Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said Monday that nations must deal with the chaos and danger of the world by always being ready to defend themselves.
"We live in a dangerous chaotic world. It always has been that, it always will be that," Cotton said. "It's great to have strong diplomacy, to have international accords, to have treaty allies. But at bottom, foreign policy, geopolitics starts at the end of an M-4 rifle, and unfortunately, it sometimes has to end there as well."
Cotton's remarks came while speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) 2018 policy conference. The combat veteran was asked by ABC News' Claire Shipman about how serving in the U.S. Army influenced his views, and Cotton responded by saying he, in reality, joined the military as a consequence of his views.
"I joined the army in large part because of my worldview," he said. "It was reinforced in a couple different ways. First, at a general level, about America's role in the world and the kind of world we face and second, about the specific nature of the threats that the U.S. and Israel face."
He said the general lesson he took from his experience in the army was that the world cannot be made pacific.
"No matter what else you have, if you don't have a military capable of defending your people and protecting its interests and allies around the world then you're not prepared to cope with that world," he said.
Using the biblical image of the lion lying down with the lamb, Cotton said nations should seek to maintain their strength in the absence of divinely ordered peace on earth.
"One day the lion may lay down with the lamb, but until that day, and actually on that day, I'd rather be the lion than the lamb," Cotton said.