Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) fired on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) record on foreign policy Monday, listing how his primary opponent supported Hillary Clinton’s lead on several issues.
“Senator Rubio emphatically supported Hillary Clinton in toppling [Muammar] Qaddafi in Libya. I think that made no sense,” Cruz told Bloomberg on Monday. “Qaddafi was a bad man, he had a horrible human rights record. And yet … he had become a significant ally in fighting radical Islamic terrorism.”
A U.S. and NATO-led air campaign, supported by Rubio and implemented by Clinton, toppled Qaddafi. Libya now stands as the third country where the Islamic State terror group holds territory. The jihadi outfit controls the coastal city of Sirte, which gives the holy warriors direct access to the Mediterranean Sea. The rest of the country remains in the midst of a civil war between Islamist and secular factions.
Cruz continued, condemning the democracy project practices of current and former administrations, which sought to democratize the Middle East and turn primitive cultures into free societies.
“If you look at President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and for that matter some of the more aggressive Washington neocons, they have consistently misperceived the threat of radical Islamic terrorism and have advocated military adventurism that has had the effect of benefiting radical Islamic terrorists,” he told Bloomberg.
The Republican Senator from Texas said he disagreed with the Rubio-Clinton proposal for a no-fly zone over Syria, worrying that “the so-called moderate rebels” weren’t so moderate, after all.
Too often, these “moderate rebels” link up with radical entities such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, according to reports, allowing for the possibility that these holy warriors obtain U.S. weapons and aid.
“I think none of that makes any sense. In my view, we have no dog in the fight of the Syrian civil war,” Cruz said, adding that Clinton and Rubio “are repeating the very same mistakes they made in Libya.”
“The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. If the Obama administration and the Washington neo-cons succeed in toppling [Bashar al-] Assad, Syria will be handed over to radical Islamic terrorists. ISIS will rule Syria,” Cruz cautioned.
To guide his foreign policy, Cruz said he will first ask: “How does it keep America safe?”
“If it’s keeping America safe, we should do it. If it’s making America more vulnerable, we shouldn’t do it,” he advocated.