Ron Paul is right, but the reason he is right is why he is also wrong.
We are not being attacked simply because we are free and they hate us. We were, and will continue to be, attacked because we are messing around in the middle east.
HOWEVER
There is a second layer to this. The reason they are so pissed that we are over there is precisely because we are messing up their plans for global takeover. Loosing Afghanistan was a major blow, Pakistan (supposedly) turned against them, Iraq has gone from a neutral party (under Sadam Iraq was largely neutral to the Islamic fundamentalist movement, if even someone sympathetic through the funding of anti-Israel suicide bombers) into a US ally at least, and a foothold of US power at worst.
People who get in the way of their desire for global domination get killed. Bhutto was just that person, if she had regained power as prime minister the radical Islamic movement would have been dealt a serious blow because she wanted to move the nation A LOT farther towards moderate Islam, where "Islam is my religion, not my government". Radical Islam is all about uniting the world under Islamic rule with Sharia law, under threat of death.
Obviously not all Muslims are like this, however, it is a very real branch. The President of Iran is a leading member of this movement, one who is so radical that even the most radical clerics are getting worried about him. He sees himself as the "John the Baptist" of Islam, as the one who will usher in their messiah, the 12th Imam. To do this, according to his interpretation, he must bathe the world in blood, and create a state of total global chaos.
there is a deep desire in the heart of these movements to rule the world with Sharia law, and they see the US as their biggest road block, so yeah, Osama got mad when we built an air base in Saudi Arabia, we defiled their holy ground, and started to encroach on their plans.
I don't want to see a mushroom cloud over a US city, and I know that they desire to do it. Churchill said it best, "Appeasement is like hoping the alligator will eat you last." that is what Ron Paul is after, appeasement. He is right, we are attacked because we mess with the middle east, but maybe the middle east needs to be messed with. I don't want to leave radical Islam alone because I'm afraid that if I try to do anything about what they are planning I might get hurt, thats the kind of thinking they want us to have. they want us to fear a major attack so much that we will pull out of the middle east, they are counting on things like you heard in the Dem debate, where no one is willing to take casualties to continue fighting them. Osama said as much after the "black hawk down" incident, that our greatest weakness is that we can not accept casualties.
So while we may be stirring the pot, I'd rather the pot be stirred and deal with them now, then allow them to build up a force and a team of nuclear suicide bombers and watch 10 American cities burn in one day. Pulling our military out would not work, because even that is not enough for them.
Ron Paul mistakingly thinks that the only think that is upsetting them is that we are invading militarily, and so a pullback would allow us to deal with the problem through trade and cultural exchange. This is asinine at best. Iran has already stated , as have Al Quaida and Hamas, that they will not be happy until every trace of the west is purged from their land, that means no people with white or black skin, no western knowledge, no books, no stories, no internet, no TV, nor even satellite signals passing over their nations airspace. If Mr. Paul really fancies appeasing them, he will have to meet that call as well.
They are not going to stop until western culture entirely vanishes from the face of the planet and their caliphate is supreme and eternal. This is the defining struggle of our times, and, ironically, the exact thing that Godwin warned us about. Godwin said that every time someone evokes the Nazi's or Hitler that is diminishes the power the words have until we totally forget what we really did face then, which was a global struggle for the destiny of the human race. This is what we face now almost exactly.