Senator Paul on President Obama’s Recent Policy Speech

Sen. Rand Paul today issued the following statement regarding President Obama's speech on American-Middle Eastern policy yesterday.

"President Obama yesterday noted we are at a 'moment of opportunity' in the Middle East right now. If that is in fact true, then it is an opportunity he is wasting.

"We should use the upheaval in this 'Arab Spring' to take a good long look at our foreign policy over the past few decades. Instead, we are watching this President make the same mistakes as previous administrations, but doing so in a far more dramatic and dangerous fashion.

"Our mistakes in foreign policy have always been from hubris. We somehow believe that we can dictate the policies of the world, and enforce them with our military and economic strength. While this might sound like a good idea to many, it has its limits and its consequences.

"For example, instead of seeking proper authority from Congress and the Constitution to go to war with Libya, President Obama empowered the United Nations and the Arab League, two bodies that together endanger the security and sovereignty of our ally Israel.

"It is the United Nations who is threatening to impose a Palestinian state without a guarantee of safety for Israel. It is members of the Arab League who foment hostilities or refuse to recognize the right to safety and security of Israel.

"But far worse than that, today it was an American President who stood before the world and once again demanded Israel act against her own strategic interest in the name of a false peace.

"Peace from weakness or peace from outside coercion of Israel is a fool's errand. Unfortunately, the President today proved himself willing to play that fool.

"Israel and her enemies have fought wars for the better part of the past 60 years. And terror-supporting countries in the region have spent the better part of those years feigning interest in peace while lobbing rockets across borders.

"For President Obama to stand up today and insist that Israel should once again give up land, security and sovereignty for the possibility of peace shows an arrogance that is unmatched even in our rich history of foreign policy

"If we could learn just one thing from our failures to impose policies on the Middle East over the years, it should be this: We aren't very good at it.

"We should stick to what we are good at: promoting freedom, encouraging trade. Inviting those willing to participate in peace and benefit from its prosperity. We should show by example that the sovereignty of other countries must be respected if we wish to have that of our allies respected.

"I agree with the President. This is in fact a moment of opportunity. It is time to seize control of our foreign policy from those who have spent the past decade policing the world, trying in vain to build nations after destroying them, and bankrupting our children and grandchildren in the process.

"This opportunity will pass us by if we simply repeat the same mistakes, over again."