by Jonathan Stilley

Created on: July 03, 2007   Last Updated: July 02, 2008

To me, Ron Paul is a fringe candidate at best for the Republican nomination. His views on the war in Iraq and other things will have him remaining on the outside looking in.

This is what Ron Paul had to say about the war in Iraq on his website.

"The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them."

Let me take this point by point.

First, he says that the war was sold to Congress with false information. With all due respect, Congressman Paul,if you are trying to blame President Bush and say he lied to get approval for the war, you are way off base. The intelligence reports that compelled the President to invade Iraq came from the United Nations, which has proven to have next to no credibility in the arena of world politics. And while I'm on this point, can you guess who else made the same claim as the congressman? The likes of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry (who once served in Vietnam), and other Democrats who wish to hide from their 2002 vote on the war.

Second, he claims that because we are at war with the Iraqis, it has created thousands of new recruits for the likes of al Qaeda and Hezbollah. I can assure you that the terrorists would be ramping up efforts for a worldwide jihad whether we are involved in the Middle East or not. Let's use a bit of logic here. If the terrorists were reacting to the United States' presence in Iraq as Congressman Paul claims, then wouldn't al Qaeda concentrate most of its people and resources in Iraq? But they have terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. So to me that argument doesn't hold water either.

And Congressman Paul certainly isn't helping his cause by saying that the September 11 attacks were all a conspiracy concocted by the government. In fact, I think Rosie O' Donnell might even start campaigning for Ron Paul with those types of statements.

Further, he has not done anything to distinguish himself from the other candidates that will be on the sidelines after February, 2008. Which is exactly where Ron Paul will be at that point; and rightfully so.

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