Former Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul told The Daily Caller Thursday that the United States has been supporting the Islamic State, but he still thinks President Barack Obama has had a better foreign policy than former President George W. Bush.
The former Texas congressman said that the U.S. abroad isn’t a “peacemaker” and is instead too often a “mischief makers.” Former Rep. Paul was a fierce critic of Bush’s foreign policy and was one of six Republicans to have voted against the House resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
Paul told TheDC that President Obama’s foreign policy has been better than Bush’s, “although it is miserable.” He added, “One thing I use is how many Americans died engaged in war during eight years of Bush versus Obama.”
More than 4,000 American troops lost their lives during President Bush’s eight years in office, compared to less than 2,000 troops under Obama, according to a March report from The Atlantic.
Two things that Paul liked that the happened under Obama were improved relations with Iran and Cuba. He said, “What he did with Iran is fantastic.”
But he was cautious not to praise the president too much and criticized his policy in Syria. He said that in order to defeat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Obama had to “ally with the Islamic State.”
“If he’d stayed out of Syria it would have ended a couple years ago. He’s made himself look foolish and the Russians have came out pretty strong on this. They’re the peacemakers,” the former Texas congressman told TheDC. He said that Obama has supported ISIS in a similar way to how the U.S. backed Afghan mujaheddin in their fight against the Soviet Union.
RENO, NV – FEBRUARY 02: Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) speaks during a campaign rally at the Grand Sierra Hotel on February 2, 2012 in Reno, Nevada. Paul is campaigning ahead of Nevada’s caucus on February 4. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and President-elect Donald Trump have both previously said that the Obama administration has supported terrorists. “If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Why does our gov get a free pass on this?,” the congresswoman from Hawaii wrote on Twitter two weeks.
President-elect Trump said on the campaign trail that President Obama was the “founder” of ISIS. Gabbard has pointed to a news stories saying the United States is arming rebels allied with an Al-Qaeda affiliated groups. Rep. Paul told TheDC that the U.S. doesn’t support ISIS directly but indirectly. “I think Hillary was involved. The evidence is pretty good that weapons left Libya and some went south and some went to Syria. I don’t think there’s too much argument about that,” the former congressman and two-time Republican presidential candidate said.
In a 2013 speech Hillary Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs released by WikiLeaks, she said that American allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are supporting Jihadists in Syria. Paul’s son Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said the CIA’s annex in Benghazi, Libya was used to ferry weapons to Syria among other places. Clinton told Sen. Paul during a senate hearing, “I do not have any information on that.”
Former Rep. Paul said arming extremist rebel groups has almost become “tradition” for the American government. “We do that all the time. If we use radical Islam to get rid of Assad, we think we can contain that,” he told TheDC.
Paul has not been known for being a pro-Israel politician, but he came out against Secretary of State John Kerry’s Thursday speech in which he attacked Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“It’s an unnecessary mess,” former Rep. Paul told TheDC. “As a libertarian, we avoid these kind of things because you always have to pick sides, individuals can pick sides, but a country shouldn’t go in there and decide what is best.”
He said that that Middle Eastern peace won’t be able to be settled by “outsiders,” and that he likes the “idea of being more neutral on this but the emotions are so high, you can’t possibly win.”
Following the United Nations resolution condemning the Israeli settlements, on which the U.S. abstained voting, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “If UN moves forward with ill-conceived [Israel} resolution, I’ll work to form a bipartisan coalition to suspend/reduce US assistance to UN.”
Graham, war hawk, and Paul, non-interventionist, are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, but Rep. Paul told TheDC he the abstaining “might be the closest thing to not supporting” the UN. He said that, “maybe this reassessment of the positive nature of the UN is what is necessary,” but added that Graham’s statement was “pure political stuff.”
Paul said he has hope that President-elect Trump will change the current foreign policy of “aggression,” but added a retreat from interventionist policies will only happen “when we go broke.”
“We’re close to that. I’ll have my way someday,” Paul added.