--- title: Rand Paul: Punish Those Who Fund ISIS description: We need to make it clear that the U.S. does not do business with terror financiers canonical: https://time.com/4116601/paris-attacks-rand-paul/ author: Rand Paul article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-17T22:50:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:09.284Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Rand Paul: Punish Those Who Fund ISIS og:description: The U.S. should not do business with terror financiers og:url: https://time.com/4116601/paris-attacks-rand-paul/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28cad6255eb60b18/6988718a3c1639637945ac5b/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 14, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rand Paul: Punish Those Who Fund ISIS twitter:description: The U.S. should not do business with terror financiers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28cad6255eb60b18/6988718a3c1639637945ac5b/rand-paul.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rand Paul: Punish Those Who Fund ISIS > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees [Watch (HLS stream): Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xRGMbKjA.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2015-11-17_  by [Rand Paul](https://time.com/author/sen-rand-paul/)  ## Rand Paul Nov 17, 2015 10:50 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 14, 2015. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 14, 2015. Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Rand Paul](https://time.com/author/sen-rand-paul/)  ## Rand Paul Nov 17, 2015 10:50 PM UTC In the wake of the devastating terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and those who lost loved ones. Working together with our allies and friends, we have to step up our fight against terrorism. Unfortunately, our current strategy isn’t making us safer. The number of innocent victims of terror is up [4,000%](http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/19/terrorism-is-booming-almost-everywhere-but-in-the-united-states-state-department-report/) since 9/11 despite the [$1.7 trillion](http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/02/03/the-war-on-terror-has-cost-taxpayers-1-7-trillion-infographic/) taxpayers have spent on counterterrorism, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that claimed the lives of more than [6,800](http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/military/killed) American troops and 6,900 American contractors. If our existing strategy of drone strikes, proxy wars, and toppled governments isn’t the answer, what is? As a doctor, I know that attacking symptoms isn’t the same thing as finding a cure. I’m also mindful of what the Cold War official and nuclear strategist [Paul](https://books.google.com/books?id=vEJ3AAAAMAAJ&q=paul+nitze+dangerous+forms+human+error+achieve&dq=paul+nitze+dangerous+forms+human+error+achieve&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCWoVChMI3PaUkZmWyQIVTedjCh2iTQzE)[ Nitze](https://books.google.com/books?id=vEJ3AAAAMAAJ&q=paul+nitze+dangerous+forms+human+error+achieve&dq=paul+nitze+dangerous+forms+human+error+achieve&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCWoVChMI3PaUkZmWyQIVTedjCh2iTQzE) said: “One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.” If we are to eradicate ISIS once and for all, it’s time to take a hard look at what is fueling its growth: money. ISIS’s reserve of an estimated [$2 billion](http://www.businessinsider.com/isis-funding-us-allies-2014-6) makes it the world’s most well-financed terrorist organization. Airstrikes have impacted ISIS’s oil trade, but there’s one form of funding we can put an immediate stop to: donations from citizens, purported nonprofit groups, and [governments](http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/14/how-does-isis-fund-its-reign-terror-282607.html) or private sources in Gulf nations including [Saudi](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/opinion/isis-atrocities-started-with-saudi-support-for-salafi-hate.html)[ Arabia](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/opinion/isis-atrocities-started-with-saudi-support-for-salafi-hate.html), [Qatar](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/whos-funding-isis-wealthy-gulf-angel-investors-officials-say-n208006) and [Kuwait](http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-new-wave-of-terrorist-violence). A [report](http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Financing-of-the-terrorist-organisation-ISIL.pdf) from the world’s foremost international body on terrorist financing, the Financial Action Task Force, concludes that ISIS is using grassroots donations through the Internet and that foreign donor support will become more critical as other funding streams are stunted. ISIS’s power has also been magnified by the massive arsenal of arms they’ve received from our so-called moderate allies in the Syrian and Iraqi armies. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of [military](http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/06/04/Fog-War-US-Has-Armed-ISIS)[ equipment](http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/06/04/Fog-War-US-Has-Armed-ISIS) paid for by American taxpayers are in ISIS’s hands. Like a broken record, Washington keeps asking these partners to stop supporting jihadi groups. The trouble is, they never listen. This unholy circle of death needs to be shut down once and for all. Esquire’s Charlie Pierce is [right](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a39727/paris-attacks-middle-eastern-oligarchies/): let’s be done with it. From now on, our message to these governments and their ruling families must be clear: take accountability for your role in murdering our citizens or we will freeze your assets. Locate the citizens who are financing terrorism and lock them up or we won’t sell you a single missile or fighter jet. The U.S. does not do business with terror financiers, period. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton likely knows where these terror dollars are coming from. In a 2009 memo, Clinton [stated](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/world/middleeast/06wikileaks-financing.html?pagewanted=all) that Saudi donors were the largest funders of Sunni terrorism. Cables tied Saudi funding to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hamas, and other militants, and also said that [Saudi government](http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/06/29/wikileaks-saudi-arabia-kept-in-touch-with-pakistani-terror-group-haqqani-network/) was in contact with the Haqqani network. (This didn’t stopped the Clinton Foundation from accepting [between](https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors?category=%2410%2C000%2C001+to+%2425%2C000%2C000)[ $10 and $25 million in donations](https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors?category=%2410%2C000%2C001+to+%2425%2C000%2C000) from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia or [between](https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors?category=%245%2C000%2C001+to+%2410%2C000%2C000)[ $5 and $10 million](https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors?category=%245%2C000%2C001+to+%2410%2C000%2C000) in donations from the state of Kuwait.) I called a year ago for [a](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/politics/rand-paul-calls-for-a-formal-declaration-of-war-against-isis.html)[ Declaration of War](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/politics/rand-paul-calls-for-a-formal-declaration-of-war-against-isis.html) against ISIS because it had become clear that we needed to establish a constitutional way to defeat terrorism. Congress should show the same seriousness about the conflict that we ask of our service men and women, and the same dedication to the Constitution that our forefathers exhibited. The picture on the ground in Syria, Iraq and other areas where ISIS has established control is remarkably murky. We should consider all our options, including intensifying our covert operations and perhaps considering coordination of air power with Russia, as we determine a winning strategy to eliminate this brutal scourge once and for all. There is no question that we should continue to partner with the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, the only ground force that has a proven track record of taking territory away from ISIS. We must also insist that our Arab “allies,” who face an immediate ISIS threat, [focus on the fight](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/world/middleeast/as-us-escalates-air-war-on-isis-allies-slip-away.html). But first we must make sure our defense spending matches our priorities. We do not become stronger by adding more debt to finance military actions that lack a strategy. I’m fed up with those who would rather send our sons and daughters to war than turn off the spigot of blood money flowing from these so-called allies. Our focus at home needs to be prioritizing securing our borders and bolstering our law enforcement. A [2008](http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG741-1.html)[ RAND study](http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG741-1.html), “How Terrorist Groups End,” examined 648 terrorist groups that were active between 1968 and 2006\. In 40% of the conflicts, law enforcement—local police and intelligence—were most able to penetrate and destroy the group; political settlements ended violence in 43% of the time. Military force only destroyed a terrorist group in 7% of the cases. The tragedy in Paris is unfortunately why we need to be extraordinarily cautious in who we allow to immigrate, visit or study in this country. For years, I have called for limitations on admitting foreigners who want to come from countries consumed with hate for America, and I have called for reinstating a program of special scrutiny for anyone coming here from countries that have hotbeds of radical jihadism. We should help, in coordination with the international community, to curb the refugee crisis, but we must restrict the number of refugees entering America until we develop an effective screening process. We know the risks of sending our sons and daughters to fight in Iraq and Syria. We’ve seen how easily short-term victories on the ground can give way to unintended catastrophes over the long term. It’s time for a smarter strategy—one that requires a bold display of courage not from our soldiers, whose valor we know all too well, but from the men and women who hold the levers of economic and political power in their hands. ## Transcript When I hear political leaders [ BLANK_AUDIO ] suggesting that there would be a religious test [ BLANK_AUDIO ], for which [ BLANK_AUDIO ] a person who's fleeing from a war torn country is admitted. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] When some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that's shameful. That's not American. And when hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything, have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we will not turn our backs on the refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. [ APPLAUSE ] Refugees are pouring into our great country from Syria. We don't even know who they are. They could be ISIS. They could be anybody. What's our President doing? Is he insane? We can't act as though we're shutting the doors to people in need without undermining who we are as Americans and the values we have stood for. [ APPLAUSE ] Our nation has always been welcoming. But, we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion. This is a moment where it's better to be safe, than to be sorry. We need to hear from the White House and Homeland Security on exactly what these background checks are. What they, how they communicate to us in the States where these people are settling, so we can keep track of exactly what's occurring within our states. I believe the United States and the world needs to go on offense and stop the reason people have to leave Syria. The good people are leaving because they're being raped and murdered, and some terrorists are trying to get in their ranks. My heart says that we should let them in. 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