NORA O’DONNELL: I know you have said that, that what is happening in Iraq has a direct bearing on the future security of every American. How so?

RUBIO: Well, if you look at what happened before 9/11, the reason why al Qaeda was able to carry out the 9/11 attacks is because they had a safe operating space in Afghanistan that the Taliban had given them.

And now history is trying to repeat itself here. ISIS is trying to establish the exact same thing in the Iraq-Syria region that they’re increasingly controlling. And then from there, from this caliphate that they’re setting up, they will continue to recruit and train and plot and plan and eventually carry out external operations in Europe and potentially even here in the United States.

So, this is a very serious national security risk for the immediate and long-term future of our country. . . .

O’DONNELL: Your colleague Rand Paul wrote in “The Wall Street Journal,” kind of raised the question, what would airstrikes accomplish, that, in essence, they would become — we would become Iran’s air force by aiding them. Your take?

RUBIO: Well, I don’t agree with that statement. I think that’s quite an exaggeration.

The truth of the matter is that, if we do nothing, Iran is still going to be involved. And, in fact, if you think about it, imagine if Iran goes in there, becomes involved, and somehow helps the Iraqis turn back ISIS. You can rest assured that a future Iraqi government will be completely, 100 percent under the influence and in the pocket of Iran.

They will have expanded their strategic reach to include practical control not just over Syria if Assad survives, but also over Iraq, increasingly positioning themselves as a hegemonic power.

The United States has different hope for Iraq’s future. It belongs to them as to how they get there. But out hope is a country that includes Turk — Kurds and Sunni and Shia and even Christians, an inclusive country for its future. That is not Iran’s goal here.

To do nothing and allow ISIS to establish a base of operation, like what al Qaeda had before Afghanistan, places us in a very dangerous position from a counterterrorism point of view and puts Americans’ lives on the line down the road.