Well, Ron Paul surely will lose much of his more sensible anti-Iraq War support over this

His call to privatize offensive wars like Iraq will show that he’s not really anti-war or even anti-Iraq war, just a libertarian taking a libertarian stance on one more issue that almost every non-libertarian in our country will reject.

It’s clear that, libertarian ideas of civil liberties aside, Paul cares not a whit about what mercenaries would or would not do as far as war crimes. He also doesn’t look at the idea that mercenaries (as we have already seen) would be more likely to commit some sort of war crimes than national soldiery, and, still being traceable to the United States, give us even more of an international black eye than we now have. Nor, given that libertarians seem to think that lawsuits are an answer for regulatory agencies, does he deal with the possibility of the United States getting sued over mercenaries’ behavior or other issues.

Paul has come off as a libertarian nutbar on many other issues; it is now clear he is a libertarian nutbar on Iraq, too.

Say good night, Ron, and don’t let the Iowa caucuses door hit you in the butt on the way out.

Cross-posted at Socratic Gadfly and Watching Those We Choose.