Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said he did not "blame" President Obama for the crisis in Iraq and that the Iraq War itself had served to "embolden" Iran in an interview with Meet the Press host David Gregory.
Paul responded to Dick and Liz Cheney's scathing editorial against Obama and whether the former Vice President was a "credible" critic of Obama, as host David Gregory put it in his question. Paul criticized the architects of the war, saying criticisms of Obama's lack of foresight could be leveled against them as well.
"They didn't really, I think, understand the civil war that would break out," Paul said. "What's going on now, I don't blame on President Obama. Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East."
Obama's Iraq policy has come under intense criticism as the terrorist group ISIL has threatened to take over the country. Obama withdrew all American troops in 2011 and failed to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government on leaving behind a residual force.
"I also blame those were for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran," he added. "These are the same people now who are petrified of what Iran may become, and I understand some of their worry--"
"You're not a Dick Cheney Republican when it comes to American power in the Middle East?" Gregory asked.
"What I would say is the war emboldened Iran," Paul said. "Iran is much more of a threat because of the Iraq War than they were before."
Paul has stated previously a nuclear Iran was not a "viable" threat to Israel or the U.S in a 2007 radio interview with talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
"Even our own intelligence community consensus opinion now is that they’re not a threat. Like my dad [Rep. Ron Paul] says, [the Iranians] don’t have an Air Force, they don’t have a Navy," said Paul, according to a recording of the interview. "You know, it’s ridiculous to think they’re a threat to our national security."
It should also be noted Sen. Paul claimed Vice President Cheney’s views on the Iraq War were influenced by his time as CEO at Halliburton.
Rich Lowry writes:
Asked about the Halliburton charge on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Paul softened his accusation by saying he wasn’t questioning Cheney’s motives, but he didn’t recant. In his dark suspicions about Cheney, Paul is effectively to the left of most mainstream Democrats, who may disagree with and even hate the former vice president but don’t think he supported a major war as a favor to his erstwhile company. Paul’s belief that the Iraq War may have been about padding a corporate bottom line echoes charges of "war profiteering" that have been a staple of the Left.