Rep. Ron Paul calls Egypt a “mess” made by U.S. intervention

	Todd J. Gillman/Reporter , The Dallas Morning News, Jan 31, 2011

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Lake Jackson, is blaming U.S. policy for the upheaval in Egypt.

“This is a typical example of what happens when we run on intervention-type foreign policies. We get in the middle of these fights. We’ve been in the middle of this for 30 years now. We’ve given Mubarak $60 billion. We’re responsible for a lot of the mess that is over there,” Paul said this afternoon on FOX News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto.

Paul, a potential Senate candidate in Texas next year, is a longstanding critic of foreign entanglements, and probably Congress’ leading isolationist. His son, Sen. Rand Paul , R-Ky., caused a stir in recent days by advocating for the cutoff of aid to Israel, in the context of a broader push to eliminate all foreign aid. It’s a goal he shares with his father.
“I wouldn’t just cut off Egyptian aid. I’d cut off all aid to the Middle East and maybe that whole area would be better off for it,” the congressman told Fox.

As for concerns that the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, or even Al-Qaeda, would fill the power vacuum if Mubarak is forced out, Paul said the real problem stems from a U.S. habit of propping up authoritarian leaders. Both Mubarak and the deposed Shah of Iran became targets of popular revolt because they were “our puppet government,” he said.
“There was a blowback to us and you had an unintended consequence,” he said. “Yes, I think we have to worry about the radicals, but we have to understand how they get their motivation.”