This is why I like Ron Paul. Bill O’Reilly tries to bully him and Paul’s having none of it:

“Do you fear Iran intruding on the whole Persian Gulf if the United States — as you asked for in the debate last week — left the region?” O’Reilly demanded.

“I fear that they might want to do that, but I think our policy is leading to that,” Paul replied. “Our policy is doing everything conceivable to enhance Iran. Just the whole invasion of Iraq has helped Iran.”

“That may or may not be true,” retorted O’Reilly. “We have to assume that Iran is an aggressive nation, that it wants to injure the United States, and it’s going to use surrogates to do it. … When a country’s seeking a nuclear weapon that’s a danger to the USA … and you want to withdraw from the theater, that gives them carte blanche to do what they want, does it not?”

“I think you’re concerned about the wrong country right now,” Paul responded, citing both the Saudi origins of al Qaeda and Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons.

“I’m talking about Iran, Congressman,” O’Reilly broke in curtly. “I’m not talking about Pakistan. … You’re not directly answering the question, sir.”

“No, I do not fear them as you do,” responded Paul directly. “This has been the plan by the neoconservatives, to have this major overhaul, this revamping of the whole Middle East — precisely the reason the al Qaeda is growing. … Our national security is threatened because of our policy.”

But note O’Reilly’s comment that “Iran is an aggressive nation, that it wants to injure the United States, and it’s going to use surrogates to do it.”

Because, see, we would never do such a thing to Iran or anyone else - right?

Incidentally, this is neoconservatism in a nutshell - projecting. Look what our enemies are doing! Nevermind that we’re doing the same thing, only more of it.