Molly Riley/AP Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Iraq and Syria could become a ‘jihadist wonderland’ if the U.S. military remains involved in the region. Tensions within various branches of the Republican Party came to a head Sunday as hawkish former Vice President Dick Cheney and Tea Party Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued over what the U.S.’s role in Iraq should be.
Paul on Sunday continued to push for a non-interventionist U.S. strategy in Iraq, warning that continued involvement in the region might eventually result in a “jihadist wonderland” in Syria and Iraq.
Paul also played down concerns coming from both U.S. political parties that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the brutal Al Qaeda-aligned group of Sunni terrorists advancing on Baghdad, could pose a threat to the U.S.
“I don’t believe ISIS is in the middle of a fight right now, thinking, ‘Hmm, we should send intercontinental missiles to America,’” Paul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
But former Vice President Dick Cheney blasted Paul’s comments, calling the Kentucky senator “basically an isolationist.”
Olivia Harris/AP Former Vice President Dick Cheney called Paul an ‘isolationist’ who ‘doesn’t believe we ought to be involved in that part of the world.’ “He doesn’t believe we ought to be involved in that part of the world,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think it’s absolutely essential. One of the things I worried about 12 years ago, and that I worry about today, is that there will be another 9/11 attack and that the next time it’ll be with weapons far deadlier than airline tickets and box cutters.”
Cheney, who as George W. Bush’s vice president was one of the primary architects of the Iraq War, has been a vocal critic in recent weeks of the Obama administration’s restrained response to the new surge of violence in Iraq — a virulent defender of his administration’s own decision to get involved in Iraq.
“I was a strong supporter of going into Iraq then, I’m a strong supporter now, everybody knows what my position is,” he said Sunday.
“When we’re arguing over 300 advisors, when the request had been for 20,000 in order to do the job right, I’m not sure we’ve really addressed the problem,” said Cheney on ABC’s “This Week.”
Other Republicans, however, appeared to advocate for a position somewhere in the middle, with Sen. Marco Rubio — a possible 2016 contender — leading the charge.
Calling the rise of ISIS an “urgent counter-terrorism matter,” Rubio advocated for a stronger U.S. response to the Iraq violence, but also urged caution.
“My view that we’ll deal with ISIS now or we’ll deal with them later,” the Florida Republican said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But later they’re going to be stronger and harder to reach.”
ISIS’ advance across Iraq grew Sunday morning, with the violent group claiming they had captured border crossings into Syria and Jordan, and taken four strategically important towns.
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