Paul slams GOP foreign policy hawks

NASHUA, N.H.—Rand Paul ripped into his hawkish rivals for the Republican nomination Saturday, suggesting that problems in the Middle East would actually be worse under them than President Barack Obama.

“There’s a group of folks in our party who would have troops in six countries right now — maybe more,” the Kentucky senator told hundreds of activists at a GOP cattle call that has drawn every major presidential aspirant. “This is something, if you watch closely, that will separate me from many other Republicans. The other Republicans will criticize Hillary Clinton and the president for their foreign policy, but they would have done the same thing – just 10 times over!”


The Kentucky senator went on the offensive against the militarists in his own party – using his strongest language on the subject since formally kicking off his candidacy two weeks ago.

Speaking of the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Paul asked: “Why the hell did we ever go into Libya in the first place?”

“Everyone who will criticize me wanted troops on the ground, our troops on the ground, in Libya,” he said. “It was a mistake to be in Libya. We are less safe. Jihadists swim in our swimming pool now. It’s a disaster.”

Paul framed his foreign policy approach as more realpolitik than isolationist.

“Every time we’ve toppled a secular dictator, a secular strongman, we’ve gotten chaos and the rise of radical Islam,” he said. “We have to decide when getting involved is good and when it’s not so good. There’s a group of folks in our party who think it’s always good … There’s people in our party who supported giving arms to [Muammar] Gaddafi before they supported giving arms to the ‘freedom fighters,’ who turned out to be al Qaeda. I’m not saying don’t be involved in the world. I’m not saying don’t defend our interests. But think about it. As a physician, we’re taught: first, do no harm.”

Talking about foreign affairs is a difficult balancing act for Paul. To win, he must expand his base of support to include a swath of conservative internationalists. But he cannot afford to turn off the core supporters of his father’s two presidential campaigns. So, one moment, he’s saying that the most important responsibility for the federal government is a strong military. The next, he’s explaining in the language of so-called “blowback theory” how U.S. actions overseas boomerang and cause unintended consequences.

In the spirit of realism, Paul argued that Christians are better off under Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad than the alternative. This is a provocative statement because Assad used chemical weapons against his own people and has undeniably committed war crimes.

“Yes, ISIS is a threat. But I would also put ISIS into the context of things,” Paul explained. “If we don’t do this, we’re never going to learn. How did ISIS grow stronger? Well, we put 600 tons worth of weapons into the Syrian civil war. You’ve got Assad on one side. You’ve got two million Christians living under Assad. And then you have the Islamic rebels. All the weapons we gave to the Islamic rebels … a lot of them wound up in the hands of ISIS.”

Paul said he’s proud of voting against arming the rebels.

“There’s nobody good in that civil war,” he said. “There’s not one Islamic rebel group that would recognize Israel … The next time you come across somebody who is either from Syria or is a Syrian Christian or related to one, you ask them, ‘Which would you pick: ISIS or Assad?’ No question, they’d pick Assad because he’s tolerated Christians to a certain extent. He’s not a great guy – he’s a tyrant – but compare that to ISIS.”

“But now we do have to do something,” he concluded, “so I support military action against ISIS.”

Nearly every speaker at the two-day Republican Leadership Summit here has emphasized foreign policy. There have been hours of attacks on Hillary Clinton’s record as Secretary of State and calls for more muscular U.S. involvement overseas.

Sen. Marco Rubio warned in a Friday night dinner speech that the U.S. may need to attack Iran to stop them from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Other hardliners, like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, also addressed the group.

“We could have gotten rid of Assad, but the president stepped back,” former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in his Friday speech.

Paul explained why he believes this mentality is shortsighted both during his speech and during a subsequent question-and-answer session.

It was obvious to the crowd that Paul was to some degree referencing John McCain, but the Arizona senator won New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary twice in 2008 and 2000 (even after jokingly singing “bomb, bomb, bomb” Iran to the tune of the Beach Boys hit “Barbara Ann ”). Speaking soon after Paul was Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire’s junior senator, who has identified closely with the McCain wing of the party on foreign policy.

Paul’s foreign policy riff is one of several big issues he broached during his 40-mintue appearance to differentiate himself from the rest of the Republican field. Even stylistically, he’s in a league of his own: the senator wore blue jeans and a red tie with no blazer.

After Jeb Bush said Thursday night in Concord that he supports the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as attorney general, Paul explained in his speech why he’s blocking her nomination. He attacked the New York U.S. attorney’s record on civil forfeiture in particular.

Contrasting himself with most others in the field, Paul also promised to end the federal government’s collection of American phone records if elected president. “I’m a Republican who believes in the right to privacy,” he said. “It doesn’t mean collecting 300 million people’s phone records. The 4th amendment is not consistent with a warrant that says Mr. Verizon on it. Last I heard Mr. Verizon isn’t a person.”

“Your phone records are yours,” he declared. “It’s none of the government’s damn business what you’re doing on your phone.”

“You can say damn in New Hampshire, can’t you?” he quipped.

“Damn straight,” a man yelled back from the crowd.