(CNN, December 3, 2007) Rep. Ron Paul fights back. CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks with Rep. Ron Paul about Sen. John McCain's comments at the CNN/YouTube debate about Iraq. - BLITZER: Let's talk about the CNN YouTube Debate, there was a comment that John McCain made about some of your strategies with a really, really dire assessment. I want play this little clip of what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Congressman Paul, I have heard him now in many debates, talk about bringing our troops home and about the war in Iraq and how it has failed. And I want to tell you that that kind of isolationism, sir, is what caused World War II. You allowed Hitler to come to power with that kind of attitude of isolationism and appeasement. (END VIDEO CLIP) - BLITZER: All right. You were shaking your head as you heard the final, but the comparison to Hitler and appeasement and isolationism, you had a chance to respond, but I want you to elaborate this morning. - PAUL: Well, first off, Iraq is not Nazi Germany. And besides, I thought it was Hitler that caused World War II, not the American people, who opposed going in. So it didn't make any sense. And then he was awfully confused about isolationism versus non-intervention. There is a big difference. Isolationism isn't what I advocate. I advocate non-intervention, not getting involved in the internal affairs of other nations, and not pretending a country like Iraq is equivalent to Nazi Germany. Iraq had no army, no navy, had no weapons of mass destruction, had nothing to do with 9/11, so the comparison makes no sense. - BLITZER: What -- under what circumstances, if you were president, Congressman Paul, would you intervene outside the borders of the United States in some sort of crisis around the world? - PAUL: When Congress directed me to in the act of war. If our national security was threatened and we went through the proper procedures, Congress would say, our national security is involved, it is threatened and we have to act. And Congress has that responsibility. The president is the command-in- chief, and then he acts. - BLITZER: I guess the bigger point that John McCain was making in that he had just spent some time in Iraq during the Thanksgiving break, meeting with U.S. forces there was that the surge -- he says the military surge is working and that it would be a disaster if the U.S. were to pull out right now. I will play a little clip of what he said after the debate. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MCCAIN: Over in Iraq, the men and women who are serving know what is going on politically here. They pay attention. And I tried to point out to Congressman Paul that they believe that they are winning and they don't agree with his description of the motives for which we went to war in Iraq. (END VIDEO CLIP) - BLITZER: All right. You want to respond to him, Congressman? - PAUL: Well, yes, we do disagree on this. I don't believe we went to the war for the right reason. I mean, there were no weapons of mass destruction. It had nothing to do with 9/11. So we were there for the wrong reason and he doesn't understand the motivations for why they want to come here. It is not because, you know, we are wealthy and prosperous and free. They come here because we are in their country. And even if there is an improvement, which we all hope there is, we plan to keep 14 bases over there, a huge Naval base, and we have this huge embassy, we have a permanent plan to stay there and take over these $30 trillion worth of oil in that region. And the people in those countries know that and that is why they are very angry. And to deny that is folly. It just means that we have expanded the opportunity for the terrorists to come here because there is greater motivation. So I think we are in worse shape than ever before because there are al Qaeda than ever before. There was no al Qaeda in Iraq before, now they are all over the place, and their numbers are growing. So if we want to protect ourselves against terrorism, we have to understand what motivates them. Even Wolfowitz admitted this. He said that the base in Saudi Arabia was an instrumental part of what motivated Osama bin Laden. So if we ignore that, it is at our own folly. (...) This is usually how empires end, by spending too much money maintain their empires. We are in 130 countries. We have 700 bases around the world. And it is going to come to an end. I want it to come to an end more gracefully and peacefully, follow the Constitution and follow more sensible foreign policy. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/12/ron_paul_isolationism_isnt_wha.html