Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday took to his podium at the second GOP presidential debate and challenged the generally pro-interventionist tone of the candidates when it came to foreign policy.
He charged the Islamic State would have won the civil war in Syria had the United States bombed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and he said there should be no further intervention in Iraq by ground forces.
“I think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn’t,” Paul declared. “Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think ISIS would be in Damascus today. I think ISIS would be in charge of Syria had we bombed Assad.”
He argued against intervention in the various civil wars gripping the Muslim world, saying, “Sometimes, both sides are evil.”
Reviewing the history of recent American foreign policy, Paul complained, “Every time we have toppled a secular dictator, we have gotten chaos, the rise of radical Islam, and we’re more at risk.”
Paul, son of the noted libertarian and non-interventionist Rep. Ron Paul, now retired, framed his reluctance to intervene in the Middle East as a tough minded defense of American national interests.
“There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is the first war was a mistake and I’m not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn’t work.”
Paul argued that America should “amplify” those who live there to fight for their freedom by providing arms to the Kurds and using air power.
However, Paul argued, “The boots on the ground need to be the people who live there.”
Paul was also highly critical of supposed American ally Saudi Arabia, whom he blamed for funding jihadists and refusing to accept any of the refugees flying Syria.
“Why are we always the world’s patsies where we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, but we need to defend America’s interests, and it’s not in America’s national security interest to have another war in Iraq.”
Though the majority of candidates argued for a more interventionist foreign policy, Ben Carson also expressed his opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, prompting Donald Trump to smile and offer a high five. He ended up getting a handshake from Carson.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/rand-paul-why-are-we-worlds-patsies/
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