"He's being interviewed (in 1995), I think, by the American Enterprise Institute, and and he says it would be a disaster, it would be vastly expensive, it would be civil war, we'd have no exit strategy. He goes on and on for five minutes — Dick Cheney saying it would be a bad idea," Paul said. "And that's why the first Bush didn’t go into Baghdad. Dick Cheney then goes to work for Halliburton. Makes hundreds of millions of dollars — their CEO. Next thing you know, he's back in government, it's a good idea to go into Iraq."
Paul also said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were used as a pretext for the invasion.
"It became an excuse," Paul said. "9/11 became an excuse for a war they already wanted in Iraq."
The video was shot in April 2009, shortly before Paul announced that he would run for Senate if then-Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) were to retire. Bunning later announced his retirement.
The theory that Cheney wanted to invade Iraq to benefit Halliburton isn't a new one. Iraq war opponents have long espoused a similar theory about the origins of the Iraq war.
But needless to say, it hasn't exactly been a favorite theory of leading potential GOP presidential candidates.