Shift in Foreign Policy is Needed

It struck me today that perhaps Ron Paul is right about rethinking foreign policy in the Middle East. Sure the 9/11 attacks were unprecedented and directly unprovoked, but shouldn't we have prepared for something like that? We've been meddling in Middle Eastern affairs for decades, and it has never turned out well for us or our supposed beneficiaries. From deposing the Shah to funding Afghanistan's struggle against the Soviet Union to our unquestioned support of Israel to our sanctions against Iraq (and Iran), can we honestly say that we, as a nation, did nothing to stir up sentiment against us in that area of the world? Can we with perfect sincerity say that America was blameless on that terrible September morning six years ago?

The time has come for a change in foreign policy. We need to heed the advice of Washington and avoid entangling alliances. We need to pursue a much more isolationist foreign policy. Why do we have combat troops in countries all around the world? Isn't it time to forget saving face and do what is in the best interests of the country and its people?

A salient point presented in the Economist:

Should America focus on the tiny number of angry Muslims with guns, or the millions who have voted for Islamic parties in Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Algeria, and Palestine? If most religious fanatics were bent on conquest and terror rather than democracy, their causes would be easier to discredit. And if religion were the sole cause of the conflicts, it would be easier to work out 'why they hate us.'