Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) responded to his “neocon” critics, stating that they supported “taking out Hussein,” which he said made the US “less safe” and made the Middle East “more chaotic” on Wednesday’s “Situation Room” on CNN.
Rand addressed the accusations made against him in an ad in which he can be heard saying that Iran is not a threat to US national security, saying his views have changed with events, and “that’s not to say that in 2007, them developing a nuclear weapon wouldn’t be a threat. Really, the threat to the United States that we’ve always been concerned with, is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and developing a nuclear weapon. So, that statement taken out of context, even in 2007 isn’t to say that I didn’t believe developing a nuclear weapon was a good thing, or that that might not be a threat. But I think after eight years, one thing we do all know is that events change, and as you’ve seen, their capacity and their ability to quickly build a nuclear weapon has become more significant and more immediate over time.”
He added, “I think the main thing about this is these are people — this is sort of this neocon community, and the neoconservatives have really never met a war they didn’t like. And so, what you’ll see is that these attacks saying ‘oh, you’re close to Obama’s position,’ in reality, the neocons, who have been with President Obama on the war in Libya, they have been with President Obama on wanting to bomb Assad, and they were really also for taking out Hussein. Everything that they have been for over the last decade has really been to make America less safe and to make the region more chaotic.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.