New Rand Paul op-ed: If I were president Id have acted more decisively against ISIS
New Rand Paul op-ed: If I were president I #39;d have acted more decisively against ISIS.
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New Rand Paul op-ed: If I were president Id have acted more decisively against ISIS - Video
If theres one thing that has distinguished Rand Paul as a likely presidential candidate, its his relentless skepticism toward military intervention overseas.
In a Republican Party more often defined by the John McCain wing of military muscularity, Paul has been staking out a more dovish position, hoping to connect with a war-weary public. His critics call that isolationism.
Just last week, the Kentucky senator declared in the Wall Street Journal that Hillary is too hawkish:
To interventionists like former Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, we would caution that arming the Islamic rebels in Syria created a haven for the Islamic State. We are lucky Mrs. Clinton didn't get her way and the Obama administration did not bring about regime change in Syria. That new regime might well be ISISMrs. Clinton was also eager to shoot first in Syria before asking some important questions.
But now Paul is, shall we say, modulating his rhetoric a bit. He says in a statement:
If I were president, I would call a joint session of Congress. I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily.
Clearly, the senator wants to avoid any hint of being viewed as soft on ISIS. Hes never going to be Ted Cruz, who recently called for bombing ISIS back to the Stone Age. But its a dilemma that many Republicans (and some Democrats) are facing just as the Bush era of constant warfare seemed to be fading.
And heres Mitt Romney joining the debate with a Washington Post op-ed:
Russia invades, China bullies, Iran spins centrifuges, the Islamic State (a terrorist threat beyond anything that weve seen, according to the defense secretary ) threatens and Washington slashes the military.
The tone of the political argument is shifting. As a Post front-pager put it:
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KURTZ: Republicans Evolving on ISIS Rand Paul takes tougher stance on terrorism
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - MARCH 07: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center March 7, 2014 in National Harbor, Maryland. The CPAC annual meeting brings together conservative politicians, pundits and their supporters for speeches, panels and classes. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - MARCH 07: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) takes the stage before addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center March 7, 2014 in National Harbor, Maryland. The CPAC annual meeting brings together conservative politicians, pundits and their supporters for speeches, panels and classes. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (C), former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (L) and and Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, departs a press conference in front of U.S. District Court to announce the filing of a class action lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and FBI Director James Comey. Paul said he filed the lawsuit to stop NSA surveillance of U.S. phone records because Obama has publicly refused to stop a clear and continuing violation of the 4th amendment. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (C) holds up a group of cell phones in front of U.S. District Court to announce the filing of a class action lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and FBI Director James Comey. Paul said he filed the lawsuit to stop NSA surveillance of U.S. phone records because Obama has publicly refused to stop a clear and continuing violation of the 4th amendment. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 12: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) arrives in front of U.S. District Court to announce the filing of a class action lawsuit against the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander and FBI Director James Comey. Paul said he filed the lawsuit to stop NSA surveillance of U.S. phone records because Obama has publicly refused to stop a clear and continuing violation of the 4th amendment. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2013 file photo, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. This is a year of auditioning, positioning, networking and just plain hard work for people who are considering running for president in 2016. You could see them stirring in 2013 as they plugged holes in resumes, took preliminary steps to build potential campaign organizations and made carefully calibrated moves to get better known by Americans generally and key constituencies in particular. Most _ but not all _ are ticking off items on what could be called the presidential prep checklist. And theyve got baggage to deal with. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., talks to media outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, after an event hosted by President Barack Obama about the Promise Zones Initiative. The Promise Zone Initiative is part of a plan to create a better bargain for the middle-class by partnering with local communities and businesses to create jobs, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing and improve public safety. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 07: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (2nd L) talks to reporters while walking to the Senate chamber to vote on unemployment insurance at the US Capitol January 7, 2014 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Senate voted 60-37 to move forward with a bill to extend federal unemployment benefits for three months. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 17: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (3rd R) talks to reporters after a vote December 17, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The Senate has passed a cloture vote to clear the way for a final vote of the Ryan-Murray Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul speaks at the Detroit Economic Club held at the Motor City Casino, in Detroit, Dec. 6, 2013. Paul, spoke of economic freedom zones. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, Max Ortiz)
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Rand Paul Says He Is Not An 'Isolationist'
Washington Has Rand Paul morphed into a hawk?
Thats the question now that the junior GOP senator from Kentucky, long known for anti-interventionist views, has blasted the Obama administration for inaction in the wake of atrocities carried out by the brutal Islamic State.
Over the weekend, Senator Paul said in a speech that if he was president hed have asked for congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily. (The IS is sometimes referred to as ISIS or ISIL.) He repeated this assertion on Thursday in an op-ed on the subject for Time Magazine.
If I had been in President Obamas shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS, writes Paul.
If nothing else, this proves Paul is pretty much certain to run for president in 2016. His relatively dovish foreign-policy views have long been seen as perhaps his biggest handicap in Republican primaries. Some pundits have gone so far as to leave him off their lists of serious contenders because they judge his anti-interventionist philosophy to be too far out of the mainstream of his partys thinking.
Now Paul seems to be using the IS crisis as a means to rebrand himself as not entirely his father Ron Pauls son. When he ran for the White House Rep. Ron Paul railed against what he saw as the waste of US resources on foreign adventurism.
Rand is distancing himself from dads isolationistic words.
Ive said since I began public life that I am not an isolationist, nor am I an interventionist, writes Paul in Time.
So what is he? According to his recent statements, hes a Ronald Reagan-like peace-through-strength conservative, who sees war as a last resort but knows sometimes the US has to fight if vital interests are threatened.
Paul isnt a neo-conservative of the type who directed much of the nations foreign policy during the George W. Bush administration, according to a key adviser.
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Have Islamic State atrocities turned Rand Paul into a hawk?
Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, responded to critics questioning his foreign policy stances saying, I am not an isolationist, and laying out his own strategy to deal with Islamic State militants on Thursday.
If I had been in President Obamas shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS. I would have called Congress back into session even during recess, Mr. Paul wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine.
Mr. Paul, a rumored contender for the GOP presidential nomination, has been the subject of harsh media scrutiny in recent weeks, being accused of flip-flopping on foreign policy in the middle east.
In June, Mr. Paul said theres no good case for U.S. Military intervention, in Iraq in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal. But later said he had mixed feelings about airstrikes against the Islamic State and blasted Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her war hawk policies in Syria.
Now, Mr. Paul wants to set the record straight. He clarified his foreign policy agenda for confused pundits saying, Ive said since I began public life that I am not an isolationist, nor am I an interventionist. I look at the world, and consider war, realistically and constitutionally.
Mr. Paul wrote on Thursday that he still sees war as a last resort, but added that no country should mistake U.S. Reluctance for war as a lack of resolve saying, Peace through Strength only works if you have and show strength.
He joined a chorus of other GOP leaders who have lambasted President Obama for saying he did not have a strategy to combat the Islamic State during a press conference last week.
This administrations dereliction of duty has both sins of action and inaction, which is what happens when you are flailing around wildly, without careful strategic thinking, Mr. Paul said.
The Obama administration must first define the national interest and lay out a strategy to defend it, Mr. Paul said.
He wrote that the U.S. Should continue targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, arm and aid allied Kurdish fighters, reinforce Israels Iron dome, and keep terrorists out of the country by securing the vulnerable southern border and revoking passports from any American or dual citizens fighting with jihadists groups.
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Rand Paul: 'I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS'