The Week
Most Republicans have taken the line that President Trump was right to order the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani because he was “an evil bastard,” but that’s the way “grade-school children” think, and in foreign policy, you have to be a little more sophisticated and farsighted, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday. Paul, in fact, was extremely skeptical of Trump’s entire Iran policy.
The Trump administration’s “stated purpose” for killing Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, “was that they were going to prevent attacks on Americans,” Paul said. “But I think if you ask the question now, is it more or less likely that there will be attacks on Americans, I think it’s much more likely, the replacement for Soleimani is basically a clone,” and “so while Soleimani may have been plotting attacks — and probably was — it’s now a certainty that there will be attacks in revenge for his killing.”

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