Sen. Rand Paul says the U.S. military campaign in Iran is a mistake.
When asked by FOX Business host Stuart Varney Thursday if the senator would stop the war, the Kentucky Republican said, “The war should never have begun.
“I think it’s not good for America. I think what’s going to happen is it’s going to turn the public also against the president and against the Republican Party,” the senator said.
He said he would not apologize for “wanting to pray and hope for an end to war.”
While President Trump and the rest of his administration are sending mixed signals over the progress of the war, Mr. Paul said that “even the president is sounding more and more like he doesn’t want to go on months and months.”
Mr. Trump described the “major combat operations” as a “short-term excursion” that would likely be over in roughly one month. As the war reaches the end of its second week, he has said it has been “won,” but the U.S. still needs to “finish the job.”
Mr. Paul said the real question is whether the war is “good for America.”
“I frankly think the biggest threat to America, the biggest threat to our national security, is actually our debt,” he said, adding that he does not believe the U.S. faces the threat of the Iranian military invading the homeland.
Instead, he warned that the U.S. is in danger of becoming “overextended.”
The U.S. spent more than $11 billion in the first six days of the conflict in Iran, Defense Department officials told Congress Thursday.
“They’re talking about another $50 billion they need immediately, but the president is also talking about another $500 billion that he wants to spend on the military. That would be a 50% increase in our military,” Mr. Paul said.
“I think that you can’t be fiscally conservative and be for unlimited warfare,” he added.
