Paul: Middle East involvement 'had to do with oil'
 Reprising his role as the candidate most willing to buck Republican orthodoxy, Ron Paul accused the government of intervening in the Middle East to protect the interests of powerful oil companies during Tuesday night’s Republican debate.
“It had to do with oil,” Paul said of the US’s involvement in overthrowing the premier of Iran in 1953. He said US policy in the Middle East has continued to be pursued primarily in the interests of obtaining oil.
Paul also criticized US tax breaks and other subsidies given to oil companies, but he did not criticize large profits earned by oil companies on the open market.
The Texas Congressman pivoted to the critique of US intervention in the Middle East in response to a question about what the US should do to fight global warming. He joined other candidates in encouraging more use of alternative fuel sources and domestic reserves of oil.
Rudy Giuliani seemed to take the most environmentally stringent view of all the candidates, calling for a national initiative to develop alternative energy akin to the Apollo space missions that eventually sent astronauts to the moon.
“We have to accept the view scientists have that there is global warming,” Giuliani said.
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