Rand Paul: What If The 3K Troops Obama Sent To Africa All Catch Ebola?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks at the California GOP convention on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, in Los Angeles. Paul has sought a broader audience this year as he has aggressively traveled the country ahead of a potentia... Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks at the California GOP convention on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, in Los Angeles. Paul has sought a broader audience this year as he has aggressively traveled the country ahead of a potential presidential bid in 2016. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) MORE LESS
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday questioned President Obama’s decision to dispatch 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help combat the Ebola virus.

“Where is disease most transmittable? When you’re in very close confines on a ship,” Paul said on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. “We all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily and the whole ship gets sick. Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?”

“It’s a big mistake to downplay and act as if ‘oh, this is not a big deal, we can control all this.'” he added. “This could get beyond our control.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Tuesday that a patient in Texas had been diagnosed with the country’s first case of Ebola.

Paul, who is an ophthalmologist, said he thought U.S. officials were underestimating the transmissibility of the deadly virus. He said he also thought officials were downplaying the threat of the virus spreading to America in order to be politically correct.

“I really think it is being dominated by political correctness,” he told Ingraham. “And I think because of political correctness, we’re not really making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this.”

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