Jacob Sullum on Rand Paul vs. the Hawks

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Jacob Sullum

In an interview with The New York Times last month, President Obama confessed that when he decided to help rebels overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi in 2011, he "underestimated" the ensuing chaos. "That's a lesson that I now apply every time I ask the question, 'Should we intervene militarily?'" Obama said. "Do we have an answer [for] the day after?"

Jacob Sullum says it would be nice to have a president who looks before he leaps into other countries' civil wars, who learns from his predecessors' foreign policy blunders instead of his own. Sullum argues that Rand Paul, who offers a refreshing contrast to the reckless interventionists of both major parties, might be that man.