Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued a statement on Syria late Wednesday that condemned a use of force if it was done “simply to save face.”
“Military action, taken simply to save face, is not a wise use of force,” Rubio wrote in a press release, as quoted by the Miami Herald. The statement came after the Herald and another local newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times, published separate stories about how Rubio had stayed quiet on the situation in Syria.
“My advice is to either lay out a comprehensive plan using all of the tools at our disposal that stands a reasonable chance of allowing the moderate opposition to remove Assad and replace him with a stable secular government,” the press release continued. “Or, at this point, simply focus our resources on helping our allies in the region protect themselves from the threat they and we will increasingly face from an unstable Syria.”
Rubio’s colleagues Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY), however, were quick to condemn U.S intervention in Syria. Cruz said Monday that the “United States Armed Forces doesn’t exist to be a policeman for the world,” while Paul said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that Syria has “no clear national security connection to the United States.”
This post has been updated.
