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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul speaks during the Texas Republican Conventi on at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 6, 2014. On Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, Paul said that the United States intervention in the Middle East has made the Islamic State militant group stronger.

Los Angeles Times (MCT)

Published: September 20, 2014

LOS ANGELES Sen. Rand Paul said Friday that the United States intervention in the Middle East has made the Islamic State militant group stronger, and that he voted this week against arming Syrian rebels because he fears the weapons would end up in the hands of the terrorists.

I think for the last year or two, when weve been giving weapons to the Syrian rebels, weve actually allowed ISIS to grow stronger, Paul, using an acronym for the group, said in an interview after speaking on a school-choice panel in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The Kentucky Republican, who said that he will decide by spring whether to run for president in 2016, has come under repeated criticism for his foreign policy views from more hawkish members of his own party. While he opposes much U.S. involvement overseas, Paul has tried to distance himself from the isolationist views espoused by his father, the former Rep. Ron Paul, who also ran for president.

But in voting against arming the Syrian rebels, Paul was in the minority. The legislation was approved on a bipartisan vote by both the Senate and the House this week, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday.

In the interview, Paul attributed the rise of radical Islamists to the fall of secular dictators in the Middle East. He said he was weary of inserting the United States in that regions civil wars, but added that the nation must act against the Islamic State because of the threat that group poses to the West. He has not specified how he would do that.

I dont want our troops back in Iraq. Im willing to provide air support, intelligence, coordination and money and armaments and thats quite a bit, but the Iraqis need to step up and fight, he said. Our intervention has made ISIS stronger but now its such a problem that I do think we have to do something about it.

He spoke to the Los Angeles Times after participating in a panel about school choice at the Alliance Alice M. Baxter College-Ready High School in San Pedro. Paul favors local control and decision-making and is critical of educational testing and standards that come from the federal government.

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Rand Paul says US intervention made Islamic State stronger