http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=71F90074-21EA-4D21-AE14-0BA6381CFD80 Rand Paul: As world changes, ‘you change’
By: Jonathan Topaz
September 15, 2014 09:01 AM EDT
Sen. Rand Paul on Monday pushed back against heightened criticism that he has flip-flopped on foreign policy issues, saying he has stood firmly against the Obama administration’s policies in Syria.
Appearing on CBS “This Morning,” the Kentucky Republican conceded that he has shifted his views in some areas, including on what is an appropriate U.S. response to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. “As world events change, obviously you change your analysis. Five years ago, ISIS wasn’t a threat,” he said, using an alternate name for the terrorist group that has mobilized across much of northern and central Iraq. Paul acknowledged that his thought process on ISIL has been “influenced” by ISIL’s recent beheadings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.
He had previously been publicly skeptical about potential airstrikes against ISIL, but just a few months after criticized the president for not acting more forcefully against the group.
The senator on Monday mainly stuck to his critiques of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s policies in Syria, saying their plans to potentially arm the Syrian rebels and bomb Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime last summer would have emboldened ISIL.
“Had we bombed Syria — had the president actually got what he wanted and what Hillary Clinton wanted, to bomb the heck out of Assad — my guess is ISIS would now be in Damascus,” he said.
Paul, a potential 2016 presidential contender, also accused the president of being the real flip-flopper, saying he had changed his views on war authorization.
“I have always said that the president is required by the Constitution to come to Congress. … The president used to agree with me. It’s actually the president who’s changed his position,” he said.
Paul was referring to the president’s contention in his address to the nation last week that he does not need congressional approval for airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria. In 2007, then-Sen. Obama said George W. Bush would have to come to Congress to receive authorization for military action against Iran.
The Washington Post on Sunday documented Paul’s evolution on several issues, including airstrikes against ISIL targets. The report came a month after a similar POLITICO report noted some of Paul’s policy shifts on several issues, from immigration to Guantanamo Bay prison.
In explaining his foreign policy platform, Paul again insisted that he is not an isolationist, saying he looks at issues on a case-by-case basis. “I look at every individual instance of whether or not we need to be involved,” he said.
