Posted on 06/05/2015 7:01:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On the matter of ISIS, presumed GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has embraced the same revisionist history promoted by Democrats, blaming Republican “hawks” for the group’s rise and expansion. “ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party, who gave arms indiscriminately, and most of those arms were snatched up by ISIS,” Paul told [2] MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. If this is the senator’s conclusion, he hasn’t been paying attention to world events of the last several years very closely. If he had, he would recognize that Republicans “hawks,” sidelined throughout much of Obama’s tenure, have had minimal influence on the foreign policy debacles that have given rise to ISIS. Rather, it was Obama and Hillary Clinton who ran the show during this time, independent of any Republican input. And America is facing the disastrous national security ramifications as a result.
Paul continued,
These hawks also wanted to bomb Assad, which would have made ISIS’s job even easier. They created these people. ISIS is all over Libya because these same hawks in my party loved — they loved Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya. They just wanted more of it, but Libya’s a failed state, and it’s a disaster. Iraq really is a failed state, or a vassal state now of Iran. So everything that they’ve talked about in foreign policy, they’ve been wrong about for twenty years, and yet they have somehow the gall to keep saying and pointing fingers otherwise.
ISIS started [3] as an al-Qaeda off-shoot in Iraq headed by Osama bin Laden associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi’s primary targets were Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim majority, a political calculation designed to curry favor with Iraq’s Sunni population, marginalized by the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, by 2005, even bin Laden’s al-Qaeda grew disenchanted with al-Qaeda in Iraq’s brutality. The American troop surge, in conjunction with Sunni Iraq’s own disenchantment with Zarqawi’s depravity, gave birth to the “Awakening” (rejection of al-Qaeda) that allowed the U.S. to prevail in Iraq. Far from “creating” ISIS, America was a key force holding back its reign of terror.
Unfortunately, a Shi’ite-dominated Maliki government looking for payback after years of Sunni Ba’athist domination, coupled with the Obama administration’s precipitous troop withdrawal in 2011, threw that victory away, ultimately making a mockery of Obama’s 2011 declaration [4] he was leaving behind it a “sovereign, stable and self reliant Iraq with a representative government that was elected by its people.”
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Obama doubled down on his assertions, making withdrawal from Iraq one of the principal planks [5] his 2012 reelection campaign, along with the president’s unconscionable and oft-repeated lie [6] that al Qaeda was “on the run.” And while he blamed [7] Maliki for the failure to negotiate a Status of Force Agreement (SOFA), it was Obama who ignored [8] the recommendations of former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen to leave at least 10,000 American troops in country after the failure of military brass to convince the president that 20,000 troops needed to be left behind. Thus, when Obama announced in August 2011 that he would commit only 3000 to 5000 troops, Iraqi leaders already facing anti-American political backlash concluded the president’s utter lack of seriousness was bad for their political careers. That impasse led to a breakdown in talks.
And it is not as if Obama was unaware of what could happen. “Multiple experts have testified before my committee that the Iraqis still lack important capacities in their ability to maintain their internal stability and territorial integrity,” said [9] House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon in October of 2011. “These shortcomings could reverse the decade of hard work and sacrifice both countries have endured to build a free Iraq.”
Ever since, Obama has done next to nothing as ISIS took over more and more territory in Iraq and Syria, to the point where even Democrats, including [10] the reliably clueless Jimmy Carter, hammered the president for his non-strategy. “President Obama, it’s been hard to figure out exactly what his policy is. It changes from time to time,” Carter declared. “He’s been delayed. Sometimes he draws red lines in the sand on the Mideast and then when the time comes, he doesn’t go through with it.” Carter’s sentiment were echoed by former Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who also insisted [11] Obama’s strategy had failed. And after the recent fall of Ramadi Janine Davidson, senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, asked the ultimate question. “How much do you let ISIS continue to take ground having faith [it will be gained back?” she asked. “Is there a point at which you say, ‘We’ve got to stop this now with more than airpower?’”
As of now, the Obama administration’s answer is no.
As for Libya, while Paul is right that some hawks in the GOP favored that venture, their influence was marginal. It was Obama who bypassed Congress and unilaterally embarked [12] on it, violating the War Powers Resolution in the process. As for the former Secretary of State, it is very apropos that Paul referred to that debacle as “Hillary Clinton’s war,” one described [13] by an senior American intelligence official as “an intelligence-light decision.” That sentiment was shared by nearly a dozen other key officials in the intelligence and military communities, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, whose concerns about removing Muammar Gaddafi from power were routinely ignored.
It was also shared by Libyan officials who prepared [14] a report indicating their fear the Clinton-led effort to overthrow of Gaddafi allowed weapons to flow to NATO-backed rebels with ties to al Qaeda. Those officials were particularly worried the training and weapons given to these “rebels” would lead to their spread throughout the region and turn Benghazi into a future haven for jihadists.
Even more more important, U.S. intelligence officials didn’t believe Clinton’s rationale for removing Gaddafi. She insisted his regime was on the verge of committing genocide, a claim that was viewed by Pentagon officials and a key Democrat with such skepticism, they bypassed the State Department and opened separate secret diplomatic conversations with the Gadhafi regime. Unfortunately, Clinton’s worldview prevailed and the chaos ultimately engendered by her disastrous decision-making led directly to the assault of the American compound in Benghazi and the deaths of four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens. After that, Clinton blamed a video for the attack until that lie became untenable.
Today, Libya is a nation where ISIS is currently expanding [15] its territory, in addition to the huge chunks of Iraq and Syria it already controls. That reality has alarmed U.S. officials due to Libya’s proximity to Europe, just across the Mediterranean Sea.
As for Syria, while there was a bipartisan vote in Sept. of 2014 approving [16] the Obama administration’s request to arm Syrian rebels, that vote came a full year after the Washington Post reported [17] that the CIA “has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria.” “The CIA shipments are to flow through a network of clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan that were expanded over the past year as the agency sought to help Middle Eastern allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, direct weapons to moderate Syrian rebel forces,” the paper reported. In short, long before any input from Congress, the Obama administration was engaged in a haphazard, reckless policy of trying to arm rebels by allowing terrorism supporting countries like Qatar and Turkey to do the weapon transfers.
And even as the U.S. was monitoring those weapons flows, a document [18] written in August 2012 reveals officials in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) were worried about the rise of ISI (ISIS) “which could declare an Islamic state…in Iraq and Syria”—a full 17 months before Obama dismissed them as a “JV team.” As for the establishment of a counter-terrorist cadre of Syrian rebels referred to by the Post, the Obama administration has finally begun training [19] them in Jordan 20 months later—all 90 of them.
Furthermore, documents [20] obtained by Judicial Watch reveal U.S. intelligence agencies knew about weapons shipments far earlier than that. During the aftermath and ensuing uncertainty precipitated by Gaddafi’s downfall “in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012, weapons from the former military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria,”
All of the above, coupled with the administration’s inexplicable [21] refusal to arm Kurdish fighters willing to take on ISIS, and the calculated ineffectiveness [22] of the airstrikes Americans were told—eight months ago–would be more than enough to “degrade and defeat” [23] the terrorist organization, makes one thing clear: the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, not the GOP, owns the rise of these bloodthirsty savages.
Thus, one is left with only one reasonable explanation for Paul’s assertion: politics. Paul sees himself as the “crossover candidate” among GOP presidential contenders, even as he and his supports fervently believe his nonconformist approach to the issues of the day is his strongest asset. Fox News’s Brit Hume more accurately describes [24] Paul as a candidate who “seems confused about which party he’s running in. There’s a segment of the Republican electorate which shares his somewhat paranoid views of things, and he’ll have their support, but that’s not a nominating set,” Hume declared. Columnist George Will explains why, noting that “events are not playing out the way he anticipated two years ago when he began running for president,” Will explained. “The world looks much more dangerous than it did.” That’s because it is.
URL to article: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/arnold-ahlert/rand-pauls-isis-delusions/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/rand_paul_9907080735_2.jpg
[2] told: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418937/rand-paul-republican-hawks-are-arming-isis-isaac-cohen
[3] started: http://qz.com/248787/a-short-political-history-of-the-barbaric-terrorists-who-call-themselves-the-islamic-state/
[4] declaration: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/14/barack-obama-iraq-war-success
[5] principal planks: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/11/obama-adjusts-iraq-narrative-now-blames-george-w-b/?page=all
[6] lie: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-touts-al-qaeda-s-demise-32-times-benghazi-attack-0
[7] blamed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqZjx60VQE4
[8] ignored: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203554104577003931424188806
[9] said: http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/21/how-the-obama-administration-bungled-the-iraq-withdrawal-negotiations/?wp_login_redirect=0
[10] including: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jimmy-carter-obama-isis
[11] insisted: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/397137/top-democrat-senate-intelligence-committee-obamas-isis-strategy-has-failed-and-its
[12] embarked: http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/03/24/obamas-unconstitutional-war/
[13] described: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/29/hillary-clinton-libya-war-genocide-narrative-rejec/
[14] prepared: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/1/hillary-clinton-libya-war-push-armed-benghazi-rebe/
[15] expanding: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/africa/western-officials-alarmed-as-islamic-state-expands-territory-in-libya.html?_r=0
[16] approving: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/218248-senate-approves-obama-request-to-arm-train-syrian-rebels
[17] reported: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-begins-weapons-delivery-to-syrian-rebels/2013/09/11/9fcf2ed8-1b0c-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
[18] document: http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf
[19] begun training: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-troops-begin-training-syrian-rebels-to-fight-isis/
[20] documents: http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/pgs-1-3-2-3-from-jw-v-dod-and-state-14-812/
[21] inexplicable: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/238001-kurdish-official-hits-obama-administration-over-arms-delay
[22] calculated ineffectiveness: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/28/us-military-pilots-complain-hands-tied-in-frustrating-fight-against-isis/
[23] “degrade and defeat”: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/10/president-obama-we-will-degrade-and-ultimately-destroy-isil
[24] describes: http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2015/05/31/can-carly-fiorina-ride-defeat-clinton-strategy-to-gop-nomination-plus-gen/
[25] Click here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=david+horowitz&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&qid=1316459840&rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&sort=daterank
[26] LIKE: https://www.facebook.com/frontpagemag?fref=ts
[27] Subscribe: http://jamieglazov.com/
We don’t have to worry about Paul in the Primary, he is done.
He does have Dem appeal too but if an establishment candidate wins the nomination and Paul runs as an independent, the GOP is sunk.
It really is this simple
No Iraq war in 2003, no ISIS.
Saddam keeps a boot on their throat, and keeps its current leaders employed (since most are simply ex-Baathists)
The Bushlicans saw mushroom clouds and knocked off Saddam’s Iraq who was the counter force to Iran. So ISIS appeared out of these clouds and we have enemies everywhere.
We have a choice of either saying it’s not our war and let Allah sort it out or send enough troops to defeat, disarm and occupy them for a century or two.
Obama owns the rise of ISIS.
ISIS has a few causes at least, I won’t get into that.
Even though this one woman I watched on CSPAN promoted an anti-Iraq war agenda, she said “Eliminate 1 Hussein and you get a 1000 Osamas”, something like this and that is worthy of considering.
It started in Libya
Would ISIS exist if we didn’t spend trillions booting Saddam out?
Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]
Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]
Rand Paul's immigration speech...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.
Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.
Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.
If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...
This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.
Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reformLatinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]
Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists][Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat]
[snip] All of the above, coupled with the administration's inexplicable refusal to arm Kurdish fighters willing to take on ISIS, and the calculated ineffectiveness of the airstrikes Americans were told -- eight months ago -- would be more than enough to "degrade and defeat" the terrorist organization, makes one thing clear: the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, not the GOP, owns the rise of these bloodthirsty savages. [/snip]Gosh, it's almost as if Rand, just like his daddy, is Democrat in all but name.
Yes
Would ISIS exist if we didn’t withdraw early vs. the advice of Generals?
Would ISIS exist if it hadn’t been for the Arab spring?
Would ISIS exist if Assad didn’t handle his own Sunni population and population in general with an iron fist.
Seems most of the action is in Syria.
This aol video said 10,000 ISIS fighters have died in the past 9 months, trouble is, these guys are suicidal, that is a factor as well.
Likely killed 10k and wounded another 30k and displaced 1.4M
Looks like Rand Paul is delusional by drinking to much Kentucky Moonshine.
Rand Paul, the 2016 Court Jester.
Sounds more like a resume for a Liberal Democrat canidate then a Conservative.
But we are wise to what Rand Paul is really up to here, he is just a fake conservative liberal plant to fool voters into thinking he’s a real conservative so a true conservative wont win.
Amen, to blame it on the Republicans is the same as what Obama and the liberal media does all the time.
/bingo
How so? Where does an ISIS gain a foothold in Saddam’s Iraq?
Saddam would be supporting ISIS, they are part of the same Islamic sect.
Many of the main brains in ISIS are ex-Iraq Saddam Trusted Military.
Exactly. ISIS are Baathists re-branded
These guys would instead have jobs and nice houses in Saddam’s Iraq, not splitting Iraq into 3 and trying to take over Syria. They’d have Saddam’s boot on their throat
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