Ron Paul: U.S. foreign policy contributed to 9/11

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Sunday that American foreign policy was a major influence behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

"Just remember, immediately after 9/11 we removed the base from Saudi Arabia. So there is a connection. That doesn't do the whole full explanation, but our policies definitely had an influence," the Texas congressman said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"You talk to the people who committed it and those individuals who would like to do us harm, they say, 'Yes, we don't like American bombs to be falling on our country, Paul said. "So to deny this I think is very dangerous - but to argue the case that they want to do us harm because we're free and prosperous I think is a very, very dangerous notion because it's not true."

Host Bob Schieffer responded by asking Paul if he meant that 9/11 was America's fault.

"America is you and I. We didn't cause it. The average American didn't cause it. If you have a flawed policy, it may influence it," Paul explained. "I'm saying it was the policy-makers' fault, that they contributed to it."