn….faces turning red….
And don’t forget finger snappin’ like that Hagee nutjob does so effectively…
Quick Query?? The NEO – CON plan for Iraq…was to let the OIL flooooooow…right….It was big oil that wanted the “Quotas.” to keep the price inflated. The Neo Cons wanted to break up OPEC and hurt Saudi Arabia as well.
Per Greg Palast (who is NOT an Inside Job guy AT ALL) says there was obstruction because the Al Qaeda financial links if disclosed would embarass the administration (and probably past ones as well)….although this was more “extortion being paid” then ideological support…..
Why didn’t the NEO CONS, then riding high, Release all the Al Qaeda links w/ Saudi Financing, to force the US to (at least publically) break away from the Saudi Royals….. Clearly humiliating the Saudi’s would have served the Neo – Cons purpose….
Actually, I think James Baker’s firm was the one blocking this info vis – a – vis a civil action brought by the victims families.
Don’t the Downing Street Memos proove
that Bush and Company lied us into war?
The Looming Tower isn’t definitive. For example, it doesn’t explain why al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar weren’t put on an FAA no fly list despite 52 warnings given to the FAA in the lead up to 9/11. Wright suggests the CIA might have been trying to recruit them. Trento in Unsafe At Any Altitude suggests they may have been GID agents who turned out to be triple agents (just like Lance suggests of Ali Mohamed in Triple Agent). The problem with this is Tenet’s urgency. The special briefing he gave Rice, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft in July ’01. The system blinking red. By late August ’01 when the CIA told the FBI and INS to watchlist these two al Qaeda operatives we can assume any CIA plans to recruit them were discarded.
A CIA IG internal review report that might shed more light on CIA actions in the lead up to 9/11 is still classified.
Thank you Chris….The Downing Steet Memos….”THE INTELLIGENCE IS BEING FIXED AROUND THE POLICY”….I’d regard that as a smoking gun re: Premeditation v. “Misjudgments and Bad Intelligence”.
Can you imagine if Dr. Paul recommended a PUBLIC war crimes tribunal w/ Bush and Cheney in the gallows (ala Nurenberg) followed by a Saddam style execution broadcast worldwide including the Middle East! FAT CHANCE.