Speaking in Iowa Thursday evening, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said that the Bush administration were “gleeful” after the September 11 attacks because it gave them an excuse to invade Iraq. “Just think of what happened after 9/11. Immediately before there was any assessment there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq,” the Texas congressman said. He also suggested that officials are currently setting the stage for an invasion of Iran.
CBS adds:
On “Face the Nation” last month, Paul said that while the average American didn’t cause the Sept. 11 attacks, ” if you have a flawed policy it may influence it.”
“I think there‘s an influence and that’s exactly what the 9/11 commission said that‘s what the DOD has said and that’s also what the CIA has said and that’s what a lot of researchers have said,” said Paul. “…our policies definitely had an influence and you talk to the people who committed it and those individuals who would like to do us harm. They say yes we don‘t like American bombs to be falling on our country and we don’t like the intervention that we do in their nation so to deny this I think is very dangerous. But to argue the case that they want to do us harm because we‘re free and prosperous is very dangerous notion because it’s not true.”
He added: “So I‘m saying policies have an effect but that’s a far cry from blaming America. I mean in America, you‘re supposed to be able to criticize your own government without saying you’re un-American.”
Watch the clip, courtesy of CBS:
