Paul to lay out foreign policy vision

Rand Paul, whose foreign policy views have become a frequent target of his GOP critics, will use a high-profile speech in New York on Thursday to urge the United States to exercise restraint when engaging in wars overseas.

At a dinner hosted by the Center for the National Interest, the libertarian-minded Kentucky senator, a potential White House contender in 2016, will argue for limits on U.S. engagement in military conflicts. Its a view that runs counter to the hawks among his fellow Republicans who have called for a more aggressive American presence in hot spots in the Middle East.

America shouldnt fight wars where the best outcome is stalemate, Paul plans to say, according to excerpts provided by his office. America shouldnt fight wars when there is no plan for victory. America shouldnt fight wars that arent authorized by the American people, by Congress. America should and will fight wars when the consequences intended and unintended are worth the sacrifice.

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Paul plans to add: After the tragedies of Iraq and Libya, Americans are right to expect more from their country when we go to war.

Paul aides say the speech will be the first time the freshman senator fully spells out his conservative realist foreign policy, outlining how he views international trade, diplomacy and the national debt as it relates to national security.

The speech also comes as Paul has faced criticism from potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, some of whom accuse him of harboring views of isolationism and see his national security views as his biggest liability.

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In a July op-ed in The Washington Post, for instance, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called Paul curiously blind to the threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. Paul responded in a POLITICO op-ed, writing that apparently [Perrys] new glasses havent altered his perception of the world, or allowed him to see it any more clearly.

The lets-intervene-and-consider-the-consequences-later crowd left us with more than 4,000 Americans dead, over 2 million refugees and trillions of dollars in debt, Paul wrote at the time.

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Paul to lay out foreign policy vision