Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer says Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's "ignorance really astonishes." He then proceeded to blast the 2016 GOP presidential candidate for statements he made earlier in the week blaming "hawks" in his own party in part for the rise of the Islamic State.
Krauthammer told Hugh Hewitt Friday on his syndicated program that Paul does not understand the "cozy, tacit, non-aggression agreement" ISIS has had with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime until last week, when ISIS invaded Syrian territory.
"ISIS grew so strong that it could be bold and invade, essentially, Assad territory," said Krauthammer. But until then, the agreement allowed Assad and ISIS to "essentially split the country in two," and Assad had relied on ISIS to "swallow up all the anti-Assad opposition."
But until ISIS took over Palmyra last week, it had not taken a single city or town from the Assad government, Krauthammer said.
"Every place it has taken over was swallowing up territory from anti-Assad insurgents," said Krauthammer.
On Wednesday,
Paul blamed the growth of the Islamic State (ISIS) on the "hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately," in the Middle East, with the weapons eventually ending up in the hands of the militant fighters.
"Most of those arms were snapped up by ISIS," the Kentucky Republican and 2016 presidential candidate told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, responding to people in his party such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, who "want to bomb [Syrian leader Bashar al-]Assad, which would have made ISIS' job easier."
ISIS is also all over Libya because of "hawks in my party," said Paul. "They loved Hillary Clinton's warning. They wanted more of it ... everything they have talked about in foreign policy, they have the gall to point the finger otherwise."
Krauthammer argued Friday that it is important that weapons be sent, but to the right forces.
“We should be sending them to the right people, to the Kurds who want to fight, and who are pro-American, and to the Sunni Anbar tribes, the few remaining right now cause it’s so late in the game, who are pro-American and desperate for weaponry to fight off ISIS," he said.
And Krauthammer said he believes U.S. policy is misguided about arming the Iraqi Security Forces.
"As our own Secretary of Defense [Ashton Carter] has said, they don’t have the will to fight," Krauthammer said. "But that’s not our mistake, the big mistake is — we should not be refraining from sending weapons."
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