Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is looking to contrast his own foreign policy views with those of his Republican opponents in the 2016 race for the White House, especially with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
In an interview with Politico, Paul says there is a "clear distinction" between himself and his opponents when it comes to foreign policy, but he believes that the American people are on his side.
The Kentucky Republican said that Bush had an "incredibly fumbled answer" when the Florida Republican said he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 and then backtracking to say he doesn't know, admitting that "mistakes were made."
Paul said that it's clear now that invading Iraq was a "mistake."
"We think it’s a good place for where I am because I think the American people now think the Iraq War was a mistake,” he added.
After Bush said in an interview Monday night that he would have invaded Iraq "knowing what we know now,"
he clarified in an interview the next day that it was a "hypothetical" to say what he would do based on what we know now.
But Paul took issue with Bush's answers.
"I don’t think it’s hypothetical whether or not it’s a good idea to topple secular dictators in the Middle East and hope to get a good outcome and hope that stability comes thereafter," the Kentucky Republican said.
"I think every day we look at the mess of the chaos of the civil war in Iraq, I think every day people become more and more convinced that the war was a mistake," he explained. "I think we have to learn from the mistakes of our past."
The senator also said that Rubio is on the "wrong side of history" for supporting foreign aid.
"If any Republican nominee wants to run on the idea that borrowing money and printing it up and sending it to foreign countries that often hate us and burn our flag and think it’s a good idea, feel free to run on that issue," Paul told Politico. "But it’s not really popular with the people."
While those in the GOP establishment may want to label the Kentucky Republican as an isolationist for pushing for the United States to reduce its involvement in the world's problems, Paul contends that he thinks Republican voters will support his views.
In that vein, he says he's considering a filibuster against a renewal of the Patriot Act, which many Republican lawmakers want to pass. He said he's also working with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon on an amendment to the Patriot Act, which would get rid of the bulk data collection program that was recently
ruled illegal by an appeals court.
"We will see what unfolds,” he said. “We plan on being very active.”
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