"Our strategy cannot presume to separate the fight against [ISIS] from the Syrian people's fight against the Assad regime. They are inextricably connected." - john mccain

he doesn't mean what you think, though.

listen: mccain is talking in code, and rand paul is pretending to be naive in taking him seriously.

"It is true that the fight against ISIS and the civil war in Syria are connected, but not in the way neocons infer. Overthrowing Assad may actually lead to an Islamist regime that finds common ground with ISIS, not America."

this is completely incoherent, and mccain knows it and paul knows it.

it's easy to agree with rand paul on the surface, and on the broad face of it he's right - the united states should cut it's losses in syria, and evade the kind of firefight it seems intent on provoking. it's true that the strategy of winning the war on the ground isn't working, but that strategy was chosen for good reason, nonetheless: the strategy of overwhelming force has no outcome but disaster.

but, he's spouting russian propaganda - right down to the feigned naivete at the purpose of isis.

...which mccain is not being naive about, at all.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/opinions/less-military-intervention-opinion-paul/