Election 2012

Ron Paul: Bounty Hunter

If you believe Ron Paul is not only opposed to the war on terrorism but is also opposed to assassinating perpetrators or terrorism regardless of nationality, then you're dreaming. Via Ashby, here's the text of a bill introduced by Paul back in 2001 in which he proposes the appropriation of $40 billion for the hiring of bounty hunters to track down and kill al-Qaeda members.

The President of the United States is authorized to place a money bounty, drawn in his discretion from the $40,000,000,000 appropriated on September 14, 2001, in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Re- covery from and Response to Terrorists Attacks on the United States or from private sources, for the capture, alive or dead, of Osama bin Laden or any other al Qaeda conspirator responsible for the act of air piracy upon the United States on September 11, 2001, under the authority of any letter of marque or reprisal issued under this Act.

We can only assume this would have included, among others, al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki, and who knows how many innocent victims would have been caught in the crossfire -- or accidentally assassinated in Ron Paul's plan.

I've said this once and I'll say it again: don't be fooled by Paul's plaintive, soft-spoken, non-interventionist old man routine. His congressional record is the most conservative since 1937 for a reason.