BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:00 A.M.) – U.S. Senator (Kentucky) Rand Paul recently challenged the new Secretary of State nominee Anthony Blinken on his history of pushing regime change in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sen. Paul began his argument by questioning Blinken’s role in the NATO intervention of Libya in 2001 and his support for the U.S. military invasion of Iraq in 2003, which the Kentucky congressman said was a major disaster that paved the way for a stronger Iran.
The congressman argued that Blinken continued to push regime change in Syria, which he said was a significant blunder, especially with the amount of money spent training “moderate rebel forces”.
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Sen. Paul said the administration of former President Barack Obama spent $250 million (USD) on training 60 rebels, which he said was a waste of money.
He would go on to question why Blinken would support the Syrian opposition groups on the ground, as he pointed out the most powerful fighters are those from the jihadist groups like the Al-Nusra Front.
Sen. Paul then shifted his attention to NATO, which he said Blinken was trying to strengthen for the purpose of combatting Russia.
The senator said Blinken’s policy on NATO would lead to war with Russia, which the latter responded would have the opposite effect.
He concluded by saying that regime change needs to end because it is involving the U.S. in long wars that are costly to the military.
