Chapter Two: Foreign Policy

Paul begins the substantial part of his book by taking up the issue which has probably gained him the most notoriety. Among leading Republicans, Paul has been virtually a solitary voice against the interventionist wars of recent years, encompassing both the Bush and Clinton administrations. Paul reminds us in this chapter of the noninterventionist foreign policy of the founding fathers, which also happened to be the foreign policy espoused by our current president during his campaign in the year 2000. Of course, 9/11 changed everything. But is there still wisdom for today in the U.S. foreign policies of the 18th century?

Paul, obviously, thinks so. And he does a superb job of making his case, by presenting the historical facts and allowing the authorities to speak for themselves. There is compelling evidence to support the notion that US interventionism in the Middle East provoked the attacks of 9/11, and there is equally compelling evidence to support the notion that we were wrong to take out our frustrations and anger upon Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Of special interest to DRC readers might be Paul’s invocation of “just war” theory to expose the moral dimension of the conflict in Iraq. Citing Ambrose, Augustine, and Aquinas, the congressman argues that the Iraq war fails the moral litmus test. There was no initial act of aggression; diplomatic solutions had not been exhausted; the war was not undertaken by the proper authorities (”…Congress unconstitutionally delegated its decision-making power over war to the president”). Not only does Paul appeal to the Church Fathers in this chapter, he also cites the fathers of modern conservatism—Kirk, Weaver, and Nisbet—to make his case against militarism. Whether you are a Christian or a secularist, you need not be a pacifist in order to be opposed to militarism, as Paul proves convincingly.

The chapter concludes with a note about the high cost—one trillion dollars per year—of maintaining troops in 700 bases around the globe. Yet, no one ever seems to consider the possibility of scaling back our worldwide military presence. In America, the political discourse focuses on which kind of interventionist policy we’ll follow. Paul, though, would have us question our assumptions about interventionism.

One political question perhaps worth pondering is why many who are strongly opposed to the killing performed by abortion doctors seem far less concerned with killing performed by soldiers. But, if Paul is right, much of the killing in Iraq (and other places) has been unjust. I realize that war is a more complex matter than abortion, but I would still like to see more Christians reconsider their support for interventionist wars.