Sen. Cruz: Attacking Syria Is Not In National Interest

SEAN HANNITY: Here with reaction to this and much more is Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Senator, thanks for being with us. What should the response be from your perspective?

SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: Well, Secretary Kerry is right that Assad using chemical weapons is an outrage and it's wrong. But unfortunately missing from his statement and from the president's approach so far has been a focus on what the touchstone should be, which is the vital U.S. national security interest of this country.

The United States Armed Forces is not -- doesn't exist to be a policeman for the world. And I certainly hope the reaction isn't simply lobbing some cruise missiles in to disagree with Assad's murderous actions. Rather, our focus should be on protecting our national security, which leads to two things.

Number one, under no circumstances should we be arming rebels who are affiliated with al-Qaeda. And this administration has already suggested they want to arm the rebels with no reliable means of differentiating al-Qaeda from non-al-Qaeda.

And number two, our concern should be those chemical weapons, preventing them from falling into the hands of Hezbollah, preventing them from falling into the hands of al-Qaeda. That should be guiding our actions, not expressing some moral outrage from a university faculty lounge.

HANNITY: All right. What he is saying is it's more obscenity, yeah, we agree. It's inexcusable, yeah, we agree. But you mentioned firing some cruise missiles. That's been the talk that they're drawing up plans to do so. Is this going to be a so-called therapeutic bombing so they can just check off the box where they crossed the red line and we responded, but that's it?

CRUZ: Look, if the objective is to make a symbolic step then that makes sense. If the objective is to protect our national security, it is difficult to see what a few cruise missiles would do. The focus should be, the only justifiable reason for U.S. military forces to be engaged, for U.S. military might to be engaged, is to protect our national security. And sadly, that has been the missing variable from this administration's approach from the beginning as they allowed Assad to slaughter over a hundred thousand of his people. And their focus hasn't been on protecting U.S. interests.

And you know what's striking, Sean, is that Secretary Kerry and the president have said, they want to go to the United Nations for approval. How about going to the United States Congress? You know, the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war. And this president doesn't seem to view it as remotely a priority to go to Congress, to make the case why any military action is in our national security. And I think that's his responsibility to do.

HANNITY: Do you think the president has an obligation at this point to do that before any attack takes place?

CRUZ: I think the president has an obligation to make the case to Congress and the American people why any military action, if there is to be any, is justified and why it's focused on U.S. national security. What it shouldn't be is just a symbolic gesture of disapproval. It should rather be focused on protecting citizens of America.

Via: Real Clear Politics

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