How U.S. Interventionists Abetted the Rise of ISIS

Guest Post by Rand Paul

As the murderous, terrorist Islamic State continues to threaten Iraq, the region and potentially the United States, it is vitally important that we examine how this problem arose. Any actions we take today must be informed by what we’ve already done in the past, and how effective our actions have been.

Shooting first and asking questions later has never been a good foreign policy. The past year has been a perfect example.

In September President Obama and many in Washington were eager for a U.S. intervention in Syria to assist the rebel groups fighting President Bashar Assad’s government. Arguing against military strikes, I wrote that “Bashar Assad is clearly not an American ally. But does his ouster encourage stability in the Middle East, or would his ouster actually encourage instability?”

The administration’s goal has been to degrade Assad’s power, forcing him to negotiate with the rebels. But degrading Assad’s military capacity also degrades his ability to fend off the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Assad’s government recently bombed the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS in Raqqa, Syria.

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.

This is not to say the U.S. should ally with Assad. But we should recognize how regime change in Syria could have helped and emboldened the Islamic State, and recognize that those now calling for war against ISIS are still calling for arms to factions allied with ISIS in the Syrian civil war. We should realize that the interventionists are calling for Islamic rebels to win in Syria and for the same Islamic rebels to lose in Iraq. While no one in the West supports Assad, replacing him with ISIS would be a disaster.

Our Middle Eastern policy is unhinged, flailing about to see who to act against next, with little thought to the consequences. This is not a foreign policy.

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. Her successor John Kerry was no better, calling the failure to strike Syria a “Munich moment.”

Some now speculate Mr. Kerry and the administration might have to walk back or at least mute their critiques of Assad in the interest of defeating the Islamic State.

A reasonable degree of foresight should be a prerequisite for holding high office. So should basic hindsight. This administration has neither.

But the same is true of hawkish members of my own party. Some said it would be “catastrophic” if we failed to strike Syria. What they were advocating for then—striking down Assad’s regime—would have made our current situation even worse, as it would have eliminated the only regional counterweight to the ISIS threat.

Our so-called foreign policy experts are failing us miserably. The Obama administration’s feckless veering is making it worse. It seems the only thing both sides of this flawed debate agree on is that “something” must be done. It is the only thing they ever agree on.

But the problem is, we did do something. We aided those who’ve contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. The CIA delivered arms and other equipment to Syrian rebels, strengthening the side of the ISIS jihadists. Some even traveled to Syria from America to give moral and material support to these rebels even though there had been multiple reports some were allied with al Qaeda.

Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for the London newspaper, the Independent, recently reported something disturbing about these rebel groups in Syria. In his new book, “The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising,” Mr. Cockburn writes that he traveled to southeast Turkey earlier in the year where “a source told me that ‘without exception’ they all expressed enthusiasm for the 9/11 attacks and hoped the same thing would happen in Europe as well as the U.S.” It’s safe to say these rebels are probably not friends of the United States.

“If American interests are at stake,” I said in September, “then it is incumbent upon those advocating for military action to convince Congress and the American people of that threat. Too often, the debate begins and ends with an assertion that our national interest is at stake without any evidence of that assertion. The burden of proof lies with those who wish to engage in war.”

Those wanting a U.S. war in Syria could not clearly show a U.S. national interest then, and they have been proven foolish now. A more realistic foreign policy would recognize that there are evil people and tyrannical regimes in this world, but also that America cannot police or solve every problem across the globe. Only after recognizing the practical limits of our foreign policy can we pursue policies that are in the best interest of the U.S.

The Islamic State represents a threat that should be taken seriously. But we should also recall how recent foreign-policy decisions have helped these extremists so that we don’t make the same mistake of potentially aiding our enemies again.

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Westcoaster
Westcoaster

U.S. foreign policy isn’t about the “interests of the U.S.” (meaning “we the people”), rather it’s all about protecting the interests of U.S. multinational corporation’s.
How ’bout this as a campaign platform, Mr. Paul, it’s time for action not pussyfooting..get the U.S. out of all the “trade agreements” enacted over the past 20 years, concocted to fuck the American worker, and charge an equal tariff on goods manufactured outside the U.S. against the tariff on U.S. goods exported…shut our backdoor borders and stop the H1-B visas, close down 2/3rds of the 800+ bases we maintain worldwide and bring those troops home (maybe have them guard the Southern border), and stop sucking up to Israel.
At the same time, round up all the neo-con war criminals and instead of “looking forward not backward” let’s indict and have wall to wall televised trials, and remove all the “redacted” documents on 911 so we can pin the tail on that donkey, with heavy sanctions against those responsible.
If we did all that, maybe we could start healing as a country. Sorry for the rant but I feel much better now.

ss
ss

I agree with Westcoaster.

However, the problem isn’t politicians, it’s uninformed, apathetic voters.

Since I don’t have a top level security clearance, I don’t know just how serious a “threat” ISIS really is.

What I do know is that nations don’t fail because of the gross mismanagement and corruption of government. They fail because of uninformed and apathetic citizens who allow politicians (controlled by big money special interests) to deceive and exploit their opportunity to prosper.

Real prosperity (international threats aside) is ONLY about having a good job in which one can save enough money. It is NOT about being financially dependent on government like roughly 54% of our population and the federal reserve propping up the stock market and over one third of our economy (and many other countries) while devaluing our dollar by creating tons of money out of thin air.

Since politicians have failed to create the conditions for growth of millions of good jobs and reduce our crushing debt, largely because of bad trade deals and illegal immigration, they buy many citizen’s loyalty (and votes) by sending them monthly government checks. (omitting retirees who paid into the system). They also distract the public via big industry supporters promoting alcohol, sports, and entertainment through the media, divide the public via political partisanship, try to scare everyone that terrorists are going to kill us, and simply lie that our economy is just fine – all to get re-elected. Many failing schools (and parents) only keep most citizens uninformed and apathetic – and easily exploited as economic slaves.

The worst threat to our country and future isn’t the very wealthy individuals, big banks, and the big Wall Street gamblers who almost destroyed our entire country in 2008 doing FAR worse economic damage than any other threat. The worst threat is citizens who ignore these groups and keep re-electing the same democrats and republicans who are controlled by them. By doing this, citizens are their own worst enemy and set themselves, their children, and future up for not only increasing hardship but economic catastrophe.

Regardless of Fed easy money, no Ponzi scheme economy and lies about “recovery” can last forever – despit any real terrorist threats.

Stucky

Next year RP will write about IUHA.

The year after that JWPD.

Then, AIJW.

Yeah, just press any four letters on your keyboard …. and there’s your NEXT enemy. The USA! USA! USA! absolutely NEEDS enemies, real or imagined. Book it, Danno.

Peaceout
Peaceout

What Westcoaster said.

That would all be good but none of it will ever happen, the ideas just make too much sense to ever be considered as plausible alternatives by our Federal government.

Maggie
Maggie

Meet the new Boogieman. Same as the old Boogieman.

Welshman
Welshman

Ukraine and ISIS, we own these backward bastards, they are of our making. We really need Iran, Syria, and Ukraine as allies, WTF, we have gone bat shit crazy.

Erasmus Le Dolt
Erasmus Le Dolt

Greg Hunter’s weekly report points out something super iteresting. Israel called a halt to its disaster with Hamas because they need now to focus on ISIS. They’re probably saying ‘Hail Mary’s’ in the Knesset that they didn’t boot ou Assad. But good luck anyway cause ISIS is truly Pandora’s Box now flung fully wide open.

And least we forget there are 1.3 billion Muslins and if just 1% are attracted to the call, that’s 13,000,000 ready to do videos that can’t be shown on CNN. So now they have an airbse equipped with some hot Russian harware. How about a couple of deeply religious Saudi (American trained) fighter pilots finding their Demascus moment and joinng up…..see where this is going?

Whether you support Israel or not do start praying for them because even Tom Cancey couldn’t have thought this plot up.

Weekly News Wrap-Up 8.29.14

TeresaE
TeresaE

ss, “uninformed apathetic voters”?

Our choices are made for us and only the politicians that tow the line get the money. BOTH sides are banging the war drum.

So when our choices are truly not different when it comes to the Military Industrial Complex (or the Chemical Industrial Complex), they 100% agree. Moar war, moar spending, moar, moar, moar.

The apathy comes from those that sense the truth, see that there is no, to little, difference, and the free shit/public union armies are outnumbering those of us that pay.

Of course voters are apathetic, it really hasn’t mattered which flavor wins, in the end they all taste like shit.

Monster
Monster

If I didnt exist some politician would invent me and spend billions, maybe trillions, to remove me…then revive me again to destroy again.

Kinda like a hideous and cursed Sisyphus.

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