Rand Paul: 'I'm Neither an Isolationist Nor an Interventionist'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he was “neither an isolationist nor an interventionist,” and that “intervention isn’t always the answer” on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel. 

“I’m neither an isolationist or interventionist. I’m someone that believes in the Constitution and believes that America should have a strong national defense and believes that we should defend ourselves, but when we do it, we should do it the way the Constitution intended,” he declared.

Paul argued that ISIS was at war with the United States, and spelled out how he would deal with them, saying, “If I had been president, I would have called a joint session of Congress this August, brought everybody back from recess and said ‘this is why ISIS is a threat to the country. This is why I want to act, but I want to do it in a constitutional manner.’”

He also made the case that “intervention isn’t always the answer. I think in Libya it’s made the world less safe. It’s made the jihadist groups more emboldened in Libya. I would say the same thing in Syria. I think that President Obama’s support for the Islamic rebels as has allowed ISIS to grow stronger in Syria, and they never would have grown this strong without … their allies getting weapons from both us, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, so really, we have done a disservice and created chaos that has allowed the jihadists to grow stronger.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett