US drone program ‘should’ve never started’

Still from RT video

Still from RT video

The US government is undermining Americans’ rights at home through surveillance, and its drone program “should’ve been shut down a long time ago,” former Texas Congressman Ron Paul told RT. He also criticized the prospect of another Clinton-Bush election.

Speaking on RT’s
‘Watching the Hawks’ program, Paul was asked if it’s time to
close down the drone program considering that two hostages were
recently killed in an airstrike.

“It should’ve been shut down a long time ago – it should have
never been started, as far as I’m concerned,”
Paul said.
“It gives us nothing but grief. They’ve been used for [the]
assassination of American citizens.”

“It should be closed down as quickly as possible. If it’s
ever to be used in wartime it should be very strictly
controlled.”

Paul dismissed the idea that drone strikes prevent American
casualties by keeping the US from sending in ground troops,
arguing that usually the deployment of drones, special forces and
sanctions leads to more problems and continued escalation.

Regarding the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance
programs, Paul also said those who claim bulk collection helps
“close the gap” between the government’s failure to stop
the September 11 attacks, like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), are
“blowing smoke.”

Paul said the sole purpose of the government and military is to
protect our liberties, yet the federal government is doing the
opposite. He added that interfering in other countries overseas
draws the US further into conflicts to the point that it feels
the need to undermine Americans’ rights.

READ MORE: ‘Get NATO, foreign countries out of
Ukraine to end civil war’ – Ron Paul

“We lose our liberties here at home, at the same time it’s
costing us a bundle, driving us into bankruptcy, and our freedoms
are being undermined,”
he said. “We’re told that we’re
[overseas] to protect our liberties and enforce the Constitution
by fighting unconstitutional wars overseas and unconstitutionally
undermining our Fourth Amendment here at home.”

“It makes no sense. I just wish the American people would
wake up,”
he said.

On the topic of the 2016 presidential election, the former
lawmaker was asked about a potential matchup between former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush, a race that would pit another Clinton against another Bush.

“If that comes up, the American people are gluttons and
they’re going to have to suffer,”
Paul said. He noted that
“there’s a lot of big money” behind the fact that the
Clinton and Bush families are mainstays in the political system,
but said a disapproving population could change things if it
wanted to.

“When the people reject, totally, confidence in the
government and they know the promises aren’t going to bear out,
they change the program. Some of these systems fail because
they’re not workable,”
he said, adding that he believes the
current US system of intervention and high spending will fail.

“The American people have a responsibility,” he said,
“but I hope they’re not gluttons for more of this
suffering.”

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