Political Quotes

“Madam President, if there is a theme that connects the dots in the Middle East, it is that chaos breeds terrorism. What much of the foreign policy elite fail to grasp, though, is that intervention to topple secular dictators has been the prime source of the chaos. From Hussein to Assad to Qadhafi, it is the same history--intervention to topple the secular dictator. Chaos ensues and radical jihads emerge. The pattern has been repeated time and time again. Yet what we have here is a failure to understand, a failure to reflect on the outcome of our involvement in Arab civil wars. They say nature abhors a vacuum. Radical jihadists have again and again filled the chaotic vacuum of the Middle East. Secular dictators, despots who, frankly, do terrorize their own people, are replaced by radical jihadists, who seek terror not only at home but abroad. Intervention, when both choices are bad, is a mistake. Intervention, when both sides are evil, is a mistake. Intervention that destabilizes the Middle East is a mistake. Yet here we are again, wading into a civil war. I warned a year ago that involving us in Syria's civil war was a mistake, that the inescapable irony is that some day the arms we supply would be used against us or Israel. That day is now. ISIS has grabbed up from the United States, from the Saudis, and from the Qataris weapons by the truckload. We are now forced to fight against our own weapons, and this body wants to throw more weapons into the mix.…”