Ron Paul: French Foreign Policy Fueled Paris Terror Attack

France's dubious foreign policy is chiefly to blame for the deadly terror attack in Paris that left 12 dead, former 12-term Rep. Ron Paul of Texas told Newsmax TV.

"This is pretty obscene when it comes to violence," Paul, founder of Campaign for Liberty, said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."

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"But in the context of things, France has been a target for many, many years because they've been involved in foreign affairs in Libya … they've been involved in Algeria, so they've had attacks like this.

"I put blame on bad policy that we don't fully understand."

France put Paris on its highest terror alert Wednesday after masked gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The magazine was fire-bombed three years ago for its caricature of the Prophet Muhammad and later condemned for publishing a comic book biography of Islam's founder.

"[Foreign policy] doesn't justify, but it explains it … it's an overall policy which invites retaliation," Paul said.

"We've been conditioned to believe that the only reason 9/11 happened is that we are free and prosperous, I don't believe that for a minute … It’s retaliation, it's blowback."

Paul, father of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, pointed to the U.S. installation of the Shah of Iran in 1953.

"You know it had to do with oil, it had to do with the abuse of the Shah and finally the radicals. When we get involved and set up dictators that the people don't like they get pretty angry at us," he said.

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