Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said the current chaos in Iraq is an example of history trying to repeat itself and cited the example of al Qaeda carrying out the 9/11 attacks because the Taliban had given the terrorists a safe operating space in Afghanistan.
"ISIS is trying to establish the exact same thing in the Iraq-Syria region that they are increasingly controlling," Rubio said. "And then from there, from this caliphate that they are setting up, they will continue to recruit, and train and plot and plan and eventually carry out external operations in Europe, and potentially even here in the United States."
"My view that we'll deal with ISIS now or we’ll deal with them later," the Florida Republican said. "Later, they're going to be stronger and harder to reach."
When asked whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki should step down, Rubio noted, "the question is what replaces him."
"I certainly don’t think he's been a good prime minister," he continued. "I certainly believe that many of the problems that Iraq now faces are a direct result of failure of his leadership. and I think that the time may very well be arriving when he should step aside, allow someone else who can help unify the country to take hold there."