Andrew Sullivan links to a video from the Ron Paul campaign alleging that the Iraqi no-fly zones, and the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia, were responsible for anger in the Muslim world and, more gravely, September 11. The no-fly zones were imposed by the United States, Britain and France following the end of the first Gulf war. There is little question that had this coalition not enforced the northern no-fly zone, Saddam Hussein would have finished the job against the Kurds. There is also little question that had the southern no-fly zone not been enforced, Saddam would have done likewise against the Marsh Arabs. After Operation Desert Fox in 1998 (which President Clinton launched because Saddam refused to obey a series of U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding weapons inspections), Saddam fired on American and British aircraft nearly every day. And, throughout this period, he violated 16 Chapter VII Security Council resolutions (which may be enforced militarily). The video also blames the United States for killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children via the United Nations imposed sanctions regime. No doubt the sanctions imposed suffering on Iraqis (though this article by Michael Rubin shows how intellectually bankrupt the anti-sanctions movement was), but lifting them entirely would have strengthened Saddam. And, when the international community tried to meliorate the sanctions' effect with the Oil-for-Food Program, well ... we all know what happened with that. All of this misery could have been avoided, of course, had Saddam not been a manipulative, genocidal crook. But it's much easier to blame the United States, and that's what Ron Paul is doing. If Andrew and Ron Paul want to rehash the first Gulf war, the no-fly zones, and the sanctions regime, let's have at it. Paul talks a lot about "blowback." The blowback of his policy for Iraq would have been genocide and an emboldened fascist in Baghdad. --James Kirchick