Rand Paul: “It would be a really rotten, no good, bad idea to have ground troops in Syria”
Why did Rand say this? The military is floating the idea of sending 1000 US soldiers to fight ISIS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPXUN8_Emw
http://rare.us/rare-politics/issues/...oops-in-syria/
Quote:
“It’s very presumptuous to think that we’re going to decide who takes Raqqa and who occupies Raqqa. Don’t you think the people there would be aghast, to think we’re 3000 miles away, to decide who’s going to take over Raqqa and who’s going to occupy it?”
“We can win any battle,” Paul said. “But when we big we usually go big, and sort of, there have been many people – the Powell Doctrine – go big or don’t go. 1000 soldiers?” Paul inquired, appearing to note that this number would not be enough should the U.S. decide to escalate our military efforts in Syria.
A year ago during the campaign, Donald Trump said he would consider sending up to 30,000 U.S. troops to Syria. Yet Trump also has stressed that the U.S. should get out of the business of nation building.
Those two foreign policy views don’t typically jibe. Paul addressed to the committee how sending troops abroad inevitably leads to nation building.
“And then the other problem […] The mantra is always ‘Stay, stay, we must stay forever,’ and if we leave, that’s our fault for leaving,” Paul said.
“There’s no exit from a situation like this” the senator said. “Let’s say we were to go in and defeat those who were there, to defeat ISIS — do you think that’s the end? No, when a big force comes, they’re going to shrink away, and they will fight ’til the end of time.”
“And they will fight against an American target if Americans are the target,” Paul said.
