Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul says America's approach to foreign policy is unrealistic — and that there's "a greater threat of radical Islam" attacking the nation now than ever before.
In an interview with
National Public Radio, the libertarian-leaning lawmaker said both Republican and Democrat "interventions" have done more harm than good. "I think we do have to be more realistic in our approach worldwide," he said in the Thursday interview.
"And we have to look at the question of stability and whether we get more or less. Both Republican and Democrat interventions have led to more chaos and more threats to America. There's a greater threat of radical Islam attacking the [United States] than there was before."
President Barack Obama went before the nation Wednesday night to outline measures to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) militants, including an expansion of the air campaign against them and funding to train and arm the Syrian opposition.
He also reiterated his position he has the executive authority to do so without congressional approval but that he would welcome congressional support as a sign of American unity.
The plan is getting mixed reviews in Congress, including from Paul.
"We've gone too far in thinking we can re-create an American democratic paradise in the Middle East," Paul argues. "We have time and time again toppled secular dictators and they've been replaced by chaos.
"Libya's a perfect example," he added. "So what I would say is that Libya, because of President Obama's intervention to topple a secular dictator, is now less safe and actually more of a threat to America. Same with Syria."
Paul insists he supports the fight against the radical Islamist militant group, but told NPR the president is "going about it in the wrong way."
"The Constitution's pretty clear," he said. "The Federalist papers are pretty clear. ... They very specifically delegated the power to declare war to Congress. They wanted this to be a congressional decision; they did not want war to be engaged in by the executive without approval of Congress."
Paul believes the Islamic State "is a threat to our embassy, to our consulate, as well as potentially to the American people. So I support the effort; I just think he's going about it in the wrong way."
He said military intervention "should be done constitutionally, by Congress, and in the deliberations there should be a discussion of whether or not there's a vital American interest or a vital American need in that area."
And he argues "previous engagements" in Libya and Syria have only led to "a stronger ISIS, have led to a safe haven for ISIS."
"I would make the argument that ISIS has had a safe haven for the last two years precisely because of our intervention in Syria," he added. "Not only our arming of the rebels, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait — millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of arms have poured into Syria."
Paul told NPR he's still "thinking about" a presidential run in 2016, and that "it'll probably be in the spring we'll make our final decision."