Ron Paul Called Buffoon

Aaron Goldstein in American Spectator writes that Ron Paul is a buffoon for calling the attacks in Paris blowback:

Enter Ron Paul...

the former Texas Congressman and failed presidential candidate. In an interview with Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV, Paul stated:

But in the context of things, France has been a target for many, many years because they've been involved in foreign affairs in Libya … they've been involved in Algeria, so they've had attacks like this.
I put blame on bad policy that we don't fully understand.

Paul went on to say, "We've been conditioned to believe that the only reason 9/11 happened is that we are free and prosperous, I don't believe that for a minute … It’s retaliation, it's blowback."...

The attacks had nothing to do with French foreign policy. They were a matter of religious and political ideology and a desire to impose this religious and political ideology upon French society by violent means...

Of course, Ron Paul and Bill Donohue are entitled to express their views and do not wish any grievous harm ever comes their way. But I am equally entitled to characterize their views on the Charlie Hebdo shootings as worthy of contempt. They have shown themselves to be buffoons.

How does Goldstein think things should be handled? In November, he wrote:

[L]et’s be honest. If we were to do away with most federal government departments and agencies, not only would this country continue to function, but there’s a very good chance we would function far better than we do now. However, if we did away with our military, this country would not survive for very long...

The most important organization in the world is only as good as the men and women who comprise it. Despite its shortcomings, the character of the overwhelmingly majority of men and women who volunteer to risk their lives for this country in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Coast Guard are the reason the U.S. military is the most important organization on Earth. Should you come across a member of the U.S. military, past or present, on this Veterans’ Day or any other day of the year, please say thank you.

Oh yeah, the Empire's military, the most important organization on the world. The US military success in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quite impressive. I don't know how we would survuve without them.

-RW

UPDATE:

Dan Shancez at Anti-War reports;

One of the Paris terror suspects was radicalized by outrage over American torture and the invasion of Iraq. The Huffington Post reports:

“The Associated Press said that Cherif Kouachi was tried in 2008 for helping funnel fighters to Iraq and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Kouachi told the court at the time that he was outraged by images that revealed the torture of Iraqi inmates by U.S. guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, according to the AP.”

And The New York Times reports:

“Chérif’s interest in radical Islam, it was said at the 2008 trial, was rooted in his fury over the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, particularly the mistreatment of Muslims held at Abu Ghraib prison.”

Sounds like Ron Paul has a very good understanding of what is going down and it is quite different from Goldstein's buffonish take that Muslims are just savages.