On Wednesday, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, widely considered a potential 2016 presidential contender, called for President Barack Obama to supply ammunition to parts of the Syrian opposition to help them bring down the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
“Syria is awash in arms, both weapons from the Syrian regime that are being captured and weapons that are coming in from third parties in other countries,” Rubio said, speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy about his recent trip to Israel and Jordan.
“What the opposition really needs is access to ammunition. And I think one of the things we can consider, if we can identify a couple of responsible groups — or more responsible groups that we feel have built capacity — ammunition is something we can provide. … And I think that’s a step I’m prepared to advocate for.”
Rubio said that reports that the Obama administration is considering sending more aid — like body armor — to Syrian opposition are a good sign, but he thinks the U.S. should go a step further.
With radical, anti-American factions taking the lead in the nearly two-year long battle against the Assad regime, Rubio fears if the U.S. doesn’t support and strengthen elements of the opposition that might be more receptive to America, the hostile groups will hold the upper hand once Assad falls — which Rubio believes he will.
According to Rubio, the fall of Assad is in America’s interest because it would be a sharp blow to the government of Iran.
“I think the loss of Assad is the ultimate sanction against Iran in terms of Iran’s influence in the region,” he said.
“Again, Iran used Assad and used Syria to give weapons and aid to Hezbollah and also to, you know, to stage other operations in the region. That’s why they are so heavily involved in what’s happening there now. So that’s also in our national interest.”
Rubio added that after witnessing the West’s action in Libya, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is intent on developing nuclear weapons.
“I personally believe that the ayatollah, the supreme leader, has concluded that he wants a weapon,” Rubio said.
“They believe it is the ultimate insurance policy. They are convinced that the U.S. and the West want to overthrow them and get rid of them, and this is the ultimate way to ensure their grip on power is to have a nuclear weapon. They — and I don’t think this is an exaggeration to say, I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m pretty confident of it — they saw what happened to Muahammr Gadhafi and said ‘We don’t want to be Gadhafi — we want to be North Korea.’”
Rubio said that he believes the only thing that can convince Iran to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons is if the Iranian regime thinks “they can lose control” of their country.
“I don’t want to sound like some sort of war hawk or, you know, talking cold warrior kind of deal,” Rubio said. “This is not what this is about. This is trying to deal with reality.”
Sitting next to moderator and Washington Institute Executive Director Robert Satloff in front of a packed room, Rubio opened his comments on his recent trip to the Middle East with a joke about his infamous water gulping moment from his response to Obama’s State of the Union Address earlier this month.
“This is a bit much,” Rubio quipped, picking up a pitcher of water provided on a table next to him and pouring it into a mug.
“Why don’t we just take care of business right up front here,” he said, taking a gulp from the mug.
Rubio went on to detail his trip to Jordan and Israel. According to officials he spoke to in the Jewish state, Rubio said Israel’s top priorities are Iran, the threat of weapons being transferred to terrorist groups in Syria, what is going on in Egypt, and the Palestinian issue, in that order.
“The sense you get from the Israeli side of that is that it is not the No. 1 issue on the map at this moment,” he said, referring to the question of immediately negotiating a final settlement agreement with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“But there is a clear understanding that something is going to have to happen on that issue in the long-term.”
Israel’s goal right now, he said, is to create conditions where a peace deal is possible in the long term, since they don’t believe the conditions are there for such a deal in the near term.
Rubio’s remarks were light on criticism of the Obama administration, but the senator did lament what he sees as a lack of emphasis on human rights issues by the Obama administration abroad.
He argued America’s “standing in the world is largely built on our commitment to fundamental principles like human rights and democracy and freedom — freedom of religion, freedom of the press — and things of this nature. And I think we have an obligation to always be on the side of that.”
“I think, unfortunately, we slipped” on standing up for human rights, he added, saying he wishes the administration was a “little louder” on those issues.
Rubio also used the speech to make the case that what happens beyond America’s borders should matter to American voters.
“The last point I would make — and this is really something that we just need to work on for those of us who care about foreign policy — is we have to increasingly do a better job speaking to the American people why they should care about any of this,” Rubio said.
“In essence, at a time when unemployment is high and we have all this bickering going on about the political process and economic news is not always good, why should we care what’s happening 15 hours away?”
Rubio said there was no “single line answer to that, but the one I am increasingly finding that’s effective is to explain to people that we no longer really live in a national economy.”
“We live in a global economy in a sense that so much of what affects our daily lives are determined by factors far from,” he said, making his pitch.
“I mean, whether it is the number of drivers in India and China consuming oil or oil products, to disturbances to the supply of energy, to all sorts of other things, we truly do live increasingly in a global economy, whether we know it or not. Virtually no industry in America, no job, no low-class job in America for sure, is completely immune from global factors. So we should care about global issues around the world.”
