Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asserted on Sunday that the U.S. did not help the Middle East by getting involved in the region’s affairs and wars.
“Look at Libya. We went into Libya and we got rid of that terrible Gadhafi. Now it is a jihadist wonderland over there. There’s jihadists everywhere,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If we were to get rid of Assad, it would be a jihadist wonderland in Syria. It’s now a jihadist wonderland in Iraq, precisely because we got overinvolved, not because we had too little involvement, but too much involvement.”
Paul wouldn’t rule out airstrikes, but said he was wary of another war, particularly since he doesn’t believe the situation in Iraq poses a direct threat to the U.S. yet.
“Well, let’s not be involved in a Syrian civil war, and let’s not be involved in the Iraq civil war,” he said.
“But there will be a civil war with feckless people on one side that aren’t necessarily great allies of ours, who are allies of Iran, and on the other side, allies of al Qaeda,” he continued. “You have to ask yourself, are you willing to send your son, am I willing to send my son to retake back a city, Mosul, that they weren’t willing to defend themselves? I’m not willing to send my son into that mess.”
