# Ron Paul warns U.S. government may stage terrorist attack **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789 "2007-07-14T21:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/21 "2007-07-15T00:29:07Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Ok, Ron Paul is a nutjob, but… It is certainly true that the US has a history of higly questionable pretexts for war, dating back long before the Iraq wars. Not phonied-up attacks per se, but seizing on convenient incidents and distorting them into “attacks” or “threats” against the US. The Spanish American War and the sinking of the Maine – no actual evidence of the cause of the disaster, yet the drumbeat to “respond to an attack” that may never have happened. Panama – a series of harassments of US military personnel and spouses, and the need to arrest the drug=dealing president. Grenada – US medical students put at risk during a coup. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget the [Thornton Affair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair) and the Mexican-American War. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/22 "2007-07-15T00:34:18Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Don’t forget the [Thornton Affair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair) and the Mexican-American War. [/QUOTE] I’m sure there are more. There were several incursions into Central America that were basically to protect American corporate interests, but cast in terms of threats to freedom or democracy. I just don’t know enough about them to cite specifics. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/23 "2007-07-15T00:48:24Z")
Tell you what, **BG**. After about your third or fourth rant in the Pit in any given week, just send me the link and I’ll post the rant instead. That will lower your profile with the Jackbooted Servants of Evil™ and still sound the Trumpet of Righteousness™ against Bushco. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/24 "2007-07-15T01:01:22Z")
This makes me wonder - Is Ron Paul’s gut as reliable as Mike Chertoff’s gut? Or is it more likely that the sight of the Bush admin ramping up the propaganda machine just makes him queasy? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/25 "2007-07-15T01:10:10Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Staged events are too complicated, [/QUOTE] Which is why **competent** people avoid such schemes. \< Looks at Bush White House \> **Competent** is not the word these guys make me think of. These are the same guys who lied about WMDs and didn’t even bother to fake up evidence, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@Kneepants\_Erasmus\_the\_Humanist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kneepants_Erasmus_the_Humanist)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/26 "2007-07-15T01:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] It’s nothing personal against **BrainGlutton**. We’ve always discouraged individual posters from taking up too significant a fraction of front page real estate. It just makes for better message board dynamics. To use the cocktail party analogy, we strive for mingling and interesting conversation from a range of viewpoints rather than a few people with megaphones drowning everyone else out. [/QUOTE] Alrighty. Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/27 "2007-07-15T01:55:58Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] It is certainly true that the US has a history of higly questionable pretexts for war, dating back long before the Iraq wars. Not phonied-up attacks per se, but seizing on convenient incidents and distorting them into “attacks” or “threats” against the US. [/QUOTE] > [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m sure there are more. There were several incursions into Central America that were basically to protect American corporate interests, but cast in terms of threats to freedom or democracy. I just don’t know enough about them to cite specifics. [Jackson Browne noted the phenomenon a while back:](http://www.lyricsondemand.com/j/jacksonbrownelyrics/livesinthebalancelyrics.html) I’ve been waiting for something to happen For a week or a month or a year With the blood in the ink of the headlines And the sound of the crowd in my ear You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you’ve seen it before Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to war And there’s a shadow on the faces Of the men who send the guns To the wars that are fought in places Where their business interest runs On the radio talk shows and the T.V. You hear one thing again and again How the U.S.A. stands for freedom And we come to the aid of a friend ```auto There's a shadow on the faces Of the men who fan the flames Of the wars that are fought in places Where we can't even say the names They sell us the President the same way They sell us our clothes and our cars They sell us everything from youth to religion The same time they sell us our wars I want to know who the men in the shadows are I want to hear somebody asking them why They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are But they're never the ones to fight or to die ``` ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/28 "2007-07-15T02:12:15Z")
Why does Jackson Browne hate America? And those damn Dixie Chicks… The more people listen to their music, the easier it is for Al Quaida to attack. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/29 "2007-07-15T02:19:07Z")
I don’t see Bushco deliberately staging an attack. I do see them being so incompetent as to fail to stop an attack, and then somehow spin said attack into a platform for electing more Republicans in 2008. (Kind of like they already did once.) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/30 "2007-07-15T02:24:55Z")
If The Man can’t bust our music, not much chance Bin Laden can. (Cue The Clash, _Sharif don’t like it, rock in the Casbah_… ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/31 "2007-07-15T02:46:40Z")
So start interesting threads such as this one in other fora, and if they happen do be about Bush Co., let the mods transfer them to the pit if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/32 "2007-07-15T07:53:36Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Which is why **competent** people avoid such schemes. \< Looks at Bush White House \> **Competent** is not the word these guys make me think of. These are the same guys who lied about WMDs and didn’t even bother to fake up evidence, after all. [/QUOTE] [Lewis Black] Have the common sense to send a couple of 15 year olds to Kinko’s. I need a picture of a camel with a nuclear weapon on it’s back! [/LB] ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/33 "2007-07-15T09:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] IIRC, this is the slippery-slope that got **Reeder**. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand the “got **Reeder** ” bit. According to this search:[link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326118)he’s a ‘Guest’. Doesn’t that mean that he simply didn’t bother to renew his membership? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/34 "2007-07-15T10:04:13Z")
ATMB: [Reeder has been banned](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=327999) ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/35 "2007-07-15T10:19:58Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] ATMB: [Reeder has been banned](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=327999) [/QUOTE] Thanx. I thought the word ‘Banned’ should appear under the name, not ‘Guest’. Oh well, not important enough to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/36 "2007-07-15T10:22:12Z")
Wow, **ETF**. What a poignant reference! Especially these lines: You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you’ve seen it before Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to warIt’s like deja-vu all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/37 "2007-07-15T10:33:47Z")
[QUOTE=Aquila Be] Thanx. I thought the word ‘Banned’ should appear under the name, not ‘Guest’. Oh well, not important enough to worry about. [/QUOTE] It’s a board [del]bug[/del] feature that posters who are banned sometimes revert to “Guest” status. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/38 "2007-07-15T14:42:19Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Wow, **ETF**. What a poignant reference! Especially these lines: You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you’ve seen it before Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to warIt’s like deja-vu all over again. [/QUOTE] Oh, yeh. I happened to have listened to that song a few hours before my post and was struck yet again by how dead-on it was back when it was written, in the Iran-Contra time, and still is now. I played and pondered that song a lot during the run-up to the Iraq invasion. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/39 "2007-07-15T22:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] [QUOTE=Brain Glutton] BrainGlutton Don’t forget the Thornton Affair and the Mexican-American War. [/QUOTE] I’m sure there are more. There were several incursions into Central America that were basically to protect American corporate interests, but cast in terms of threats to freedom or democracy. I just don’t know enough about them to cite specifics. [/QUOTE] A few years ago, **tomndebb** posted a list of US incursions into other countries in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4636749#post4636749) [QUOTE=tomndebb] Passing over the questionable situations of Texas and Hawaii, where citizens of the U.S. immigrated to those regions, then took them away from the original owners and handed them to the U.S., and also passing over the roughly twice as many events as the following list in which U.S. troops were used (legitimately) to defend the U.S. embassy or (illegitimately) to use a show of force to ensure American interests, but where we did not get around to shooting anyone, we still find: 1846 - provoke a war with Mexico in a blatant land grab. 1891 - “Intervene” in Chile 1891 - “Intervene” in Haiti 1894 - “Intervene” in Nicaragua 1895 - “Intervene” in Colombia (Panama) 1896 - “Intervene” in Nicaragua 1898 - provoke war with Spain in a blatant theft of empire (following which we waged a truly bloody suppression of the Philipine independence movement and also killed off a few folks in Cuba who had believed that we came to help them achieve independence) 1912 - “Intervene” in Nicaragua (occupy country until 1933) 1914 - “Intervene” in Dominican Republic 1914 - “Intervene” in Haiti (occupy country until 1934) 1916 - “Intervene” in Dominican Republic (occupy country until 1924) 1917 - “Intervene” in Cuba (occupy country until 1934) 1918 - Invade Russia with intent to decide Revolution victor 1924 - “Intervene” in Panama 1954 - Uses proxy army to overthrow Guatemalan government 1960 - “Intervene” in Vietnam to prop up separatist government in violation of 1954 peace treaty (U.S. hangs around until 1973–you may have heard of it) 1989 - “Intervene” in Panama 2003 - Invade Iraq to establish friendly government (After 1945, the U.S. military was used less, as the CIA organized local fighters to achieve U.S. goals.) [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789/40 "2007-07-15T23:14:09Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] A few years ago, **tomndebb** posted a list of US incursions into other countries in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4636749#post4636749) [/QUOTE] Of course, very few of those were staged to **deceive the American people,** which is what Paul and Sheehan suspect the Bush Admin of plotting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ron-paul-warns-u-s-government-may-stage-terrorist-attack/411789.md?page=3)