Rand Paul: My Colleagues Just Voted to Arm the Allies of al Qaeda

[L0oniX]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, which voted overwhelmingly to arm elements of the Syrian opposition in a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). "This is an important moment," Paul said, addressing his Senate colleagues. "You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It's an irony you cannot overcome."

The legislation, which would authorize the shipment of arms and military training to rebels "that have gone through a thorough vetting process," passed in a bipartisan 15-3 vote. Paul offered an amendment that would strike the bill's weapons provision, but it was rejected along with another Paul amendment ruling out the authorization of the use of military force in Syria. (Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy was the only senator to join Paul in support of the weapons amendment.)

<>Corker added that not arming rebel groups such as the more moderate Free Syrian Army would ensure the dominance of the better-equipped al-Nusra Front. Paul responded, saying, "It's impossible to know who our friends are ... I know everyone here wants to do the right thing, but I think it's a rush to war."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35037.htm

I've been saying this from the start ...stay the hell out of it ...and yea I don't like Rand either. At least there is one Dem supporting the weapons amendment. I do find it amazing that as much as Rand is hated here that he is correct on this. "It's impossible to know who our friends are"

[graham4anything]

1. I don't think either of the loony Paul's ever got one piece of legislation passed in their lives.

a good thought normally is, if it upsets Rand or Ron, it is good for America, being that either of the Paul family are
a clear and present danger to America itself, and especially to the Democratic party of which the Paul's are not
supportive of 82% of the party members.

[L0oniX]

2. It's not about Rand ...it's about the US helping its enemy.

It's pretty bad when Rand is not wanting to see the US helping Al Quaida and we have Dems supporting it.

[DetlefK]

3. "Rand Paul supports Assad." Catchy slogan and almost half-true.

[L0oniX]

4. Dems support aid to Al Quaida ...is the alternative.

[byeya]

5. I think Rand Paul is correct on this one...

[LuvNewcastle]

6. He's right about this.

There's a lot of Democrats in Congress who need to get their shit together. I wouldn't vote for him, but a lot of Democrats will if he says more things they agree with.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Fuck, why not? We created them, remember....

bin Laden was our guy against the Taliban in Afghanistan until we didn't like him any more.

Saddam was our guy in Iraq until we didn't like him any more. Then we accused him of working with al Quaeda and took him down.

Time to build up the next generation of opposition, I guess.

Only partly

[Pragdem]

8. Sad that some "Democrats" agree with him.

And haven't bothered to actually arm themselves with the knowledge necessary to know that a huge portion of the rebels are secular and have been keeping the jihadists in check.

But when you ally yourself with people like the Pauls, who share foreign policy ideals as extreme as the neocons... you only look at the world through the fog of your isolationist bubble.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. Yeah, those of us who aren't in favor of jumping

in the middle of every conflict in the world must be "isolationist." That's the only possible answer.

[L0oniX]

10. Even a broken clock ...blah blah blah.

Just because you agree on one thing with a repuke doesn't mean you are their buddy.