IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Rand Paul: ISIS More of an Aberration than Saddam Hussein

The outspoken Republican senator from Kentucky says questions posed to Jeb Bush about Iraq are not hypothetical.
Get more newsLiveon

Sen. Rand Paul considers questions about Iraq and how to handle "secular dictators" like Saddam Hussein "important" and should be posed to all of the leading presidential candidates.

Responding to a question about how former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida dealt with a week of queries about whether he would’ve gone into Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Paul responded, "I don't think it's something that's a hypothetical question. I think it's a recurring question in the Middle East. Is it a good idea to topple secular dictators, and what happens when we do?"

He also took it a step further saying that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should be forced to answer similar questions about her role in overthrowing the former leader of Libya Muammar Gaddafi.

"I think the war in Iraq was a good question and still a current question, but so is the question of, 'Should we have gone into Libya?'" the Kentucky Republican senator said.

And Paul repeated that toppling Saddam Hussein is one of the causes of the extreme turmoil in the Middle East. “We are more at risk for attack from people who are training, organizing, and fighting in Iraq than we were before ... ISIS is more of an aberration than even Hussein was," Paul claimed.

— Shawna Thomas