Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) needling of Hillary Clinton continued Thursday with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which the Kentucky lawmaker argued that Clinton almost empowered ISIS in Syria through her rash, hawkish approach to foreign policy.
Last year, the Obama administration considered sending significant military assistance to the Syrian rebels battling entrenched President Bashar al Assad. Yet Assad's opposition was diverse, including militants from a then-nascent ISIS, who have gone on to sweep across the country and into Iraq, ultimately emerging as the most potent threat in the region.
Here's Paul:
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To interventionists like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, we would caution that arming the Islamic rebels in Syria created a haven for the Islamic State. We are lucky Mrs. Clinton didn't get her way and the Obama administration did not bring about regime change in Syria. That new regime might well be ISIS. [...] Those who say we should have done more to arm the Syrian rebel groups have it backward. Mrs. Clinton was also eager to shoot first in Syria before asking some important questions. [Wall Street Journal]
The op-ed comes after Paul, in a pre-taped interview that aired Sunday on Meet the Press, called Clinton a "war hawk" and said Democrats were scared he could trounce her in a presidential election.
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