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Rand Paul Says Obama's ISIS Plan Definitely Unconstitutional

He still supports it, though.

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Rand Paul
Gage Skidmore / Flickr

Republican Sen. Rand Paul expressed support for President Obama's latest round of military action against terrorist state ISIS while insisting that the operation is nevertheless technically unconstitutional.

The president should have obtained Congressional authorization, Paul told Sean Hannity on Fox News after Obama's televised announcement.

While Paul supported doing "whatever it takes to take out ISIS," he also asked Hannity to consider whether the history of U.S. intervention in the Middle East has produced anything worth celebrating. The U.S. led or supported the overthrow of secular Middle East dictators like Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi, and Hosni Mubarak. It could be argued that each revolution empowered radical Islam, according to Paul.

"Libya is a jihadist wonderland," said Paul.

Hannity, on the other hand, maintained that the U.S. very nearly achieved a stable democracy in Iraq until Obama pulled out American forces too early and ruined everything. Kudos to Paul for at least pushing back against that notion.