CNN "Wolf" - Transcript: Middle East

Interview

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BLITZER: The terror attacks in Paris certainly have thrust a lot of issues into the spotlight, among them the backlash here in the United States against Syrian refugees and the focus on national security and foreign affairs and the race for the White House.

Joining us now to talk a little bit more about this, Kentucky Senator Republican presidential candidate, Rand Paul. He's at George Washington University. Clearly, some students there supporting his campaign.

Senator, you're on the Homeland Security committee. There's now another threat from ISIS, a specific threat we've been reporting, a new video specifically targeting the White House. Is ISIS really capable of an attack like that within the United States?

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know that that is completely certain but I think we do have to protect ourselves. The number-one way we protect ourselves is by being careful and about who comes to visit us. I think having rules and requirements for coming to America are very reasonable things we ought to do, and the first thing we ought to do.

BLITZER: What would you want to do to prevent potentially terrorists from coming into the United States? How far would you go?

PAUL: Well, you know, in my town, Bowling Green, Kentucky, we had two people come from Iraq. They posed as refugees but they were on a watch list already. They had fingerprints on a bomb fragment from Iraq and we just didn't do a good enough screening process. I'm still not convinced -- I think that the system is overwhelmed. And that we don't have the ability to even go through what we had currently in our country. So we do need to press pause and make sure we have a good system. When a whole section of the world is saying they want to come here and attack us, there are obviously many good people who live there who are our friends, but we have to be careful. It's hard to tell friend from foe. Even in France, a country that's been our friend for so long, there are many people within France who are French citizens that wish the government of France harm and they also wish us harm. Having rules about how people travel to the United States or who can immigrate to the United States I think are very reasonable things to ask for. BLITZER: Because most of the terrorists in the Paris massacre were

either French or Belgium citizens. They easily could come to the United States. Just get on a plane under the visa waiver program. They're tourists, let's say, they can show up at JFK easily. You want to prevent all French and Belgium citizens from coming to the U.S.?

[13:39:44] PAUL: For the visa waiver countries, these are our friends, our allies, England, Germany, France, I would say, yes, you can come and visit us. Come through Global Entry. That means you do a background check. If you're a business man or woman from France, you come here all the time. We want you to come. We want to do business with France. But I don't think it's asking too much to go through Global Entry.

I went through the frequent flyer program to be able to fly in a less molested way in the United States. I think French travelers could do the same kind of thing. I think if we don't do that, we have to have a waiting period. Because I think many of the attackers in France could have actually gotten on a plane. Some of them will probably turn out to have been on a watch list but I think some of them will turn out to be people for whom we did not have any suspicion. But I think making people go through a process to visit our country, it's the only thing we can do. It's actually a lot less expensive than sending a half a million young American sons and daughters back there for another war. I think another big land war in Iraq is a mistake and I'm not for it.

BLITZER: How do you destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Senator, because air power, by all accounts, is not going to do it, ground troops are necessary. Under what circumstances would you, as president, order U.S. ground forces into Syria, let's say, to destroy ISIS?

PAUL: I think a long-lasting victory in the U.S. and a long-lasting peace, that means something ultimately will have to be that the civilized parts of Islam, which are 90 percent of Islam, they need to rise up and they need to stamp out this aberration. I've met so many good people of the Islamic faith. They need to rise up and they need to say what ISIS is doing does not represent our religion.

If America goes over there and we win the war again and America occupies Sunni Muslim city, it will be another generation that will rise up to battle us. If it's local people, particularly Sunni Muslims, who stand up and say, enough's enough, ISIS doesn't represent my religion, that's when the ultimate victory comes. But it will be in a completely and entirely annihilating not just people that are part of the ISIS movement but the ideology that I don't think represents Islam. But I can't be the spokesman for that. People who believe in Islam need to rise up, they need to be loud, and they need to be the boots on the ground.

BLITZER: Senator Paul, thanks for joining us.

(CHEERING)

PAUL: Thanks, Wolf.

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