Free Republic

Chinese diplomats in Syria as well as Beijing's embassy are under regular threat from rebel attacks, China's ambassador to Syria has confided to local media outlets. In an interview with the Global Times [ link at site], Zhang Xun, China's ambassador to Syria said that Beijing's embassy has increasingly been caught in the cross-hairs of fighting between rebel and government forces in recent months... Zhang said that in another attack last month, Syrian rebels fired mortar shells at President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade. They missed the Syrian leader but hit a building that was located just 10 meters from the Chinese...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said Wednesday he considers his views on foreign policy to be “somewhere in between” the poles of libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and hawkish GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.). “I agree with Rand Paul that we should not intervene militarily in Syria, because it’s not in defense of our U.S. national security interests,” said Cruz during a question-and-answer session following a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. But, Cruz added, he also agrees “with John McCain that if Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons that we...

I was looking for the news article where Rand Paul was talking about the atrocities being committed in Syria, the beheading of priests,children, etc, and stumbled upon this on Google - Twitchy posted this about Parish Match about one and a half hours ago. I won't provide a link to it, but thought people needed to know And now weapons are being provided by the CIA to Syrian rebels (WaPo article)?

Newsmax Rand Paul: Putin 'Running Circles' Around Obama Thursday, September 12, 2013 08:54 AM By: Sandy Fitzgerald Russian President Vladimir Putin is "running circles" around President Barack Obama, and if the Syrian crisis was a "game," the Russian leader would be winning it, says Sen. Rand Paul. "If this were a tennis match, it would be the umpire shouting, 'Advantage Putin!' He seems to be running circles around this administration,"” The Kentucky Republican told Glenn Beck on his radio show The Blaze Wednesday night, Politico reports.

Cairo: The Arab League will back a Russian plan to place Syrian chemical weapons under international supervision for eventual destruction, its secretary general said on Tuesday. Nabil al-Arabi told reporters in Cairo the League will 'soon issue a statement announcing its support officially' for the Russian plan... "If you remember, I always insisted that (the Syrian conflict) needs a political solution" Arabi said. But they fell short of calling for military strikes as proposed by Washington, with several members opposed to foreign intervention in Syria.

Washington (CNN) – A growing chorus of high-profile tea party leaders is threatening Republican lawmakers: Defund Obamacare or get a primary challenge. Three conservative Republican senators, a handful of House members and even more tea party activists took to a stage on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building Tuesday afternoon to protest the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. But their call to action–and their anger–was directed more at the Republican leadership in the House than at President Obama. One sign in the crowd read: "Hey, GOP. The end is near for Obamacare or you. Your choice." The...

Just caught a glimpse of Rand Paul on Fox, but did NOT see a shot of the participants....is it a good turnout?

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

A series of fresh revelations about atrocities and war crimes perpetrated by Western-backed Syrian "rebels" had sparked alarm among analysts, further complicating Obama's already tough-push for support to launch military strikes against the Assad regime. ... the latest atrocities are being cited by critics of the warmongering as more reasons not to join the civil war on behalf of ruthless jihadists... Christian villagers quoted in new reports [URL at link] said the rebels had, among other atrocities, forced them to convert to Islam or be murdered while shouting the now-infamous "Allahu Akbar" war cry. Christian homes and churches were reportedly...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) exclusively told Breitbart News on Monday that he believes the plan from Russian to secure Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s chemical weapons—a plan Assad reportedly has agreed to—would be “a great step forward” if it actually happened. “I think it would be a great step forward if Assad were willing to do it and if Russia were willing to monitor it or an international authority with Russia,” Paul, an outspoken opponent of U.S. military strikes in Syria, said in a phone interview with Breitbart News on Monday. “I think part of diplomacy and getting things to work...

Obama is going on a whirlwind media blitz this week in an attempt to sell a very skeptical public on war with Syria. Yet the Washington Post notes: Obama’s top aide says the administration lacks “irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence” that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking. Indeed, those who have seen the evidence say that it is incredibly weak. German intelligence also says that Assad didn’t order the attacks. Moreover, President Obama correctly noted in 2007: The President does not have the power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack...

... President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus that has triggered calls for US military intervention, and blocked numerous requests from his military commanders against opponents in recent months, a German newspaper has reported, citing unidentified, high-level national security sources. ...

Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he would not filibuster the president's request to launch strikes against Syria but that he would insist Barack Obama abide by Congress's demands if it votes to prohibit military intervention in the civil war. The Kentucky Republican told "Fox News Sunday" a filibuster would only delay a vote authorizing use of force. "I will insist there is full debate on this and I will insist that I get an amendment and my amendment will say that the vote is binding -- that the president cannot, if we vote him down, decide to go to war...

Citing German intelligence Syrian forces may have used gas without Assad's permission, says German daily. Commanders had been urging Assad for authorization to use chemical weapons for more than four months but hadn't received it, Bild reports based on intercepted radio messages... This could mean that Assad may not have approved the attack close to Damascus on August 21... Bild said the radio transmission was intercepted by a German naval reconnaissance vessel, the Oker, sailing close to the Syrian coast The chief of staff of Germany's armed forces General Volker Wieker...told lawmakers the influence of al-Qaida linked forces within the...

The Talk Shows September 7th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): McDonough; Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Peter King, R-N.Y., and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif.FACE THE NATION (CBS): McDonough; Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Justin Amash, R-Mich., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md.THIS WEEK (ABC): McDonough; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): McDonough; Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.; Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., Barbara Lee, D-Calif.,...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is being criticized by The New Republic for concern over Christians after Syrian rebels attacked a Syrian Christian village. In an article titled “Rand Paul’s Syria Bible Thumping: Why does he only seem to care about the country’s Christians?” journalist Julia Ioffe rails, “Paul’s emphasis on Syrian Christians is more than a simple reminder of a neglected aspect of an already complicated situation.” Ioffe continues, Rand’s concern over Christians in Syria “sounds distinctly like the garbage about America being a Christian nation, like the unnerving evangelical support of Israel, like the not-too-subtle hum on the right...

OUR country is about to make the most excruciating kind of decision, the most dire: whether to commence a military campaign whose real costs and ultimate consequences are unknowable. But let’s by all means discuss the implications for Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Iowa, New Hampshire and 2016. Yea or nay on the bombing: which is the safer roll of the dice for a Republican presidential contender? Reflexively, sadly, we journalists prattle and write about that. We miss the horse race of 2012, not to mention the readership and ratings it brought. The next election can’t come soon enough. So...

As President Barack Obama seeks to shore up support for the hotly debated plan to launch a military strike against Syria, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) charged on Wednesday that military action is the wrong approach to the Syria dilemma and he won't support it. In an op-ed published in TIME on Wednesday, Paul invoked the wisdom of former United States Secretary of State and retired four-star general in the U.S. Army, Colin Powell, that war should be a last resort and that "America should only go to war to win". "War should occur only when America is attacked, when...

At the National Review, December 14, 2011, there is a past article entitled "John Kerry reporting for duty ... to the Muslim Brotherhood." In that article, it says that the Obama administration described the organization as a "largely secular" and moderate organization. Just two years later, Kerry said that the overthrow of these same "moderates" constituted a return of Democracy to Egypt. Now we hear Kerry and Co. saying that the Syrian rebels are "moderates," too. Riiiiight. The ones that are cannibals? The ones that even Turkish newspapers have past documention on as being caught with 2kg of Sarin gas...

Ted Cruz, Bill Lee, and Rand Paul are isolationists, per Jennifer Rubin, the in-house neocon at the Washington Post. Throw in Sarah Palin, too. The senators and former governor want nothing more than two briny oceans to defend the nation from the world's predators and cutthroats. Heck, maybe they don't even want militias. Palin and the three rising conservative stars are secret America Firsters. "Lindbergh" is their password. Shhh! Hands up, guys and gal, Jennifer Rubin's outed you. It's more like Rubin tarred y'all, pinning America First buttons on your lapels all by her lonesome, to the gloating approval of...

In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry did a bang-up job debunking the nonsense coming from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that retaliating against Bashar al-Assad would make it more likely he’d use WMDs again: I have to say, in denying reality, namely that WMD use isn’t going to stop unless we do something, and in castigating those concerned about U.S. credibility in the world, Rand Paul demonstrates how unworthy of leadership his faction of the GOP would be. (I would say the same of the far left of the Democratic Party.) If he becomes...

It’s 9:15 on Tuesday night and Capitol Hill is quiet as Senator Rand Paul emerges from Fox News’s studio near Union Station. His face is slightly smeared with powder from his appearance minutes earlier on Hannity, and Sergio Gor, a political aide, is trailing him. Paul walks quickly to the street, heading toward his nearby apartment. It’s been a long day for him, starting with a flight from Kentucky and followed by a packed afternoon at the Foreign Relations Committee. He’s eager to get to his place, rest up, and get ready for a busy week of debate. But then...

War should occur only when America is attacked, when it is threatened or when American interests are attacked or threatened. I don’t think the situation in Syria passes that test. Even the State Department argues that “there’s no military solution here that’s good for the Syrian people, and that the best path forward is a political solution.” The United States should not fight a war to save face. I will not vote to send young men and women to sacrifice life and limb for stalemate. I will not vote to send our nation’s best and brightest to fight for anything...

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the top Pentagon officer repeatedly warned against the costs and potential entanglements of military involvement in Syria. Now he's testifying on behalf of the White House. The nation's top military officer warned repeatedly in recent months that getting US military involved with Syria is a dangerous proposition... Did he change his mind or is he just doing the White House's bidding? In the past, he has made it clear that US military intervention could tip the balance of power in favor of Islamist rebels who don't necessarily have the interests of the United States at heart...

Most Americans share its opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria.We are constantly being told how the Tea Party is out of touch with the American public, but when it comes to the question of whether Congress should, at President Obama’s request, authorize a military strike in Syria, tea-party lawmakers appears to be among the only ones in line with popular opinion. As liberal icons such as Nancy Pelosi and the French Republic press for military intervention, polls show that most Americans are opposed — nearly 60 percent, including 54 percent of Democrats, according to a Washington Post/ABC News survey...

I don’t know if there’s a way for Rand Paul to force Reid to bring this to the floor, but if not, Boehner must — must — include it in the House package.It’s three paragraphs long so go ahead and read it in full, but this part deserves spotlighting:Using his own words against him is zestily delicious, but c’mon — you don’t think a gauzy concept like “imminence� is going to stop him, do you? According to O’s drone policy, a bad guy in Al Qaeda is always an “imminent� threat to the U.S. no matter where he is or...

Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh says the U.S. Air Force is not in an ideal place to lead a major Syria offensive...

During today's questionning of Kerry by Senator Rand, Kerry tried to get General Dempsey to bail him out. Dempsey declined. LOL. Does anyone have a video clip of this? Thanks

The Syria debacle sheds light on the thinking of both interventionists and isolationists. The former are furious with President Obama for stalling, evading a burgeoning crisis and then coming up with half-measures coupled with a punt to Congress. The isolationists don’t want him to take action no matter how “limited” and “narrow” he says his action will be. We should fully understand what the isolationist right and left contemplate as ideal national security policy. According to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), we have no national security interests in Syria. When Bashar al-Assad began slaughtering his own people, if we said anything...

The UK has exported hazardous chemicals to Syria, despite condemning President Bashar al-Assad. Photograph: Foto Factory/ Alany [photo at URL]. On the face of it, andin light of the widespread condemnation of President Bashar al-Assad it might seemodd that the UK is still granting licenses for the export of armoured 4x4 vehicles to Syria. Odder still...the sale of certain hazardous chemicals to Syria, too... ...

In an August 29 interview on Gov. Mike Huckabee's radio show, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) pressed President Obama to think before attacking Syria in a way that will result in the deaths of any of that country's minority Christian population. According to The Hill, Paul said Obama needs to realize there are more "Christians living in Syria... than just about anywhere else in the Middle East," and "they're on the other side in this war." Paul made it clear there is no room for recklessness or haphazardly lobbing cruise missiles into the country. He added pointedly, "I don't want to...

It seems to be "show me the Muslim" or "show me the oil." Blacks and Christians in Sudan and Rwanda get the near genocide treatment and the U.S. does not intervene. Nor did we hit Saddam real hard when he gassed many and more Kurds in Iraq. Coptic Christians in Egypt were treated very harshly even before the military ousted Morsi, but did the U.S. intervene? No. Kosovo intevention: Muslims involved. Libya: oil and Muslims. Syria: Muslims, and in a region region where instability could affaect oil prices. But Christians there --- who cares about them, right? Rand Paul is...

Appearing on Meet The Press on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed Secretary of State John Kerry on his willingness to intervene militarily in Syria by twisting his most famous words against him. "I would ask John Kerry, How can you ask a man to be the first one to die for a mistake?" Paul said, in reference to Kerry's famous words against the Vietnam War to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

Senate newcomers Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are challenging the old guard over how to proceed in Syria.As scores of Republican lawmakers urge the Obama administration to intervene militarily in Syria, a handful of Republican senators want to keep the U.S. on the sidelines. Tomahawk cruise missiles are in place and could be launched as early as Thursday against key military targets in Syria, a response against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deployment of chemical weapons on civilians. [READ: Congress Wants to Give Input on Syria ] Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was among the first to voice his...

Senate leaders Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have not yet weighed in on whether they believe Congress should have to debate and authorize military action in Syria before President Barack Obama can move forward with it. Reid’s office says the Nevada Democrat has been briefed by the administration, “but that’s all we have to say right now.” McConnell has not yet released a statement and his office would not say whether or when he might. Reid voted to authorize both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. In 1991, only 10 out of 55 Senate Democrats voted to...

Paul also explained that he had difficulty seeing any American interests in the Syrian conflict. “I can’t see fighting to impose Sharia law in Syria,” Paul said. “I can’t see sending my son to fight with Islamic rebels against Christians. I also can’t see my son going to fight on the same side as al Qaeda.” Under Sharia law, Paul noted, Christians would be persecuted for blasphemy, citing a woman in Pakistan who was jailed for blasphemy after she drank from a cup shared by Muslim workers. “That is not something I want to send our boys and girls to...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that the U.S. has no direct national security interests at stake in Syria’s civil war, as he cautioned President Obama against ordering military strikes on the Middle East nation. Mr. Paul, possibly the leading anti-war Republican in the Senate, said the U.S. should condemn use of chemical weapons — an accusation rebels have made against the Syrian regime — but said if a decision to take military action is made, it should come from Congress, not from the White House. “We should ascertain who used the weapons and we should have an open debate...

‘Oh my God. Oh my God.” Those are Cynthia Burke’s first words after Senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, completes her eye surgery, removing the cataract in her right eye. Lying down in the operation room, Burke, a 55-year-old woman from the Ozarks town of Fredericktown, Mo., looks up. Standing above her are Paul and another ophthalmologist, Barbara Bowers, both dressed in blue scrubs. Because of her cataracts, Burke hadn’t been able to perceive much color, and couldn’t see at all in her right eye when there wasn’t natural light. But now, with the surgery just completed, Burke’s sight is already...

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Party will explode. When the smoke clears, there’ll be four (4!) new parties. First, there will still be the Republican Party, sort of, but it will change its name to the GOPPPP (Grand Old Party of Perennial Pathetic Putzes). The new name, though, won’t change the fact that the party has failed to win a majority of America’s voters in five of the past six elections or that it keep running candidates even its own members don’t like! It’s top contenders? Sen. Marco Rubio; Rep. Paul Ryan; Gov. Rick Perry;...

Our most recent rating of Republican presidential contenders features a top tier of three notably different candidates: A Midwestern governor (Scott Walker) who is known best by the activists who will help decide the nomination; a leading national figure (Chris Christie) who has irked conservatives; and a firebrand senator (Rand Paul) with devoted supporters who would shake up the party’s platform and, perhaps, identity.Chart 1: Updated Crystal Ball Republican presidential rankings First Tier Candidate Key Advantages Key Disadvantages Since Last Update Scott WalkerGovernor, WI •Midwest GOP gov. in Obama state •Heroic conservative credentials •Shown political durability •Too bland? Next Pawlenty?...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has endorsed fellow Republican Steve Lonegan in his bid for the U.S. Senate — but on Saturday, Lonegan threw his support to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in his contentious war of words with the outspoken governor. During an appearance on MSNBC's "Up with Steve Kornacki," Lonegan praised Christie as a "strong leader," but said he disagrees with the state executive on issues including recovery funds for Hurricane Sandy. "I disagree with Gov. Christie and President Obama on Hurricane Sandy funding," he said. "I thought it was over the top. I thought it was too much...

He’s angry that his generation (Generation X) hasn’t had an elevating cause to rally around: "The effects on our politics has been profound. Without any concept of actual combat or crisis, a new crop of leaders — Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin — treats governing as a fight to the death, with no possibility of a negotiated peace. Without a transcendent social struggle calling us to seek justice as Americans, they substitute factional causes — Repeal Obamacare! Taxed Enough Already! — or manufactured crises over debt limits and government shutdowns. Though the problem is more pronounced on...

I am pro-life. I know that life begins at conception, and destroying that life for any reason is an unspeakable evil. I know that individuals have the right to bear arms to protect themselves from the tyranny of the federal government, criminals, and foreign enemies. I know that free market capitalism is the only way to run an economy, despite the fact that I'm not a millionaire like Chairman Obama's pals, Sarah Jessica Parker and Eva Longoria or a billionaire like Chairman Obama's boss, the evil George $oros. I know that homosexual "marriage" is destructive and wrong. I know that...

Former Rep. Ron Paul believes that Chelsea Manning — previously known as Bradley Manning — has done enough time in custody for the WikiLeaks scandal and should be released. Paul, who made his comments at a Reddit AMA session on Thursday, agreed that Manning should’ve been punished for practicing civil disobedience and breaking the law, but Manning’s time served until now, as well as the other factors in the case, should prompt Manning’s release. “He deserves some punishment, but he has already received (in my estimation) excessive amounts of punishment. He has been in prison for over 3 years as...

McCain was always a sketchy character. But, what really turned him into the warden’s pet was the worldwide phenomenon of Sen. Randall H. Paul (R-Ky.) filibustering the on the Senate floor from just before lunch March 6 until 12:30 a.m., the next morning. ..The night was supposed to belong to McCain. He arranged for his GOP colleagues to dine that night with President Barack Obama, and because the partnership forged at dinner was brokered by McCain, it was supposed to make him the de facto leader of the Republicans. . . McCain was livid. He was so livid that the...

At first Paul would only say that Christie was “very precise” in his assertion that you have to win before you can govern. But then the gloves came off. “In other words, say anything, do anything, get elected first, and deceive the people in order to get elected,” Paul said. He accused both parties of saying “whatever they think they have to say” to get elected, but predicted those days are “coming to an end.” “The American people are waking up to the reality that something has to give,” Paul continued, “and it certainly isn’t by saying, ‘Well, say anything...

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said on Saturday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just isn't "rogue" enough for her taste. Palin sided with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in his continuing feud with the popular New Jersey governor. “I’m on team Rand," Palin told Fox News. "Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of 'don’t tread on me government.' Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go-along-to-get-along in so many respects." -snip- ... she dismissed Obama's comments about greater transparency regarding the National Security Agency and its surveillance operations at his news conference on Friday....

CNN’s Erin Burnett found herself confronted with the idea of Rand Paul as a “rabid spider monkey,” after a guest on her show used the imagery to describe the Kentucky senator in a fight. While discussing the feud with Gov. Chris Christie, Burnett’s guest, Hogan Gidley, a former communications director for Rick Santorum pointed out that Rand Paul refused to be bullied. “What’s fascinating to me here is Rand Paul saying, bring it on and if you come at me, I’m going to come at you like a rabid spider monkey, and he hit him right in the face,” Gidley...

Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. "This is something that those who voted in Congress are going to have to live with," Paul told The Cable on Thursday. "The question is: How does their conscience feel now as they see photographs of tanks rolling over Egyptian civilians?" As the official Egyptian death toll climbs to 638, the legislation the Kentucky libertarian is referring to was an amendment to suspend aid to Egypt until the country holds free and fair...

LET Rand Paul have his epic filibuster and Ted Cruz his scowling threats to shut down the government. Let Chris Christie thunder to a second term as the governor of New Jersey, his hubris flowering as his ultimate designs on the White House take shape. Jeb Bush, lying low in the subtropics of Florida, has something they don’t: the unalloyed affection of many of the Republican Party’s most influential moneymen, who are waiting for word on what he’ll do, hoping that he’ll seek the 2016 presidential nomination and noting with amusement how far he has drifted off fickle pundits’ radar,...