Scott Horton visited the Tom Woods Show last week to give a basic overview of foreign policy that Trump (or any President) needs to know. Scott Horton is the managing director of The Libertarian Institute and the host of Antiwar Radio for Pacifica Radio 90.7FM.
Scott gave a quick overview of foreign policy, highlighted below:
Iran
Scott warned that Iran may be tempting for warhawks to intervene in because of their nuclear capability. However, according to Scott, Iran has sworn as a matter of policy that, “they’ll never seek nukes. And truthfully, and honestly . . . there really is no evidence they ever had a weapons program.”
For Scott, the best thing Donald Trump could do with Iran is simply walk away, and keep Obama’s peace deal in place.
Policy Advisers
Scott warned a Trump Presidency to steer clear of loose cannon policy advisers like John Bolton and James Woolsey. Instead, Trump should consider advisers that can give a strong case against nation building Doug Bandow, Ted Carpenter, and Paul Pillar, who have the credentials, and would be, “perfect” for the job.
Yemen
Scott said, “Everything horrible going on in Yemen is all Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s fault.” Scott described how Obama and Hillary started bribing the dictator of Yemen so they could bomb Al Qaeda with drones. The dictator of Yemen took all the money and guns Obama gave him, and he picked a fight with the Houthi’s up in the north.
According to Scott, four different wars against the Houthi’s only made them stronger and more powerful. But when Hillary Clinton held a fake election to overthrow the dictator, he simply took the military and made an alliance with the Houthi’s from the north, who he was fighting against before.
“At this point, it’s a war without end,” said Scott.
Russia
Scott said that Hillary, “Could’ve gotten us all killed,” with an aggressive US foreign policy stance towards Russia. According to Scott, “Virtually all problems between America and Russia are America’s fault.” America’s continued attempts to overthrow the government in Kiev have stirred up a hornet’s nest, and it’s time we mind our own business, said Scott.
Drone Warfare
“It’s a cheat,” said Scott, who pointed out that killing suspects is much easier for governments to do than questioning or detaining them. Scott referred to Barack Obama drone bombing and killing two American born citizens in Yemen. Scott said, “The boy was out looking for his father, full stop. He was not a terrorist in any sense. He was trying to stop his father and bring him home. And they just murdered him simply because, he knew too much.”
Scott said that there is still no evidence that drone warfare is a productive way to keep peace. Instead, the drone wars have only made Al Qaeda more powerful.
Pakistan and India
Scott said, “The Pakistan India border is the most dangerous place in the world right now. In the fight over Kashmir, dollars to dimes, that’s the next place there’ll be a nuclear exchange in anger on the planet earth, will be there on that border.”
According to Scott, America has done everything but try to negotiate settlement and peace between the two countries. “Instead we arm them both,” said Scott, “and then, certainly in the case of Pakistan, we bomb the hell out of it.”
ISIS
Scott said, “Right now, it’s literally a battle of ten armies over there. You’ve got the Peshmerga, you have the YPG among the Kurds, two different major factions of Kurds fighting. You have the Iraqi Shiite army, the Iraqi Shiite militias, the Iraqi Sunni militias, and Iraqi Turk men militias who are allied with the Turkish government, who are also backing Al Qaeda guys in their war against Assad . . .”
Scott said, “So what’s that — 13 (armies)? So which sides are we supposed to take in this thing? And against which? And when? And for how long in a row before we have to stop and stab our new ally in the back? . . . the whole thing is an absolute disaster.”
Scott added that the Islamic State is mostly dwindling away anyway. In advice to Donald Trump, Scott said, “It’s always a good time to stop intervening in Iraq. There is no one last intervention. There is no, ‘Ok, just two more weeks of this and then we’ll stop.’ Just stop.”
To listen to the full episode, visit TomWoods.com