Rand Paul: 'Maybe Democracy Is Not Going to Be Possible' in Iraq

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued that democracy may not work in Iraq and that attempting to form American-style democracies in the Middle East tends to lead to “chaos” on Tuesday’s “Sean Hannity Show.” 

“A strongman, Hussein, ruled disparate people … and maybe they were ruled because of his absolute, iron-fisted strength, and maybe democracy is not going to be possible in a country that has so many interests that hate each other and have for thousands of years,” he argued.

Paul said there was “no easy solution” to the problems of the Middle East, because U.S. policy “[has] been opposed to jihadists, we have been always in favor of freedom, democracy, and elections, but freedom, democracy, and elections or let’s say the vacuum that comes when an autocrat or a dictator leaves, have really allowed the jihadists to get further entrenched and make more advances.  So, really, in the end, we’re stuck with no good solution.” 

And that “evil” Middle Eastern dictators such as Bashar al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Qaddafi “used the strength of their might, many times with abuse of human rights, but they used their might, to keep jihadists down. Once you have a vacuum without that, and you say ‘Oh, let’s have American-style democracy,’ then what we get is chaos.”

He also agreed that ISIS is “at war” with the United States, and slammed the Obama administration for downplaying the threat of terrorism.  He called on the president to go to Congress and rally the American people to support aggressive action against ISIS.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett