Sen. Rand Paul: U.S. Troops In Syria Are A “Tripwire,” Encouraging Rather Than Deterring Attacks
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, during a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” commented on an attack on U.S. troops in Syria.
KRISTEN WELKER: Well, and speaking of danger, I do have to ask you about this attack in Syria, two U.S. service members and one civilian interpreter were killed, three other troops wounded in an ambush by an ISIS gunman. The president is threatening, quote, “very serious retaliation” for the attack. You are a part of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. Do you support the president, the United States, retaliating for what happened in Syria, Senator? SEN. RAND PAUL: Well, the soldiers who died are obviously heroes, fighting for their country. The purpose of whether or not they should be there or not is a big question. In the first Trump administration, Trump proposed removing those troops and the neocons around him, the traditional conservatives around him said, “Oh no, no, we won’t let you.” We actually passed a law trying to prevent him from removing troops from Syria. I was with the president in the first administration that a couple hundred troops in Syria are more of a tripwire than a strategic asset. I don’t think they deter war. I think they basically, because Americans are targets and Jihadists around the world think they can get great glory and provoke terrorism by killing an American, that they become potential targets and tripwires to more interaction. Yes, the people who killed our soldiers should be punished. But really, we need to reassess whether or not we should have troops in Syria to begin with.
