Friday, April 24, 2015

Rand Paul Hides From Drone Attack

David Weigel sets the scene of Rand's duck and cover routine:
Two years ago, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul captivated the Senate and the press by waging a filibuster against the nomination of John Brennan, President Obama's new CIA director. For 13 hours, he demanded that the Obama administration offer, publicly, its legal rationale for drone strikes against American citizens, in the United States, that it deems to be enemies. The "Stand With Rand" iconography that has become part of Paul's presidential campaign dates to that literal late-night stand.

On Thursday, after the White House revealed that two hostages had been killed in a drone strike against al-Qaeda, Paul was far more circumspect. Paul avoided the more public entrances to the Senate floor, the places where reporters are typically able to grab senators for quotes. Initially, his Senate office said via e-mail that he would not have an immediate response to the killings. At 1:54 p.m., his campaign sent over a statement.

"It is a tragedy that these Americans lost their lives," said Paul. "My prayers and thoughts are with their families." Minutes later, Paul's Senate office sent over a slightly different statement, clarifying that he was talking about the American hostage, Warren Weinstein. He did not address the killings of Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn, two American citizens who had joined al-Qaeda and were killed in drone strikes. (Farouq was killed in the same attack that took the lives of the hostages.
Contrast this even with warmonger, Cruz Missile, who views the killings of the Islamic Americans Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn in the attack as legal acts of war. Weigel again:
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had joined Paul in that March 2013 filibuster, released a longer statement that called specifically [sic] an "investigation" into the killings--something President Obama also called for today.
  -RW

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