What bothers me most is that in unraveling President Trump’s foreign policy moves we always have to look behind the curtain to figure out who really benefits and how the maneuvers help or hinder his private agenda. We are really witnessing a shadow government, where whatever Trump does must benefit his personal political agenda, his multiple financial interests or his Russian benefactors who helped him win election and are poised to do it again, unless he is removed from office. Pulling the plug on Ukrainians opposing Russian aggression to force them to dig up dirt on his political opponent Biden may have played a role in the death of about 13,000 fighters it has been reported. If dragging Iran into a shooting war to divert attention from impeachment is just another ploy to gain political advantage, this is a tragedy beyond measure. How many of our troops could die, how many billions that could be spent on domestic projects will be wasted. So far, the House of Representatives had not been given the hard evidence about how Trump came up with the urgent plan that Americas were under immediate danger? There are many unanswered questions here and the Republicans will just cheer lead. The public must demand answers. This shadow government must be brought out into the light of public accountability.

Ron Paul: War Lies and Why I Don’t Trust Trump on Iran

Posted by Money and Markets Staff | Jan 6, 2020 | News

President (Donald) Trump and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, told us the U.S. had to assassinate Maj. Gen. Qassim Soleimani last week because he was planning “imminent attacks” on U.S. citizens.

I don’t believe them.

Why not? Because Trump and the neocons — like Pompeo — have been lying about Iran for the past three years in an effort to whip up enough support for a U.S. attack. From the phony justification to get out of the Iran nuclear deal, to blaming Yemen on Iran, to blaming Iran for an attack on Saudi oil facilities, the U.S. Administration has fed us a steady stream of lies for three years because they are obsessed with Iran.

At some point, when we’ve been lied to constantly and consistently for decades about a “threat” that we must “take out” with a military attack, there comes a time where we must assume they are lying until they provide rock solid, irrefutable proof. Thus far they have provided nothing. So I don’t believe them.

President Trump has warned that his administration has already targeted 52 sites important to Iran and Iranian culture and the U.S. will attack them if Iran retaliates for the assassination of Gen. Soleimani. Because Iran has no capacity to attack the United States, Iran’s retaliation, if it comes, will likely come against U.S. troops or U.S. government officials stationed or visiting the Middle East. I have a very easy solution for President Trump that will save the lives of American servicemembers and other U.S. officials: just come home. There is absolutely no reason for U.S. troops to be stationed throughout the Middle East to face increased risk of death for nothing.

In our Ron Paul Liberty Report program last week we observed that the U.S. attack on a senior Iranian military officer on Iraqi soil — over the objection of the Iraq government — would serve to finally unite the Iraqi factions against the United States. And so it has: On Sunday, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel U.S. troops from Iraqi soil. It may have been a non-binding resolution, but there is no mistaking the sentiment. U.S. troops are not wanted and they are increasingly in danger. So why not listen to the Iraqi parliament?

Bring our troops home, close the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — a symbol of our aggression — and let the people of the Middle East solve their own problems. Maintain a strong defense to protect the United States, but end this neocon pipe-dream of ruling the world from the barrel of a gun. It does not work. It makes us poorer and more vulnerable to attack. It makes the elites of Washington rich while leaving working and middle-class America with the bill. It engenders hatred and a desire for revenge among those who have fallen victim to U.S. interventionist foreign policy. And it results in millions of innocents being killed overseas.

There is no benefit to the United States to trying to run the world. Such a foreign policy brings only bankruptcy — moral and financial. Tell Congress and the administration that for America’s sake we demand the return of U.S. troops from the Middle East!